Bavaria: Oktoberfest & Castles

Bavaria: Oktoberfest & Castles

Thurs Oct 1 through Sat Oct 3, 2015

We drove about 4 hours southeast from Frankfurt toward Munich, being delayed for an hour in a "stau" (traffic jam) stopping in a small town to visit LDS psychologist at their home. Besides talking about his professional work, we were interested to learn that both of them work with refugees. Besides managing 6 refugee homes (more due to open) where teenagers and young adults are housed, they do counseling, teaching German and other skills to help the them adjust to life in Germany. 

Side note: Being stuck in a stau is very frustrating. If there is an accident or any other problem on the Autobahn, traffic doesn't just slow down, it stops. Cars aren't allowed through until every bit of it is cleared away, which could take hours.

Then we drove on to Munich where we had dinner with another couple who had driven an hour to town from their home in the Bavarian Alps. This was the last weekend of Oktoberfest, and we saw lots of evidence of it around. 

The history of Oktoberfest: It originated in 1810 at the marriage of King Louis I and Princess Therese when they invited the citizens of Munich to attend the celebration. The festivities were continued the next year, and, combined with celebrations of the fall harvest, it became an annual event. It begins in late September and goes 16 days, until the first Sunday of October. The consumption of beer is a major part of it, with over 1 million gallons of it being consumed each year...and that's just in Munich. 

The next morning after breakfast, we met our home Bishop, Dan Woodward, who had been there on business. He told us a bit about the Oktoberfest activities he'd attended the previous night with his business colleagues. One of them tried to get him to hold a huge stein of beer (a full liter priced at 10 euro), but good thing that he refused or someone surely would have snapped a picture! He said there was a carnival, rides, music, fireworks, and drinking until the wee hours; he was the designated driver. 

I enjoyed seeing people wearing dirndls & lederhosen. The placement of the dirndl's bow is a code; on the left means she is available, right side means she is taken. It would be pretty fun to live in a town where people dress in costumes all the time!

Other traditional parts of Oktoberfest are pretzels, and gingerbread heart cookies. 

During the two hours we drove south to Bavaria we gave a report to our bishop on our mission and caught up on news from the Ward. What a great Bishop to come all of this way to check on his missionaries!

We were able to get right in to visit these two of the most popular castles of Bavaria.

They are both considered to be new castles. Most castles are many hundreds of years old, but these were both built in the 1800s on top of the ruins of previous castles. 

We weren't allowed to take any photographs inside of either building. 

In 1830, Maxmilian, King of Bavaria, happened upon the ruins of a castle (dated in the 12th century), and decided to purchase the property and build his own castle, Schloss Hohenschwangau. The name means "The upper land of the swans."

It is a bit strange that he destroyed the remains of the original castle and created his own vision of what a medieval castle should look like.

 It was outfitted with the latest modern conveniences of the 1800s, including a flush toilet. There are swans all through it in paintings, chandeliers, and ceramics.

Swans everywhere!

The servants had their own circular staircase and used a very small door leading to inner passageways where they had access to the back of the ceramic heaters and could tend the fires without disturbing the royal family. The King's and Queen's bedrooms have hidden connecting doors.

The piano was played by their close friend, Richard Wagner. Many of the castle's paintings are from the stories of Wagner's operas, particularly Lohengrin.

The older son of King Maxmillian, Ludwig became king at age 18. He was eccentric and became known as Mad King Ludwig. He was never married, but had been engaged at one time but broke it off because he did not want to be a prisoner of marriage.

He spent his fortune building a new castle across the valley, Schloss Neuschwanstein, and in the process destroyed the remains of a castle from the 12th century, as his father had done. He watched it during the 17 years of building from a telescope set up in the home (castle) of his parents. He only lived in this castle a few months before he mysteriously drowned in a nearby lake.

Neuschwanstein is reportedly the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella Castle and has been visited by 60 million people in the 100 years it has been a museum.

The ceramic heater was a fireplace tended through the wall so the royal family wouldn't be disturbed. 

It is very beautiful, especially on the outside, but I think it has a formal, cold feeling on the inside, never having been completed.

The view from one side of Neuschwanstein was breathtaking! 

The view from the other side of Neuschwantstein was magnificient! 

There is a smaller lake to the right which is a little higher than the larger one on the left. You can see the touristy little town below.

The last picture were taken from this balcony.

Duh! 

Swans were both inside and out!

As we started driving northward again, we came upon this treat!

The Wieskirche (White Church) originated from a pilgrimage in 1739. The cost of construction must have been a big sacrifice for the people in this rural area.

We were amazed at how ornate and beautiful this building is!  In 1983 it was named a World Heritage site and now gets a million visitors each year.  It is still used for religious services, weddings, and concerts.

I was very interested to see this beautiful offering of the fall harvest. Every bit of it was freshly picked that day. We heard later about other missionaries seeing this same kind of offering in the churches they visited on this same day.

This crown was made from several kinds of grains.

Here is the same wooden wagon that we had seen at the Brothers Grimm house. I remember it particularly because Elder Ed Dittmar said it was the same kind of wagon that his family carried their possessions in when they escaped from East Germany when he was 10 years old.

The Bishop in his black robe (coat) walking out of the very small chapel which is seen in the picture above to the right of the Wieskirche.

We'd miss some special details if we didn't look up.

After a wonderful, full day, we delivered Bishop Woodward to his hotel in Munich so he could leave for home the next morning.

For four hours of our drive back to Frankfurt, we followed the Romantic Strasse (Road) up and down and around picturesque villages. When it started to get dark we got back on the freeway to get back home more quickly.