4-8-09 Neuschwanstein

Today was a day for much lighter fare. Schloss (castle) Neuschwanstein was built in the 19^th century by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He was a young king who lived in a fantasy world, and he was enamored with the operas of Richard Wagner. He had Schloss Neuschwanstein built as a monument to Wagner. The walls are covered with murals and carvings in the themes of Wagner’s operas. Most people would recognize the castle as the one that Walt Disney copied when designing the castle at Disneyland. The castle is like something out of a fairy tale, which is why Natasha has wanted to see it since she was a kid.

First, Natasha scored me some more medicine from the Apotheke. This time the instructions were in German, but the drugs were much more recognizable (e.g., cough syrup that looks like Nyquil instead of a clear, watery liquid that tastes like poison).

We headed back to the train station to meet up with our tour group. Neuschwanstein is out near a town called Füssen. On the train ride there we noticed that almost every roof had at least some solar panels on it. Some were almost completely covered in them. There must be a huge government subsidy in that area for installing them.

Neuschwanstein is built in the Alps, so we finally got to see them as we got closer. Having lived around mountains all my life, I’m no stranger to mountain ranges, but these were impressive. We stopped at a hotel at the foot of the mountain to eat, where we ordered something that sounded like wurst and fries (one of the only menu items in our budget range), and we got two hot dogs with no bread and a plate of fries with a single packet of ketchup. Try not to eat at gimmicky tourist places.

Then we climbed the hill. You could really tell who exercises and who doesn’t on the way up. It’s been quite awhile since I did any sustained physical activity, so it took an effort to make it. The climb is a decent gradient and lasts about fifteen minutes. Anyone in decent shape can do it without breaking a sweat. My only excuse is that I had a salty, fatty lunch and a beer before undertaking this feat, which didn’t help any. I might also mention that my lungs hurt from having a cold…but really I’m just out of shape, plain and simple. I resolved to try and exercise when I got back home. We will see how that goes.

Neuschwanstein, unlike most other castles, was built purely for splendor, as the castle was outmoded by the 19^th century as a means of defense. The castle was never finished as Ludwig died while the rooms were being decorated, and upon his death all work stopped. We toured all of the finished portions of the castle and quite a few unfinished rooms. Each room was elaborately decorated with scenes and sculptures from Wagner’s operas and Christian motifs. I was especially struck by how much of the state’s resources were funneled into such an extravagant and fantastical effort. We were not told whether the residents of Bavaria suffered as a result of their treasury being drained.

Since Ludwig patronized Wagner, and Wagner and Nietzsche were companions for a time, I wonder if Nietzsche ever met Ludwig? We were told that Wagner only became successful as a result of Ludwig’s support, and Nietzsche seems to have known Wagner during his heyday. I will have to do a little research on the timeframes.

In any event, had we known that the castle’s theme was so Wagner-centric, we certainly would have done more research on Wagner before going up there. Natasha especially wants to visit the other castles of the Bavarian government, so we may return one day better informed and thus better able to enjoy the murals and paintings.

We bought some ice cream and a small guide to the art inside the castle on the way down, thus completing what we expect to be the most physically challenging part of our entire trip.

On the train back to Munich, we learned from our guide that our hostel is in the “Turkish” area of Munich. The Turks are one of the main immigrant populations in Germany, somewhat akin to the Mexican immigrants in the U.S. This area of Munich is described as “seedy” and Munich’s version of a red light district is very close by (although we never actually saw it).

Also on the train back to Munich I learned why the wedding ring is worn on the particular finger it is worn on – apparently it is near a major blood vessel that runs straight to the heart, and is thus “closest to the heart” of all of the fingers. Neato! I suppose this has nothing to do with our trip as I could have learned this back in the U.S., but all the same this is where I happened to learn it.

Our breakfasts on our trip have been remarkably similar so far. It always consists of a few rolls of bread, jam, a few slices of lunch meat, a slice of cheese (usually Swiss), yogurt, coffee, and orange juice. In the hostel in Munich they also have muesli. I don’t know if this is what you are supposed to do, but I always spoon some yogurt into a bowl and then cover it with muesli, stir it up and eat it (basically using yogurt instead of milk for cereal). I really enjoy this and I’d like to try it back home, if the calories and cost work out closely enough.

We’ve been strangely satisfied with very little food here. The portions are always lighter, sizes smaller, and we’ve been eating at larger intervals than we used to. We are constantly on our feet and thus getting more exercise than usual as well. We might just lose some weight before this trip is over.