So today I decided it might be fun to have a guest blogger - my dear friend Heather. Back in October, she and I took a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest, and while we were there we went on a tour of the local area. As this was her first international trip, I thought it might be fun to hear about our trip from her perspective. Special thanks to Heather's family for letting me steal her away for a few days! So without further adieu, here's Heather.
Where to begin with our trip to Munich?! It was so incredible and amazing!! Now, after being back home for a while, I really miss it and I really miss hearing German being spoken everywhere. I now have a fascination/obsession with castles and old cathedrals after visiting the castles and cathedrals! Getting to go and tour the castles was my absolute favorite part of the trip! Being able to step back a hundred years and see and experience the castles was so incredible! Between Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Linderhoff I still can't decide which one was my favorite. There were so many amazing things about each one....
Linderhoff was remarkably breath taking with it's Baroque inspired architecture from the Palace Versailles. Gold was absolutely everywhere (just like you would see at Versailles), and where the walls were a solid color it was actually velvet! The frescoes adorning the walls were actually painted on canvas and then placed upon the walls so they looked like they were painted directly onto them! The entire palace was so extravagant and absolutely exquisite! Even the gardens and the fountain surrounding the palace were done with the most intricate detail!
At Neuschwanstein it was like you stepped back into the Medieval ages, which is exactly what King Ludwig II wanted! Neushwanstein was gargantuan compared to the small size of Linderhoff. At Neuschwanstein you had to trek up the mountain, which was a 45 minute walk but we thankfully were able to take a bus! The day we went it was pouring rain and absolutely dreary outside and was quite apropos to the architecture of the castle. The size of Neuschwanstein was astounding. We were only able to see a very small portion of the castle because King Ludwig II mysteriously died before he was able to finish it.
We had to walk up at least 3 flights of stairs to get to the first part of our tour. Everywhere you looked there were frescoes painted all over the walls. Even the beams had the typical painting on them that you would have seen in a castle built during the Medieval Ages. There was a different story painted on the walls in every room. Most were inspired by Wagner's operas, others were Biblical inspired frescoes. I still cannot get over the amazing and intricate detail that you saw with every turn! It's no wonder that Walt Disney used this castle for his inspiration in Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and even the castle at Walt Disney World! I would have loved to just explore on my own through the entire castle!
I feel so blessed to have gotten to experience this with my Best Friend as the two of us got to have our childhood fantasies come true! I just wish I could put into words just how astounding the whole experience was! I had so much fun exploring Munich with Brenna! Getting to see, in person, all of the old and various styles of architecture and buildings that I had dreamed about seeing was an absolute dream come true! I love, love, love architecture, primarily from the Medieval Ages and the Baroque period and I fell even more in love with them after getting to witness them in person!
We did a lot more while we were there, but I'm afraid that this post would become incredulously long if I continued on about it! So, with this I will leave you with dreams of Munich and castles and I bid you auf weidersehen!
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| The gardens in front of Schloss Linderhoff |
Where to begin with our trip to Munich?! It was so incredible and amazing!! Now, after being back home for a while, I really miss it and I really miss hearing German being spoken everywhere. I now have a fascination/obsession with castles and old cathedrals after visiting the castles and cathedrals! Getting to go and tour the castles was my absolute favorite part of the trip! Being able to step back a hundred years and see and experience the castles was so incredible! Between Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Linderhoff I still can't decide which one was my favorite. There were so many amazing things about each one....
Linderhoff was remarkably breath taking with it's Baroque inspired architecture from the Palace Versailles. Gold was absolutely everywhere (just like you would see at Versailles), and where the walls were a solid color it was actually velvet! The frescoes adorning the walls were actually painted on canvas and then placed upon the walls so they looked like they were painted directly onto them! The entire palace was so extravagant and absolutely exquisite! Even the gardens and the fountain surrounding the palace were done with the most intricate detail!
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| Schloss Linderhoff |
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| A beautiful fountain behind Schloss Linderhoff |
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| The gardens at Schloss Linderhoff |
At Neuschwanstein it was like you stepped back into the Medieval ages, which is exactly what King Ludwig II wanted! Neushwanstein was gargantuan compared to the small size of Linderhoff. At Neuschwanstein you had to trek up the mountain, which was a 45 minute walk but we thankfully were able to take a bus! The day we went it was pouring rain and absolutely dreary outside and was quite apropos to the architecture of the castle. The size of Neuschwanstein was astounding. We were only able to see a very small portion of the castle because King Ludwig II mysteriously died before he was able to finish it.
We had to walk up at least 3 flights of stairs to get to the first part of our tour. Everywhere you looked there were frescoes painted all over the walls. Even the beams had the typical painting on them that you would have seen in a castle built during the Medieval Ages. There was a different story painted on the walls in every room. Most were inspired by Wagner's operas, others were Biblical inspired frescoes. I still cannot get over the amazing and intricate detail that you saw with every turn! It's no wonder that Walt Disney used this castle for his inspiration in Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and even the castle at Walt Disney World! I would have loved to just explore on my own through the entire castle!
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| Schloss Neushwanstein from the gatehouse - photography wasn't allowed inside. |
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| Schloss Neuschwanstein - so many floors! |
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| A closer view of Schloss Neuschwanstein |
I feel so blessed to have gotten to experience this with my Best Friend as the two of us got to have our childhood fantasies come true! I just wish I could put into words just how astounding the whole experience was! I had so much fun exploring Munich with Brenna! Getting to see, in person, all of the old and various styles of architecture and buildings that I had dreamed about seeing was an absolute dream come true! I love, love, love architecture, primarily from the Medieval Ages and the Baroque period and I fell even more in love with them after getting to witness them in person!
We did a lot more while we were there, but I'm afraid that this post would become incredulously long if I continued on about it! So, with this I will leave you with dreams of Munich and castles and I bid you auf weidersehen!
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