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ALPINE REPRISE Linderhof Palace
Monday,
September 22. We
still had our rental car so about 9:15
we joined a caravan with a couple other
cars from our group to the palace at
nearby Linderhof. It was just over 30
minutes away, mostly on the same road we
had taken to Ettal the day before. We had visited
Linderhof in 1961 on our way from Verona
to Frankfurt to pick up my niece
(Sharon), who spent several weeks with
us.
Linderhof was built by Ludwig II of Bavaria. Ludwig became King of Bavaria in 1864 at age 18. At the time Bavaria was an independent country, but not for long. It was effectively subjugated by Prussia in 1866 and was absorbed into the newly formed German Empire in 1871. But Ludwig had little interest in affairs of state anyhow. He was more interested in extravagant artistic and architectural projects. The present day Linderhof Palace, completed in 1878, is the result of a decade-long project that began with his father's modest hunting lodge. (Ludwig's other projects include the fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein and the Herrenchiemsee Palace.)
It was a drizzly day much like
yesterday. And like yesterday, the
weather gradually improved as the
day wore on. There was a little walk
from the parking area to the palace,
but we still arrived at about 10:00.
We did not have reservations but, as
we had hoped, the palace was not
crowded that early. We did not have
to wait at all for the palace tour,
although a line was just starting to
form.
The tour took about half an hour. Jane and I did not remember much of the interior. We have seen so many palaces since 1961 that the elaborate rooms tend to blend together. However, we did remember Linderhof Park (grounds) because it is so unique. We recalled that the Venus Grotto was the highlight of the Park, and we intended to look for that as soon as the palace tour was over.
We came out a rear door of
the palace after the tour and
found ourselves looking up the long
cascade coming down from the mountain above.
In the pool at the bottom was the
Neptune Fountain. The terrace
where we stood had a flower
bed in the shape of a Bourbon
lily. As we and most of our group headed for the
Grotto, we passed
through the West Parterre
(formal garden). Among the colorful
flower beds were two
gilt fountain figures (Fame
& Amor) and
several other decorative pieces. Continuing upward, we passed through a
metal gazebo and up a long path until we came to the assembly point for
tours of the Grotto. We had about a 15 minute wait until
the next English tour.
The Grotto
is an artificial cave built into the
hillside above the palace. It has
stalactites, a small lake and a
waterfall that can be turned on or off
with a switch. There is also a small
lighted stage, a "royal seat", a Lorelei
rock, and a gilt boat in the shape of a
shell. We spent about 20 minutes there.
The Kiosk originally was an exhibit at the 1867
International Exhibition in Paris. Ludwig eventually
acquired it and installed it at Linderhof. The
interior is dazzling, to say the least, but it is
not open to tourists. I had to photograph it through
the windows in the entry hall. Probably the most
impressive item in the kiosk is the peacock throne.
Leaving the Kiosk, I took the first downward path I found, even though it was not the way Jane and the others had gone. It turned out to be the shortest way back to the palace. Again I trotted at a leisurely pace, trying to catch up. On the way down I passed through the multilevel East Parterre. In addition to the ornamental flowerbeds and allegorical sculptures, it featured a fountain with the gilt figure of "Amor shooting an arrow." The water from the fountain seemed to trace the path of his arrow in flight. When I reached the palace and searched for the others, I was not surprised to find that I was the first one down. I used the time to browse around the gift shop. The others arrived just a few minutes later. It was about 11:45 by then. We loaded up the three cars and drove to Oberammergau. After looking around for an hour or so, mostly in Kathe Wohlfahrt's Christmas store, we had lunch right across the street. After lunch Jane and I got separated from the others and, since we had no other passengers at that point and had visited Oberammergau just the day before, we headed back to our hotel in Garmisch.
With
the help of a friend who drove downtown with me, I
turned in our rental car later that
afternoon. With the several other
vehicles that were available in our
group, including a
couple of large vans, we had no need of
it.
That evening our group had the buffet dinner in the Lake House of the upscale Riessersee Hotel. The food was marvelous, probably the highest quality of any buffet we have ever had - and there was no "slap dancing."
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