More cowbell...

We were up and out super early to collect our rental car, the not-so-luxe Opel Corsa. No real complaints – it is a perfectly cromulent vehicle. Our first stop was Lindenhof Palace, one of Ludwig II’s little cottages. The drive out was truly lovely; blue skies and dense forest gave way to blue skies and charming farm communities and then suddenly blue skies over Alpine meadows and peaks – all within 45 minutes of central Munich.

The palace is situated in a velvety green valley surrounded by gently rising, timbered slopes. These provided a perfect canvas for the garden designer to create an exquisite setting for this gem of a residence. Linderhof is the smallest of Ludwig’s palace projects and the only one of the 3 built that he lived to see completed (he had plans for 6!). Despite the hodgepodge construction process the finished floorplan is a masterpiece of perfect symmetry. Each room has a unique color scheme (with the exception of the Eastern & Western tapestry chambers which are both red).Yellow and lilac cabinets flank the Audience Chamber on the west side, while a pink and a blue cabinet flank the dining room on the east.

Photography is not allowed inside, but a few facts will present a clear picture. Ludwig II had no real political power, but his family was spectacularly wealthy. His vision for this palace was as an homage to Louis XIV and came hard on the heels of a visit to France that included time at Versailles. He originally intended to make his own reproduction Versailles, but it didn’t work out. He settled for cramming a staggering load gold, silver, precious stones, porcelain, and portraiture of the Bourbon dynasty into his little hunting lodge (it had in fact been his father’s hunting lodge before he decided that a remake was in order).

It was completely gorgeous – his bedroom (in his favorite blue) boasts two spectacular Meissen-ware mirror/ table constructions that looked about twenty feet high and must have weighed several tons each. The view from the bed is an artificial waterfall created from a mountain stream. This ran under the house acting as 19^th century air conditioning. He loved gadgets like this. That and the fact that he couldn’t stand other people around led him to the fun “self-laying table” in his dining room. The table mechanically lowered to the kitchens, where the staff would lay out the dinner service and raise it again. This way he had a fun toy AND didn’t have to see anyone while dining.

I could carry on forever (obviously) so I’ll just post a link to the palace here. http://www.schlosslinderhof.de/englisch/palace/history.htm

Our next stop was the Wieskirche. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the absolute middle of German nowhere. The church is incredibly unexpected – this spectacular Rococo meringue was constructed to house an image of Christ that was seen to shed tears in the 1730’s. The statue has quite a backstory. It was carried in a religious procession in the early 1730’s, but was considered so grim/ and or depressing that it was retired and handed off to a local farmer. The farmer and his wife witnessed the statue producing tears and it almost immediately began to perform miracles. Pilgrims came from all over Europe to seek miraculous cures and assistance for their problems. The volume of visitors was so enormous that the local monastery had this magnificent shrine constructed to accommodate them. There was certainly a good sized crowd moving through when we arrived!

The central dome, embellished with an exquisite fresco of the apotheosis of Christ, is held aloft by eight pillars – each composed of four joined columns. The enormous, clear glass windows and the white walls create an extraordinary sense of lightness in a space so heavily encrusted with gilded plaster ornamentation, mammoth, colored marble shrines, and gigantic sculptures.

http://www.wieskirche.de/

The drive out was enlivened by herds of cows beside the road, crossing the road, all over in fact. They can’t sneak up on you as they all wear cow bells. The jingle jangle of cow bell accompanied us into the church in fact – it is still surrounded by farms, and horses and cows had to be bypassed to get inside.

Next we headed for Oberammergau – world famous for its decennial Passion Play, which isn’t happening this year sadly. In any case it is an absolutely charming Bavarian town. The houses are covered in quite wonderful frescoes – some are traditional characters, some are religious, and many are just decorative. This is also a good place to mention the wonder that is the German window box. Every single precious little wooden building we have seen is frosted in the healthiest, most exquisite show of blooms. Do they start these inside in the winter? Is it a subject taught in the schools? Are they delivered at regular intervals to every household by a government agency?

Another attraction are the woodworking shops and galleries. Everything is the best crafted, quaintest, most thoroughly charming Christmas windmill, Nutcracker, cuckoo clock, tchotchke ever.

All this adorable left us in dire need of sustenance and precious biergartens and cafes were on every side. We ignored all of these when we saw the completely ridiculous confections created by the aptly named Eiscafe Paradiso. I don’t even know what we had – it was chocolate, caramel, cream, and raw delicious. So delicious.

Finally, we arrived at our home for the evening the Hotel Blaue Gams in Ettal. We chose Ettal because of the marvelous Benedictine Cloister. Our hotel is perched on the hillside above it and our balcony (flower-decked, obviously) affords the most marvelous views.

We arrived at Kloster Ettal smack in the middle of a bake sale / field day celebration. It was all very entertaining, but we eventually made our way into the basilica. This foundation was a gift of Ludwig the Bavarian in the 1330’s. His horse knelt before a figure of the Virgin at the location and that is how the site was selected. The abbey has had its ups and downs since then! The Reformation, Secularization, and so on, but it eventually ended up back in Catholic hands. During WWII Dietrich Bonhoeffer was in residence here and was involved with the monks in conspiring against the Nazis.

    Inside, the basilica is decorated with plentiful gilt ornamentation and intricately carved confessionals and statues line the walls. The dome has an amazing fresco showing Christ's Ascension held up by ornate columns. The abbey houses about 50 monks and operates as a brewery, distillery, bookstore, cheese making enterprise, and a secondary school.