Yesterday we travelled by train and then bus to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle at the foot of the Alps. Our tour guide Kerry (again from Radius Tours) began by telling us the story of this castle and the man behind it, King Ludwig the second. Ludwig was the King of Bavaria from 1864 until 1886 and was referred to as the Swan King or der Marchenkonig (which means the fairy tale King). As a small boy he lived in the Hohenschwangau Castle with his brother Otto (see below), his only friends were the servants.

His mum and dad were not fond of each other or their kids it appears and so left Ludwig to his own devices and his wild imagination ran riot. So began his love of all things medieval, the legends and fairy tales.

Ludwig became King when he was just 18 and with no worldly experience. He was handsome and generous and the people loved him especially women, but was never married or had a long term relationship with either a man or a woman. He was at one time engaged, this lasted 9 months before he called the wedding off.

Ludwig loved the opera especially those of Wagner and they became life long friends. Ludwig built concert halls and arranged music festivals specifically to honour Wagner’s work. It is said that Wagner would not have achieved the fame he did without the support of Ludwig. Wagner in turn acted as a creative muse for Ludwig and his music and operas the inspiration for his castles.

As Ludwig became more isolated he began sleeping all day and was up all night dressing in the same way as Wagner’s characters. Which brings me to the castle which is just one of many built and not finished during the lifetime of Ludwig. We caught the train to Fussen station it takes about 2 and a half hours from Munich and then on arrival a bus was waiting to take us to the base of the mountain that this beautiful castle is on, to the little town of Hohenschwangau. There is a lovely lake which Ludwig swan in as a boy and is a great shot for a photo.

The walk to the castle is all up hill and whilst there were plenty of stops it’s a sweaty trip. To say I wasn’t feeling very princess like when I did get to the top would be an understatement, but boy is it worth it.

We were standing outside the castle that was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” castle. We had been undecided about whether to go into the castle or not as again there were lots of negative comments on trip advisor but we chose to ignore them, thank goodness. The negative chat was about being herded through the place, but you know what we didn’t mind it at all. It was like nothing I had ever seen before unfortunately you aren’t able to take any photos inside the castle as I would love to show you some of the really interesting things Ludwig had decided upon. Because this place looked like it had a real dungeon we weren’t going to test the security guys and take a sneaky pic. This was a castle Ludwig had built for himself and like his other castles he really hadn’t wanted anyone to ever enter them, he loved being alone and I guess the feeling of isolation. Some of the rooms were built with Wagner in mind, particularly the Singers Room that has paintings on the walls inspired by characters from his operas. Next to his very gothic bedroom he had a fake cave built, amazing and kind of quirky, okay and maybe a bit creepy. The other really interesting thing about this castle is that it was way ahead of its time, with running water which was generated by a nearby stream, flushing toilets and a heating system. Ludwig also had a telephone but sadly as others didn’t he had no one to call. Only 14 rooms in this castle were finished before his death and sadly Ludwig only got to come here for 172 days, staying just 11 nights. Why was this – (please excuse my abridged version of this great story). Well, given that he had a number of constructions going at the same time Ludwig was short on his private funds with construction costs almost doubling. The family had amassed a fortune over the years and he had spent all of it in just over twenty years ( he was only a spring chicken at 41) and so he continued to open new lines of credit to cover building costs. By 1883 he owed 14 million marks and so when the utility bill came in for this castle he was unable to pay it. Ludwig suggested to his family that he should go the Parliament and ask for assistance, and that is when the plan to end Ludwig’s term as King truly began.

Ludwig threatened to commit suicide as creditors began circling. His family (Uncle) had him declared insane (without him being seen by a doctor ) and he was dragged from the castle unwilling leaving behind devastated locals and servants who loved their King. On the 12th of June 1886 Ludwig was sent to Berg Castle on a nearby lake. Interesting Bern Castle had already been transformed into a one person asylum by the time he arrived, yes the plot thickens. On the evening of the 13th of June Ludwig and his doctor took a walk around the grounds when they didn’t return a search party was sent looking for them. Two fisherman found the two bodies in shallow water. An autopsy was performed on the doctor who had scratches on his hands and blood under his nails, Ludwig’s family refused to allow an autopsy at the time (and this stance continues today) and so mystery remains as to how Ludwig died. The official ruling at the time was murder/ suicide. Some believe ( and I am now one of them given at least a days worth of information) that Ludwig was murdered as was the doctor. He certainly, it seems from the records, completed all of his royal duties during his reign and there is also now much discussion about whether he was insane or simply eccentric, I guess we will never know.

Back to the castle – to get a good picture you need to walk about 15 minutes (all of it uphill again) to a rickety bridge (my view the hundreds of others standing with me seemed relaxed as it bounced and swayed ) that almost runs parallel but slightly above the Castle. The castle is glorious and just like a fairy tale castle should look. Unfortunately they are doing some maintenance on the front of the castle so we didn’t take a photo from that side.

To finish the story of Ludwig, who I will admit I now have a bit of a crush on, we went to St. Michaels Church in Munich today where he lays in a crypt. St Michaels is a beautiful Baroque church and we are told that is the biggest renaissance church north of the Alps.

You aren’t allowed to take photos down in the crypt and I think that’s okay as it is a sad place. The King is not alone there (so he’s probably a bit cross about that) he is with other family members as well as Napoleons wife’s son from her first marriage. The only tomb with fresh flowers was that of King Ludwig the second, so it seems he is still loved here in Munich.