Ludwig II

Saturday, 6/1, Heading to Austria today in the rain.  Guess we have a theme going here. We stopped at a gas station on the highway to buy an Austrian sticker for our car.  Even though we are still in the E.U. each country requires a sticker (tax) on a car that allows you to drive on their roads.  The cost is 8.30 euro, the fine is 120 euro.  Better safe than sorry, right?  It was a nice drive heading straight for the alps.  The mountains are still covered with snow.  The waterfalls are heavy, the rivers swollen.  This is the wettest May they have had in 12 years according to Hans, our inn keeper at Becks Hotel and Cafe in Ruette, Austria.  We stopped for a short walk around in Oberammergau, the home of the Passion Play put on only every 10 years.  We are reading about "Mad" King Ludwig II who ruled Bavaria for 22 years until his death at the age of 40!  He lived his last years in his family home Linderhof in Austria as a recluse until his death in Munich.   Ludwig completely  remodeled the castle in the French style of Louis XV.  He was all about France.  The paintings, the architecture, the life style all copied the French style.  Louis the XV was his idol you might say.    Pictures:  1 Oberammergau, 2 and 3 Linderhof Palace

Sunday,6/2 we toured Neuschwanstein Castle another of Ludwig II's palaces.  It was in construction from 1869 to 1886, when he died.  He lived in this castle a total of 172 days.  He drained the state coffers building his romantic castles.  In June 1886 he was declared mentally unfit and evicted from Neuschwanstein.  Two days later he was found dead in a lake.  Sucide or murder, no one knows for sure.  Does the castle remind you of someplace you might have seen in either Disneyworld or Disneyland?  1. Neuschwanstein 2. View up to Mary's bridge.

Tomorrow we "attempt" to drive to Salzburg.  Southern Germany has had soooo much rain that the roads are now flooded.  The A8, which is the main autobahn between Munich and Salzburg, was closed all day.  Over 100 highways have been closed due to flooding.  Inge and Hans, our hosts are keeping us posted and promise to hold a room for us tomorrow night if necessary.  In the meantime over 2,000 metallurgical engineers from around the world are descending on this small town of Ruette for a conference.  Every inn and hotel is booked for the upcoming week!