Ludwig II of Bavaria--Not Mad at All

Gruss Gott!
I had a long heavy-duty day of touristing, and I think I am going to break up the topic over two days because I saw so much, and there is so much to say.
I set out earlier than usual to catch the tour bus.  Yes.  I took a day tour, which I do now and then. Naturally I prefer to be in charge of my own time and not be herded about, but there was no way I was going to be able to get to the places I wanted to see without assistance.  So we set off, cruising the autobahn, driving through the beautiful, green Bavarian countryside towards the alps, viewing villages clustered around the church, contented cows cropping grass, and the occasional ugly industrial building splatted down amongst the fields.
Our guide was a real Bavarian patriot willing to tolerate Franconians and Swabians because some of them were now part of Bavaria but roundly rejecting any "Prussian" culture, etc.
The main business of the day was to visit two of Ludwig II's palaces, and so I think I need to introduce him.  His other nickname is the "Fairy Tale" King, which is more accurate than implying he was nuts.  So we have this sensitive, artistic boy, crowned king at seventeen and utterly incapable of accepting or dealing with the modern world.  His idol was Louis XIV of France, whose egotistic extraversion was completely opposed to Ludwig's character.  He seems to have pathologically shy and was probably gay to boot.  His dependents adored him for both his courtesy and his habit of paying fairly and on time.  And he spent!  He single-handedly whittled down the Wittelsbach fortunes with his building projects.
Our first stop is Schloss Linderhof, an elegant Neo Classical gem set in a long narrow, Alpine Valley. 
Alas! One of the features of a tour is that time is not one's own.  We had time for a guided tour around the house and a quick look-see around the formal gardens.  There is much more here that we had no chance to experience, but the place is comparatively remote, so I took what I could get.  The decoration is profuse, but harmonious and tasteful.  The house is a tribute to Ludwig's admiration of French Absolutism.  And we know how that turned out!
One characteristic feature is the dining room table of his own design.  It could be raised and lowered, so the servants could set it and serve the food without having to enter the king's presence, which apparently just how Ludwig liked it.
This could not end happily.  After Germany's unification in 1871, Ludwig had no real role as king--not that he was doing much anyway, but his family became alarmed by his oddities and refusal to make public appearances.  A doctor was persuaded to issue a diagnoses of insanity, and Ludwig was taken into "protective" custody.  Two days later he--and the doctor--were dead, found drowned in shallow water.  The official verdict was suicide.  Yeah, right.
Our next stop was Oberammergau, best known for the Passion Play it puts on every ten years.  It's a very pretty town and quite frankly, a tourist trap, and none the worse for that.  I like a good touristy town with lots of fun things to eat and drink and plenty of shops to poke around in.  The town is Germany's center of fine wood carving, and I have to say I was impressed by the offerings.  One feature of the town is that the houses and businesses have paintings on them.  Most of the them illustrate Bible stories, but there are also folk tales.
More to come tomorrow when we visit Schloss Neuschwanstein!
The beer of the day is dunkle or dark.  It's dark brown in the glass and on the taste buds.  The beer has an agreeable toasty quality, I find pleasing.