Sunday in Bavaria

Guten Tag!

Hey wait a minute, Pil.  I thought you were in Austria.

Yes, I am now, but moving between countries in the EU is as easy as getting on a train.  You know the Schengen Agreement?  Once a person is in the EU, the passport stays put away unless your accommodations asks for it.  When I first came here, I tried to stay alert for when we passed from Germany to Austria--maybe a discreet Wilkommen im Osterrreich sign.  Nope.  I looked again today.  Still nope.

But why did you go back to Germany?

Well, it was a hot sunny day, and I was in the mood for a lake and a palace and both are to be found at Chiemsee in Bavaria.  Now this took getting to and some expense.  First the bus to the Hauptbahnhof.  Then the train.  I almost got on the wrong one!  I got to the platform, and something did not feel right.  It was an express straight to Munich.  I needed the local, which I found and boarded.  Oddly there was a lot of security around.  The police unlocked an out-of-order toilet to make sure no one was inside.  I think they were looking for ticket cheats rather than terrorists. I like riding trains and seeing the countryside the the towns we pass through.  If you choose you can visit from Munich just as easily.

I alighted at my stop.  Now my guidebook failed to mention the Chiemseebahn (a small gage railroad running to the harbor) which could have saved me some trouble,  I left the station, and for once my instincts which usually serve me well, failed.  I wanted the lake.  There was no lake or any signage.  I went back to the station and figured it out, but it was a fair step, and the weather was hot.  But the trip across part of the lake Chiemsee was smooth and refreshing.  We landed at the dock at Herreninsel.  I got a ticket for the palace called Schloss Herrenchiemsee.

Yes, meine freunden, Ludwig II, King of Bavaria was at it again.  Not content with the many--and sufficiently magnificent palaces of his Wittelsbach forebearers, he built or began to his personal tribute to Versailles and his hero Louis XIV of France--the Sun King. Ludwig readily admitted that he was only a pale moon in comparison.  The palace is predictably grand--and also--predictably--isolated and unfinished.  Not even the King of Bavaria could command unlimited funds, and his life was cut mysteriously short.

I took a tour in English along with a group of mostly Americans who apparently had never seen a palace.  They were gobsmacked.  The place is impressive and a creditable imitation of Versailles complete with a lot of Louis XIV tributes, but grand and ornate as it is, an imitation it remains.  I did enjoy it and I thought it worth the trip, but it's like Neuswanstein--a stage set.  I liked Linderhof the best of his palaces because it seemed like Ludwig actually lived there.

Herrenchiemsee features grand marble staircases and a lot of fake marble stucco--no shame there as most palaces in the area have this feature, crystal and ceramic chandeliers of incredible intricacy.  Marvelous clocks adorn every room, and each is hung with rich drapery and nearly every available surface is given a treatment with Rococco-looking gilt ornament and mirrors.  Ludwig's state bed chamber even featured the same kind of balustrade barrier that Louis used for his levees.

The walk from the dock to the palace is pleasant.  I had to share the woodland with a gazillion other tourists, but it was lovely, and I enjoyed the lake and seeing the pleasure boats and the swans.  I am feeling wilted at the moment because it was a long hot day, but fun.
Dinner consists of hard cooked egg and goat cheese on toast washed down with the Riesling.