Germany, day 2: High places around Munich.

[theweaselking]

3:00PM
I've been to two castles built by insane Bavarian kings today. One of them is best known because Disney copied it and put it in the middle of his park. "Mad" King Ludwig II built the entire castle because he wanted to honour the genius he saw in Wagner's operas. His advisors told him he was too crazy to be king, killed him, and installed his brother on the throne because he was in debt to the cost of a full castle AND he'd signed contacts to build two more. Apparently they were tired of castle-building kings, because "Mad" Ludwig I (II's father) built the first one. "Mad" Ludwig III (the brother) didn't build castles. Apparently they changed the constitution to prevent it, or maybe just threatened him, or something.




Castle #1, built by "Mad" Ludwig I.


Neuschwanstein. The one that Disney had such a hard-on for.






the gate.


A view from the road up to the castle


random large dog, from the town at the base of the castle's mountain

We also drove for two hours to reach a small town, high in the alps, famous only for nearly becoming extinct four centuries ago, promising never to do anything interesting ever again if God let them live, and then doing just that. Their main curent export appears to be well-concealed potholes full of snowmelt.


The only interesting thing in Oberammergau



A monastery on the road to Oberammergau. Herein I postulate that German monks are the best monks. Oriental monks gain enlightenment and practice martial arts. Spanish monks tortured heretics. GERMAN monks just made beer. Lots of beer.
German monks, for the win.
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True to my prediction, the alps were still there when I woke up today. I checked.
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[ And took pictures]










[And then, back to Munich]









[This cathedral has a phenomenally complicated "cuckoo clock" the size of a house in its tower, with music, dancing girls, knights jousting, and an entire story playing out, all at once.]
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11:45PM
My shins are in revolt. Having not missed the fact that I climbed an alp on foot today, nor being consoled by the fact that it was a really very small alp, they are protesting the unfair practices inflicted upon them by the Tyranny Of The Knee.



I shall have the ringleaders rounded up and shot. It's only fitting.

Munchen Hoffbrauhaus is a deeply scary place. They sell beer mixed with lemonade. I have learned, however, that fools and money part even more easily when the fools are 16, and are willing to pay mightily to see one "chug" a litre of beer mixed 50/50 with lemonade.

Beer+lemonade = shockingly tasty, despite what you might think. Suddenly dumping a half-litre of lemonade into your stomach, however, is not a good plan. It leads to a few minutes of burps and general unhappiness, and you're also out of beer.





For a country with this many internet cafes, it is simply SHOCKING how many of them are closed or down at any given time - 100%, so far as my current sample can tell me. And, of course, the wireless on the laptop is acting up when I try to scan for access points.



I am easily amused.

Comments

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

Actually, Oberammergau does do one interesting thing, but they only do it every ten years - a HUGE Passion play (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberammergau_Passion_Play) that draws the religious in droves from all over the world. OK, it's interesting if you're religious.

For the rest of us, they make a lovely breakfast cheese.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I did know that. However, I'm six years too late or four years too early - take your pick.

Oberammergau bored the crap out of me. My attitude was not helped by the aforementioned well-concealed potholes full of snowmelt. I did find the first place in Germany that REALLY made me go "What the fuck?" - a bakery that also sells, in addition to its standard fare, tourist junk (okay), alcohol (okay), and a large selection of women's underwear (gah?).

[jirel.livejournal.com]

Beat me to it with the comment about the Passion play.

Your pictures of the Alps reminded me that on my first plane flight to Europe I woke up near the end of it and looked down to see (by chance a fairly clear day in winter!) the Alps from the plane. It was gorgeous!

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

You had a radlermass (spelling is probably teh b0rked, as I haven't had German classes since 1987)? It's a pretty standard drink in southern Germany if memeory serves.

If only Ludwig's advisors had known that some day those castles would be huge tourist attractions bringing people from around the world to stare at them in awe and leave behind money for the privilege.

I love that Exxon stations in Deutschland are still Esso.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

They tend to just call it a "radler", but yes.

And "some day" was not soon enough to pay the bills.

[jerril]

... we still have Esso's all over the place in Canada too. Should I be amazed by this fact?

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Also, they'd have been able to pay off the national debt if they'd just put it into 10% compound interest accounts, rather than getting just enough to *maintain* the freakish things.