Dale & Laurel's Adventures: Munchen continued

The next day we saw castles. Ludwig II of Bavaria was the region's own fairy tale King. Inheriting the throne at 18, he tended to ignore the responsibilities of his position and spent most of his energy on the creation of three castles. First we visited Schloss Hohenschwangau which King Ludwig inherited and where he spent

a large part of his childhood. From here he built Schloss Neuschwanstein in its beautiful, romantic mountain setting. An inspiration for past Disney classics, it was here that he was dethroned in 1886, shortly after which he died in mysterious circumstances. We only got to see the finished parts, which were still remarkable. Afterwards we visited Schloss Linderhof. This was the only palace Ludwig II completed and actually lived in and comes complete with the Venus Grotto.

http://www.tompgalvin.com/places/de/bayern/koenigschlosser.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_II_of_Bavaria

And, seeing as we were in Bavaria, we decided to check out some cuckoo clocks. Here is a lovely website.
http://www.mycuckooclocks.com/hones.html

And then for some darker history. The next day we went to the Dachau Memorial Site. It wasn't as horrific as I had imagined it would be - instead I would call it educational. We spent four hours there and came away exhausted with much food for thought. It is well worth the trip.

http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauScrapBook/

But one cannot

end one's day on such a somber note, so we visited one more castle. Schloss Nymphenburg was the summer residence of the Bavarian electors and kings. It was here that Ludwig was born on 25 August 1845. The grounds and gardens are extensive and absolutely gorgeous as is the palace itself. One would need a full day to walk the whole thing.

So, now I am back in Cyprus, and Dale is off following the airplane around the world again. Hope this finds you all healthy and happy and