After visiting Neuschwanstein and the Hohenschwangau castles, we went back to Füssen, got in our car and headed to Linderhof Castle, about an hour away. We figured we could get there just before closing. The drive took us through a corner of Austria. It was such a beautiful drive through woods on a narrow winding road along a river and the Plansee (lake). The world here is so beautiful. I kept thinking that I hope my place in heaven looks a lot like this. The leaves are turning gold with some rust here and there. We drove by lakes and through mountains and woods.
The kids were exhausted. We learned that King Ludwig spent a lot of time at this castle because it was finished before Neuschwanstein. He’d travel by train or carriage between the two castles.
This is what the property looks like–the visitor’s center is on the left.
Walking from the visitor’s center to the castle:
So I was thinking that this was going to be a mountain lodge type castle, but this one was not that. It was a French Maison Mansion Castle with beautiful symmetric gardens. We made it with 5 minutes to spare for the last tour of the day, and we were the only ones, so the guide did the tour in English for us, which was nice. We had the place to ourselves. We got to see one floor. Ludwig II built this castle in about 4 years, while also building the big Schloss. It was very extravagant, with some over-the-top rooms. One with mirrors and chandeliers.
He had a “magic table” that the servants could fill with food downstairs, then pull up into place upstairs so he didn’t have to deal with the servants. The lower (first floor) was where the servants worked. The kitchen was down there. There were porcelains from China and France, ivory from Africa. Look it up and see the opulence. Really, it was amazing.
Afterwards we had enough light to see the gardens and climb way up to the top of one of the gardens with a little gazebo temple on top. All symmetrical and beautiful. Everything here was original. It was really fun to see.
Again, it was hard (and a bit of a relief) not to be allowed to take photos inside. Here’s a look at the beautiful grounds:
Looking down into the kitchen on the main floor from an outside window. The entire ground floor was used by the servants and helpers. Ludwig stayed upstairs.
By the end of the day we were all pretty tired. Castles don’t have elevators, so we went up and down dozens of staircases today. I laughed when this meme popped up in my feed:
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 