Decided that oodles of jewels would provide a lovely focus for the day so we went to the Residenz Museum to see the treasury exhibit that contains lots of jewels and other valuables from various kings, queens, dukes, etc. Wow, what an eyeful (that statement ordinarily requires an exclamation mark, but I cannot figure out how to make that happen on this German keyboard). Silly me, I always thought that when someone was knighted into the Order of the Golden Fleece (yes, that is a very real honor-- seriously) or the Order of St George, or any of several others, that the honoree went through a solemn ceremony and that was that. But no, they also receive some serious jewelry in the form of a large (3 to 4 inches across), jewel encrusted brooch. Diamonds and rubies galore. We saw many of these, all different designs, and they are gorgeous. Also saw quite a few crowns and was amazed at the size of the gems, many very large gems with secondary gems the size of almonds. I could not help thinking about what it would feel like to wear those crowns--they are heavy and awkward, especially the ones that stick up high. I guess it is just not easy being a king or queen.
The sun came out (yay) wo we thoroughly enjoyed the respite from raincoats and umbrellas. Ended up having a late lunch-early dinner at the famous Hofbrauhaus, the ultimate beer hall in Munich. They make a delicious wheat beer--I like the dark variety the best. The place is huge with high arched ceiliings that reflect sound so when the place is full, as it was when we were there (and I suspect it is always full) the noise levels are quite impressive. Add to that a 6-piece oompah band playing traditional Bavarian drinking songs. Add to that several tables singing along with the band, at the top of their lungs while toasting to each other with liter-sized steins of beer. Quite the atmosphere. And this is not even the high season yet. I ordered weiner schnitzel with potato salad and it was fabulous. Oh, and there were young women walking up and down between the tables selling gigantic soft pretzels--those things were the size of dinner plates.
Only one complaint today--one part of traveling that I really dislike is having to do laundry by hand. I sooooo miss my washing machine and dryer at home.
Although not intentionally, we seem to be touring all 3 castles that the mad king Ludwig II built. So the next day we went off on a tour to Linderhof, a small intimate castle in which Ludwig lived for 10 years by himself--no guests, no balls, no public functions. He had a fixation on King Lous XIV of France and so he had this castle built as a very miniature homage to Versailles. Quite interesting, I must admit, but did he really need all that opulence just for his personal, private self? Oh well, it was quite interesting to see. He also built on the property some ancillary things--a grotto, a hunting lodge, and a Moroccan temple thing. I only saw the grotto, which is a quite large cave, complete with stalagmites and stalactites, with a lake inside on which floats a swan boat. The ceiling is festooned with flower garlands, and there is a huge mural painted on a back wall. The whole thing is really a stage set for a Wagner opera. After all, they call Ludwig II the fairy tale king. The grounds are gorgeous with bright gold statues spouting water--all built in the 1880s, which is not all that long ago.
Next stop on the tour was Oberammergau, the town that puts on the internationally famous passion play every ten years. and is known for producing wonderful wood carving, including cuckoo clocks. And we did, indeed, see cuckoo clocks in amazing variety and complexity, but thank goodness I was able to resist buying one. The town is also known for the painted houses--wonderful historic and fairy tale scenes painted on the outside walls of the buildings. I especially liked the trompe l`oil window treatments that make the windows look like they have lots of fancy architectural stuff.
Another day when we barely get ourselves back to the hotel before crashing.
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