A.D.M. Was Here: Bavaria (Munich and Ludwig’s Castles)

Yep, a lame wingtip photo.

After my would-be adventures in Italy with my fellow law students, I flew solo from Rome to Munich. I spent the first night wandering on foot for a few hours.

Marienplatz

Munich 03

The next morning, I headed off to Dachau to visit the concentration camp. Like the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam, the entire experience was rather somber. Going into the gas chambers gave me an unexpected chill. It’s a creepy space to walk through and I did it backwards, first seeing the room where they incinerated the bodies, then walking into the “shower” room where they murdered all those people and finally seeing the slots outside through which they dropped the gas canisters.

Incinerator.

Gas chamber.

Gas canister drop slots.

“Work makes [you] free.” Right.

After being thoroughly depressed, I went back to Munich and I met some random-ish people at an Italian restaurant and went to a club which, again, added to my theory that many Europeans dance funny (not that I’m a great dancer by any means). Don’t really have any photos of that night, except this thing posted outside of the underground club we went into.

Pretty sure I took this photo only because my friend’s last name is Herr.

On day two, I went on a tour to see Ludwig II’s castles.

Bavaria 01

Apparently, the (virgin) Bavarian King idolized the kings and emperors of the past who weren’t figureheads but had, more or less, absolute power. Trying to create the same sense of power for himself, Ludwig basically spent all of Bavaria’s money to build magnificent castles. The first of these castles I saw was Linderhof.

Linderhof. Man, my camera/photography skills suck.

If I remember correctly, Linderhof is actually where Ludwig lived for a time. We went through the various rooms, including one with a disappearing dumb-waiter Ludwig used to have food sent to him in a manner which allowed him to avoid human contact. Allegedly, the waitstaff set meals for four people and the king spoke to imaginary people.

After Linderhof and a pit stop in some random village (where I had some Ferraro Rocher gelato), the tour set off to see the main attraction: Neuschwanstein. I’ve been told that the aesthetics of Disney’s iconic castle, with its various towers and spires, were based on Neuschwanstein (the resemblance is pretty obvious).

Neuschwanstein 01

A couple of Spanish-speaking women from the tour and I were late to the bus because we were compelled to hike to the spot where we’d get the best angle to take a photo of the castle (though it was slightly besmirched by the scaffolding). Worth it.

Neuschwanstein 02

Before flying back to London on my third day in Germany, I ate at Augustiner Bierhalle (again) and took the public transport over to Nymphenburg Palace for a few photos.

Augustiner Bierhalle