Mad Ludwig's magical creations |
The Trip We took a bus tour to visit two famous castles in the mountains nearby. King Ludwig II of Bavaria built both in the late 19th century. There's a third castle, Herrenchiemsee, on the other side of Munich. The photos
Memorable Moments To get the photo of Neuschwanstein, I had to hike across a steep path to the Marienbrucke, a narrow bridge with creaky planks that spans a 300 foot high gorge. Once you get there, the picture is easy. As we boarded our bus at Neuschwanstein, our guide explained that a memorial service was taking place in the restaurant. The deceased was a minor royalty, some kind of local prince or something. The restaurant door opened and out popped a young priest in a plain brown robe. Very austere. He walked over to a brand new BMW sports car, hopped in, and sped away. Our tourguide, Charlie, was an amazingly engaging fellow. He asked each group where they were from, and then demonstrated a thorough knowledge of their home countries and customs. In the middle of the tour he walked down the aisle and recited out loud our homes. When he arrived at us, he carefully said "Texas". Not the United States, not America. He conversed easily in English and French, of course, but also spoke idomatic Spanish to a group from Mexico, and seemed to handle Japanese quite well also. Charlie did get on my nerves, though, with his heavy handed prodding to buy souvenirs in Oberammergau. The tour bus dropped us off at a particular store. Shortly afterwards we walked across the street to a different store. Charlie came over quickly and tried to convince us that the other store had better quality merchandise. No telling how much he makes on kickbacks!
Email me at kermit@lancasterteam.com © 2004 Kermit Lancaster |
