Sunday, December 15th was our final full day on this trip. We decided to head down to Garmisch -Partenkirchen, a Bavarian ski town in the Alps.
Our first stop was Linderhof Palace, the smallest of three palaces built by crazy King Ludwig II. It was the only one of the three palaces that was finished before he died. Built between 1863 and 1886, it was small and very, very Baroque.
Back in the day, it was a six hour journey from Munich, which the King did once a month for either ten days or 14 days at a time. He much preferred this small country palace to the big city life in Munich. The palace was an homage to Louis XIV of France, who then had the real power over Bavaria.
We had an hour to kill before the next English tour, so we traipsed through the snow, and I climbed up the ice-covered stairs of a grotto.
Alas, no pictures are allowed inside (I took two in the front room before the "no pictures" policy was allowed. The palace is striking -- my favorite room was the mirror hall, but it's all pretty stunning.
The way the mirrors are aligned in that room, it looks like the room goes on forever, as the reflections of the reflections go on for ever.
The tour guide was funny, interesting, and not much of a leader. Of course, it's a small palace, so moving the group around wasn't easy, especially as the "English" was full of people for whom English is, at best, a second language, so people didn't really know what she was saying, ignored admonitions to be quiet, and took pictures with their phones.
Walking in a winter wonderland.
This was taken from the same spot as
the photo above it -- and with the
same lens. Best travel camera
ever -- thanks Pierre for the rec!
Roughly translated, the Latin means,
"I'm King, and I'm better than you are."
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