Day: March 15, 2007

Last week Anna and I had the pleasure of hosting my parents for 9 days. During their visit here, we decided to escort them around to five countries: Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In this entry, we will take you to the castle homes of King Ludwig II, the location of the Sound of Music, and the childhood home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Finally, we will finish with the beautiful city of Munich (or München in German) where we had lunch at one of the most famous beer halls.
So, with that overview, off we go…
Once we picked up my parents at the Frankfurt Airport, early in the morning I might add, we drove the few hours to the mysterious and oft visited home of the 19th century Bavarian King Ludwig II.
This is the castle that was his childhood home.

Here is my princess overlooking the castle.

We began the day with a tour of the first castle, Hohenschwangau. This was the summer home of King Maximilian II (Ludwig’s father). Literally translated, it means Castle of the High Swan County and not surprisingly, the swan is its symbol. Maximilian discovered ruins on the current site (of a castle Napoleon had destroyed several decades previously) and had it rebuilt in the neo-gothic style.

When King Ludwig II was faced with domestic problems, he turned to fanciful dreams of a new castle. After Bavaria’s defeat by Prussia in 1866, Ludwig was no longer the sovereign ruler of Bavaria. He looked upon the hills overlooking Hohenschwangau and imagined a better, more realistic medieval castle. This would be a place he could be a real king…

The outside is truly spectacular. The castle was begun in 1869 and construction continued for nearly 20 years. Unfortunately, the king only had the opportunity to live there for less than 2 years (1884-86), before he passed away. Even then, the inside was less than a third complete. But, less than two months later, the castle was opened to the public and has been an immensely popular tourist destination ever since. Over four and a half million people visit the castle each year. Since we came in the off-season, the lines were relatively short.
This bridge behind the castle is not only pretty, but offers a gorgeous panorama of the Neuschwanstein Castle.



After our visit to the fairy tale king, we drove south to the village of Garmish.

Then, out to dinner at a very traditional Bavarian restaurant (at least we thought it was traditional). Here’s a nice image of my parents.



Then, just over the border into Austria and the home of the “Sound of Music.” The movie was one of my mother’s favorites when she was a girl, so we decided to spend the afternoon seeing where the movie was filmed throughout the city and surrounding countryside. It also afforded us a convenient way to see the city and area.
We began with the courtyard where Maria and the children learned the Do-Re-Me song. This statue wasn’t in the movie, but another one like it was.

This is that same courtyard.

This is the abbey where Maria lived before she lived with the Von Trapp family.

Speaking of the Von Trapps, this was the outside of their house in the movie. All of the interior scenes in the movie were shot on a set in Hollywood, and the rest were shot in Salzburg and the surrounding areas.

This gazebo used to be on the same grounds, but was moved to a nearby park when too many people were sneaking onto the property to see the site of the “sixteen going on seventeen” song. Of course, the same people also wanted to jump from bench to bench, just like the movie. That resulted in many broken glass panes and some broken bones.

This is another castle in the area. This one is actually just a private residence.

These are where the hills are alive with the sound of music. Unlike the movie though, this is actually a 30 minute drive away from Salzburg.

Here’s another random location. This is the world headquarters of the energy drink company, Red Bull. Apparently, when the hills are alive with the sound of music, it also gives you wings…

If you’ve seen the movie, you will recognize this village from the opening scene.

This is the inside of the church that the baron and Maria were married in.


Since no visit to Salzburg would be complete without some homage to its most famous son, we decided to see a dinner concert playing Mozart’s music (complete with a quintet and a pair of opera singers).

The 18th century ballroom in which it was performed was also quite lovely.

The next day was to Munich. On the way, we also stopped by Dachau. Unfortunately, we don’t have any images, but just being there was a very powerful experience. If you are not familiar with the name, it was one of the first concentration camps of WWII. While it was much smaller than some others like Auschwitz in Poland, with only 32,000 killed, it was a training ground for many others. We were very impressed that this monument exists. Many cultures want to erase any black marks on their history. In this case, it’s a tribute to the German culture. By not letting these atrocities slip out of the collective culture, they hope to prevent it from happening again.
After our sobering visit, we made our way into downtown Munich to take in the sights. Marienplatz is the main square. In it, there is the Grand Glockenspiel.


When lunchtime came around, we decided to try the most famous beer
hall in the world, the Hofbräuhaus. As you can see, it’s quite large (can accommodate up to 3,000 people at a time) and has been in operation since 1607.

The tables close to the music were also for regulars. So, if you go and want to sit close to the entertainment, don’t be surprised if one of the regulars joins you at the table.

The music was lots of fun and very lively.

The main attraction here though is the Munich beer, and it is served in copious amounts.

Then, it was back in the car for our drive home. It was a great start to the visit. We took several more trips while my parents were here. I will cover those in the next post. So, until then…
–Jim