Garmisch Day 2-Linderhof Palace

 One of the awesome things about the Bavarian region of Germany is the beautiful castles and palaces that can be found there.  On Day 2 of our trip to Garmisch, we decided to visit the Linderhof Palace.  It was one that I hadn't heard of before, probably due to the fact that the most famous of Europe's castles, Neuschwanstein, tends to overshadow the rest, and is located just down the street.   Like Neuschwanstein, the Linderhof Palace was built by King Ludwig II and it was the only one of his castles or palaces that he actually lived in.  It was also the smallest of all his castles or palaces. He was quite a nut job, to say the least, and you can read about him here. It was obvious as soon as we saw the palace, that its major influence was Versailles. The palace was impressive, but the gardens were amazing! We weren't allowed to take photos inside the palace, but honestly, there really wasn't much to take pictures of inside! The gardens were a different story completely!  

The palace and its fountain

I always love Pansies!

 



    The Palace grounds--the view was breathtaking!

There was even a prayer building that had a Moroccan flair to it

It was extremely gaudy!

 King Ludwig was called the "Swan King", so naturally, there were lots of swans...

I seriously considered having all eight of the children go standrightnexttothisman while he was having his obviously posed vacation photo taken! Can you imagine...

 I loved these vine arbor walkways!

The boys were patient...and maybe a little bored...

Look at how Matt and Jeanne both are
          standing the exact same!

Apparently, King Ludwig was a huge Wagner fan and so he had a special cave constructed on the grounds of the palace so Wagner could come and play his music there in the great acoustics of the cave. After we waited 45 minutes for this tour of the cave that King Ludwig had built for Wagner, the tour ended up being completely in Germany!  The kids have these funny looks on their faces because we are standing in the pitch dark (I couldn't even see them when I was taking this picture) and are listening to a tour in Germany...

Fake cave...how interesting....

All 8 children, and the dads

(This is also the castle where I saw my favorite European sign).  Read the post on my other favorites HERE. 

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