Hohenschwangau

Traveling with children has certain demands: Regular access to food and hygenic quarters, for example. Frequent visits to the bathroom--surprisingly unnecessary. Also, children seem to need a goal if they are going to walk for hours on hot dogs and ice cream alone. While all of these things mean traveling with children is more expensive, it has not meant that I no longer get to do my absolute favorite thing, which is to endlessly wander streets, because Stephanie realized that I don't care so much where I go as long as I go, and kids don't mind going as long as they decide where, and so we now travel well together.

One demand made of our European travels is close contact with castles. Ruined, palatial, restored--doesn't matter: driving through Austria and Germany, where every foothill has its own fortress, was satisfying traveling for the kids.

Our one-night detour into Germany was the apotheosis of such travel. Stephanie and the kids had worked for days on a 2000 piece puzzle of Schloß Hohenschwangau, which happened to face one of the world's most recognizable castles, the Neuschwanstein, popularized by Walt Disney through Sleeping Beauty's castle and then more ubiquitously by the Disney logo itself.

Both were richly decorated and preserved and furnished, but in the end, they preferred Schloß Hohenschwangau, because it seemed like a more comfortable place to live. Probably we would need a gardner.



So, Hohenschwangau Castle (above and below) was built by King Maximilian II of Bavaria in the 1830's on the site of what had been a fortress since at least the 12th century. It is imposing and beautiful beneath the mountains and above the Alpen lake, and inside, every room is decorated with a story, some of which can be seen here. The real star of the castle is Maximilian's son, Ludwig II, who spent so lavishly on his castles that he was declared unfit to rule: In 1886, an armed government commission arrived to depose Ludwig, but they were beaten back by a 47 year-old baroness and her umbrella.





On the other hill, of course, was one of Ludwig's biggest projects, the Neuschwanstein Castle. Though he never actually lived in this castle, it was clearly an intimate, fantastical dream, and remains so.

Like his father's hunting lodge across the valley, each room had a themed mural, in this case, devoted to operas by Richard Wagner. The rooms are over the top. There is even a hallway plastered to resemble a cave. If you want the tour yourself, Bavaria has thoughtfully provided this webtour so you don't have to get a teaching Fulbright and an autumn holiday and a car and a ticket (or you can just click Grotto and Conservatory if you want even less). Just remember, since you won't have the firsthand experience yourself, if you have to choose to live in one castle or the other, choose the other castle, as my children have done.

Remaining pictures attest to the beauty of the surrounding area, as well as that of my family.