Monday, September 27, 2010

Neuschwanstein Castle......let's start the week off without politics.........okay, for only a few hours, anyway!



The original Disney Castle! A Swan and wonderful views, taken by Mr. Z's daughter in Germany the other day.............There's still a lot of beauty in this world!
z

25 comments:

sue said...

z - A place we always took the family when they visited. Although I couldn't do so now, we always walked up the long, widing road to get there.

What a beautiful, spectacular castle. The best of the three that mad King Ludvig built.

sue said...
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sue said...
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Z said...

Sue, would you believe that all the times I lived in Germany, and all the times we traveled throughout that gorgeous country, I never saw this place in person!?
I did stand at the lake side where King Ludwig killed himself...that was pretty moving...just a peaceful lake with gorgeous trees, it was Autumn and the leaves were splendid and Mr. Z said "That's where Ludwig and his doctor died.." It's said now that it was murder, but who knows!?

Ducky's here said...
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Ducky's here said...

I'd probably pick Krakow. Surprising that a student of Renaissance art wouldn't pick the Uffizi in Florence but Krakow has some absolutely nonpareil works.

1. The Wawel tapastries

2. The Veit Stoss carved altar railing in St. Mary's church.

3. Leanardo's "Lady with an Ermine" which is simply spectacular. Looted during the war, it was recovered with a boot print on it and restored.

I've bee around a bit but it was a city the stuck with me.

sue said...

z- Neuschwanstein was the first of the three famous castles that Ludwig built. Although N. was the most spectacular, Schloss Linderhof, the smallest, was very ornate and outstanding, with a small castle, gardens, terraces, a grotto where I believe Wagner was performed, a peacock room and other such amazing things.

Herrenchiemsee is a large palace in the middle of a lake - lavish, and not to be outdone by the other two.

Google helped refresh my memory. If I had only seen Ludwig's three castles while we were in Germany, and nothing else, it still would have been worth it.

Was he mad? Perhaps, but his legacy leaves doubt. Maybe bipolar.

Z said...

Ducky, I'd have liked to have seen Krakow but I probably won't...I saw a LOT of Europe and, especially, France and Germany. Germany has absolutely gorgeous sites almost anywhere you look..except most of Frankfurt, which is what most AMericans see because of the major int'l airport, sadly!
I'd have liked to have seen Dbrovnik before their wars.

Sue, I have seen the beautiful and tiny Schlos Linderhof...
As you know the whole Starnbergersee is absolutely beautiful, with new, gorgeous chalets all around it, too...new homes are built very respectfully so's not to block other views and look like eyesores, too...

FrogBurger said...

Wonderful. Reminds me a book my grandma got me as a kid. The castle was in it. I was fascinated by the castle.

Beverly said...

Beautiful, Z. I would love to visit Europe again. I didn't make it to Germany the first (only) time.

I'm in California right now, in the Sacramento area visiting a fellow blogger. We went to San Francisco on Thursday and Lake Tahoe on Saturday...being lazy today. I wish I were closer to you.

Ducky's here said...

Yeah, Dubrovnik before the war, e too.

cube said...

I hear ya! I'm often overwhelmed by the nincompoop political news of the day and I, too, choose to do something else. Today we are in synchronicity.

Anonymous said...

Castles fascinate me; in this case, which appears to be a domestic castle, one wonders about the practical purpose of the keep … does anyone know?

Anonymous said...

Wonderful Z, and kudos to Ms.Z for these terrific pics and the ones on your Sunday Faith post.

It's obvious she has her Dad's talent for capturing beauty.

Z, would you believe in all the years my folks lived in New York, they never made it to the Statue of Liberty?

We all do that. We mean to go, but somehow, we just don't get it done.

Pris

Z said...

Mustang, your ancestors all had castles, no wonder you're drawn to them!
The purpose? Luxury, safety, ....nobody could climb those high walls easily!

FB, I loved to see so many of the French chateaux, too..just beautiful!

Cube, but yours is so sad!

Z: that's right, Pris. I haven't ever been to CATALINA, for goodness sake (no particular desire, either, of course :-)
Nor have I seen the Grand Canyon (ditto on desire), not that that's as close to us as Catalina is, but you don't meet foreigners who've come to AMerica and not seen the Grand Canyon! They look at you like you have an extra eye when you tell them what you haven't seen in your own countrY!

cube said...

Sad, but true. I found it quite ironic.

Castles...I would have a hard time not thinking about Frankenstein and Dracula. As a result, I woundn't get a good night's sleep. Find me the nearest hotel.

Trekkie4Ever said...

I used to live in Germany and I regret not visiting this place!! How sad for me.

It is breathtaking!

Anonymous said...

Z, our parents were going to take us to Catalina when were children, but, my sister became very ill and we couldn't go. We never did.

I've never set foot on Catalina, but have fished about a couple miles off Catalina. Still haven't been there. The fishing was pretty good though.

Pris

Ducky's here said...

Hey, z, hot enough for you today.

A little more of this global warming and you'll think you're visiting Riyadh.

WomanHonorThyself said...

wow how bootiful Z..thanks!

Z said...

Ducky, these are the first hot days LA's had, really.......maybe we had four days like this all summer, very weird.
Thankfully, I have AC and it's not TOO bad, but I"m really physically busy doing a lot of stuff today so you feel warm in spite of the AC.
Riyadh is right.

Greywolfe said...

evening Z, I went to and Schloss Linderhoff, and Several other castles throughout Germany when I was there in 1990. There's an interesting story about Neuschwanstein. It was never finished. I believe that Mad King Ludwig nearly bankrupted the country just building it. I believe that only 3 floors inside were completed.

The building of the castle pissed off the other muckity mucks because just across the valley is his father's castle that was built only 60 years before. Still had the new castle smell.

He was forced to retire to shloss linderhoff, where he "accidentally" drowned with his doctor in roughly 6 inches of water.

I'll give the Germans this, they know how to do ostentatious better than any other folk I've ever seen.

Z said...

Greywolfe, they also do class and dignity better than most people do.

FrogBurger said...

A little more of this global warming and you'll think you're visiting Riyadh.

It's been unusually cool this summer, Kwaky.
It's getting colder in Siberia too. So global warming is a bunch of crap.

Neuschwanstein castle Bavaria Germany said...

Nice pics. I have always excited to see Neuschwanstein castle for so many years. It was stunningly beautiful as I have expected, just like a castles in fairy tale. We didn't spent more time in the castle but I wish next time I would surely spent whole day in it. We also get amazing shots of the fantastic views of the castle. It is the only place in Germany which I always would like to see and explore.