A Trip, A Rant, and Some Photos

The bus left at 0200 Saturday morning. This, of course, meant that I had to wake up at 0100, which is not quite 3 hours later than I usually go to bed. On this day it was after about 4.5 hours of sleep.

When I got onto the bus I was still a little groggy and was wondering whether this was such a good idea after all. Greg had told me that I shouldn’t have any hesitation. “Go”, he said, ”I wouldn’t give it a moments thought. Just do it!” At 2 O’clock in the morning I certainly didn’t feel quite like I was in a Nike commercial, but I got on the bus. At this hour I was too tired to even swear under my breath at Greg. Oh yeah, not surprisingly, I was the last one onto the bus.

The bus trip was without incident. I was uncomfortable and could not sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time, but the ride was pretty much what I had anticipated. We stopped for breakfast around 0715. It was at a rest area off of the Autobahn. Although it probably wouldn’t have been my first choice, it was OK. I had some fruit salad, a couple of small sausages, and some much needed coffee. Then we got back onto the bus. The lady told us that we could expect another hour, or so, on the bus. Surprisingly I fell asleep immediately. I awoke about 45 minutes later and the landscape was green and almost lush, and when the bus was at the correct angle I could see snow capped mountains in the distance.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was in Bavaria. I was on a bus trip to see two of the more famous castles in Germany. Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Bavaria is certainly a pretty area, and the Kings who built these castles certainly had an eye for where to put them. They are both up a little ways into the hillside, and the views from each are just phenomenal. We were told that Walt Disney modeled the castle at Disney World after Neuschwanstein. And although I won’t bore you with the historical details (most of which I’d probably get wrong anyway), I will tell you that the Neuschwanstein castle is certainly one, if not the, largest wastes of resources that I have ever witnessed in my life.

Don’t get me wrong. The tour is very much worth taking, and I may even be convinced to come back. The murals inside the castles are simply spectacular, and they alone would be worth a trip back, if I could spend more time viewing them (since it’s a guided tour you only get so much time in each room). The castles are fantastic, and beautiful, and almost everything that castles should be, which includes being an enormous waste of resources (at the time of their construction). I do not think that it is wasteful now for them to restore the castles or preserve them or to make money off of tourism. That is just a small saving grace of the whole useless endeavor.

Now I’m no communist, and am not going to launch into some “Fanfare for the Common Man”, but this thing is a colossal waste! After a number of years the people of Bavaria finally realized this for themselves, because Koenig Ludwig II dies under mysterious circumstances and all construction was stopped. It remains stopped today (the third floor of a four story castle is still unfinished). And I say bravo! Don’t finish it!

For those of you who think that I am retreating from my Capitalist roots and turning into some kind of Euro-weenie socialist, before you render judgment upon me please allow me to say this one thing, “…no I’m not.”

If this was Bill Gates’ or Donald Trump’s castle, I could applaud it. O sure, I may still believe that it is wasteful from a purely utilitarian standpoint, but I could still applaud him because it would have been paid for by him, with his own money, not some King who could just tax his people until it pleased him.

And to make matters worse this Ludwig idiot had two more castles being built at the same time. He was trying to live his life in a fantasy land that was based on the operas of Richard Wagner. The murals on the castle walls were of scenes from Wagner’s operas. As soon as he became the King, Ludwig sent for Wagner and had him write several operas for him.

This would have all been well and good except that it was being paid for by the people of Bavaria. He even had a simulated cave passage in between rooms in the castle. It was supposed to be the passageway from one of Wagner’s operas. It was really just a big child’s house, with pictures on the walls from his favorite stories, passageways between rooms from other stories. The whole deal kind of gives me the creeps.

And the unkindest cut of all … the worst thing about the whole Wagnerian operatic theme of the entire place, was that I didn’t even see one reference, not even an homage, not one picture dedicated to what is perhaps the most famous and enduring of Wagner’s creations…

I’m talking about one of the greatest works ever by Chuck and Mel … yes, it’s the “Kill da Wabbit” scene.

They now say that he was supposedly a reclusive poet, and that he preferred his fantasy world that he had built. And as he became more and more reclusive, he wasn’t doing his job as King of Bavaria (although he was not the true leader of the country, it was some type of constitutional monarchy or something, but he did have some duties and they weren’t getting done).

Well I say, “Bollocks!” This guy was a whack-job. He was the Michael Jackson of the 1800’s! Can you just imagine Michael Jackson being king (as opposed to just a queen)? He’s already spent all of his own money, but now they let him just tax us to pay for his next psychotic whim. The government (or someone, I forget) had him declared insane and he was called to Munich. Where, a few days later, both he and his psychiatrist end up getting fished out of some lake. Oops … they must have drowned. How unfortunate.

Of course this only goes to prove that… “Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”


All that being said, it was a good trip. We hiked up some serious hillsides and drank some good Bavarian Bier. And even though we returned 24 hours after we started, it was cheaper than it would have been if I had driven myself. And the additional 1.5 hours to go 15 kilometers near Wurzburg would have just killed me, if I had been driving.

Anyway, here are some pictures… and there’s more on the Flickr page.