Garmisch part 2

That Sunday was the last day of the retreat, but thankfully not our last day at the resort. We paid the extra $50 to stay an extra night. That morning, the kids went back to their activity time as we finished up our retreat and had a re-commitment ceremony with each other. At lunch, we gathered up the kids for a little fun. We tried to head towards a boat ride being offered at Eibsee lake. Unfortunately because of the beautiful weather, i believe every other German in the town and then some were also there to enjoy the crystal blue water. This is something we will have to do when we return because we ended up leaving after waiting in the long line. We grabbed some lunch at the PX instead and pick up a few things from the teeny tiny commissary. My husband also purchased a GPS with all of Europe on it since ours only had the maps of Italy and Greece and we needed it to get home the next day. When we returned to the hotel, we took a short break and came up with a game plan to visit Linderhof Palace, the summer home to Ludwig II. The castle that we wanted to visited was under construction so we couldn't head there. So off to the Palace we went. If you want to see the pictures of this place, you can look here: http://www.schlosslinderhof.de/englisch/palace/history.htm

To say this palace was ornate is an understatement. We traveled a good 30 minutes through the mountains to get to this palace near Ettal Abbey. There is a hotel there, a restaurant and some shops. We walked up the path to the ticket office where my conversation with the ticket lady started in German, flipped to English and then ended in Italian. Apparently it's hard for me to keep the languages all straight. We walked some more to the palace and on the way enjoyed seeing some of the other houses located on the property and the surrounding scenery laid out before us. As we approached the palace, all any of us could say was "Wow". It was as ornate as it could be. The palace itself was small, but it had presence. In front of it stood a fountain that shot high in the area and was surrounded by a colorful array of flowers. If you continued to walk a little further, there was another area with steps that led up to the gazebo and other viewing areas of the palace grounds.

We waited in line for the tour to begin, luckily it was in English. Our guide told us about the eccentric king and how he spent over 8 million marks to build this summer home.  The inside of the palace was opulent, the stucco designed walls painted with a thin layer of 24 carat gold. We started in the vestibule and walked up the stairs to the music and tapestry room. There the tapestries were sealed off so no one could touch or destroy them and the organ seemed to call my daughter's name, wanting her to play it's music. Good thing she didn't because we were not allowed to touch or lean on anything inside the palace. From there we walked through the yellow cabinet room to the audience chamber where the throne of King Ludwig presided. We walked through the pink room only to enter the bed chamber. This was the largest room in the palace and the bed itself was large than a California king but shorter since during that time frame, the beds they made were not long in length. The room had a fireplace and over looked a beautiful man-made waterfall and fountain. The next room led to the dining room where King Ludwig had a table that was lowered to the kitchen, the food placed upon it, and then raised back up to him. Pretty ingenious for a man back then! After that, we passed into another tapestry room with frescoes all over the walls and ceilings. The eyes of the one of the paintings seemed to follow you into the next room. Creepy! The final room was the hall of mirrors. If you stood on the side and looked at the mirrors on the opposite wall, it made the room appear to be endless. No wonder this idea had been used on many home decorating shows. We descended the staircase and were let out through the back entrance that led to the fountain and gardens. From there we traveled uphill to the grotto, a man made cavern in which the King watched performances. Having been in real caverns before, this really was a disappointment. We hiked back down for what seemed like eternity, all downhill so you had to watch your footing. On the way back to the hotel, we opted to make a pitstop for the monk beer and some postcards.

The next day we checked out of the hotel and my only request was do a little shopping. We hit downtown Garmisch where there was a Kathe Wohlfarht store, which if you don't like nutcrackers or have never heard of her you won't understand the significance of the store. First, it's a Christmas store, complete with hand carved and hand painted figurines, ornaments, and most of nutcrackers. In my house, we love and collect nutcrackers. But these are not the $12.99 nutcrackers you'll find at Target or Kohls, no these are more like $50-300 nutcrackers. But they are gorgeous! You can usually find Kathe Wohlfarht products at Christkindlmarkts in the states or you can visit her stores Europe. If you want to check her out online and order somethings, please go to http://www.christmasfromgermany.com/. You won't be disappointed, perhaps shocked, but not disappointed.

We continued shopping in this wonderful little Bavarian village, and as we rounded the street, i found a little pottery shop nestled in the back of the street. It's there that my husband dug back to his archeology roots and began to described the type of pottery i found before me. I was in love and had wait sometime to get some nice pottery pieces. I decided on a large jug of sorts, I suppose it's more like a pot since it has a lid. It's blue with grapes and the words Rumkopft on the front. I have no idea what it means and it doesn't really translate, but I'm guessing it's to hold something of importance, like beer or wine. I hope to return there one day and get some pieces of his pottery.

The rest of the day was spent traveling home and viewing the castle lined landscapes of the Alps. It's a trip i won't soon forget and can't wait to go back again.