Trip to Germany: Zugspitze and Linderhoff (Day 3)

The following day we left Munich and drove south to Zugspitze, which is Germany's highest peak. We took a train up to the top of the mountain and even had to take a further gondola to get up to the topmost peak.

My two beautiful friends!

It was fun to get a look at the picturesque countryside and mountains while we rode on the train.

We at lunch at the top of the peak and then rode back down to our car. We considered going to Neuschwanstein Castle afterward, but we ultimately decided that would be too much driving and we wouldn't get to see very much before closing time. Instead, we went to Schloss Linderhof (Linderhof Palace) which was closer and on the way back to Munich. I think that this was a better decision ultimately, since we could this site was actually used as a residence used by King Ludwig II. Ludwig identified with the Bourbon kings of France, and accordingly the imagery references Louis XIV and Versailles. Ludwig II was also a huge admirer of the musician Richard Wagner (to the point of an unhealthy obsession, I think), and several of the structures and spaces in the park were made to depict or reference aspects of Wagnerian operas (although unfortunately we weren't able to visit the Grotto when we were there, which is decorated with illustrations from a Wagner opera). There even was an organ that was placed in the palace which Wagner played when he came to visit.

The large tree next to the lower rampart in the garden (in the middle ground on the left) is the 300-year-old linden tree which gives the palace its name.

Probably the structure that I found most interesting was the Moorish Kiosk on the palace grounds. The kiosk was created for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867 - I looked to see if the kiosk was depicted in Manet's painting of the event, but I don't see it. Eventually, the structure was purchased by Ludwig in 1876.