Lonnie and Bob in Europe: Paul's Trip (Day 5) Chiemsee, Buch, Germany, Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Our fifth day with Paul was a busy and a fun adventure. We headed out bright and early for Chiemsee, a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany. There are three main islands on the lake. On the largest island, Herrenchiemsee, is an incredible palace built by King Ludwig II in 1878, that was meant to be a replica of the Palace of Versailles in France, but it was never completed. The weather was perfect. We took a boat over and enjoyed the surrounding countryside.

We walked around the grounds, which were also never completed, but we thought that the fountains and statuaries were magnificent.

Then on to the palace.

Ludwig wanted the New Palace to be an equivalent to the Palace of Versailles in Paris. It was designed by Christian Jank, Franz Seitz, and Georg van Dollmann and built between 1878 and 1885. A total of 16,579,674 Marks was spent constructing Herrenchiemsee (approximately $125,400,000.)

Ludwig wanted to pay tribute to the "sun king," Louis XIV. The rooms in the palace are very extravagant in the French rococo style. The furniture and decorations are exquisite with frescos on the ceiling. Ludwig only slept in this bed for only one night. The sad story tells that Bavarian leaders conspired to remove Ludvig II from office and declare him insane. He was captured and taken to a mansion on Lake Starnberg where he and his doctor were found floating dead on the lake. n the following year, all construction work discontinued, and the building was opened for the public. In 1923 Crown Prince Rupprecht gave the palace to the State of Bavaria.
We could not take pictures inside the palace, so here are a few interior shots off the Internet.

Ludwig built this grand mirrored hall with chandeliers that held 2,000 candles. It was never used except for one night when he invited only one person. That was the musician, Richard Wagner, who played a private concert for him.

This is the guest bedroom.

After we left the palace, we walked around the grounds toward the old church and monastery. Can you imagine walking out your front door to this view of the lake?

These are Sycamore trees that are prunee back to nothing in the fall. It is fun to watch them grow. They are the last trees to get their leaves in the spring, but by fall they have some of the largest leaves I have ever seen.

Paul discovered an old well, and we took a photo of the plants growing down inside it.

This was an old and beautiful Church next to a monastery that dated from the 1640's.

We walked through the beautiful countryside and back down to the dock to catch our boat back. What a lovely morning.

We left these beautiful blue shores and drove to the farmland of Buch, Germany We could not let Paul go home without experiencing a reenactment of a Middle Ages Festival, where German families dress up, play medieval games, sing medieval songs, sell their wares, and pitch their tents all decked out in medieval style.

Lonnie was taken into this "confessional tent" to repent of her sins with these two "priests." They asked her in German if she ever did anything wrong when she was young. She said no, so they just blessed her and let her go on her merry way.

On the way home we stopped at Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a wonderful walled city. The name "Rothenburg ob der Tauber" means, in German, "Red fortress above the Tauber". This is so because the town is located on a plateau overlooking the Tauber River. As to the name "Rothenburg", some say it comes from the German words Rot (Red) and Burg (burgh, medieval fortified town), referring to the red colou of the roofs of the houses which overlook the river.