Castle in the Clouds

A long time ago, in an office far away. A secretary had a calendar on her wall. On the calendar was a picture of a magical looking castle. Looking at this each day inspired her to dream big. She read that King Ludwig II had built the castle in Bavaria. Everyone said he was crazy, and maybe he was. He spent years building the castle in the 1800’s pretty much ignoring the people he was supposed to govern.

If you have watched the Disney movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, then you will recognize the castle set in the mythical country of Vulgaria.

The secretary moved on to other jobs. She bought a poster of the castle and hung it on her wall. Her parents even gave her a miniature model of the castle. Everyone knew that she loved the imaginative castle in Bavaria. And finally, one day, many years later she traveled to Bavaria/Germany to see the castle in person.

I hope you are as excited to see the castle as I was! Unfortunately, the day we visited was foggy, so you didn’t have a view of all the spires rising to the sky. Instead, it looked like a castle in the clouds.

We took a horse drawn carriage up the mountain, for those who have lost their hiking legs. Or for those who like carriage rides to castles. Suddenly there it was, with its brilliant red front and majestic grey walls, As I was waiting to enter, I looked over the side of one tall grey wall and there was a magical golden tree, with its leaves strewn upon the ground. Maybe a Linden. We entered through the tower climbing a wide circular staircase with many, many stairs.

Ludwig identified with the legendary Swan Knight from Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, and there were swan motifs throughout the castle. Neuschwanstein means “New Swan Castle.” Ludwig’s artistry is felt throughout the castle.

There was one room built like a rock grotto, yes inside the castle. That was a surprise. It once had a waterfall lit with blue light. It represented the king’s favorite scene from the Wagner opera, Tannhauser. The Singer’s Hall felt more cozy than grand, with an intricate wooden ceiling and a little stage on one end with a forest backdrop painted on the wall. Of course I loved that. The chandeliers would have been filled with candles. His bedroom was gothic style with elaborate wood carvings and murals of the Tristan und Isolde legend.

One whole floor was never finished. He lived there alone for just 172 days before he was arrested and deposed. Drowning in a lake the next day (accident?) at the age of forty. Quite a sad story.

But I still thought it was a magical castle inside and out, even on a cold foggy day.

A Secretary’s dream come true.