Bavaria, more than fairytale castles

Road trip to Lindau

For anyone who'd like to take the same trip, here's the detailed itinerary with all the stops and daily km:

December 28: Milan - Lindau, with a brief stop in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Night in Lindau - approx 330 km December 29: Lindau - Schwangau. Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein Castles. Night in Schwangau - approx 100 km December 30: Linderhof Castle, Ettal Monastery, Oberammergau, Wieskirche, Füssen. Night in Schwangau - approx 110 km December 31: Romantische Strasse: Landsberg am Lech, Augsburg. Night in Augsburg - approx 95 km January 1: Romantische Strasse: Donauwörth, Harburg schloss, Nordlingen, Dinkelsbühl. Night near Rothenburg ob der Tauber - approx 160 km January 2: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nuremberg. Night in Munich - approx 250 km January 3: Munich January 4: Munich January 5: Herrenchiemsee Castle and return to Milan - approx 590 km

Some practical tips: We found that most pensions, small hotels and restaurants don't accept credit cards, so bring cash. You can book hotels/pensions on your own since almost all have email and don't require a credit card number or anything, except in big cities like Augsburg or Munich. Try to learn the names of some basic dishes of Bavarian cuisine so you can make sense of things when the menus aren't translated into foreign languages, which is very often... Bavarians are mostly very friendly and warm, learn a few words, including the typical greeting "Gruss Gott" (when you enter a place), it will be much appreciated! It's better to go to dinner early, around 8 pm, since many places close early and at a certain hour they stop serving food. This is a trip you can take in any season, each gives a different atmosphere and totally different landscapes.

In winter it's certainly very evocative with landscapes blanketed in fresh snow, but there are some limitations regarding castle visits: all the outdoor statues are wrapped up to protect them from the frost, and the gardens, which in summer are a marvel for the eyes, in winter are obviously all covered in a thick blanket of snow. Also the roads can be icy, so transfers are slower.

And here's the story... On December 28 when we leave Milan it's raining, what a shame! I had been told that the road to Lindau was very beautiful... maybe we'll be lucky and it will improve... and no! It gets worse! At Chiasso we're buried in snow and we drive at 60 km/h. Well, we're already immersed in the Bavarian atmosphere! It snows until the San Bernardino tunnel, in Switzerland, the landscape should be stunning but we can only make out the pines heavy with snow along the roadside. Some cars have trouble going straight and skid! Good thing we put on snow tires, I strongly recommend them if you intend to go to Bavaria in winter, they're very effective, in fact we never had to put on chains. Anyway, after the San Bernardino tunnel we find dry road and can proceed at a slightly faster pace. We make a brief stop in the Principality of Liechtenstein, the fourth smallest nation in Europe.

In Vaduz, the capital, there's nothing to see except the castle perched on the mountainside. We settle for a photo, our destination is beyond... We eat at McDonald's, I'm almost ashamed to say it, unfortunately it's the only place that shows any signs of life in this deserted town! We continue the journey and arrive in Lindau around 3:30 pm. The location is stunning, on Lake Constance, some swans are trapped in the frozen lake and struggle to reach the water that has remained liquid under the bridge connecting the mainland to Lindau Insel, the peninsula where the historic center is located. We go straight to the hotel (Pension Seerose, €65 for a double with breakfast) to drop off our luggage and go out well bundled up for a tour of the town.

It's around 4 pm and it will soon be dark, we need to hurry! Luckily the center is tiny and we quickly see all the points of interest: the Rathaus (town hall) richly decorated with frescoes, the main pedestrian street with its colorful houses, the beautiful little harbor with the lighthouse and the lion statue, symbol of Bavaria. In the background, the snowy mountains around the lake make the scenery very evocative.

It's 5 pm and it's already dark, so we decide to go drink a beer and duck into the first brewery we come across, on the harbor: the Mar Mor Saal. The place, very spacious, furnished with warm colors, has an enormous crystal chandelier hanging over the tables and the counter carved out of a church altar, it's a bit unusual! Everything's fine until the waitress brings the tray with the glasses of beer, and practically pours it all over me! A little disaster on my down jacket, luckily there's a radiator nearby! There, my down jacket has been christened by beer! Not bad...

Later, in the evening we go to dinner at the Weinstube Frey, a restaurant located in a building from 1560, it's very nice and we eat the first typical dishes of the trip! After dinner we take a couple of steps outside, there's not a soul, it looks like a ghost town! At this point we go back to the afternoon brewery, but we realize that on the upper floor, there's another place from which two foreign girls are coming out staggering, they strongly advise us to go in there before getting into a taxi! We go up the stairs and enter the place, the Nana Lounge, and that's when we discover that the whole town is gathered here! We burst into a good laugh! So if you end up in Lindau and are looking for a place to go for a drink after dinner, you're forced to go to the Nana Lounge! Ethnic decor, little tables, cushions, sofas, drapes, windows with a view of the lake, underground/dance music mixed by

a black DJ in a camel-colored coat, with a black beanie and white sneakers, an interesting look!... Before midnight we're in bed...

Discovering Ludwig's castles

After breakfast we set off toward Schwangau, a small village near Füssen where the most famous castle in the world is located: Neuschwanstein (it takes practice to pronounce it correctly, so every now and then I'll call it the "white castle", even though it's actually light gray). The landscape we drive through already immerses us in a fairy-tale atmosphere, it snowed recently, everything around us is white. We drive along the Deutsche Alpenstrasse, which I recommend; in some places the panorama is almost unreal and we stop every five minutes to take photos. And so between the photo breaks and the snow on the road, it takes us two hours to do 70 km! As a result we also miss the reservation we had made to pick up the castle tickets.

Luckily at the Ticket Center, which is below Hohenschwangau Castle (which I'll call the "yellow castle" for the same reasons as above), there's no line and we get our 4 King's Tickets at €15 each that allow visits to both castles on the same day. Actually, the King's Ticket isn't really a great deal: it only saves €1 compared to the total price of the two tickets! Another condition, the first castle you visit is the yellow one, that is, the castle of Ludwig II's parents (Crown Prince Maximilian II and Princess Marie of Prussia).

This castle is visited by far fewer people than the more famous Neuschwanstein but in my opinion it shouldn't be overlooked for several reasons: 1- to get there it takes an easy uphill walk of just 10 minutes (or the horse-drawn carriage for the lazy), 2- from there you enjoy a magnificent view of Lake Alpsee and the white castle, 3- it's the castle where the young king spent his entire childhood and adolescence keeping an eye on the construction of his castles. In fact, in one room, there's a pair of binoculars pointed at Neuschwanstein Castle. Especially worthy of attention is his bedroom, richly decorated with frescoes depicting the story of Tristan and Isolde, the ceiling is painted with a starry sky; from this we already sense the king's very romantic nature.

After the visit, which lasts about 25 minutes, we go back down near the Ticket Center and get in line to take a carriage up to the white castle, which is much further away. The leaflet they give at the tourist office indicates a 40-minute walk and since it's starting to snow we'd like to stay dry. Unfortunately the line is rather long and the carriages that come are very few, we risk missing the time of our visit, so we decide to go up on foot. At a good pace it takes less than 25 minutes to the castle entrance, so it's very doable! The carriage ride costs €2.50 each and you'll probably take the same time. Once at the top, we buy some Pretzels because we're starving, it's around 2:40 pm. The visit starts at 2:55 pm.

A practical piece of information: tickets are bought only at the Ticket Center so don't tire yourself out going up to the castle without a ticket because they'll send you back. There's a code system to stagger the starts of the visits. On the ticket there's a number, when that number is indicated on the light panel (it feels like being at the A.S.L.) you have to pass through the automatic gates and reach the group, after which inside the castle, everyone is given audio guides to follow the visit in the desired language. The visit lasts less than half an hour, unfortunately, in fact only a few rooms are visited because the construction of the castle was never completed. In this castle you breathe a much more romantic and fairy-tale atmosphere compared to the one of his parents.

The furnishings are astonishing, inspired by Wagner's most famous works! I'm particularly struck by the throne room in Byzantine style (where however the throne is missing, it was never finished); the bedroom (with a canopy bed in inlaid wood: a true work of art!); the artificial grotto and adjoining small winter garden with a view of the plain; the Hall of the Singers which was used only after Ludwig's death. The guest rooms are also tastefully furnished in the style of a lodge. I'm sorry I can't linger more in each room, there are thousands of details to observe, and as I walk, I try to imagine Ludwig more than 100 years ago, walking in the same rooms we're admiring. He really was out of his mind!:) The visit ends on the lower floor where the kitchen is, ultra modern for the time, and equipped with all the technical equipment: running cold and hot water, oven, automatic spit, etc...

After the visit, we decide to go as

Our delightful Romantic Pension

We walk back down to the village, by now it's dark but the road is packed with people who are coming down like us, there are groups of kids having snowball fights, there's a very cheerful atmosphere! The yellow castle is also now illuminated by spotlights that give it a very beautiful golden effect.

We are physically destroyed, we have walked a lot today, it's time to go and take possession of our rooms in the guesthouse (Romantic Pension, € 64.40 for a double with breakfast) that I booked via the web, hoping it's as nice as in the photos! It is located a five-minute drive from the Hohenschwangau parking lot, we find it quickly because on the site there was a photo showing the little house with the white castle in the background, and indeed reality almost surpasses the photo! It's very beautiful, white with light blue wooden shutters, the sloping roof, in front a snowy little garden (it looks like a dollhouse!) and in the background here it is: Neuschwanstein castle in all its nocturnal splendor, with an almost green halo around it, which gives the idea of being inaccessible, mysterious...

Our landlady, Frau Strass, welcomes us in a long white coat that makes her look like a pharmacist! Climbing the carpeted stairs to reach our rooms, she tells me that the house is a hundred years old! The rooms are lovely

Linderhof, Ettal, Oberammergau, Wieskirche, Fuessen

After an abundant breakfast served by our Frau Strass, still in her white coat, we set off by car in the direction of Linderhof, where the favourite castle of Ludwig II is located, the only one completed and where he actually lived for a while. We drive along a road that passes through the Austrian Tyrol; it is stunning, for some kilometres it runs alongside a now-frozen lake, the Plansee, surrounded by the mountains. Today we are lucky, the sky is at times a brilliant blue and there are some lovely rays of sunshine. The little road, narrow and icy, is almost deserted, fortunately, so we can enjoy the view and stop now and then. We are immersed in a white/blue landscape; it is truly spectacular! At 10 we arrive at Linderhof. Here there are far fewer tourists than at Neuschwanstein castle, and we get our tickets in no time.

Unfortunately the facade of the castle is covered by a tarpaulin because the castle is being renovated; it's a real shame because from the photos it looks like a real little gem. If you go in spring or summer you will also be able to see the statues and fountains (now covered), visit the gardens, the artificial grotto and other small buildings scattered around the park. In winter and after heavy snowfalls, everything is covered by a thick white blanket. We follow the visit with an Italian audio recording that starts every time we enter a room. We would also have followed it with the (real) English Guide, but a Neapolitan lady practically forces us to stay with her and her relatives in order to form a group and thus have an Italian guide!... No comment. This castle is even more incredible than the one we visited the day before.

If Neuschwanstein is all about dreams and romanticism, Linderhof castle is very kitsch and is the triumph of Baroque and Rococo, in homage to Versailles, which King Ludwig II had been struck by during a previous stay. Very pretty are the round pastel-coloured little rooms at the corners of the castle, which serve as passages between one area and another. The most impressive room is the bedroom, with a majestic canopy bed with Prussian blue drapes! All the rooms are decorated with paintings of the court life of Louis XIV of France, whom Ludwig II envied enormously for the power that he himself would never possess in his own country. Interesting detail: in the dining room, the table could be lowered down to the kitchen and raised again, laid, so that the king could eat alone without being disturbed. In that period he was already beginning to have some personality disorders...

And it seems he had also lost his teeth, which is why he couldn't stand being watched while he ate! What a shame, the portraits of Ludwig II show a truly fascinating man and I myself was struck by the charisma he emanated. Tall, dark-haired, with intense blue eyes, it's hard for me to imagine him toothless. In his last portraits, however, shortly before he died, he was almost unrecognisable and very overweight, a sort of Bavarian Elvis Presley!:) While we visit the castle, I feel a bit melancholic about this king who spent his days alone, admiring the rooms of the castle, his paintings, his vases... He was surrounded by hundreds of priceless objects but it is clear that deep down he was very sad and felt incredibly lonely. He took refuge in an imaginary world through his fairytale castles.

In Linderhof castle there is also a carefully furnished guest room and a piano that he had made especially for his friend Wagner, of whom Ludwig II was a fervent admirer and also a financier... unfortunately he never received any visits and Wagner never set foot in the castle.

After the visit and a stroll in the park, we go to the Benedictine Monastery of Ettal, a few kilometres away. The building is imposing and reminds me a little of the Basilica of Superga in Turin. Inside, the style is Baroque, very ornate, and it is the work of the 18th-century architect Dominikus Zimmermann.

Afterwards, we go to the village of Oberammergau, famous for its frescoed houses, some of which depict famous fairytales such as Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood. It's pleasant to take a stroll through its streets. We eat a venison goulash at a delicatessen, standing up.

We continue the day with a visit to the Wieskirche, a church that is a triumph of Bavarian Baroque and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church was built and decorated by... Dominikus Zimmermann (him again!) and his brother Johann Baptist. Compared to the photographs I had seen, it is completely different: instead of a light-coloured church with a beautiful dark roof in the middle of a very green meadow, here everything is white!... You can't tell the roof from the building and from the surrounding landscape!... However, the effect is still very beautiful, even if a little sad.

Not tired, we continue our journey and close the "loop" by returning to Füssen, where we take a walk. This pretty little town also has a hilltop castle, very charming, but this one is rather ignored by tourists in favour of the more famous Neuschwanstein, 2 km from here. By the time we arrive, unfortunately, it is closed and the light is beginning to fade, but we manage to get into the courtyard and have a lovely view over the rooftops of Füssen.

Food note: I recommend tasting the Schneeballen, a Bavarian speciality. You can find them in various places; we found them in a pastry shop at the foot of the castle. They are very strange sweets, basically they are fried dough ribbons (like chiacchiere, or bugie, or frappe) rolled up on themselves into a ball shape and covered in chocolate, sugar or icing. Try them if you happen to pass through those parts! One tip: one Schneeballen between two will be more than enough!

We then return to our Romantic Pension to relax a bit before dinner. I go straight to the balcony; unfortunately the white castle is shrouded in fog, what rotten luck!... Before going out, around 8 pm, I look out again and... the castle, as if by magic, has freed itself from the clouds and fog to let itself be admired in all its splendour! We take some photos with different exposure times, just to be sure! As we leave the pension, I notice that Hohenschwangau castle is also completely free of clouds, so before setting off towards Füssen for dinner, we set up the camera with the tripod on the roof of the car to take a few shots. The location of our pension proves to be a real winner: a stone's throw from the two castles, immersed in silence and five minutes by car from Füssen. An address truly worth keeping!

Füssen is no livelier than yesterday — by now we've made our peace with that — so we go directly to a brewery/restaurant (Franziskaner) where we taste other Bavarian specialities.

New Year's Eve in Augsburg

Today it's snowing like crazy. I take a look from the balcony: the castle seems almost to have disappeared! We were lucky to visit it two days ago, when the weather wasn't too bad... After breakfast and after saying goodbye to Frau Strass, we set off in the direction of Augsburg along the Romantiche Strasse, which begins in Füssen and ends about 350 km further north in Wurzburg. Along the way we pass through Schongau, a fortified little town that looks very pretty, but we don't get out of the car since it's snowing heavily. A few kilometres further on, we stop at Landsberg am Lech, another fortified town perched on a hill with colourful houses and some beautiful churches as well as a Rathaus (=town hall) with a very beautiful frescoed facade. We take a walk but it's snowing heavily and it isn't pleasant, so after about an hour we head back to the car and continue on to Augsburg.

This is the city we chose to spend New Year's Eve in. We leave our luggage at the hotel (Ost Am Kö, €80 for a double with breakfast) and go out for a stroll. It keeps snowing but we don't feel like being shut up in the hotel, so armed with umbrellas and hoods we brave the snow. Worth seeing is the beautiful Rathaus, with its twin dark-green bulb-shaped spires. If you visit a website dedicated to Augsburg you'll certainly see the town hall depicted, except that we see it under the snow and with a white sky that doesn't particularly make the building stand out. We have lunch in a beer hall full of cheerful, noisy Germans. Afterwards, we go out again and take a short walk along Maximilianstrasse, the city's main street where I'm told people will gather tonight to set off fireworks at midnight. We then go to the neighbourhood called Fuggerei, created by Jokob Fugger in 1521.

This neighbourhood, closed off by gates at the ends of its streets, was one of the first examples of social housing. For a symbolic sum it provided three-room dwellings for the indigent Catholic poor, who in exchange had to recite one prayer a day. It still houses some families with limited means. The small neighbourhood consists of very long two-storey ochre-coloured little houses with green shutters and sloping roofs. The gates, which are closed at night, give a certain sense of claustrophobia, but also of security for those who live there. In fact the tradition of closing the gates after a certain hour in the evening has remained and for those who come back after hours there's a small fine! It's starting to get dark and we still don't know what we'll do tonight. So we go into every place we come across to ask if they have a table for tonight.

Unfortunately the undertaking proves difficult. All the restaurants are fully booked, or closed for holidays, we even try a place where Drag Queens will be performing (it could have been great fun!) but that one is all booked up too... We start joking about how for New Year's Eve we'll probably end up having dinner with a nice Kebab, when on the way back to the hotel, we notice a restaurant in a large courtyard with big brightly lit windows, which looks very nice. We look up the name in our guidebook, which tells us that this place was converted from an old fire station! We go in and speak to a man who seems to be the owner. A miracle, there's room! But they close at 11... ah, there's the catch, but who cares, after dinner we'll wander around Maximilianstrasse...

We then visit the Ste Anne Kirsche, a Protestant church where Luther stayed overnight when he was in Augsburg, and finally go back to the hotel to relax a bit. On TV we watch the footage of the celebrations from the other side of the world, in Australia. Right now, more than celebrating, I feel like sleeping! But let's not give in to laziness! At 8 pm we go out and walk to our restaurant, hoping it wasn't a hoax. The guy from earlier is there to welcome us. Later we discover that he's Turkish and is indeed the owner of this restaurant as well as another place, and he speaks Italian very well.

We're pleasantly surprised by the very delicate and warm atmosphere of the place, by the tables decorated with taste and elegance, and the dinner too turns out to be excellent! Finally something different from the usual dishes based on pork knuckle and potatoes!:) There are very few people in the place and it's rather quiet, it feels strange, it doesn't seem like December 31st. The only "eventful episode" happens when the waitress tips a glass of champagne over our friend Enrico! So it's a habit!...

We declare that German waiters can't handle trays with drinks! The owner apologises profusely and as a punishment sends the waitress to the kitchen! We won't see her again for two hours! At 11 pm, we are politely invited to find another place to continue the evening:) Luckily it has stopped snowing, the atmosphere is surreal and muffled, all the streets are white and the lights of the buildings and streetlamps help create a truly strange impression. We pass by Maximilianstrasse, where the kids have already started setting out their arsenals of bangers and fireworks. We decide that staying in the street could be dangerous for our lives and we duck into a bar to drink a cocktail and wait for midnight.

From the place, which has large windows, we can safely (we hope!) observe the boys and girls in the street going wild with their rockets that would make Neapolitans envious! Two types who don't look particularly encouraging even have a gun to fire the rockets! Madmen! Even small children are helped by their parents to light rockets of the most extravagant shapes! We're terrified and at the same time dumbfounded by so much chaos out there! Never seen anything like it! Half an hour later, we go out, the streets look like a battlefield! At one in the morning, we're in bed!... Goodness we really stayed up late!;) But the next day we have to get up early...

Happy New Year! Donauwörth, Harburg Schloss, Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl and arrival in Rothenburg od der Tauber

We set off from Augsburg at about 10, the streets are deserted, we're the only mad people around at this hour of the morning! Today the weather is grey...

First stop: Donauwörth, a very pretty little town with lots and lots of colourful houses. We only stop for ten minutes to take a few photos of the main street. There isn't a soul around!

Second stop: Harburg Schloss, a fortified castle perched on a hill. In winter it's closed but you can go into the village and take a walk around the courtyard. It's very beautiful, there's no one there and we can enjoy a bit of peace. In the car park outside the castle walls, a group of Germans who arrived by coach are singing Christmas carols with a glass of mulled wine in hand. The scene is quite funny!

Third stop: Nördlingen. It's a truly unusual little town, built inside a crater 25 km in diameter formed by a meteorite. To enjoy a panoramic view, we climb the tower of St. George's church. There are over 200 steps, but it's worth it, only this way can we realise what the town looks like: it's perfectly round, encircled by ancient walls, with some gates still in excellent condition. The view is truly enchanting! All the roofs are whitened but you can guess their bright red colour under the dusting of snow.

Fourth stop: Dinkelsbühl, another medieval town, also enclosed within a circuit of walls. It's really very beautiful, with cobbled alleys, picturesque colourful houses with the typical gabled façades. As recommended by the Lonely Planet, after a walk around, we go into the Museum of the Third Dimension. It was described as the museum entirely dedicated to the simulation of hallucinogenic states! It had made us curious. In the end it's a museum on three floors with loads of prints and three-dimensional, holographic, stereoscopic images, optical effects. We have fun for about an hour and then leave, because after a while we're fed up and dazed anyway, and we're slightly hungry... it's 3 pm. We eat a dish with sausages and sauerkraut in a restaurant, while other customers are having afternoon tea, damn! We're a bit embarrassed! And to think we thought we were being real Germans!...

Clearly it's a bit early for dinner and too late for lunch, but never mind! When hunger calls!...

Fifth stop: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a German town featured in all Japanese travel catalogues! It's famous for having preserved its medieval style, in fact all the shop and restaurant signs are in gold, brass or wrought iron, but we'll visit it tomorrow.

Now it's dark and we have to look for our hotel, which is about 10 km from here. Unfortunately we get a bit lost and "visit" all the little villages we come across along the way looking for our hotel, with the help of a small black-and-white photo printed from the internet. Asking for help around there isn't easy, people don't understand English and start giving us explanations in Bavarian, you can imagine our critical situation, lost in the middle of the countryside, at night!... After a few misadventures and false alarms, we make it! Actually we had got the wrong hamlet, we could have gone round forever! The little hotel, converted from a typical house, is really nice (Zum Falken, €60 for a double with breakfast). The rooms are delightful, under the roof, with exposed wooden beams, colourful duvets, spacious and spotlessly clean bathrooms.

Dinner is divine — our host is an excellent cook — smoked salmon on potato fritters, fresh salmon in puff pastry with butter and spinach, freshly baked bread, all homemade. Unfortunately during dinner a small incident happens to Paolo, who nearly chokes on a piece of food stuck in his throat — he thinks it's a piece of meat. We narrowly avoid a tragedy and are about to go to hospital, he feels so bad. Luckily there's a doctor among the hotel guests, who examines him and tells him there's nothing big stuck in his throat, he can't figure out what it is, so he advises him to drink cold water and eat a piece of bread. It turns out to be the winning solution! It was probably just a little herb that was nonetheless blocking his throat. In an instant, Paolo gets his colour back and finally manages to swallow! We had quite a scare!!!...

Unfortunately our little dinner, which we hadn't finished, was sent back to the kitchen, since we'd been away for more than an hour! After we'd recovered, we go back down to the restaurant room where Giorgia and Enrico are waiting for us and we have a gelato in the company of our host/cook who comes out of the kitchen with his arms bloody up to the elbows! A nightmare vision! Where have we ended up?! He guesses our stunned looks and reassures us: he was just butchering a wild boar! Ah well!... We chat with him for a bit and after a while we go off to bed. It was a full-on first of January!

Rothenburg od der Tauber, Nuremberg and arrival in Munich

We have an abundant breakfast of croissants, bread and homemade jams, in the restaurant adjoining the hotel which must once have been a stable. Our host tells us that next weekend he'll be preparing a lunch for 300 people and he's the only cook! We don't understand how he manages it alone but he says he manages without problems, he has people who'll help him clean up the kitchen! Cooking is his passion, and we believe him! He's extremely good at it too! We'll be back!... After saying goodbye, we set off towards Rothenburg ob der Tauber. We park outside the walls and take a nice walk around the little town. It's true that there's a medieval atmosphere in the air! Everything is detailed down to the smallest thing to make you feel in another era, in fact it's almost overdone and even seems a bit fake, but it's pleasant...

Luckily there are few tourists and we can walk around peacefully and take photographs without "annoying extras". Rothenburg mainly fills up in summer and in December for the Christmas market. The weather is still grey but maybe the sun is about to come out... We decide to visit the Kriminal Museum, where you can admire an impressive collection of medieval torture instruments as well as old prints depicting the most common tortures! It's very interesting all the same and I recommend visiting it.

Coming out of the museum we completely change atmosphere and go into the craziest shop in the world: Käthe Wohlfahrt, a labyrinthine shop entirely dedicated to Christmas 365 days a year! Inside, a delirium of colours, little lights, baubles, toys, Christmas trees, all accompanied by a "hellishly" Christmassy jingle! The shop assistants are dressed in the typical Bavarian costume, among the assistants we even spot some Japanese! Incredible! It's also quite funny to see a Japanese woman dressed as a Bavarian! In one room, there's even a life-size reproduction of a little square with houses and in the middle a huge decorated Christmas tree under a fake starry sky. After a while we're dizzy! Paolo desperately looks for the exit! It's a maze of little rooms, stairs, steps, one-way routes!...

Help!!! Finally we find the exit and can breathe in a nice lungful of air! We obviously didn't buy anything because the prices were Japanese-style! Meanwhile the sun has come out, we cross the Markt again, the main square of the little town where the beautiful 14th-century town hall stands, and head back towards the car.

We leave the Romantische Strasse (which continues further north up to Würzburg) to head east, into Franconia, to Nuremberg, about 60 km from Rothenburg. We arrive at about 1.30 pm, there's a beautiful blue sky with a bright sun, finally! We park in an underground garage (for the rest of the story this detail is important...) and go around the pedestrian centre. For lunch we eat some Pretzels bought at a kiosk and head towards the Altstadt. There are rivers of people! We cross the river Pegnitz where from the bridge you get a beautiful view of the Heilig Geist Spital, the former hospital, built on the river. After crossing the Hauptmarkt, the main square, and visiting a couple of beautiful churches (the Gothic Pfarrkirche Unsere Liebe Frau and the St Sebalduskirche, the oldest in Nuremberg) we climb up to the Kaiserburg, the Castle, from which there's a splendid view of the city.

Nuremberg was almost razed to the ground during World War II and most of the monuments and churches as well as the Castle were rebuilt or heavily restored. The Altstadt is very pleasant to wander around, and then at the time we visit the city, there's a warm light — sunset is approaching — which lets us take beautiful photographs. At about 4.30 pm, we reach the garage, Paolo swaps with Enrico for the driving, because he's tired; tonight we have to reach Munich, which is 160 km away. We pay for the ticket, get in the car, reach the machine, Enrico inserts the ticket and sets off again. Damn, the road is a steep slope and Enrico can't manage to set off right away, not knowing the car well, and so the engine stalls, meanwhile the barrier also comes down!...

And now what do we do? We press the button to call the attendant but no one answers, I go up to the booth but it's empty! Meanwhile some cars are arriving and we're blocking the way, luckily no one honks at us and everyone stays calm... After a while though we resign ourselves and, reversing, we pull the car over so as not to be in the way. Paolo has an idea, he'll slip in behind another car! We're seriously worried. What if the barrier comes down on top of us?... But we have no other choice if we don't want to spend the night in the Nuremberg garage! All three of us selfishly get out of the car (you never know, we might get cut in two!!) and wait for the first car to go through.

A lady arrives, inserts her ticket, Paolo is ready to screech off, he follows her fast, oh my! the barrier is coming down on the car, Giorgia and I let out a little scream! Luckily there must be a photo-cell, the barrier goes back up and Paolo continues to the garage exit. We run into the car and speed off, like thieves! Actually we paid but the impression from outside must have been that!

After a few laughs, we take the road to Munich. Luckily it's all motorway. It's the first time in a few days that we manage to go more than 80 km/h! We arrive in the Bavarian capital in the evening. We reach our hotel (Nymphenburg, €70 for a double with breakfast, rooms painted in bright colours, not suitable for those who love sober furnishings!), drop off our luggage and go straight out to dinner. We go to the Löwenbräu, a very large beer hall not far from the hotel. We eat, as usual, pork, spätzel, sausage, potatoes and strudel, all accompanied by the usual half litre of beer! We're rolling on the table!... We witness a pitiful and shameful scene near our table: two Italian guys slip away without paying at a moment when the waiters are distracted! We're disgusted!... The waiter who had served them is visibly shocked and angry, and his previous good mood has vanished.

He tried to chase them, in vain... And yet eating in Germany costs little... As a result we're even embarrassed to speak Italian in front of the waiter...

Munich under the sun

Today is a beautiful day. We take the metro to Marienplatz, the famous square in Munich. The tower of the new town hall is unfortunately closed and we can't go up to enjoy the panorama over the city. We visit a couple of churches, take a little walk to an old city gate and then go back to Marienplatz to hear the carillon (Glockenspiel). While waiting for 11 o'clock, we watch a group of young Japanese people near us, who are trying to take photos of themselves with a mini digital camera: three are posing while the fourth, 2 m away from them, is doing unbelievable contortions to try to capture her friends and the whole town hall tower behind them. Practically impossible if you don't have a fish eye!!! The scene is quite funny, plus there are tourists passing in front of them continuously and I reckon in the end she gives up!...

Anyway, the carillon is a bit of a disappointment, like I suppose all the carillons in the world. On top of that we're freezing to death! It must be -3°C. So to get the blood circulating in our legs we decide to walk off without seeing the end of the little puppet show with its piercing jingle. We take a stroll along Maximilianstrasse, a long, very elegant street full of luxury shops and hotels, and reach Max Joseph Platz where the old central post office (in a beautiful building adorned with a portico frescoed in Italian style), the National Theatre and the Residenz face onto. The latter is a truly imposing building, it housed the Bavarian kings from 1385 to 1918 and encompasses more than 400 years of architectural history. We visit the Residenzmuseum, made up of over 100 rooms.

The visits are therefore divided into two: the morning tour and the afternoon tour, but since we arrive at 12 we manage to see almost everything. There's an incredible mix of styles, from Renaissance to Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical. What we see, however, is a faithful reconstruction since the Residenz was bombed in '45. After an hour and a half, we've seen almost everything and would like to leave but we can't find the exit, it seems like a joke, and so we find ourselves retracing the whole route, it's a bit comic as a situation, we walk very fast, up and down stairs, along very long corridors, we feel like prisoners of the palace! Finally we find the exit...

Now I realise we seem a bit dazed and that this scene recalls the one in the Christmas shop in Rothenburg but I assure you the exit wasn't well signposted, at least I think so...:) For lunch, we go to the famous Hofbräuhaus, packed with tourists and Bavarians in traditional dress, all with an overflowing mug of beer in hand! There's a little group playing folk music, Japanese tourists dancing in the middle of the beer hall, German waitresses and one Japanese one in Bavarian dress (yes indeed, here too!) going back and forth with baskets full of enormous Pretzels. Two guys near us, doubled over laughing (how mean!), try in every way to get photos with the impassive little Japanese woman.

There's a truly festive atmosphere! We order the usual diet dish, that is, various types of sausage (try the Weiss Wurst), sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and a litre of beer accompanied by a giant Pretzel that we can't even finish! One thing catches my attention: there's a sort of open cupboard closed with a grille and little padlocks, with lots of beer mugs. Basically the regulars of the place have their own personal mug! I take some photos of these very cheerful Bavarians, some call me over to have their picture taken!! After lunch, we wander along the pedestrian street from Marienplatz to Karlplatz, to do some shopping, and take the metro back to the hotel again. This evening, for a change, we go to a Thai restaurant opposite the hotel, ah how lovely to eat Pad Thai!

Munich under the snow

Today the weather is grim again, it's grey and as usual very cold, a few degrees below 0. We go out and take the tram to Nymphenburg Castle, the summer residence of the Wittelsbachs, the family of Ludwig II. The palace, the gardens, the half-frozen ponds and the sky all merge into one white whole, but it's very fascinating. In one pond there are hundreds of birds, ducks, swans, the latter "quarrelling" and chasing each other for a piece of bread making a great racket. We visit the castle with the help of the audio guides, which I recommend you take despite the rather high cost, so as not to wander through the rooms understanding nothing. We, being tight-fisted, only take two, but by turning up the volume you can hear perfectly, sometimes we even manage to start them together and so we get a very nice stereo effect... anyway I'm digressing...

The rooms are very beautiful and richly furnished. The first one you see on entering is the festival hall, where the little Ludwig II was baptised in 1845, the year of his birth. One room particularly strikes me: the gallery of beauties. A series of 38 portraits of women, noble and not, whom Ludwig I considered beautiful. The audio guide tells the story of some of them, it's very interesting and it's pleasant to observe these beautiful portraits until the coach of noisy Roman tourists arrives and somewhat ruins the effect. Once the visit is over, we take the tram again, after having walked alongside a curling rink made on the frozen river where lots of people are playing.

We go to eat in a Pizza Hut, the only place on our way; next to our table, a "meeting" of four nerdy teenagers clearly keen on Star Trek since they're dressed almost as in the TV series! Chilling! We can barely contain our laughter! After lunch, we take refuge in the enormous Science Museum, I think it's one of the largest in the world. Obviously we only see a part of it: boats, planes, trains, cars, bridges, chemistry, paper, musical instruments, etc... After 3 hours, we come out, exhausted and dazed, it's snowing in big flakes, we go into a beer hall to have a drink. Then we go back to the hotel to lie down for a moment and for dinner we go back again to the Löwenbräu. Today is Sunday and several places are closed, the beer hall is almost empty. We order a dish of sausages, bratwurst and potatoes and for dessert an apple strudel with vanilla sauce...

this menu reminds me of something... With the dessert we really make a big blunder! Since we had already had dinner here two evenings ago, we knew that the strudel was served with another piece of quark cheesecake, which was particularly heavy and we hadn't liked much. So we, being clever, tell the waitress that we want that dessert but without the quark cake, and we order three portions since I think I can eat half a slice of strudel with Paolo. But since my greedy husband is telling me he'll eat all of it and that I have the "horrible doubt" that they'll bring us only one slice, I go to the waitress asking for another plate. She smiles... There, I make a fool of myself as if I'm starving! And in the end she brings us our four plates with...

two enormous slices of strudel each! Oh my! We already feel ill just at the thought! We start laughing like mad for a good 5 minutes! We thought she would bring us only one piece! And as if the embarrassing scene weren't enough, I come out with the legendary line: "and anyway I don't even like strudel!" and everyone bursts out laughing!! I still have tears in my eyes thinking back to the scene! The whole restaurant is looking at us! Obviously as expected we can't finish our plates and the waitress, sly, teases us asking every five minutes if we plan to finish our plate!... In the end we have to give in so as not to really feel ill! The waitress, who had understood the misunderstanding, starts laughing too and has two glasses of the local beer brought away for us, as a souvenir! We go to bed after swallowing a tablet to help us digest!

Journey's end at Herrenchiemsee

Today is the last day of the trip. It's snowing a lot! We drive to Lake Chiemsee, 70 km from Munich, to visit Ludwig II's third castle: Herrenchiemsee, the almost perfect copy of Versailles. The castle is on an island in the middle of the lake and to reach it we take a boat. We plunge back into the romantic atmosphere of Ludwig's castles... There's a snowstorm, there are very few tourists. We arrive on the island after about 10 minutes, and walk for another 15 minutes along a path among the trees up to the castle. It's unbelievably cold and there's a lot of wind! And here it is: the majestic castle can be glimpsed among the trees, it's truly imposing! Unfortunately you can't see any of the gardens and all the statues are wrapped up. In summer or spring it must be a spectacle! We go in.

Just the four of us do the visit with a guide who speaks in Italian with a strong German accent, helping herself with little sheets of paper. The castle remained largely unfinished since Ludwig II had run out of money before completing it, and then he died. Only 20 rooms out of 70 were finished. Unfortunately the Hall of Stairs, which from the photos seemed truly spectacular, is under renovation and we can't see it. The most impressive rooms are the official bedroom, extremely sumptuous, and the hall of mirrors, which reproduces that of Versailles. We pass through some unfinished parts of the castle and reach the lower floor where we can observe the mechanism of the disappearing table, present here too as at Linderhof. The last room is the bathroom with a magnificent marble pool 1m70 deep and about 7 metres in diameter (they tell us it takes 60,000 litres of water to fill it).

Unfortunately the king didn't have time to enjoy the castle much, in fact he lived at Herrenchiemsee only 10 days, before dying drowned (?) in the nearby Lake Starnberg where he was confined. The visit ends like this, in a room the king probably never even frequented during his brief stay, and this leaves me a bit melancholy... We complete the visit with a walk around the small museum dedicated to Ludwig II, we discover various aspects of his life, it's strange to see it only at the end of the trip, after having seen almost all the places of his life. It's like taking a step back: photos of Ludwig as a child, his little christening gown...

Among the material on display, there are various prints, little cups, plates (a real merchandise!) portraying him with his cousin Sophie (Sissi's sister), to whom he was engaged for seven months, before breaking off the engagement (probably Ludwig, consistently with his homosexuality, preferred not to marry). Very interesting, on the other hand, are the drawings of the plans for his castles, we thus discover that he had in mind the construction of other castles that he never had time to build. We return to reality by quickly eating a sandwich in the bar attached to the castle entrance, and make our way back to the pier where a boat should leave shortly. The snowstorm hasn't calmed down and we can't even enjoy the walk among the trees in what should be a very evocative setting. And so the island is almost abandoned again, the few tourists who had disembarked are leaving like us...

During the journey towards Prien, where we parked the car, a sense of sadness comes over me, thinking back to Ludwig and his castles, so beautiful, but so isolated, as he was too... On the way back the weather improves a little in Austria, giving us wonderful landscapes with little huts scattered on the sides of the snowy mountains, while a lovely sun finally welcomes us in Italy, at the Brenner Pass.

The trip is over and the magical atmosphere of Bavaria has vanished...