Sunday, January 24, 2010

How do you say Disney in German?


On the way to Heidelberg we made a quick stop in the Bavarian alps to see the castles Hohenschwangau and Neuschwannstein, otherwise known as the Disney castle. I love hearing about all the eccentric historical figures and all the weird and mysterious things they did.  King Ludwig is one of them. He lived in Hohenschwangau and later commissioned his own castle, the Disney castle, to be built basically across the street from the other one. Our guide told us that he would sit with his telescope and watch the castle being built to make sure everything was done correctly. In his bedroom he had hold in his ceiling that could be lit up with oil lamps so they would look like the stars, in addition there was a circular piece of glass in the ceiling that could be covered to mimic the phases of the moon. No one really knows how he died. They found him one day dead by the lake that is just beneath the castle.
Another interesting note the guide at Hohenschwangau made was that the family still owns the castle and the duke was living there up until recently.







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