This site is kept in loving memory of Trish Reske, who passed in October of 2021.
Trish was a writer - this site captures a bit of her incredible sense of humor.
You can read Trish's full obituary here.

Castle Bound in Bavaria

The castleWe arrived in Fussen, Germany in the evening after our drive from Venice. The landscape and culture couldn’t be more different. In Fussen, the mountains encircle farmlands and gingerbread-decorated Bavarian houses. Fussen is the land of sausage, beer and veiner schnitzel, and littering is verboten.

We stayed at Suzanne’s B&B just outside of town. Suzanne was an interesting host. She ran a tight ship, and although her personality was a bit bossy, her accommodations, recommendations, and breakfast were wonderful. There was no laundermat in town, so Suzanne did our laundry for us, for a fee of course.

The first morning at breakfast, I was greeted with, “I was up until 11:00 pm doing your laundry, and I haven’t finished ironing all those shirts.” Surprised at her remark, I replied, ‘You don’t need to iron the shirts, that’s OK,” when I was abruptly cut off with, “Of course they must be ironed. They are too wrinkled.” Everything with Suzanne was just so, and just her way. Jake’s shirts the next day were ironed, pressed and neatly folded, for the first time ever 🙂

Fussen us just a few miles from the Neuschwanstein Castle, conceived and built by King Ludwig in the late 1800s to emulate a medieval castle. Alas, the castle was only one-third completed, as Ludwig was declared “mad” and unfit to rule, and then found dead in a lake the next day with his psychiatrist.

The castle became a tourist destination within six weeks of his death, and inspired the famous castle of Disneyworld.

It looked very Disneyworldesque, and I found myself saying, “Neuschwanstein looks like Disneyworld,” rather than the other way around. Regardless, it was a very impressive castle, and backdrop of mountains and waterfalls was incredibly dramatic.

From Neuschwanstein we drove to King Ludwig’s first castle, Linderhoff (he had three castles in just this one area). Linderhoff was dedicated to King Louis XIV, and the entire interior emulated the lavish French décor of Versailles Palace in France, yet on a vastly smaller scale. It took only 20 minutes to walk through the rooms. The really impressive part was the gardens, the Venus Grotto, and Hunting Lodge, which was a recreated set from Wagner’s Opera.

Before Linderhof, we stopped at a beautiful lake for a picnic lunch. Caleb waded out in the clear mountain water, and Joel fed the ducks. It reminded me of the many lakes in Alaska: clear, cold, and surrounded by mountains.

Our last stop was in Oberammergau, known for its intricate wooden-carved figures. The houses are Hansel and Gretel-style, with gingerbread-carved woodwork and stucco walls covered with elaborate frescoes. It is a very unique town, worth stopping for.

We had dinner at an authentic Bavarian beer garden with live Bavarian music and classic Bavarian food. The waiters served beer directly from barrels into patrons’ mouths (no we didn’t do this), and we had to wear paper bibs and were encouraged to eat with our fingers (we didn’t do this either, except for the French fries). It was quite the experience.

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