Thursday, July 18, 2013

Beer and Fairy Tales

Nothing says "I'm not crazy" like building an enormous medieval castle a couple centuries after the age of medieval warfare in the middle of your country which is not at war. But hey, I am not the first person to call King Ludwig mad. He actually lost his throne due to madness, and whether or not he committed suicide or drowned accidently remains aon mystery.  Madness aside, he did bring a great castle into the world. Such a picturesque castle, in fact, that Walt Disney based his theme park castle and Snow White on it.



The castle is named Schloss Neuschwansten. Schloss is German for castle. Neuschwanstein can be broken down into three words; neu means new, schwan is swan, and stein means stone. So Schloss Neuschwansten is the New Swan Stone Castle. It was built between 1869 and 1892. It is now a museum which I am going to see in October. Neuschwanstenis in the southwestern part of Germany’s southernmost (and most fun-loving) state, Bavaria. The castle was built on the same property and a short walk from an older, truly medieval castle, Schloss Hohenschwangau, or the High Swan Region Castle. The Museum der Bayerischen Könige (The Museum of Bavarian Kings) is also on the same grounds. When I go to Bavaria in October, I will visit both castles and the museum.


And just in case you thought sobriety was important to the young king , you should know the worlds largest festival … the festival that celebrates beer … the Oktoberfest was started by then Prince Ludwig to celebrate his wedding.  Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. The festival used to be during the first two weeks of October, but they backed it up by a week to honor German reunification, and it is now celebrated during the last week of September and the first week of October. Try saying "Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen" three times fast. Okay, are you done? Now have a couple beers and try it again.

I doubt that most people realize that we have a crazy 18th century Bavarian king to thank for fairy tales and beer festivals. Then again, if you think about it, most fairy tales make more sense after a couple of beers.

Yes, I am going to Germany, and I am going to see Schloss Neuschwansten,  attend a beer festival Oktoberfest and buy lederhosen. I’m not really much of a beer drinker, but it might be fun to be in a tent full of drunk, sweaty Germans.



No comments:

Post a Comment