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Oberammergau, Germany

We enjoyed another fantastic breakfast at the hotel where in German style I filled a wire basket with a selection of breads and rolls to put on our table, and then we just got our individual choices of toppings from the buffet to have with it. I have enjoyed a strong semi hard cheese with an orange rind for two days and found out it is a Swiss Mountain cheese called ‘Appenzeller”, so will have to bank that name for when I get home. Its smooth like a Comte and has a slightly sweet stinky flavour with a hint of nutty.

The german raw smoked ham equivalent to Jamon is really lovely. It has a nice smoke flavour and is tender. I am normally not a big bread eater, but am also thoroughly enjoying all the German breads and rolls. Each day a fantastic selection of various seeded, chewy or crunchy rolls and loaves are presented.

In order to have a free schedule we are not doing organised trips to the castles and towns in lower Bavaria, but taking the train and relevant buses. It will take us longer in travel time but give us a lot more time at the various attractions or less time at some if we are not interested. It is a huge saving in money, but that is not the main driver, freedom is. You can buy a Bayern Ticket which gives us 24 hr travel on trains and buses in Bavaria for €26 all up. That’s very good value verses a tour at €90.

The scenery from Munich to Oberammergau is absolutely beautiful. Undulating green land, lots of forests with silver birch and conifer, clean blue lakes and rivers, fat tan and white cows, lovely horses, tidy flower filled towns and villages. Closer to Oberammergau you see more mountains. As the hills get higher the houses become similar to the style we saw in Switzerland.

Today we went to Linderhof Schloss and Oberammergau. You take a bus from Oberammergau to the castle and travel up a valley and through a few tiny villages, only about 15 minutes drive through woodlands, flower filled meadows, fields of fresh cut hay, new lush grass and a crystal clear pebbled river. Surrounding you are mountains with glimpses of even higher lightly snow capped ones in the distance.

The palace is a small private one of King Ludwigs that he only spent a couple of weeks a month in summer at. He was a romantic and very arty I think, and loved the French Versailles style so modelled this one on it. You can’t take photos inside but it was just amazingly fantastical! It is very light and white inside with gold leaf everywhere, beautiful French embroidery and beaded curtains, real marble, a small tapestry above a seat which took months to make with over 100 stitches per cm, amazing German ceramic chandeliers and mirror decorations, bohemian chandelier weighing half a ton and a dining table that disappeared down to the floor below to be loaded up for him then it would rise back up. In the meantime a panel would come across and cover the hole.

It is small, intimate and the tour was nicely informative. The grounds are beautiful with gold statues and water features amongst small formal gardens. A steep 10 minute but scenic walk up behind the castle takes you into the forested part and his grotto and Moorish and Moroccan houses. These were for his pleasure, the later two he would dress up and have a smoke or so and relax with oriental staff to serve. They are glassed off to the public so there is a limited view but what you do see was OTT and beautiful with the sun pouring through the stained glass.

The grotto is a man made cave where he would listen to opera music in the perfect acoustics and change the coloured lighting for a show. He was quite solitary and used to have party for one here, of course with attending staff. He even used the technology to heat the water and would swim there, even in Winter the water could be heated to 40 degrees! The castle was a forerunner in the use of electricity. They played some classical music for us and it sounded amazing. I really don’t think he was mad in his building respects, just very creative and over his budget!

It is very intriguing to wonder how he died and by whose hand – I have a theory but wont share it here – sad though as it seems to have been faul play.

We both enjoyed our visit very much and would recommend it, I think it would be beautiful in winter too with a lot of snow around. Speaking of snow it was so hot today, we melted most of the day. It was probably 9pm before it came down from over 30 degrees to a balmy 25!

Oberammergau was very pretty with its painted houses, and we even got to peak inside the church which is renowned for the Easter (Passion) celebrations – the whole town is actually. It has a nice vibe in this town and as it was about 5pm when we arrived, we thought we would relax and try our luck at dinner here.

BINGO we found a steak house and decided to stay and try it after doing the “walk through” plate inspection on a couple of others. Price was reasonable but a little more than what we normally pay, but worth it for the quality. We got a rib eye steak 350gr to share at €19, hand cut chips €2.90 and a plate of special asparagus, new potatoes and hollandaise for €13.50. Served with the dish was a selection of green pepper gravy, herb butter, seasoned pepper and BBQ sauce.

Now I do recall I did not get excited about the other Spargel but these were another name so I thought I would give them a try. They were yum! And the potatoes and herb butter so tasty and EVERYTHING cooked to perfection. All the sauces were hand made and the hollandaise so light it was almost fluffy mmmm.

Hallelujah my faith is restored and my girth is widened again:-). Chatting to the owner about our experience food wise (of course we gave much credit to the chef) he concurred that we would have difficulty in finding quality food in Munich (Rhine too I would add). I don’t know how but we managed a house made strudel to share and that was good too.

Still being so hot I stopped off at a servo on route to the train station to get something to keep our liquids up on the 3 hour train trip (due to the maintenance there was a diversion normally it would have been 2 hrs) and Vernon snapped the attached shot. In my defence I have not gone quite to the dark side but beer is cheaper than water and we drink either shandys – Radler, or no alcohol so we are getting all the vitamins and still keeping a clear head and hydrated. I do find it very refreshing in hot weather too.

The train and bus trip home was long and still hot – yet as scenic almost as the Golden Pass train through Switzerland. At one stage when the sun was setting a beautiful coral pink it sillouetted a typical onion ring dome church and a big hot air balloon. Due to the bus going too fast I couldn’t get a shot but it was magic none the less. There was a lot I would have liked to take pictures of, but either a passing tree will obscure it by the time you focus or the speed is such that its over in seconds.

One town Tuzin looks really pretty, it has a lake and a picture perfect town. I saw the most yummy purple peony in a traffic island which was planted like a crazy cottage garden. We both think that a driving or biking holiday around Bavaria would be fantastic – so much to see and a very relaxing atmosphere.

We finally got home at 11:30pm and it was still very warm and funnily enough loads of people out and about so we didn’t feel too worried about taking the underground and popping up in the park that late. When we did appear above ground there were around a couple of hundred of people still roller blading around the park, some with little glow lights on! Crazy.

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