ASIANOVERLAND.NET KATHMANDU TO LONDON  DAY 160/72: MUNICH TO NEUSCHWANSTEIN, GERMANY

 28 November, 1980

Munich sits on the banks of the River Isar (a tributary of the Danube) north of the Bavarian Alps, and is the seat of Upper Bavaria, the most densely populated municipality in Germany. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Munich was mentioned in 1158. Catholic Munich strongly resisted the Reformation, and was a political point of divergence during the resulting Catholic/Protestant Thirty Years' War. It remained physically untouched despite an occupation by the Protestant Swedes. Once Bavaria was established as a sovereign kingdom in 1806, Munich became a major European centre of arts, architecture, culture and science.

In 1884, King Ludwig was able to move from Munich into the (still unfinished) Neuschwanstein Palas, and in 1885, he invited his mother Marie to Neuschwanstein on the occasion of her 60th birthday. By 1886, the external structure of the Palas (hall) was mostly finished. In the same year, Ludwig had the first, wooden Marienbrücke bridge over the Pöllat Gorge replaced by a steel construction.

Despite its size, Neuschwanstein did not have space for the royal court, but contained only the King's private lodging and servants' rooms. The court buildings served decorative, rather than residential purposes. The palace was intended to serve King Ludwig II as a kind of inhabitable theatrical setting as a temple of friendship dedicated to the life and work of Richard Wagner, who died in 1883 before he had set foot in the building. In the end, Ludwig II lived in the palace for a total of only 172 days

The fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle’s Throne Hall (pictured) is 20 by 12 metres, with a height of 13 metres and occupies the third and fourth floors. It is surrounded by colourful arcades, ending in an apse that was intended to hold King Ludwig's throne – which was never completed. The throne dais is surrounded by paintings of Jesus, the Twelve Apostles and six canonised kings. The floor mosaic was completed after the king's death. The chandelier is fashioned after a Byzantine crown.  Following the king's wish, it amalgamated the Grail Hall with a symbol of the divine right of kings, an incorporation of unrestricted sovereign power.

In 1918, during the German Revolution, the ruling house of Wittelsbach, which had governed Bavaria since 1180, was forced to abdicate in Munich.

The Danube was the key to Bavaria’s traduing power, being Europe's second-longest river, after the Volga.

The Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today flows through 10 countries. The river runs through the largest number of countries in the world (the Nile is second with 9 countries). Originating in southern Germany, the Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km (1,770 mi), passing through or bordering Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine before draining into the Black Sea. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries.

Since ancient times, the Danube has become a traditional trade route in Europe. Today, 2,415 km of its total length is navigable.

Of course, we visit many Munich breweries and beer halls, and have another raucous night at the Oktoberfest beer halls. Munich is very tolerant of drunk beer drinkers, but we manage to excel ourselves by getting kicked out of Lowenbrau beer hall and a few others, as well as fun parlours, before Les manages to climb into a huge rubbish bin on the walk home to our bus. Others joined Les in the rubbish bin (guess who??), and I often reflect back on those hazy Munich memories when I hear stories of people being crushed to death by rubbish bin compactors. Fortunately, we managed to get Les and others out of the Munich rubbish bin before the compactor arrives, and all collapse into GRUNT.

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