Chiemsee, Germany

September 4th

This weekend Sabine and the kids were going up to Munich so I of course went as well. We left on Saturday and would come back in the evening Sunday. I stayed with Thomas and Cordula, and when I arrived they were watching some MadMen. Then we had some delicious plum cake, a Bavarian speciality! It was amazing, Thomas asked if I wanted a second piece, I could not resist. After some cake Cordula and I went to Kiki's new flat, they were going to sew new aprons for their dirndls. This did not happen, instead we had a rum and coke and talked. It was pretty nice, they spoke German the whole time and as much as I tried to understand there were some things that I didn't know what they were talking about. I find Cordula very easy to understand what she is saying.

We left Kiki's and head back to the house. Thomas was at home and we were all going to a bar that night where Ursi was the DJ. Thomas and I had dinner and Cordula went to meet with Yvonne before the bar. It was about 9pm when we set out, on the way we saw fireworks, festivals in town. At the bar there was a great crowd that showed up and Ursi did a fantastic job keep the music lively and us all entertained! Tough gig for 6 hours.

It was pretty late and we went back to the house. When we got back I saw Alan was online and thought we should call him at work. We called and it went straight into Alan's que. Thomas acted like he needed a flight for Munich the next day. The conversation didn't last very long as Thomas was doing too good of a job being a rude customer. Alan was the only one at work and we couldn't get him back. Messaged him to let him know that it was us! He thought it to be pretty funny as well.

September 5th

The next day I got up and was going to Chiemsee for the day. Thomas told me about this lake before and said it was really nice. Here Ludwig also built a Palace to replicate the Palace of Versailles.

T&C had some family things to do that day so I was on my own, they were so kind and drove me to Chiemsee. I arrived and went straight for the ferries to go to Herren Insel (the island where the palace was). I get there and it was really nice, there is an Augustiner Museum and then back further a walk to the Palace. I had a 1:20p tour, plenty of time to walk around and see everything.

In the palace you are not allowed to take photos, such a shame. In the Palace there are no paintings of Ludwig, but all paintings are French inspired. The firsts rooms from the Grand Staircase are the state rooms, all have open fire places made of real marble. One of the rooms have the two largest mirrors in the palace that reflect endless chandeliers, beautiful image. There were more than 5,000 candles on the chandelier.

There was an impressive room call the Great wall of mirrors, it was 98 meters in length. There are 23 mirrors and 23 windows across the room to match. The next room had a table that "set itself', the table was lowered down and the servants would set it and then raise it again. Funny thing was there was no kitchen built on the lower level. Next we came to a room that was no called the Unfinished staircase. Really was just boards up, complete transition from the Grand Staircase.

The palace has 70 rooms and only 20 finished. King Ludwig ran out of money to complete the palace and ended up passing at this palace. The day was now late and it was time to go back to Chiemsee. I rode the ferry all long to each stop before arriving back.

The train would be leaving for Munich at 4p and I wanted to make sure I was on time to meet Sabine and the kids at the zoo.