Somberly Bright. Neuschwanstein Castle and Eye-Bright, Euphrasia officinalis, Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany
Perched high above the Pöllat, Thundering Creek, in Hohenschwangau is famed Neuschwanstein Castle. It was built from 1869 on the commission of Ludwig II (1845-1886), King of Bavaria, who ill-fatedly drowned in the Starnbergersee near Munich.
I climbed up from the valley to visit it - with myriad others - and there was already a foreboding of darkness. The road is mostly overhung by alpine trees and has a gloomy atmosphere. The interior of the castle is also gloomy, and it fits in well with the psychology of a king who could not bear daylight and would see visitors only at night. In fact, the rooms with their depictions of the German mystico-mythical world of the likes of Siegfried and the Götterdämmerung strengthened in me an uncanny gloominess.
From afar, though, the Castle glitters brightly in the sunlight, but it was eerily gray in the rain when I first saw it.
Wandering down again to catch my trip back to Munich, I was surprised in a sunny field by happily colorful Euphrasia officinalis, Eye-Bright (see inset). Cheerfulness and joy returned.
Somberly Bright. Neuschwanstein Castle and Eye-Bright, Euphrasia officinalis, Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany
Perched high above the Pöllat, Thundering Creek, in Hohenschwangau is famed Neuschwanstein Castle. It was built from 1869 on the commission of Ludwig II (1845-1886), King of Bavaria, who ill-fatedly drowned in the Starnbergersee near Munich.
I climbed up from the valley to visit it - with myriad others - and there was already a foreboding of darkness. The road is mostly overhung by alpine trees and has a gloomy atmosphere. The interior of the castle is also gloomy, and it fits in well with the psychology of a king who could not bear daylight and would see visitors only at night. In fact, the rooms with their depictions of the German mystico-mythical world of the likes of Siegfried and the Götterdämmerung strengthened in me an uncanny gloominess.
From afar, though, the Castle glitters brightly in the sunlight, but it was eerily gray in the rain when I first saw it.
Wandering down again to catch my trip back to Munich, I was surprised in a sunny field by happily colorful Euphrasia officinalis, Eye-Bright (see inset). Cheerfulness and joy returned.