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we took a tour to King Ludwig II castles … Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Linderhof. 

We have wanted to see Schloss Neuschwanstein for years and if we were only going to see one castle this would be the one.  The tour stopped first at Linderhof but we would have called it more of a palace than a castle since it was not built for protection and it was heavily decorated in 14kt gold leaf.  

Downstairs was the main entrance, with it's pillars of marble and the grand marble staircase up to the King's rooms, as well as the kitchen and the servants’ rooms. 

The upstairs was odd in that you had to walk from one room to the next in a circle.  The rooms did not open out into a hallway.  In the King's rooms there was so much gold that we just could not imagine looking at it all the time.  Only one room was not floor to ceiling gold.  It was the "Silver Room" and as you are probably thinking… yes, it was floor to ceiling in silver but it was not tarnished, so we am not sure exactly how they keep it clean. 

The silver room or "Audience Chamber" was where King Ludwig II would receive guests but the room did not have an entrance from the steps.  You had to walk through the music room to get to the silver room.  It was very strange but King Ludwig II had this castle built as a private villa used for seclusion and he never intended to entertain guests.

 "Hall of Mirrors"

In all the rooms every inch of the walls and ceilings were covered in murals, gilded frames, mirrors, writing sets, clocks, woodwork, figurines, etc., marble sculptures, floors, desktops & fire places, crystal chandlers and tapestries.   You could not take pictures inside but I found the above one online.

Ludwig had planned to build 17 castles in all though he never realized that dream before his death.  Ludwig lived in Schloss Linderhof for 8 years. 

On to Schloss Neuschwanstein...

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