The flowers and beauty of Herrenchiemsee

Well, I may never be able to pronounce where we visited, but the gardens are so beautiful that it was worth it.

This gorgeous place is on an island in the middle of Chiemsee lake in southern Bavaria. The island originally housed an Augustinian monastery, then in 1873 it was purchased by King Ludwig II who had the buildings converted to a residence. In 1878 he started building "Neues Schloss" (pictured above "New Castle"). He based all the designs on Versailles. Though only a handful of rooms were finished, the King moved in in September of 1885. Unfortunately the King died the following year with the house largely unfinished; at which time all building works stopped. 

The literature we were given was a bit confusing in describing the costs of the project. I also spent some time with Mr. Google and between the two sources, I think King Ludwig II spent nearly 200k oz of gold in the 23 year project equating to a cost of approx $300M in current value. I've heard of cost overruns in construction before, but this one takes the cake!

At the time of his death, there was a North wing build but nothing was completed in it and there were plans for a mirrored south wing. Given the project was so far in debt, the south wing was immediately scrapped and by 1900 a decision was made to demolish the north wing leaving just the main building seen today.

To recover costs, only a few weeks after the King passed, they opened it up as a tourist attraction and it has remained so ever since. 

The gardens are filled with fountains (again, to resemble Versailles) and the statues throughout are replicas of French antiquities which King Ludwig was enamored with.

Resting at the café after running ALL over the grounds

I wish I could tell you more about the interior, but the day we went the building was closed for a private wedding. Though they neglected to tell us this when we parked or rode the ferry over or walked the mile and a half up to the castle. This is our unamused face.

Though bummed we couldn't tour further, we made the most of running out all our energy on the grounds, stopping by the King's private chapel and former hunting grounds (though now a cow grazing zone...odd for an island, right?)

From there, we ferried back to the main land and continued our tour of Bavaria.