King Ludwig II's original idea was to have a copy of Versailles Palace in honor of King Louis XIV of France. They began construction in 1878 and it was never finished because the King ran out of money. The palace was intended purely as a monument and had no practical function. In fact, the King only spent a few days in the palace. He planned on spending 10 days there every September, but after his first stay, he was found dead in Lake Starnberg (the lake we live on!). To this day no one knows the cause of his death...suicide, murder, or accident.
We toured the Palace and unfortunately you are not allowed to take any photos inside :( It was incredible! All of the floors were made out of real marble and the walls were made out of a fake marble that is actually more expensive than real marble (and can be colored to your choice). Almost everything was covered in gold, but it was all gold leaf, therefore there was only about 5 lbs of gold combined in the entire palace. The Palace has not been touched since the King died, so we got to see some of the unfinished area's as well.
Here are a few pictures that we took of the outside!
I am so happy for you, to be able to learn other culture, and to see the beauty of the european present and past. You will learn so much traveling around europe. At 62, this will be my first time in a european country. I hope I am healthy enough to spend some time in Germany with you, Rick and the grandkids next year.
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