On the spur of the moment, we decided to head to Chiemsee. What is Chiemsee? A large lake (German: “see”) in Bavaria and a popular vacation spot. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiemsee)

But we don’t do popular; we were looking for the oldest steam tram in the world and the island palace of Ludovic the Mad. Much more our speed! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_II_of_Bavaria)

We found what proved to be a great campground in the town of Prien. Chatting with the owners, we learned that the family has owned the land for over 500 years. It was no longer big enough to farm but made a great campground.  They had a small restaurant and also washing machines. (Regular readers will note a theme here.) We were thrilled and made good use of both the first night. (https://www.camping-prien-chiemsee.de/startseite.html)

The next day we set off to ride the old steam train, built in 1887, which was one of the reasons we were visiting.  It was pulled by a diesel locomotive on the day we went, but it was still a fun ride to the port at the lakeside.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiemsee-Bahn)

The palace was intended to be a copy of Versailles, as King Ludwig was absolutely obsessed (crackers?) with Louis XIV, the Sun King. 

It was intended as a monument to absolute monarchy and decorated as splendidly as possible.  The amount of gold leaf is amazing and frankly overwhelms. Pictures? Only outside; photography is prohibited inside. Pity, as there are some interesting things to see, including a huge table, which could be hoisted, fully laid, from a room below the dining space. (No need for pesky servants in the room!) And, of course, opulent rooms, public and private. Also lots and lots of unfinished building. Running out of money is a bummer, no matter what your budget. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenchiemsee) In the end the whole mess, which he never occupied, raises more questions than it answers. It is one thing to admire the king of another country, but to copy a palace, almost room for room? That’s simply silly.

The palace is a distance from the ferry dock and we do like horse carriages, so we rode back.  We were, however, eaten alive by the literal clouds of mosquitoes that the heat had brought out, and which were seeking the shade of the carriages! Never saw the like anywhere in Africa!

Fortunately, the mosquitos did not follow us onto the ferry. Returning to shore, we had time for a much needed ice cream before the train returned to Prien and returned us to our bicycles. A most enjoyable day.

We rode our bikes up the steep hill to visit the little church of St. Jakobus in the even tinier village of Urschalling.

The church is known for its frescos. The originals date from the 12th century, but most have been covered with new, gothic frescos from around 1390. The church is open, you can only step into a small anteroom – the there is a grille which keeps you out of the main church and, of course, protects the delicate frescos. Does rather limit your photography, however, and means that you have only a dark and distant view of the frescoes themselves.

We then continued our route towards Freiburg im Breisgau with a stop at the Womopark Neckartal Stellplatz in Warnau. We had planned to take the Lake Constance route, but the only road through the mountains to Freiburg goes through the Freiburg low emission zone, so we had to detour to the north. This is the first time that a low emission zone has actually made us change our plans. The only reason to visit Warnau was to break the journey but it proved to be a pleasant spot and we actually stayed for two nights.  On our second night, we took our host’s recommendation and went to the biergarten in the local tennis club for a typical Schwabian meal. They had a kind of a tasting menu and it was great. We thoroughly enjoyed our taste of local food – one of the best meals of the trip. (http://www.maultäschle.de) Just the kind of serendipity we love.