To celebrate the New Year event 2023/2024 the swarm first went to Murnau am Staffelsee. A famous town which put up many artists and celebrities.

Kandinsky, Münter, Macke, Klee …..,

King Ludwig II. Of Bavaria travelled through Murnau several times and made a stop in the Post-Station (Hotel, place to take care for the horses) on his way to Linderhof castle. One source says, he stayed here overnight on one occasion because of a broken axle at his carriage. It was said he cursed a lot and he had gotten drunken. But this might be only fictional from a novel of Ödön von Horváth. For sure is, that he had some beers in the Post Station. King Carol I. of Romania stayed here overnight. Enough inspiration for us to follow that example.

We stayed in the splendid, stylish Hotel Post, decorated in the blue Wittelsbacher royal colors.

   

          

        

 

And enjoyed a lovely evening in Old Town Murnau center with burnt punch and excellent live music

Maybe one punch to much as I got convinced, that one mountain in the Brand Emblem of the Karg Brewery shows the Kofel Mountain in Oberammergaub. But I mixed it up with the „Hohe Kiste“ (Estergebirge) from the distance.

 

 

 

And I was happy to find Johanna E69 04 which was recently moved and I didn’t know where to.

Now behind the former Wing Station of the Ammergau Line.

 

 

Münterhaus, Museum

  (Wassily Kandinsky)

 

and cake in the excellent coffee shop Krönner across the street. Where we had an excellent “Prinzregententorte”. (referring to Wittelsbacher Prinzregent Luitpold, uncle of King Ludwig II.)

 

 

 

The breakfast room in the morning turned out to be a kind of museum. Even, to our delight, with a full selection of copies of the Gallerie of Beauties of King Ludwig I. in castle Nymphenburg. With pictures like of Lola Montez

 

 

We don’t know if Lola Montez had a lot of beer but she had a bear, Bruin who almost became her ruin.

 

 

or adventurer Lady Jane Ellenborough (Jane Digby).

            

 

Jane Digby, in her later life met Africa Explorer Richard Burton in Syria where she had married a Prince. This Richard F. Burton, who also wrote a book about his expedition to Oberammergau. Jane Digby appears in one episode of the new ZDF mini-series “Around the World in 80 days”, freely adapted from the famous Novel of Jules Verne. With Miss Abigail Fix. Which we saw on TV just two weeks ago.

Lady Jane Digby with Abigail Fix (reporter). Which is a great name refering to the Bavarian Beer in Greece „FiX“.

In the original of course, Detective Fix persues Phileas Fogg for bank robbery.

Phileas Fogg also drove a Hot Air Balloon across the Alps during one stage. And we came across the winter- balloon-days of Bad Kohlgrub and saw a swarm of Balloons driving over the beautiful Staffelsee.

Update June 2024: the memorial of King Ludwig II. was covered during winter season. But now I have new pictures.

To round up our trip Ludwig also went sport climbing at the last day of the year. We started at the Oberammergau “Friedhofs-Wall” (cemetery-wall) with challenging routes like:

“Sieg oder Kiste” (victory or coffin)

„Knochenmann“ (Grim Reaper, Jo Black)

„Grabschänder“ (grave robber)

„Totengräber” (Undertaker)

And then went on to the famous climbing area “Falkenwand” with many short, but technically challenging tours like

König Ludwig (10+)

or a new route/project scaled 11 yet not mastered or named.

Not even by icon Stefan Glovacz from the area. Which requires jumping to and holding on to a climbing grip not bigger than a fingernail above an abyss. (here is another better known exemple)

Ludwig decided to open another new more adequate route: The “Sissy Chicken Slope”, a solid -1.

 

Ludwig spent New Years Evening in Oberammergau. And we joined the Sternrundgang again. The weather was bad and it was raining but we enjoyed the music and the New Year wishes a lot. We were even lucky this year as one of the little Stars (children choir with string instruments) came to our door and sang their wishes nicely. We hadn’t that experience for decades. I joined too 4 times as a kid, and boy, was that fun to walk the dark streets until 1 or 2 in the night without adults. And to make some money.

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