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You see, it's my birthday...
Sep. 27th, 2004 09:12 pmMy father had the rather nifty idea to surprise me on my birthday with a trip to Neuschwanstein, which I hadn't visited before. Neuschwanstein being the most famous of the castles that most excentric of Bavarian kings, Ludwig II., build. Not that he got to enjoy it much. Only 17 rooms were finished at the time he was told by his cabinet he had been certified as insane and was taken to another castle. The next day, he was found dead in the Starnberg Lake together with his doctor, and whether he committed suicide or was killed or had an accident is still hotly debated. As is in fact whether or not Ludwig was insane. Certainly by today's standards, his behaviour wasn't any more unusual than that of your avarage Hollywood star.
Anyway. Ludwig wasn't just the biggest Wagner fan ever but shared his era's romantic view of the middle ages. Hence the fact Neuschwanstein doesn't look like a genuine castle but the way a romantic with Wagnerian obsessions would think a castle should look like. It wasn't even designed by an architect as first, but by the man who did the stage art sketches for the most famous theatre in Munich at the time. No wonder Walt Disney copied. It's just this side of pure kitsch, and lacks the austere genuineness of the Rhine castles, or those along the Loire, but at the same time, the sheer anachronism and the great gesture it is has its own charm. Plus that stage designer knew what he was doing. Set against the alps, it looks magnificent.
On the way back, we also visited the Wieskirche, which is one of the most beautiful Baroque churches I've seen. Now my prefered aesthetic style for churches is Gothic - I've been raised in the shadows of a cathedral, so to speak - and usually Baroque is too excessive for me, but in this case, they managed to evoke the vivacity and splendour of the Baroque without going overboard into gaudy tastelessness. It made you hum Händel's Messiah. Which hasn't been called an opera for nothing.
Starting to surf through lj entries, I noticed immediately not one but two great DS9 fics:
"Nothing Ventured"
Which makes this not so secret Quark/Dax 'shipper very happy, and has a great Quark characterisation, and:
"Gumbo"
By the one and only Yahtzee, a Jake pov, set post-show. Lovely portraits of the entire (remaining) ensemble.
Now:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
deborah_judge demanded an online party. If anyone wants to come by and ask yours truly a question, or deliver some merciless teasing about becoming 35, I'd be happy to hear it!
Anyway. Ludwig wasn't just the biggest Wagner fan ever but shared his era's romantic view of the middle ages. Hence the fact Neuschwanstein doesn't look like a genuine castle but the way a romantic with Wagnerian obsessions would think a castle should look like. It wasn't even designed by an architect as first, but by the man who did the stage art sketches for the most famous theatre in Munich at the time. No wonder Walt Disney copied. It's just this side of pure kitsch, and lacks the austere genuineness of the Rhine castles, or those along the Loire, but at the same time, the sheer anachronism and the great gesture it is has its own charm. Plus that stage designer knew what he was doing. Set against the alps, it looks magnificent.
On the way back, we also visited the Wieskirche, which is one of the most beautiful Baroque churches I've seen. Now my prefered aesthetic style for churches is Gothic - I've been raised in the shadows of a cathedral, so to speak - and usually Baroque is too excessive for me, but in this case, they managed to evoke the vivacity and splendour of the Baroque without going overboard into gaudy tastelessness. It made you hum Händel's Messiah. Which hasn't been called an opera for nothing.
Starting to surf through lj entries, I noticed immediately not one but two great DS9 fics:
"Nothing Ventured"
Which makes this not so secret Quark/Dax 'shipper very happy, and has a great Quark characterisation, and:
"Gumbo"
By the one and only Yahtzee, a Jake pov, set post-show. Lovely portraits of the entire (remaining) ensemble.
Now:
deborah_judge demanded an online party. If anyone wants to come by and ask yours truly a question, or deliver some merciless teasing about becoming 35, I'd be happy to hear it!
