Füssen was a lot chillier than Munich--because, surprise! it's in the mountains! Our hotel room had a lovely Alpine view, and was right down the street from the train station. Aaron and I have discovered we don't much care for German food--all those heavy sausages and potatoes and dumplings--so we had dinner at an Asian restaurant down the street from the hotel. It was something of a jolt to speak German to the Chinese proprietor.

The guy at the hotel check-in desk assured us the Festspielhaus was only a 10 minute walk, so rather than taking a cab, we took off on foot. Never listen to Europeans when they tell you how long a walk something is--this place was a good two miles away. They must walk faster than we do.

The show was magnificent. The music was gorgeous and grandiose, (and other things starting with G), in a sort of Andrew Lloyd Weber/Wagnerian blend of styles. I followed only about a quarter of what everyone was saying, and that was with reading the English plot synopsis ahead of time. My classes were wonderful, and I'm really good at checking into hotels and making small talk, but the history and politics of 19th century Bavaria were a bit beyond my level. The review I read of it said it was supertitled, but they must have stopped catering to tourists, because this was a straight German experience. One thing I love about Aaron is that he can watch something like this in a language he doesn't understand, and still have a good time. (Ask me sometime about the Czech puppet opera...)

There are two basic views of Ludwig: his detractors call him a lazy, reclusive madman who bankrupted the country building his silly castles, and didn't pay any attention to the job of ruling his country. His apologists make him out to be a tragic, romantic visionary, trapped in the wrong life, who made Bavaria a showplace of arts and architecture. There's no doubt the castle projects, and his support of artists like Richard Wagner, were ruinous for Bavaria's coffers, at a time when Europe was in the midst of a lot of political and social turmoil. But modern-day Bavaria is certainly making back all that money he spent, and then some, on castle tourism, so in the long run maybe the apologists win.

It is kind of funny, though, that in the musical, whenever Ludwig is on his last emotional legs, an angel appears to him and says, "Ludwig, don't despair! Build castles, Ludwig! Castles are the answer!" What kind of psychotherapy regimen is that?