Landing back from Canada on the 2nd, I had a short bag change in my elegant new abode in San Francisco (thank you Simon and Catherine) before Lufthansa whisked me through the night sky to from SFO to FRA Frankfurt. And from there I followed C’s precise instructions on how to find a train that would glide me 400km south-westerly through cityscapes and landscapes of Germany down to Munich.
Now when I say Bavaria, you probably picture forests, lederhosen, dumplings, the iconic shape of a stein of beer, and the blue and white checks of the Bavarian flag, those tesselated colors that make the Bayern Munich football-team logo. And your is right to pull up those images…
But you need to visit to really get a visceral sense for the fusion of historic charm and modern elegance, all nestled in gentle hills of forest. Small towns of distinctive alpine architecture, and the rustic interior aesthetic that blends touches of modern minimalism into the centuries old buildings.
Schliersee in the state of Bavaria is one of the handful of villages along the lake of the same name, founded in 779 by five brothers establishing a monastic cell and being discovered and popularized by Munich artists in the 19th century. (I learnt from a real estate agent in London that the way to observe gentrification is following the new areas that artists move to!). The railway link in 1869 then led to a boom in tourism with bathhouses, trails and restaurants and bars developing, and today it’s a beautiful affluent town of locals and Muenchener weekend homes.
Sharing a few landscapes that capture what we would wake up to over a bundle of wonderful days in the still and frigid snow-blanketed Bavaria (and then Bad Homburg too) with C and her family
