I’m confused. Well, I was. Not anymore.
Now, I’m not losing my mind or suffering writer’s block. It’s just that when I heard about Feldkirchen-Westerham’s festive mausoleum, I kind of scratched my head.
But, this is Bavaria and the entire federal state can do no wrong in my eyes. What? They make the world’s best beer. But, let me explain the mausoleum thing before you all think I’ve flipped my lid.
The Stollwerck Mausoleum is the final resting place for a Cologne chocolate maker’s family back in the 1920’s. There’s a chapel within the mausoleum where services are held once a month and where the occasional wedding or baptisms takes place.
Then I though about it, who wouldn’t want to be married in a chapel with gorgeous marble and bronze artwork all over the place?
Thanks for reminding me about the marble. :-) Keep a lookout for the HUGE marble blocks that were placed about town a century ago. Again, I scratched my head wondering why they’re here; but, they just seem to belong somehow.
Also belonging to the pre-Alps are Feldkirchen-Westerham’s castles. Schloss Altenburg is one of the oldest (today with a evangelic meditation center), but it is the Schloss Höhenrain that can claim that title, built just shy of a thousand years ago.
Don’t be fooled by Schloss Staudach, though. Sshhh… between us, this one was built only in 1901.
The finishing touches of Feldkirchen-Westerham’s historical sites would be a trip to see the St. Laurentius Church and the Pilgrimage Church Maria Opferung.
For a piece of entertainment trivia, the castle that you’ll find in the hamlet of Vagen was used as the “setting” of a fictitious hotel in the German series Sturm der Liebe. It’s a real castle, but not a hotel, and has a lovely garden if you want to visit.
Pencil that time in around all the cycling, walking, skiing, and hot springs soaking you’ll be doing while you’re here. Come to think of it, that’s a perfect place to clear your head and not be confused anymore. How do you think I managed to get over it?
OK, that and a Bavarian beer… :-)
