• Ludwig's ridiculous Venus Grotto. Everything in the picture is fake.

  • The Linderhof palace, built for King Ludwig II (he of Neuschwanstein Castle). Too bad the weather was awful. The previous night's snow is visible in the back.

  • View across Walchensee at the end of the walk.

  • The conference participants at the top of the mountain.

Work conference in Murnau, Germany

OK, a conference for work may not sound like much of an adventure, but DX prides itself on its social event. This year the conference was in Murnau, on the edge of the Alps, and the Wednesday afternoon event was a climb up a local mountain, Jochberg. Despite being October, the unseasonably warm weather meant the walk, up to 1650m was perfectly pleasant in shorts and a t-shirt.

The conference participants at the top of the mountain.
The conference participants at the top of the mountain.

The view from the top was lovely, with lakes and mountains in all directions. Unfortunately it was a little hazy, but sitting at the summit in the sunshine was very nice. Even better, there was a hutte with beer half way down!

View across Walchensee at the end of the walk.
View across Walchensee at the end of the walk.

Thursday night saw the weather change, and the same mountain we’d climbed had a blanket of snow on Friday morning! The conference finished at lunch time, but a small group of us elected to travel back into the mountains to visit Schloss Linderhof, a palace built by King Ludwig of Bavaria, the same one responsible for the famous Neuschwanstein castle. The Schloss is a miniature version of Versaille, but with the addition of lots of Bavarian Baroque touches, so the “Hall of Mirrors” is only about 4m square, but filled with carved wood, gilded bronze, and an ivory chandelier! Unfortunately, no photographs are permitted inside.

The Linderhof palace, built for King Ludwig II (he of Neuschwanstein Castle).
The Linderhof palace, built for King Ludwig II (he of Neuschwanstein Castle). Too bad the weather was awful. The previous night's snow is visible in the back.

The grounds were equally impressive, with a number of small pavilions, one in Moorish style, another in Moroccan, and so on. The highlight was the enormous artificial grotto, complete with and underground lake with a boat floating in it, garlands of silk flowers hanging from the stalactites, and even a waterfall! Quite the most ridiculous folly I’ve seen anywhere.

Ludwig's ridiculous Venus Grotto. Everything in the picture is fake.
Ludwig's ridiculous Venus Grotto. Everything in the picture is fake.

7 thoughts on “Work conference in Murnau, Germany”

    1. Oops. I changed the title after writing the text. DX = “International Workshop on the Principles of Diagnosis”. That’s DX = diagnosis like PX = prescription (with the X drawn to turn the P into an R). Oh, and that’s diagnosis of bits of machinery, rather than of people.

      Come to think of it, there’s a reason I changed the title! 😉

      Anna, Pete: You might not be so keen when I tell you that after tuesday-friday last week in Murnau, today I’ve been to Southampton and back on the train, and tomorrow I’m off the Stockholm for the rest of the week. I quite like my house. Too bad I never see it!

  1. If you consider the conference trips as reimbursement for working in Brum then Richards job doesn’t look so good 😆

    Very nice Grotto. Maybe a theme for when I redecorate my bathroom 💡

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