I found from one of the guidebooks that the suburban train system in Munich, which is well integrated with the subway, actually extends a fair distance out into the surrounding countryside. You can reach Schlessheim (where I went to the aviation museum), Dachau, and south down to the Starnbergsee. In the summertime, the Starnbergsee is apparently a very relaxing place to head for to escape the city. I made the trek at 7am on a saturday morning. Why? Well, the one thing I knew about the see is that this is where the beloved King Ludwig II, committed suicide by drowning himself. How morbid. Well, in Bavaria, there is a real cult around Ludwig. He built a whole series of storybook castles, was a patron of Wagner and had a series of strange relationships with family members, relatives and others. It seems he drifted from reality, but was always a symbol of pity and well loved by his subjects. In fact, when he was removed from the throne, it was thought to have been done for his own sake, but it is said he was so distraught from it that he and his doctor drowned (although in mysterious circumstances) in the see.

I have included an additional picture of Ludwig's actual coffin, he is buried along with 40 other members of the Wittelsbach family in the crypt at St. Michael's Church in Munich.

So see it I must (sorry). As you can see it was quite foggy and rough, but this did not deter these hardy swans, the creature most closely associated with Ludwig himself. Starnberg See also is the site of one of Empress Elizabeth of Austria's getaway spots. Another one of Bavarian histories tragic stories, Elizabeth was a cousin of Ludwig's. Betrothed at an early age to the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, the beautiful, but fragile Elizabeth found the limelight of the position and a domineering mother-in-law unbearable and sought refuge in travel. She did not travel in anything less than the style befitting an empress. She was born to the inferior Wittelsbach line in Bavaria and was very fond of returning to her native land and spending time with her close family members.