It was empty. Really empty. The parking lot. The ticket offices. The overpriced restaurant with photos on the menu. The gift shop selling souvenirs of dubious taste. All of it, closed. It had the mystical aura of an abandoned place. Not a single tourist on a location designed to host armies of vacationers on all-inclusive holiday packages. It was a dream come true. The whole place entirely for a few locals and myself, a semi-local. No crowds. No strangers on the pictures. No waiting in line for the nice photo spot. And all the time in the world to take in the moment and the location. Three things made it possible: a weekday, a cold wave, and a pandemic.

I met less than ten people on this snow hike in the Murnau peatlands

The stairs to the world longest castle remain empty as it snows in Burghausen

I was entirely alone at the UNESCO world heritage site of the Wieskirche

The emptyness striked me most at Linderhof Palace, which led to this blog entry