Another Beyond the Blue Book field report...
I was in the Munich area, which gave me an opportunity to check off another site I'd wanted to visit for a while, Burg Trausnitz, above the small city of Landshut. First, the castle.
It's one of those castle that's remained continuously occupied since its founding, and it was never destroyed in war, so there's elements of various historical periods piled on top of each other. Unfortunately, much of the interior decoration was damaged by a fire in the 1960s. The state of Bavaria rebuilt the floor plan, but mostly didn't restore the decour, so much of the walls are fairly bare. Some rooms still have rich Renaissance and Baroque frescos, but the painting has faded or is damaged. Still, you can see the images fairly well. Everyone's favorite flamboyant Bavarian king, Ludwig II, had a few of the rooms refurbished in his usual striking style, but unfortunately, these were ruined by the fire and all you can see today are pictures. The treasury contains a rather atypical collection of curiosities. Only a few of the usual porcelain and fine metal work items, but a lot of exotic animal remains, scientific and medical instruments. Overall, I found the castle about as interesting as similar royal residences I've seen elsewhere. Worth a visit. The only tours offered when I visited were in German, but that may not be the case in the summer.
If you drive, you'll need to park next to the large Hofgarten adjacent to the castle. Even from the parking lot, it's a little bit of a walk. The Hofgarten also has a small Tiergarten (like a very small zoo, mostly with domesticated and semi-domesticated animals), and an English-style garden, though wasn't much growing in February, even though the weather has been very mild this year.
On to the town of Landshut itself, which I knew almost nothing about beforehand. To reach the town from the castle, you have to walk down a steep trail through the Hofgarten. Likewise, it's a pretty vigorous walk uphill in the opposite direction. The town is stunningly beautiful. It looks like a typical southern Bavarian town, with the brightly colored Baroque plastered buildings, but on steroids. The usual traffic-free shopping area is one of the widest I've seen anywhere. The town's brick Gothic cathedral, the Church of St. Martin, towers high above the rest of the town. Quite impressive when you see what a small footprint it occupies. Unfortunately, it's closed for renovation work two days a week, and I happened to be in town on one of those days, so I couldn't enter. There's also a large sculpture museum, which I didn't visit. The Alstadt looks exceptionally well preserved, and I suspected that it probably escaped WWII unharmed. A quick search through both English and German Wikipedia appears to bear this out.
So, there's a quick overview of Landshut. Add it to your list of possible daytrips from Munich. Or, because it's less than 30 minutes east of Munich's main airport, you could consider staying here if your flight departs the next morning. You won't be disappointed. And every four years, the city holds the Landshuter Hochzeit, which is a huge medieval re-enactment. If you plan to visit Germany in 2017, put it on your agenda.