‘I wanted to see if you would spot it.’
‘Spot what?’
‘The secret entrance to the grotto.’
He looked at her. ‘The
‘You heard me. The secret entrance to the grotto.’
In unison, Payne, Jones and Ulster turned towards the large mound behind them. Standing twelve feet in height, the rugged formation appeared to be a natural extension of the hillside. Weeds grew from the cracks in the grey rocks. Small trees sprang from the crevices. If they had walked past it, they wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Everything about it looked as though it belonged, as if it had been there since the dawn of time. Naturally curious, Jones tapped one of the moss-covered stones to make sure it was real. Then he tapped another. Payne and Ulster quickly followed suit, each of them hoping to find the entrance first.
Payne called over his shoulder. ‘If you’re messing with us, I’m going to be pissed.’
She laughed at his comment. ‘I swear, I’m not messing with you. There really is a secret entrance to the grotto. In fact, Ludwig designed several secret doors and passageways in his castles – not to mention a number of slick contraptions that catered to his dream world. Believe it or not, some of them were quite brilliant.’
Payne glanced at her. ‘Such as?’
‘When Ludwig was entertaining guests, he didn’t want to be disturbed by servants. He felt they invaded his privacy and ruined the fantasies he was trying to create. Obviously this was a major problem when he was throwing a dinner party for a lot of people. No servants meant no food. So Ludwig designed a special dining room in the Linderhof that met his personal needs. The room featured a full-length table that could be lowered into the kitchen below so his servants could stock the table and raise it back up without being seen.’
Payne smiled. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
‘Trust me, that’s nothing compared to what you’ll see inside the grotto. That is, if you guys can find the way in. I thought one of you was supposed to be a detective?’
Jones, who was a licensed investigator, took the comment as a personal challenge. Less than thirty seconds later, he found a tiny metal handle imbedded in the rock face. Without waiting for Heidi’s permission, Jones yanked on the latch. A soft click could be heard in the centre of the mound, followed by a loud rumble. Suddenly the large boulder in the middle of the formation started to twist to the left. Unsure of what was happening, Jones jumped back and watched as the boulder turned on a centre axis. The left side of the rock went in while the right side swivelled out. Once the rock stopped moving, Jones stared at the resulting fissure. It was seven feet tall and three feet wide. Beyond it, a narrow corridor stretched deep into the darkness.
Jones glanced back at the group. ‘I’m not sure, but I think I found it.’
55
Armed with flashlights, the foursome walked single file into the man-made cave at the northern end of the Linderhof grounds. Heidi led the way, followed by Jones, Ulster and Payne. To ensure their privacy, he closed the door behind them. When the grounds were officially open, the narrow corridor would be awash with floor lights for the safety of the crowds. But that was later. For the moment, nothing was turned on.
‘Watch your heads,’ she called out from the front.
Fake stalactites dangled from the ceiling above as stalagmites rose from the floor, as if the group was passing through a sharp set of teeth. Payne wasn’t sure where they were going or what they were about to see, but he sensed something great was lurking ahead. Outside, he’d had his doubts about this place until that giant boulder had twisted aside like something from a movie.
‘How old is this place?’ Jones asked in the darkness.
Heidi answered as she opened the grotto’s control panel, which was hidden behind a fake boulder. ‘It was finished in 1877. Workers installed a framework of steel girders and pillars. They covered them with cement, sometimes laid over canvas, then sculpted them into shape.’
Payne shone his flashlight to the far left. At first glance, it looked like the ground was rippling. He assumed it was an optical illusion caused by his light until he heard the dripping of water. ‘What’s out there? Is that a fountain?’
Heidi put her hand on the switch. ‘Nope. Something better.’
‘Like what?’ he wondered.
Instead of answering, she started flipping switches. One by one, lights popped on throughout the grotto. Suddenly, the stalactites and stalagmites were bathed in blue light. Then the ceiling above them turned gold. An instant later, their pathway lit up like a ramp in a movie theatre, followed by a series of recessed lights in a painted alcove. Finally, the ground to the left started to glow – blue at first and then an alien green. It took a few seconds for Payne’s eyes to adjust, but when they did, he was stunned by the sight. The entire time he had been walking in the darkness, he had been strolling beside an underground lake.
His mouth fell open. ‘Wow.’
She turned off her flashlight and walked towards them. ‘I told you it was impressive.’
Ulster nodded in agreement. ‘I’ve seen pictures of the grotto, but I never fully grasped how large it was until now. It is truly immense.’
‘Women have said the same about me,’ cracked Jones.
Heidi ignored him. ‘The Venus Grotto is the largest artificial cave in Europe. Everything you see in here – the rocks, the ceiling,
Payne stared at the lake. At first, he had assumed it was shallow like the
‘In some places, it’s ten feet deep.’
Jones leaned against the safety railing that had been installed for tourists. He was struggling to comprehend the grotto’s technology. ‘They built this place in the nineteenth century? When did they add the lights?’
‘Believe it or not, they’ve been here since the grotto opened in 1877. Obviously we’ve upgraded the technology over the years and made some repairs, but the basic look is the same. What you see is what Ludwig saw when he lived in Linderhof.’
Payne shook his head in amazement. ‘I didn’t even know they had indoor electricity back then. I find it hard to believe they were able to do all this in the 1800s.’
‘Back then, they used arc lamps – bulbs made of charcoal rods that had been invented fifty years earlier – to light the grotto. To change the colour of the lights, they rotated a disk of coloured glass and shone the bulbs through it. Sort of like a slide projector. Ludwig was actually able to programme a sequence of lights – five sets of ten minutes each – in the order he wanted. In addition, he could shine the colours in unison, which projected a rainbow above the far alcove.’
‘How was it powered?’ Jones asked.
‘They used a primitive electromagnetic generator known as a dynamo. There were twenty-four of them in a machine shop about a hundred metres to the north. The power facility was one of the first of its kind in Europe.’
Payne whistled softly. ‘I’ll admit it, I’m impressed. This place is awesome.’
She signalled for them to wait. ‘Hang on, I’m not quite done.’
‘There’s more?’ Jones asked.
She ducked behind the fake boulder. ‘Much more. Check this out.’
With a flip of a switch, the water in the lake began to move. Slowly at first, and then more steadily. Before long, the entire lake was churning with waves. ‘Sometimes Ludwig wasn’t satisfied with calm waters, so his designers installed a wave machine. This way, when his servants rowed him around the lake, he felt he was facing the elements.’
Payne laughed in amazement. ‘Un-friggin-believable!’
She called out from the control panel. ‘I thought you’d like that, but believe me, the best part is yet to come. If you don’t mind, do me a favour and take a few steps forward on the path. I want you to have the best view for the finale.’
