Day 14 to Appenzell

Day 14 to Appenzell - This had not been edited by the group, so all mistakes are mine alone.  We may make changes and additions later.

Sue and I walked to the Post Office in order to ship some breakable items back home and to free up some space in our luggage.  We then met for breakfast with the others and had another good one.  They really know how to do breakfast here.   Afterwards we loaded the van, that’s getting more and more difficult to do since we continue to gather items to bring back, and started out of town.  We debated between going the faster way (autobahn) or the slower way (through the countryside).  They left it up to me so we went by the countryside.  As we drove into Austria, we were stopped by police or border patrol, but they quickly waved us on after just glancing into the car.  Thank goodness. 

We drove through Austria in the sprinkling rain but we could still see lots of pretty scenery since the rain was not hard rain and the clouds were pretty high.  We were on autobahn type roads for a short distance and then started going through small towns.  It looked like ghost towns because no cars were out driving and no one was walking around and almost all the stores were closed.  We found it was a national holiday.  In one town we saw several groups of people dressed in the traditional national costumes and the groups were all heading for the same area of town.  In another town, we found thousands of cars and people and we could not continue through the town because it was closed down in order to have some kind of festival.  We were almost at the end of the small road and close to Switzerland.  We had no choice but to turn around and retrace our steps for a while until we could go another route. 

We ended up taking the next best route which took us past many ski resorts in the mountains.  Of course, this meant we were up IN the mountains on very narrow, curving, switchbacking roads.  Some of the switchbacks had large mirrors so you could tell if a car was coming from the other side, but most did not and we just hoped there was nothing coming towards us.  Some of the roads did not have enough land available for the road to sit on so the roads had been built out on piers beside the mountain – talk about scary.  Many times, there were no guard railings because there was not enough land for them to be placed.  The drop offs were severe and everyone in the car was tense, including the driver.  I had to keep wiping my sweating hands on my jeans and I know that was not comforting to the others in the car.   Of course, these mountain roads meant that the scenery was spectacular and breathtaking.  Houses were perched right on the sides on the steep mountain slopes and the colors of the leaves helped make everything even more beautiful.  We also passed through many tunnels that went through the mountains or on the sides of the mountains where we could see out one side of the tunnel.  We stayed on this road for quite a while.  Sue had to read the maps very carefully but she did a great job of guiding through the villages and on into Switzerland. 

We finally saw the name “Appenzell” on a road sign and we were all happy about that.  For some reason, Linda was very, very happy about it.  When I had to go back out of the way to see some rabbits that I had just glimpsed, she got depressed that we were not speeding on to Appenzell, but I just had to get out and see the bunnies.  They were out and about on the grass within fenced in areas and they were hoping around nibbling on grass.  Those bunnies were large, probably Flemish Giants but I’m not sure.  We were soon back on our way to Appenzell and wouldn’t you just know that we had to climb up another narrow twisty mountain road to get there!!!!  None of us were happy about that but again, we saw lots more beautiful scenery.  It seems that the more dangerous the road, the better the scenery.  During the last section of the road we passed many fields containing cows but we also saw many cats in these fields, probably looking for dinner.  We had not seen this many cats during the entire trip and they seemed to be everywhere here.

 As we drove into town, we had to search a while to find out hotel, but we got there and got parked.  We checked into the hotel, took the small luggage up to our rooms, and then went to see the shops.  We all found something we wanted. I found the wood carver’s shop that I had visited the last time I was here and will return to talk to the carver again.  The restaurants don’t open for dinner until about 6 so we had to wait and shop – just a tough life we have.  We finally went to the same restaurant that we went to years ago and the other girls had fondue (which they seemed to enjoy tremendously) and I had vegetables.  We had a very difficult time communicating with the owner/waiter/cook but another customer was very helpful and translated for us.  He told us of his work (for the Swiss government verifying accounts) and of his travels to the US. 

After dinner, I went straight to bed after my shower because I was exhausted from the physical, mental, and emotional stress of driving those mountain roads.  I think everyone else was exhausted from the same stress of riding those mountain roads – they really are unlike any I’m seen in anywhere else, except for perhaps the Cinque Terre in Italy.

Day 13 in Fussen, Neuschwanstein

Day 13 in Fussen, Neuschwanstein

I slept so well last night that I was ready to go this morning – I did not sleep well the night before.  We had another great breakfast and left early to be at the ticket shop to pick up reserved tickets before 10 this morning.  Paula had decided (very wisely as it turned out) not to try touring the castle because of the more than 300 steps she would have to climb.  She spent the time taking a horse carriage ride almost to the castle, walked around a little, and then took another carriage back to the little village at the base.  She toured gifts shops and enjoyed Black Forest Cake and Diet Coke while she waited on us.  She may have made the best choice of us all!!  The others of us took a bus ride higher than the castle and then walked even higher to stand on Mary’s Bridge in order to have the best view of the castle.  I walked to the center of the bridge and took photos – can’t believe I was able to do that.  I must be growing stronger in resisting my fear of heights because it didn’t bother me too badly, even when the boards creaked as I walked across them. 

After Mary’s Bridge, we began the walk downhill to the castle – it was a hard walk even though it was down hill.  The surroundings were beautiful as the leaves are turning and many are bright yellow – not many reds though.  We got to the castle and waited for our tour to take place.  Evidently we had chosen a very good time because there were never any long lines like we saw later when we returned to the village.  We began the tour with a long, long, long climb up a spiral stairway.  Guess which floor of the castle we were on after that climb??  Go ahead, guess!!  The first floor.  I found that discouraging since we would have to climb more!!!!  We went through quite a few rooms and the decorating of the rooms was extreme, to say the least.  My very favorite was the carved wooden canopy of his bed – just amazing.  It had to be done three times before he was satisfied. I can’t really describe the style of the rooms except to say that it is like total immersion in a series of paintings – everything is decorated.  The servant quarters were the only rooms that I would have felt comfortable living with, but I can understand, sort of, how royalty might feel differently about the surroundings.  The doors throughout the castle were beautifully made.  I loved the kitchen, but I would never want one like it.

By the time we left the castle, I was exhausted.  One thing that really surprised me was the number of stairs even though I thought I was prepared.  Even the Grand Staircase was a circular stairway and I did not expect that.  I am very glad I went to see it but I am even more glad that I will not be doing it again. 

We walked down a long, long, long, way to get to the area where the horse drawn carriages wait to take people down to the village.  I don’t understand why walking down hill is difficult, but it was for me today.  We had to wait for the second carriage since a large tour group took the first one.  We could have walked on down to the village, but I for one had had enough walking, period.  At the village, we looked around a very little bit and then got in the car to go to see Wieskirche.

The trip to the kirche (church) and Wies required about 30 minutes of driving, but the scenery was beautiful.  Truly.  When we arrived at the church, I was too tired to even get out of the car.  The others ventured out but only Sarah had the energy to go into the church.  You should read the history on Wieskirche on the internet – it is quite interesting.  We then returned to Fussen, after taking detours to take photos of cows and stacks of firewood, and immediately went walking in the historic area of the city.  What can I say – we don’t stop just because we are tired.  We had sandwiches in a café and then went our separate ways. 

Some of us went to a yarn shop and bought yarn – I now have two scarves that need to be made of German yarn and I have not yet finished the one from Switzerland that I began several years ago!!!!!  After the yarn shop, I saw a small shop selling small buildings that can be placed together to make a village.  I had seen items like this before but had never been interested before.    Well, that’s changed.  I was not totally interested until she showed me one that was modeled on the restaurant we saw while on tour in Rothenburg.  Now, I’d like to have more.  Frank, Rachel – any time you want to give me a gift, go to www.leyk-shop.com and make a choice.  This will be a good choice for me for many years.  As I was leaving, I asked her where the cemetery was and she did not understand.  I mentioned several words related to the idea and she recognized ‘headstones’ and gave me directions. 

I wandered down the street and finally found the gate to the cemetery and this one was very similar to the one in Oberammagua – very neat and well cared for.  The oldest graves I found here were from about 1905.  I also found a list on the wall of the cemetery of people from Fussen who had died during the First World War.  At least I think that’s what the list was for.  As I walked around, a family came up to me and the family asked me a very long question but was not too disappointed when I said I only spoke English.  I wish I also spoke another language – I really do. 

After leaving the cemetery, I walked back to the roundabout beside my hotel and went into a very exciting store – the grocery store.  I bought toothpaste – I hope Colgate only makes toothpaste because that’s what I bought.  I also bought my mother some chocolate bars and I also bought some cough drops because my throat was a little sore.  I got back to the hotel and found that all the other girls were in our room and were having a Sissi party.  Paula and Linda had bought a Sissi torte (a small, exquisite chocolate cake) and we all had a piece while we discussed our purchases, our experiences, how we needed naps and what time we would meet for dinner.  Then we split up to rest, relax, repack, knit or type a blog!! 

We had dinner in the hotel’s ‘traditional’ restaurant and we shared meals because none of  us were very hungry.  Then we had the adventure of explaining how we wanted to pay for our rooms.  The man receptionist was very nice about it all and accommodated our unique way of splitting the bill.  So we are all paid up and will be ready to drive to Appenzell in the morning.  We have already decided to go shopping here again before we leave – just a little shopping and maybe just at the grocery store.  Maybe we’ll revisit the yarn shop.  Who knows where we will end up before leaving Germany.  We will sleep tomorrow night in Appenzell, Switzerland and then the next night in Zurich and then back to the USA.

When editing this as a group, we realized that we might sound a tad geriatric, but that’s okay because age really has nothing to do with having fun.  Actually, it may increase our ability to appreciate all the fun we are having.  So, just label us the Geriatric Travel Group and know that we enjoy what we do.

Day 12 in Fussen, Zugspritze

Day 12 in Fussen, Zugspitze

We met for breakfast at the older section of the hotel and had another wonderful breakfast.  This is a very nice hotel that clearly caters to Americans.  After breakfast, I wandered across the street to a store that the receptionist said might have yarn and knitting needles, but it was just a grocery store.  She later said they might have those supplies at Woolsworths, but I’ll have to look there tomorrow.  We started on our way to the Zugspitze not really knowing where we were going.  That’s never stopped us before and it didn’t this time either.  We stopped at a petrol station to ask where we were at the time so we could figure out how to get to the Zugspitze by going to the Austrian side.  We also had to buy a sticker for the windshield that would allow us to drive on the Austrian interstate system.  (We had spoken with a fella who did not get one of those and had to pay a large fine.)  After that petrol station inquiry, Sue knew just where we were going and she directed me just fine.  Naturally, Austria looked just like Germany.  As we neared the mountain, we stopped for information again (They have great Information buildings available to tourists) and got precise directions.  We found the cable car just fine, bought our tickets, and up we went to the highest place in Germany, 9700 feet high.  The cable car was wonderful until we reached some point and it started rocking back and forth, but it stabilized pretty soon.  The building at the top was partly in Germany and partly in Austria.  There were a couple of large decks where you could gaze at the scenery and it was beautiful scenery to see.  At many areas, mountain peaks were sticking up through the clouds and that was my favorite part.  I found the building to be difficult to navigate and at one point I was in a glass sided elevator going up to the gift shop and then again going back down to the cable car level.  Needless to say, I was staring at the elevator buttons, not the beautiful view out the windows.  I am afraid of heights but I was trying to control it.  I did quite well except when I was on the top decks and I kept wanting to ask someone to hold my hand – I resisted the impulse, barely.  The bravest person in our group is definitely Sue who stood on a glass floor to have her photo made!!!!  Brave or Dumb, I’m not totally sure.  (More about that topic later.)

After spending time at the top, we boarded the cable car for the ride to the bottom and this time the cable car was almost empty and that was much better than the very crowded car ride to the top.  We shopped a little at the souvenir shop before getting in the van and leaving for Germany again.  We saw wonderful valleys, hillsides, rivers, mountains covered in snow and had a wonderful ride. 

We knew we had to go through the city of Garmish to get to the other places we wanted to visit but we had an adventure on the way.  Our road was right beside a beautiful rushing creek that had to have very cold water in it.  Paula dared any of us to wade in that water and she’d pay five Euro to see it happen.  Of course, she knew that none of us would do that.  HA!!!! Sue immediately said ‘I’ll do it!’  So I pulled over beside the creek and they got out.  Paula was shocked and refused to let Sue take off her socks and shoes and required that she just put her hand into the freezing water.  So now we have photos of Sue with her hand underwater and she is a little bit richer than she had been.  Paula learned a lesson and won’t be daring Sue to do anything again. 

We tried to find Mittenwald, but the signs seemed to turn into a bicycle path and the others wouldn’t let me drive the van on that path – I just know I could have made it!!!!  Oh well, turns out we didn’t really have time for it anyway.  We then headed for Ettal on the way to Oberammeragua.  We stopped for lunch in Ettal and had the meal that Sarah had been waiting for the whole trip – Farmer’s Toast which consisted of ham, pineapple and cheese on toast and smothered with melted cheese.  She had made it sound so good that several of us also had that for lunch.  I had fried sausages and mashed potatoes and that was also very good.  While there, we saw their beautiful church and I found a critter to bring home.  Every trip, I decide which animal is most often seen on that trip and this time that animal is definitely a dog.  So, I found Ettal, that’s what I named him and I know just how original that is considering we were in the town of that name.  He’s a cute little black and white puppy.  He fits really nicely on the dash of the car.  Actually we helped their economy fairly nicely today. 

Then we headed on to Oberammeragua and found many souvenir shops and wood carving places.  The first shop we entered was very glad to see how much money we spent and then we went on to many other shops and spent very generously.  I had let the others out of the car to go find a parking spot because there were only about 40 minutes until closing time.  Later, I went back to get the car and saw a wonderful sight so I hurried back to get the girls to take them to see it.  We couldn’t really get back to the exact spot but a man lowered a barrier so we could turn around and as I turned around, there it was.  That man put the barrier back up across the street and here came the herd of cows walking up the street on their way home for the night.  Their udders were full and I suppose that was someone’s next task.  The two cow-herders were riding bicycles.  It was a wonderful experience and again, these cows had bells ringing as they walked.  I videoed it and hope to put it on facebook at some point. 

After this excitement, we decided to continue looking for the building where the world famous Passion Play happens every ten years.  On our way, we saw an open shop across from a cemetery, so naturally we parked and got busy again.  I went through the cemetery and took photos – another well tended and beautiful cemetery.  The saddest headstone I saw had three photos of three brothers, in uniforms, who had all died between 1943 and 1945.  Their parents were also buried there after their sons were. I then went across the street to see the souvenir shop and there he was – Ober, Ettal’s bigger brother and he was waiting on me to pick him up!!  So, of course I did.  He fits perfectly between the front seats and helps us figure out where to go. (Okay, it’s awfully juvenile, but I don’t care – I enjoy it and plan to continue to do so.)  I have been buying small pins from the different places we’ve visited and those pins are now on the ribbons around the dogs’ necks.  After enriching those people, we drove around and finally found the Passion Play building.  It is quite impressive.  If you don’t know the story of the beginning of the Passion Play in Oberammagua, look it up on the internet – it’s unique. 

After finishing there, we headed back to Fussen.   Since it was almost dark we planned to move right along to home, for the night.  However, we only made it a couple of miles before a beautiful church on a hillside made us stop to take photos.  Across the little lane from the church was a steep hillside with goats grazing.  All of a sudden, three little goats scampered right up the hill toward the adults before turning around and running back down the hill.  A few seconds later, they ran back up – it was hilarious to watch them frolicking on that hillside.  They were having a really good time.  We watched until they stopped – they must have been tired – and onward we drove.  We did not stop again until we reached our hotel and unloaded the car.  That was a task because we had much more ‘stuff’ when we returned than when we left this morning.  We went to dinner at the ‘Chili’ restaurant in the hotel and we all had different kinds of pizzas.  The food was quite good, but not as good as the previous night’s food, in my opinion. 

Everyone is tired and will probably have an early night as we have another day of excitement tomorrow.  We have reservations at Neuschanstein at 11 so we have to be there at 10, so we will have a fairly early breakfast.  None of us are looking forward to the 300 steps inside the castle, but we are going to try.  After we see the castle, we will be going to a special church at Wieskirche and then spending the rest of the day walking and shopping around Fussen.  We hope it will be a less tiring day than today.  After dinner, we will have to somehow pack up all our ‘stuff’ and prepare for driving to Appenzell the next morning.

We are still all having fun, but it seems that we are slowing down because we sure do work awfully hard on vacation!!!!! 

Day 11 to Munich, then Fussen

Day 11 to Fussen

We had a later night in Salzburg than planned because a group of young people decided to have a party or shouting contest or something out on the streets near us.  It didn’t keep us up long, but was still unpleasant.  We were all at breakfast nice and early and enjoyed another wonderful breakfast.  The taxi arrived and took us to the Bahnhof quickly and efficiently.  We toured the water shop and the water closet and waited on the train to Munich for about an hour, but it was a nice time to be out in the sun. 

We had a very nice train ride on a very modern train with screens that told our location, our current speed and showed a map of our progress.  We even had a food/coffee cart that came by.  We have seen many, many, many solar panels on houses, businesses, and just plain farms of them along with numerous wind turbines and stacks of firewood waiting for the winter weather.  These indicate how much Germany has developed alternative power sources and I think it’s wonderful.  I wish the USA would do the same thing.  When we arrived back in Munich, it almost seemed like coming home.  Our taxi driver made getting to the hotel seem so easy.  Of course with the weather being sunny, the streets being empty (since it was a Sunday morning) and the driver knowing right where to go, it should have seemed easier.  The folks at the hotel recognized us (seems like all the hotel folk have heard our story of getting to the hotel and parking from the other night) and after using the restroom, we loaded the van.  One of the doormen, not the same one from the first night, helped carry our luggage out and was so very, very good at giving me driving directions that getting out of the parking garage was easy.  On the very last section that was extremely uphill, the van could not make it until I went back down all the way and really built up steam – believe me, I roared up that incline and the fella got out of the way.  It was really steep.  We were on our way.

We just drove, not knowing where at first.  We knew that being in the center of the city, any way would take us out and to an autobahn and it worked.  We soon began to see signs for A96 toward Switzerland and we followed those signs though lots of construction. After a while, we were speeding right along and only had to spend about an hour on the autobahn before turning south onto the Romantic Road toward Fussen. At first, the land was completely flat and then we could see mountains in the distance and those mountains quickly started getting closer and larger.  We went through quite a few small towns and villages and turned off the road for short detours in order to see more detail. One of the cities had a beautiful man made waterfall that Sue took good photos of for us.  Another time, we stopped for snacks and diesel.  And at another village, we found a beautiful church that we investigated by walking around, climbing under a fence (Linda sort of went to her knees under the fence and her camera sort of went into a cow patty! But they are both okay now.) and then entering to take photos.  It was a beautiful little church.  We could tell that the temperature had gone way down or it seemed that way because it was a little windy.

 A little farther on, we saw cows in a pasture beside the road and a beautiful little chapel on the hill behind them, so of course we detoured to get closer.  The cows had bells on and the music those bells made was beautiful.  Sue has posted a video of that concert on her FaceBook status.  We drove closer to the chapel, but we would have had to walk a very steep path to it, so we took photos (or rather Sue did) from the bottom of the hill.  The next time we stopped was to take photos (again, thanks Sue) of the Fairy Tale King’s castle (Neuschwanstein) and then we drove on into Fussen.  We found the hotel quite easily since it is on the main entrance street.  We unloaded ALL our luggage in order to organize it since we only took part of it to Salzburg.  The room draw told us, after a little manipulation, that Linda will have the single room while Sarah and Sue are sharing and Paula and I are sharing.  The manipulation involved the fact that only Paula and Linda have not had a single room yet on the trip so one of them had to have it here and the other will have the single room in Appenzell.

Upon arriving at the hotel, which has changed its name since we made reservations, we toured the underground parking garage and decided that it would be simpler and cheaper to park a very short distance away in an outdoor lot. This section of the hotel is practically new and is very modern and nice.  We all spent some time in our rooms resting and then decided to go to the hotel restaurant that serves traditional German fare instead of the one that serves Italian food.  All of us really enjoyed that choice and we had cheese noodles, roast pork with dumplings and purple cabbage, pasta with ham, and fried pork sausages with roasted potatoes.  Everything tasted wonderful and then we shared a wonderful dish of crepes with ice cream and chocolate sauce.  We are all quite tired and look forward to a good night’s sleep.

We plan to meet for breakfast about 9 and then head for Garmish to go to the top of the Zugspritze (the highest point in Germany that separates Austria from Germany) and then head to Oberammergua and other interesting places in the area.  We will visit THE castle the day after tomorrow.  Lots to see and experience in this area.

Day 10 in Salzburg, Eagle's Nest, Konigsee

Day 10 in Salzburg

It seems that we all had a good night’s sleep and we’ve decided that we are all very healthy breathers while we sleep.  Sue says I do double duty and also saw logs while I breathe so healthily.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and the lady for the private tour from Bob’s was here right at nine. 

She, Linde, had a more bubbly personality than the guide from yesterday.  We saw some beautiful scenes of villages, hillsides, mountains, and cows and goats on the way to Berchtesgaden, Germany (Remember that we spent the night in Salzburg, Austria) and our first stop was the Eagle’s Nest.  That is the name the U S troops gave to Hitler’s mountain top meeting place after we took possession of it.  We rode very twisty mountain roads up to a ticket/souvenir/WC area and then had to ride one of their special buses up an even more narrow twisting road; then we had to walk through a tunnel and take an elevator up into the building.  The last road, elevator (through solid rock) and building were designed by one of Hitler’s top men and he had it all constructed in 13 months (which is amazing) and then Hitler used it only about 13 times (because he was afraid of heights) for meetings.  There are only a very few rooms, dining room, kitchen, meeting room, and outdoor patio and NO bedrooms.  Hitler stayed in his mountain home further down the mountain when he was in the area.  It was beautiful and there was lots of snow and ice around this area as you can see from the photos. 

We left there, after doing some shopping of course, and went to the Konigsee which is an alpine lake filled with the water of a melting glacier.  It is said to be the purest lake water in Germany and is of ‘drinking water’ purity.  I just wasn’t thirsty so I didn’t have any. (haha)

On the way to the lake, our tour driver found out we wanted to take the boat onto the lake and hear the bugle played – evidently her instructions did not include the boat ride and we didn’t have time for it before her next tour.  After arriving at the lake and asking the operators about time, she said she could not do it!! We almost gave up, but as you might imagine, we were a little bit stubborn and decided to pay her for the time she had given us so far and let her return to Salzburg, leaving us at the Konigsee.  We could always hitchhike back to the hotel!!!! 

We got our stuff out of her van and said goodbye to her.  We bought tickets for the ride and were soon on a boat on the lake.  The water was amazingly clear and green.  The boat was packed with tourists and the guide spoke only in German or Austrian.  It must have been a funny tour but we didn’t understand any of it.  We saw a very tall waterfall that goes into the lake and we saw the church of St. Bathaloma that sits out in the lake.  We could have gotten off the boat for a nice long hike, but we decided not to do so.  I know just how surprised you are about that too.  The ride back was very quiet since there was no guide talking or bugle playing.  However, some young person boarded the boat and sat next to Linda.  She kept her head turned away from him and kept a scarf over her nose and mouth in order to dilute the stink of him.  She has still been smelling him hours later.

When we got back to the dock area, we did a tiny bit of shopping and there was a big beautiful big black big Russian Terrier named Frodo.  Did I mention he was big??  See the photo to see him.  He had a blue hair clip holding his hair out of his eyes.   We asked about getting a taxi and people kept pointing a certain way.  We walked and walked and walked (etc) all uphill for a long time until we found a large car park with an information center.  The lady called us a taxi van that cost us 45 Euros to get back to Salzburg.  It was certainly worth it.

On the way back in I saw the Media Markt and I got out of the taxi to see if they had a battery for my computer.  They did not have one in stock so I was out of luck.  Here, the story diverges.  The girls went back to Salzburg and  bought roasted chestnuts and then went to the Café Thomasilla (Austria’s oldest coffee house) for sandwiches/cakes, tea/coffee/hot chocolate.  They say it was very good.  On the way back to the hotel, they did a little shopping (surprise, surprise, surprise).  I took a taxi from the Media Markt to St. Peter’s Church in Old Town and enjoyed walking about the church and its cemetery.  The graves seem to date from the mid-1900’s and they are beautifully arranged and cared for.  I saw almost no artificial flowers, but there are many flowers and plants on the graves.  The usual headstones were made of black iron and are quite lacey.  There were also family plots that are behind iron gates and this idea was used in the Sound of Music movie, but the cemetery for the movie was made in Hollywood.  Afterwards, I walked to the café and talked to the other girls a little, but was so tired that I decided to go back to the hotel and rest some.  On the way, I saw an artist selling his watercolor paintings and bought one.  Sarah also bought one as she passed by a little later. 

We rested in our rooms, some of us slept a while, and then went to an Italian restaurant recommended by Melanie, our receptionist.  We had to go back to get the directions repeated to us, but we made the trip and it was successful.  The food and surroundings were excellent.  Again, we all ate to much but this time none of us even had room for any dessert.  We came back to review this blog and photos and then decided upon times for tomorrow.  We will meet the taxi at 10 to take us to the train station for our 11:20 train back to Munich, so we will have breakfast before ten.  Tomorrow we will go by train to Munich and then drive to Fussen where we will spend three nights.  Our time in Europe is growing short.  BooHoo!!!!

Day 9 to Salzburg

Day 9 to Salzburg

We started the day by packing everything up into our small suitcases and having breakfast.  The taxi-van was waiting for us at 9:30 and we loaded up to go to the train station.  We arrived at the Haptbahnhof in plenty of time and got to the benches beside the track where our train would be arriving.  When the train arrived, Sarah led us to our reserved seats and we got on our way to Salzburg.  The train seemed very quiet to me and we passed through beautiful countryside and lots of small towns.  I sat away from the other girls because our reserved seats had us riding backwards and I wanted to face the correct direction so I didn’t get motion sick.  We rode for less than two hours and we were in Salzburg.  We went out through the construction on the train station, found a taxi-van and he took us to the hotel.  I’m very glad he knew just where he was going.  It’s another city that would be difficult to drive for me and I’m very glad not to be driving here. 

We checked in and mine and Sue’s room was just fine, but the other room had not been cleaned yet. (It was cleaned by the time we returned several hours later.)  The receptionist directed us to Bob’s Special Tours for our afternoon jaunt and we stopped at a bakery on the way but ate the food at Bob’s.  We tried to cancel our next day’s private tour, thinking we could get the same tour at a much cheaper rate, but since we had waited so close to the tour we would have had to pay half of it.  Therefore we will go on a private tour with “Bob” tomorrow.  We had found out there is no real Bob, by the way.

Today’s Sound of Music Tour consisted of the five of us and a couple for Oregon.  The tour bus is smaller than our bus, I mean van.  The tour guide was a lady with a strange haircut, so look at the photos.  It looks like a 3 year old cut her hair.  Her English was pretty good but we couldn’t hear what she said all the time.  She drove us around to many sites in the city of Salzburg and explained the historical aspects of some of them and the relation to the movie The Sound of Music of the others.  We saw the New City which was started in the 1200’s, yes that’s right, and it consists of many stately homes and businesses.  We also drove around the Old City which was begun in about 700.  We even saw a ‘horse wash’ which was used on the horses before they were allowed in the barn.  Traffic was bad all the time we were in the city.  We learned all about how the movie was shot using the front of one house, the back of another house, the meadows from all around, and so forth.  We saw the gazebo where the dancing took place but it was locked to prevent accidents.  She also told us the story of the real Von Trapp family and how it compared to the story in the movie.  We left Salzburg to go into the country and we climbed mountains and went around a lot of curving, windy roads and it was a different experience for me to not be the driver.  Luckily, I fell asleep instead of getting car sick so that was a very good thing. Unfortunately there is a photo of that!!!!  There was snow on the tops of the mountains but the hillsides, valleys and mountains were all beautiful.

We went to the Lake District which contains many lakes (Are you surprised by that?) and they were very nice looking.  She said lots of scuba diving takes place here and in some of the lakes, they don’t even need artificial lights until they are at last 120 feet deep.  That’s surprising.  We drove to the church where the wedding in the movie was shot and got to go inside.  The movie made the church appear to be much larger, but it was still beautiful as was the little town in which it is located.  We also stopped at a small town on one of the lakes for some shopping (surprise).  Then we headed back to Salzburg on the autobahn at high speed.  We went to the archbishop’s palace that he built for his mistress and their 14 children to see the gardens and then she drove us back to our starting point.  She wanted us to stay in the gardens and walk back to our hotel but we insisted and she drove us back to the starting point.  She recommended a restaurant but we had a difficult time finding it, so another lady recommended another restaurant and we found this one.  It was a very good choice.  Sarah had shrimp, the others had Salzburg Schnitzel (beef in a bread covering) and I had potatoes.  Everyone really enjoyed their meals.  We also had desserts – plum strudel or apple strudel.  Needless to say, we rolled back to our hotel since we were so full.  But it was worth it. 

When we were in the mountains on the tour, we noticed how much colder it had become and we were very cold on the walk back from the restaurant but luckily it was a short walk.  We had a short meeting to discuss plans for tomorrow (Konigsee and Berchtesgaden) with the tour guide picking us up at the hotel at 9, so we will have an early breakfast at 8 or so.  Sue and I spent a LOT of time on the phone with AT&T about our data plans and our usage so far.  I had to get more text message availability, but Sue was relieved to find out that all that time she used google map to find the hotel in Munich data did not put her over the amount she had already paid for.  We were also both able to get on the wifi here in the hotel for only one Euro for five hours.  Things are looking good here.

Since it is so late tonight and we won’t have time to read and approve this blog entry until late tomorrow, I am going to just post it and hope I got most of it right.  I’ll make changes tomorrow night or some time in the future.  Pictures will also go up soon.

Nighty night!!!!

Day 8 in Munich

Day 8 in Munich

Sue woke me up at 9:30 and said we had to be at breakfast now, so I got up and ready to go in a record time.  We had a very nice breakfast, lots of fruit.  After breakfast, Sue and I headed to the Apple store to look around and then met up with the other girls at 11:45 at the Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel do its thing at noon. We had front row seats since the other girls arrived before we did.  They spent their time having drinks – Paula had Coke Light, Sarah had hot chocolate and Linda had coffee.   The audience for the show of the Glockenspiel was only us and about a thousand other people!!!!  The Glockenspiel is located in a very large building and after the noon bells quit ringing, the music started playing and figures begin to move.  There were two sections of moving figures and it is the best Glockenspiel I have ever seen and I believe I have seen a total of four or so. 

While we were in the bank to exchange more dollars for Euros, I saw a man with a large gun on his hip standing mostly at the top of the stairs that lead down to the teller – he did not have a happy look on his face.  As another man came up the stairs, he nodded to the gun toter and off they went.  I guess he was a guard or something, but I found that interesting.

We walked to the bus stop where our Grey Line tour should be and waited a while for the bus.  We all got to sit on the top of the double-decker bus but luckily it was an enclosed area.  The woman guide spoke everything in German and English and it was a very good tour.  We took the Grand Circle tour and covered inside and around the city.  We saw palaces, the Olympic Park, BMW World, lots of statues and fountains, narrow streets that the bus was able to barely drive through and very, very busy city streets.  The people in this city seem to park everywhere and make mostly one lane streets and they walk across the streets pretty much where they want and when they want.  The bicyclists are also very prevalent everywhere, both on sidewalks and in bicycle lanes on all the streets.  We have seen several bike riders using their umbrellas.  We have seen women in dresses and heels riding along the streets.  We have seen several areas where hundreds of bikes were waiting for their owners to return and claim them.  The tour lasted two and a half hours and we all feel like we have a pretty good feeling for the city in general. 

Since it had been a long time since breakfast until the end of the tour, we decided to get a small late lunch, so we went to a place that appeared to be really old and really busy, perhaps mostly with locals.  (90% of Munich was destroyed in 1945 and has been rebuilt since then.  That’s why it is mostly modern.)  They were serving lots of people, but we had a good lunch of roasted potatoes, potato soup, pretzels, and apple strudel and dumpeldingers (or something) that is a yeast bread with vanilla sauce and is delicious.  There is a photo of it in picasa.  Afterwards, we went shopping but didn’t really splurge on anything.  Sue and I went back to the Apple Store and bought some small items (big price) and to a ritzy store to look around.

We got back to the hotel in time to rest a little while before leaving for a pizza place that someone recommended to us.  It was excellent.  We each had our own small pizza (see the photos for a picture of one of them).  The waiter was very gracious and funny.  After that, Sue and I went to the Hard Rock Café and bought a Munich shirt (can’t pass that up) and then we returned to the hotel.  Everyone has packed everything going to Salzburg on the train tomorrow in their small suitcase and everything else in the big suitcase.  The large ones have now been taken downstairs to the car and we are ready to get to the train in the morning, except for sleeping and having breakfast.  We have also already paid our hotel bills (it was pretty expensive but it was a very nice place with exceptional hosts) and paid for four nights of parking (the two nights we spent in Munich and the two we will spend in Salzburg) so most all of the loose ends are tied up.

Day 7 to Ulm and Munich

Day 7 to Ulm and Munich

The morning did not start well since I thought I had killed my laptop, but that problem is now temporarily resolved so onward we go.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and checked out, loading up the car before going shopping again.  We all hit different places and Lo and Behold, we discovered that the shops will ship stuff home!!!  That solves the problem of space in the luggage and car.  There are several boxes heading to GA from Rothenburg.  We finished up shopping and shipping and headed out of town.  Getting out was not quite as bad as getting in, but it was still ‘interesting’.  Back to the autobahn we went, this time in the rain.  We drove and drove to Ulm about 2 hours and the rain made things scary but it didn’t slow down too many of the drivers.  It did slow me down some, say to 100 – 110 kph. 

We got to Ulm about lunchtime and had a very difficult time getting close to the church with the tallest steeple in the world.  We could see it but we couldn’t get to it.  Believe me when I tell you that it is kind of scary driving in the bus only lane!!!  Once Igot on it, I couldn’t get off.  However, we finally got back into regular traffic.  We found a parking place and had to get a fella to show us how to pay for time in our parking spot.  I went to an Apple store to see about getting an iPad but the fella could not promise that it would be totally usable in the USA so I didn’t get it. The others went to the church to see the steeple and took photos.  Sue and Sarah came to offer me technical advice which I very much appreciated.  Linda and Paula found a yarn shop and Linda made some new friends and bought some yarn.  I also bought some and hope to make a scarf from it.  However, I should probably finish that scarf I started in Switzerland first. 

We decided to head out of the large city before getting lunch and it seemed to take forever to get back to the countryside.  It was raining harder now but we made it to an Autohof, which is like a rest area with a restaurant.  We had some trouble communicating with the waitress but we had a good meal anyway.  Salads, pork, spaetzle and potatoes were the main items for lunch.  We got back in the car and headed for Munich.

It was about this time that we noticed ice and snow hitting the windshield but thank goodness it wasn’t too much of it.  We think the temperature hovered between 34 and 36 all afternoon.  The traffic was bad, the rain was bad, and it got worse when we got to Munich.  At rush hour.  In the rain.  Getting dark.  Tons of traffic.  We circled the city and used gigabytes on Sue’s phone’s google maps to get us near our hotel which is in the heart of the city.  Think of driving in rush hour in Atlanta when you don’t know where you are or where you are going and you are driving a bus – that’s kinda what it was like.  I did not hit anything, which was a miracle and I don’t think I was honked at (except once going into Ulm).  We just could not get to the street with the hotel but we knew we were close.  So, Paula and Sue got a taxi, told him where we wanted to go, and the rest of us followed in the car.  It might have worked except the taxi did a three point turn and then left while I was making my five point turn!!!  They were gone!!  We drove around a while and then they called us to help us.  Their taxi driver would not stop and wait for us or slow down but the girls got to the hotel.  They called us and put the hotel doormen (two wonderful young guys) on the phone to help us.  We got into the area and drove around the same block about three or four times before we decided to get another taxi to follow.  However, the young man on the phone left the hotel on foot and with an umbrella to come get us.  We were about 1 ½ blocks away and we followed him to the hotel.  The fellas unloaded the car, we checked in and then one of the fellas and I went to park the car in the underground garage.  That was another whole adventure of five point turns and dragging the car’s antenna along the ceiling of the garage!!!!  I had had it by then.   We ended up making a parking place along a wall because that’s the only place it would go.  He made a point of telling me that when I was ready to leave that I must get 2 or 3 or 4 of the hotel workers to help me get the car out of the garage.  I am not looking forward to that but since it is a few days away, I’m not going to think about it.

I went up to the lobby and my room, crying all the way.  It was a very stressful day for us, especially Sue and me but we got it done.  We all rested a few minutes and some of us collected dirty laundry to have washed by the hotel.  Then we walked a block to the Hofbrau biergarten.  It was a very loud, bustling place with hundreds of people having beer, dinner, music and fun.  There were no tables available, but there were two guys with beer glasses almost empty so we asked if we could sit with them.  They allowed us to pile on to the benches and then they got cozy and friendly with us.  It was actually quite nice to talk with them for a little while.  Once they left, we were able to spread out and get down to the serious business of ordering dinner.  I actually drank about 6 sips of beer, but it just doesn’t taste good to me so that was it.  We had sausages, sauerkraut, sauerbraten, potatoes au gratin, and yummy desserts.  Oh, and we had beer.  That beer sure did make me belch a lot – once Paula thought the oompah band was playing again but it was just me burping.  Sorry about that. 

After dinner, some of us shopped a little (!!) and then walked back to the hotel.  We made a plan for tomorrow (breakfast at 9:30, tour of Munich, watching the Glockenspiel, and shopping).  Then we went back to our rooms and I discovered that my computer still does work if the battery is removed and the electrical cord is plugged in. So that meant we had to have a meeting to approve the previous day’s blog.  After some corrections and additions, it was ready to go.  By the way, Paula and Linda’s room is as far away from the elevator as is possible on the third floor and Sarah’s room is the same distance away from the elevator on the second floor.  Mine and Sue’s room is the closest to the elevator on the fourth floor.   That’s just how it worked out.  The rooms are very nice and everything is very modern and the hotel employees are anxious to please.  Of course, with the amount of tips we gave those two doormen, everyone is probably hoping they will get to do something to help us out. 

That’s it from Munich for our first night here.

Pictures will be loaded later.

Day 6 to Rothenburg

Day 6 to Rothenburg ob de Tauber

We had decided to get up extra early this morning in order to extend our trip south to buy cuckoo clocks in Triberg which is the Cuckoo Clock Capital of the World.  So we met for breakfast at 8 and that was early.  We all made it on time though.  I want to say here how much I appreciated everyone’s graceful assistance in getting this extra early start for me and my cuckoos.  We had a very good breakfast, loaded the car and off we went.  As we were leaving, we mentioned heading to Freiburg and the woman at the hotel stopped us, saying it was Triberg, not Freiburg that we should be going to.  Thank goodness for that.  We would have gone to the wrong place!!!!  We’d have managed somehow, but it was good not to waste time.

We went through beautiful valleys, by wonderful mountain streams, by nice foggy forests and found our way to Triberg.  Just before we got there, I pulled over to discuss which cuckoo shop we should visit and saw a Volkswagen Bug with large red pom poms on its roof.  These represent the traditional headdress of the women in the area.  (You will understand the significance in a few minutes.)  We decided to go all the way to the end of the town, then come back to the one that looked the best.  So we did.  However, we decided to stop at the one at the end of the town and return to the others only if we needed to do so.  As we got out of the car, Sue spotted a piece of paper under the windshield wiper.  Since it was in German, I asked the lady at the shop what it said.  She said it was not a ticket for parking on the sidewalk, but a warning not to do it again.  (The hotel owners said we could park there, but I guess they forgot to tell the law enforcement about it.)

We had a grand and glorious time looking at cuckoo clocks and believe me, there is a lot of variety.  They are made at the factory right there at the shop which I got to tour for a few minutes.  It was during that tour that I dropped the ‘warning’ ticket into the just flushed toilet so I won’t have it as a souvenir.  Oh, well.  Back to the cuckoo clocks.  Rachel and Mema, I got each of you a cuckoo clock and I’ll try to put a photo of them on picasa.  I hope you’ll like them and I think you will.   I also bought some other items, but just two clocks.  The others also did some shopping but no one else bought more cuckoo clocks.  The clocks are being delivered to GA but she didn’t know when they will arrive.  I hope it won’t be too long and I hope they’ll be as nice looking as they were in the shop.  Sarah did find something she should have bought, but didn’t.  When you see the photos, you may notice Sarah in her hat and pigtails.  Look for that photo.  I just wish she’d been standing beside the Volkswagen Bug.

We got back into the car and began the long drive.  It took quite a while to get to the autobahn but we made it without any detours, even.  Kinda boring, knowing where you are going!!!!  Once on the autobahn, we were once again zipping along at a nice fast pace.  I’d say I averaged about 130 – 140 kph which is about 80 – 85 mph.  We slowed at some road construction but it wasn’t really bad at all.  There was one road construction site where for some reason, I just didn’t realize that I was supposed to be going only 60 kph and wondered why everyone else was going so slowly.  Luckily, I noticed the sign and slowed down from the 110 kph I had been doing.  Just after that a police car pulled behind me. It was a good thing I had slowed down when I did.  Whew!! 

We stopped for gas, water, snacks – Sorry Sue about that apple cake that I made you drop when I hit the brakes that time.  I’ll make it up to you.  We drove around Stuttgart and headed toward Nurmberg.  It was really a fairly nice drive, nice and calm even.  So calm that at one point I was the only one with my eyes open.  (Y’know they must sorta trust my driving at 130 kph if they can snooze while I’m doing that!!!) 

We got to Rothenburg and Sue was able to guide us very successfully to our hotel.  There were some gasps and groans and grunts (and cussing from me) a couple of time because of wrong turns and narrow cobblestone streets and hard to find road signs, but we parked about 30 feet from the front of the hotel door and in this town, that’s saying something.  We went into the hotel and Gunter, at the Rezeption Desk, acted like we were old friends and he’d been waiting there just for us.  We went up the elevator (thank goodness for elevators) to our rooms and just love the rooms, halls and everything.  This hotel is part of the old city wall and it shows.  It has been here for hundreds of years and even though it has been remodeled, there are many parts to it that have been left for the look of old times.  It is absolutely beautiful.

Sue and Sarah are rooming together, Paula and Linda are together and I am alone.  I needed a night alone and Paula was very nice to allow me to trade with her after our draw.  We have decided that since we have several nights of someone having to have a private room, that person will pay a little more for the hotel than the others – it’s only fair and I’m all for that.  Not only that, but I got the Queen room (that’s the best room) tonight because someone handed me that key.  My room has a little sitting room AND a balcony with table and chairs.  When you stand on the balcony, you can only see rooftops.  It’s fantastic.

After oohing and aahing about out rooms, we headed out for the serious business of shopping.  We are just steps from the Marketplatz and the best shopping there is.  We went into wonderful shops that have a fantastic selection of Christmas items and toys and dishes and beer steins and stuffed animals and . . .   We wandered and shopped and carried things back to the hotel and started all over again.  We were hungry since we had skipped lunch (to go shopping of course) so we started looking for lunch.  Surprise, surprise.  The kitchens in the restaurants are not open during afternoon hours until about 5:30 or 6 when they start serving dinner and it was not yet that late.  So we did the sensible thing and had cake and coffee/tea/water!!!!  It’s a tough life we lead!  All the cakes were wonderful (look at the photos) and we were revived enough to shop some more.  We also went to St. Jacobs Church and it was amazing to see.  If you have read Pillars of the Earth, this town and church could be what was described in that book.  If you haven’t read it, you should.  By this time, with another stop at the car to store more packages, we were footsore and tired and hungry so we got a recommendation from Gunter and had a wonderful dinner of pork and vegetables (the waitress had to get help to tell me they had green peas available).  Then we headed back to the hotel but first we had to stop at the car and get our small luggage to take up to the rooms.  I’m sure we were a sight and you’ll probably see a photo of us as we had our large suitcases spread all over the road, yes that’s right, removing clothes and putting the clothing into our smaller suitcases to go upstairs.  That’s not a sight you see every day, but Rothenburg was treated to it tonight.  Hopefully they’ll recover from it sometime soon.

Sarah has been excited to visit this city since she and her parents were here 40 years ago with Sarah’s high school band.  She enjoyed seeing the same places again but noticed that they now seem to be a little bit smaller than they used to be. 

At the hotel, Paula and Linda decided they had had enough excitement for the day and would settle in for a rest.  The rest of us went on the Night Watchman’s Tour for an hour.  We expected a few people to meet us at the Marketplatz but there were probably 70 people there!!  For such a large crowd, it got very quiet when he started talking.  You can see a photo of us with him at picasa.  He was an excellent storyteller and the inflections in his voice were just right.  He gave us a very entertaining and enlightening tour of several areas in this section of the city.  History is a wonderful thing when it comes alive in such a wonderful fashion.  I certainly have a much better understanding of the medieval times right up to the present time and how this city is related to it all.  (Near the end of the tour, he stopped at a restaurant/bar and showed us the Devil sign over the door and told us the name of the establishment was Hell.  He said that if anyone told us to go to Hell to thank them for the recommendation because the bar is a very good place to spend the evening.)  We also have a DVD of this man and his Night Watchman’s tour if you’d like to see it sometime.  Just let us know. 

After the tour ended, we walked (I dragged myself) back to the hotel and into our rooms.  We had to share with Linda and Paula about the tour, but after that it was time for our rooms.  It’s now almost midnight and I’m officially tired.  Actually, I’m exhausted but I’m gonna sleep until 9 a.m. because we are not meeting for breakfast until 9:15 when we’ll have a meeting to discuss this blog (hopefully it will get approved) and share/post photos and start shopping again!!!!

Addendum:  As you may or may not know, I had computer problems the morning after I wrote this post.  When I got up this morning, after charging the computer all night long, nothing happened when I tried to turn it on.  Nothing at all.  I figured I had killed it.  We were all a little worried about it all day long and kept asking people for help.  Lots of people offered suggestions and assistance and we appreciate them all.  Even a man in Rothenburg tried to help but nothing worked.  Linda's son John gave us the winning idea of removing the battery and just plugging it up.  Looks like I just fried the battery and not the whole laptop.  I came close to buying and ipad 2 today at Ulm and Sue came even closer to buying a wireless keyboard for her ipad until we noticed it was a German keyboard with some letters in the wrong places.  Looks like I got lucky, again.