Bumps in the road... or in our travel

After Munich, the following had been our original plan: 1) Take a bus to the Memmigen Airport 60km outside of Munich to where our RyanAir flight leaves. 2) Fly RyanAir to Dublin on Sunday evening. 3) Spend night in Dublin near airport. 4) Fly to visit my cousin and family in Leeds the next morning.

We had all the flights and hotels lined up. Then we got to the airport and nothing was flying out of Germany that day because there was a cloud of ash over the airport. Though Dublin was fine, Germany said "no flights out" until Monday. So, we were stuck. it was too late to cancel the hotel in Dublin for that night and our flight to Leeds in the morning was sacked since we wouldn't be there to get on it! Then, the ticket counter folks say that we wouldn't be able to fly out till Wednesday because all the flights were full.

Hanging out at the Memmigen train stations figuring out what to do when our plane wouldn't fly with the ash cloud.

So, after much deliberation and a lot of thinking of different options this is what our new plan became (granted this was all on the fly as we continued to figure out prices and details). 1) We took the train to Ulm, spent the night in Ulm next to the train station. 2) Took the train from Ulm to Cologne, Germany. 3) Hung out in Cologne. 4) Took flight from Cologne to London.

The above picture is us at the bigger Cologne train station, just arrived, but with a more concrete plan for the day! It was a sense of relief to have plans.

One nice thing is that we did get to explore Cologne a little bit. They have one of the biggest churches in Germany... and it is right next door to the train station. It was built in about 1200 and is in a Neo-Gothic style with lots of spires and detail work. When we walked from the train station, my jaw almost dropped.

Here is a photo of the inside. It is a huge tourist stop so there were tons of people but you can easily see why! The ceilings are 140 feet tall and there is beautiful stained glass everywhere. The interesting thing is that in WWII, Cologne was bombed heavily. Expecting the bombing, the stained glass was removed and hidden away for safe keeping. The church didn't receive major structural damage though and was able to be nicely restored. Some of the stained glass is fairly old (though I forget the details).

We ate lunch at a place that was quite out of the way... thanks to the Rick Steve's book. We were the only people in there for awhile. The interesting part about this place was that it has sand on the floor. They change it daily and it helps to condition the old wood floors underneath. The food was delicious also.

This is us waiting at the Cologne-Bonn airport. Yay! We were able to fly to London, though with delays, and arrive safely.

My cousin, Jason, went far above any cousinly-duty and drove 4 hours from Leeds to London Gatwick to pick us up. The airport was on the south side of London which made it further. Then he drove us 4 hours back up to his house, finally arriving at a little past midnight! We were so blessed by him and his help through this travel bump.

Munich

On Saturday, we drove up to Munich from Axams, Austria where we had stayed for the week. After dropping off our car back at the rental place, we took the train downtown and explored a bit! Munich was quite big and busy after spending a week in the Alps!

We went to an open air market for lunch that had fresh fruits and veggies, lots of breads, honey, flowers and more. It was nice to walk around and eventually we settled on a bratwurst and roll for lunch and ate it under the trees. After getting bombarded by people and tour groups while walking through the main square, Marienplatz, we took off walking to the English Garden to see something a little less crazy.

Here is Chet in the open air eating area... lots of people because it was a Saturday and families like to go to the market for tasty fresh foods. We enjoyed people watching for a bit.

On our way to the English Garden, we got sucked into the above shop. Look familiar? Yep, we didn't intend to go to Starbucks, but Chet really needed a bathroom and we were walking by. So we decided to check it our and ended up getting drinks. It was funny to see a smattering of English and German words comprising the menu. Oh, and if you don't say what type of milk you want, you automatically get whole milk. My chai tea latte was certainly very creamy that day!

We made it to the English Garden but on the edge we found surfers and watched them for awhile! When the Rick Steve's book was describing how to get to the center of the garden by going by the surfers, we sort of laughed. But, no... there is a continuous wave and probably about 10 surfers out there surfing across the wave on the river close to the middle of downtown. We probably watched for about 40 minutes because they would try to do tricks and each had a slightly different style.

Here is a view of the Munich skyline from the park. It was such a lovely place with walking trails, lots of greenness and a bit of quiet. In one area, there is a Chinese pagoda that had a German band playing over top of a beer garden. I guess this park has areas that are known for nude sunbathers in the summer so we both agreed that we were glad it was cold, gray day.

That evening, we actually scheduled ourselves a tour. We went on an educational Bavarian Beer and Food tour where we learned about the culture around food and beer in this region and sampled different types of each. It was all English speakers so we had a great time talking to couples from Scotland, England, Sweden, Australia and the US. The guide was also very informative and entertaining. We both agreed it was a fun evening.

The next morning, with limited time before we needed to head out to the airport to head north, we took off to spend time at the Deutches Museum. It is a large museum about anything technical... has 6 huge floors of exhibits and likely it would take days to go through! We both loved it and would love to go back. It has areas about mining where we were in "mining caves" and saw tools and techniques of mining. There were areas about marine navigation, musical instruments, power tools, electricity and more.

Here are pictures of the airplanes. So cool! The one above is a Wright Brother's airplane... one of the model ones when they made about 10 around the turn of the century. The plane to the right is a replica of the "Red Baron" WWI airplane. None of the tri-planes survived from that era so they recreated it for this museum.

One funny thing is that in the Rick Steve's book, it said that all buttons were meant to be pushed! It was true except for... Chet pushed a button just inside the door to the electrical exhibit when we first arrived to the museum... it was red and newer looking... and it closed both the doors automatically! Guess that wasn't one to be pushed! I don't think anyone was watching though... :)

Well... as we took off to fly north, this wonderful section of our trip came to an end. Then, the travel woes and bumps in the road began...

A day of history and lakes...

We spent our Thursday doing lots of driving but seeing some amazing places! We headed back over to the areas surround Salzburg, about a 2 hour drive away. The goal of the day was to see two areas... Berchtesgaden and Hallstatt. Both are situated up in the mountains with beautiful views and each has unique history.

First we drove through rolling green hills and lovely mountain roads to the Berchtesgaden area. High up above the town is Obersalzberg, an area that is best known as one of Hitler's favorite areas and a site of one of his administration areas as well as the "Eagle's Nest." Later in the year, it is possible to take a shuttle up to the Eagle's Nest (a place that was built on the top of a mountain as a gift for Hitler on his 50th birthday... but only used by him 14 times), but we were just able to go to the Nazi Documentation center. It was a fascinating audio guide tour... lots of information about that period in history. Some of it, both of us had never realized. For example, information about soldiers that had opposed Hitler, the formation of the SS and the gradual transition from multiple available parties in Germany to only one on the voting ballot... the National Socialist Party.

Then, at the end of the tour, we were able to head down into one of the existing bunkers built into the hillside. Many of the buildings existing in Hitler's time were bombed and destroyed at the end of the war (due to us Americans) so few are left to look at, but the bunker system beneath the mountain still exists.

This is a picture of Chet down in the bunker. Though all the rooms now just appear as concrete, there were signs describing what each area was used for. Pretty extensive network below the surface of the mountain.

It was a cloudy day so very hard to get a good view from Obersalzberg. Pretty area though. I could see why Hitler initially chose it as a place of rest and relaxation. One interesting fact from the tour was that the Nazi's bought everyone out in this area... even families who had lived here for many generations. Basically, they just took over this beautiful area and used it as they desired.

Next, we headed down the road to Konigssee. We have heard about this lake repeatedly from our friend, Mark, and wanted to see this pretty, clean glacial lake in the most southeast tip of Germany. This is the trail headed to the lake. We could have also done a boat ride but we chose to hike instead. All the trees are leafed out in a very fresh, new green color.

This is Konigssee. Basically, it looks like a beautiful fjord set amongst the mountains that go straight down into the water. The color, though you can't tell in the photo, is a blue-green and quite clear. In the distance, on the water, are electric boats taking people for tours of the lake. Only electric boats are allowed on the lake to prevent pollution and keep it clean.

After Konigssee, we drove through beautiful mountain roads to get to Hallstatt. Hallstatt is one of the oldest towns in the region, dating back to 800-400 BC. Originally, its economy was based on mining the salt that was so rich in the hills. You can see in the map above the dark area above the town is an area mined for salt, the mountain was about 70% salt and, at that time, salt was worth a lot as it was used in the preservation of food. Original settlers resided up by the salt mines, but, later, moved down to the narrow lake side and built up the town. You can see that that the town is clustered right on the lake side.

This was a picture of the Catholic cemetery and the Protestant church steeple in town. The Catholic church was up on the hill, above the lake. One interesting thing about the cemetery was that it was so small that bodies could only reside there for 12 years before being dug up for new bodies. The skulls then would be placed in the "bone graveyard" in a chapel and each labeled with the person's name.

To get to many of the buildings, there were narrow, steep paths with many stairs. Very fun to go up and down. There were piles of firewood stacked next to the houses, and many of the houses had fabulous views of the lake (being built on a hillside). Apparently, when the town was younger, most houses had entrances through the attic because the lake was lapping at the base of the building.

Us in rainy Hallstatt. We had dinner at a lovely lakeside restaurant with a waiter who had lived in the US for while. It was fun to chat with him... he has had an interesting life of traveling and adventure.

Here is a better view of Hallstatt nestled in against the mountain and the lake. Even on a rainy day, it is a lovely area. We would definitely come here again... for longer and not so late in the day!

This is a photo in the evening as we headed home through the Salzkammergut. The "lake district" is all quaint towns next to the glacial lakes and Alps. It was an area used in the filming of the Sound of Music ("hills are alive" type scenes). I can see why so many people want to visit here... it is such an awe-inspiring area.

Today, Friday, is a laundry, pack-our-bags, get organized and walk around Axams-type of day. Not to much to post about, I think. Tomorrow, we headed back to Munich, drop our car off and explore there for a couple days before we head to Leeds and Ireland.

Oh, the Alps!

Today was our "rest day" after driving all over and sightseeing for the last 3 days. I think we needed it... we slept in till 9:30am and had a leisurely morning of cooking breakfast and making plans for the day. We finally decided where to go for a hike but it took a ridiculous amount of time! We kept staring our the window at the rain and it didn't motivate us to move very fast!

In a break in the rain, we took off less than 5 miles down the road to the town of Mutters to hike up to Muttereralm. Basically, it is a hut at the top of a cable car which is also one of the many ski areas around here. There was a small amount of residual snow in the shady areas. The cable car, unfortunately does not start running until June so nothing was open up there... it was just us and the fog.

On our way up, we did get some beautiful view of the Inn River Valley. This is a view of Innsbruck... you can see the river running through the town nestled at the very bottom of the valley.

Self-portrait on our hike up the hill! The clouds kept rolling by at about the height we were hiking so, even when it wasn't raining, it was a very damp hike. It was also a fairly challenging hike. After some calculations, we figured it was about a 2100 foot elevation gain (700 meters). The hike took us just under 2 hours.

A picture of our trail winding through the trees. It was nicely marked with yellow sign posts as well as these red and white markers (they are the Austrian flag!). Some of the trail was also on gravel roads but this was the prettiest area. One thing we wondered was... why did we go to an area with similar weather to home? This hike totally could have taken place in the Cascades about this time of year! Chet says it is because it is more of a challenge to order food here... oh and the whole different culture thing!

This was the hut/restaurant up at the top... at Muttereralm. Of course, it wasn't open due to being in between seasons but we enjoyed a snack and a little shelter under the eve of the building. It looks like it would have a spectacular view on a clear day and the restaurant looked very cute inside! Maybe we'll have to come back some day.

This was from the area where we parked our car for the hike. It was just above the town Mutters. Amazingly, despite being rainy and foggy for our entire hike, when we got back down to the bottom of the trail, the sun was shining and we could see across Mutters to Innsbruck in the distance. The small towns like Mutters and the one we are staying in, Axams, are all up on a plateau above the bottom of the valley... so they are actually above the town of Innsbruck. It gives a somewhat layered sense of towns and a great view from higher up of the scattered villages throughout the valley!

Finally we post a picture of our car! It seemed like a good time since we continue to get it dirty with our adventures. Our little Mercedes-Benz with an equally little motor. It has been wonderful getting us from place to place. The only down side is that gas is expensive here... about 1.20 euros per liter (calculated about $6 a gallon). Makes me not want to complain about gas prices back at home!

The building to the right of the picture with the flowering cherry tree out front is our "home" for the week... Hotel Schloesslhof. It has been a great place to have as a base camp. And, as you can see, the mountains are within view. We are on the other side of the building but still a nice view of the hills.

This may have been one of our most exciting surprises of the day! We were searching online for a restaurant near our hotel and came across one that was half way up the hill to Axam Lizum (probably about 3-5 miles away up a windy mountain road). It said Gastof Andelhof was a family-run country inn-type place with typical Tirolean type food. Tirol is the region in which we are currently staying. So, with clearer skies than we have had all week, we took off up the hill to this restaurant and also had some great views. The picture is actually of a chapel next to the restaurant with a view of the mountains of Axam Lizum in the background. Axam Lizum was used for Olympic events when the winter Olympics where in Innsbruck in the 60s and 70s.

Oh... as for the food... we must say that is was amazing! The place was so comfortably decorated, we were nearly the only ones in there, and the flavors were exceptional. We definitely would go there again!

As the sun was setting, we drove the rest of the way up to Axam Lizum to get a better view of the mountains... but the ones behind us from the valley were the most exceptional looking. It was a good end to a good day.

Here are the mountains looking down into the valley. What I love is that you can see the place where we ate dinner... in this picture it is on the green hill on the right of the foreground. Talk about a place with an exceptional view to go with good food.

Now we are just relaxing as we prepare to wake up early for another day of driving tomorrow. I can't believe that it has almost been a week since we left home!

Much love, Brianne

Goin' for Baroque!

Alright... Chet came up with the clever title for today's entry. This morning we headed to Salzburg, a 2 hour drive away. Salzburg is certainly an old city filled with many baroque style buildings, many interesting sights and tourists from all over the world. We even noticed a bunch of people carrying about "Rick Steve's" guidebooks and chatted with some folks from Minnesota for awhile.

We continued to get some gray weather but only experienced about 30 minutes of rain. Pretty good, huh? Especially because we did spend pretty much the whole day there. We arrived at around 9:30am, just before the tour buses came in force. We parked in the Old City parking area... which just happens to be in the middle of a mountain. They just chiseled the rock away and turned it into a 1,000 stall parking garage. Pretty convenient!

We decided to fore-go a formal tour and just do our own walking tour throughout the city (our guidebook had lots of great info in it). This means that we also, sadly, did not go on the Sound of Music tour. We heard from the couple from Minnesota that it was a very good tour but just couldn't justify spending 40 euro apiece on it. I know Brenda will be very disappointed that we didn't do more Sound of Music stuff while we were there.

I have just included a few pictures... there are many more of buildings, food and us taking self portraits. Here are some that give a sense of the city (and our day).

This is in the middle of Saint Peter's cemetery, a beautiful place right next to the mountain with a view of the fortress up on the mountain. The cemetery is surrounded by 3 churches, some of which date back to 1100. One chapel is actually built into the side of the mountain, which you can see here. The cemetery is interesting because it rents, rather than sells its plots. Every 10 years it sends out a rent notice and if the descendants fail to pay the rent, they dump the remains and put someone new there. We did see a few more recent graves so it appears that really does happen!

This is the inside of the big cathedral in Salzburg. It replaced the original one on this site back in the 1600s. It was quite large and beautiful inside. The stations of the cross were on arches around the wings with detailed paintings. There are also 5 organs in the church... 4 surrounding the dome and 1 very large one in the back. Imagine the music at mass with all of those going!

Then we went down into the crypts below the church. That was even more interesting than the church because there were far fewer tour groups and a much more quiet, reflective atmosphere. Oh, an the rocks Chet is looking at in the above picture were actually from the original cathedral built in 700. Talk about old stones!

After the cathedral, it was snack time. So, one of our favorite foods (that we have actually eaten as a snack daily thus far on the trip) are pretzels! Today, we got special ones... cheese and bacon on the right; and cranberries, chocolate and cream cheese on the left. Oh, such a marvelous treat! I wish we could bring some home with us (without them getting stale and gross).

We saw the Mirabell gardens... such beautiful designs of flowers throughout each section.

The arched walkway which was actually used in the Sound of Music... and is just such a pretty area that we had to take a picture.

In the gardens, it started to rain so we escaped to Mozart's Residence. Salzburg is also the city of Mozart and he is found everywhere... street names, candies, statues and more. We decided to spend a little time learning more about him and his years growing up. I am even more impressed by his music after learning at the young age which he composed it. He composed his first organ piece at age 8... I think I was just learning to play soccer and maybe write cursive at age 8.

View from above the city. Salzburg is certainly a city with a lot of history. We enjoyed our visit and are glad we went. We plan to, later in the week, return to the area to visit the lake region near Salzburg as well as the mountains just to the west. There is so much to see and so little time!

This was just a picture from on our way home... just about back to Innsbruck where we are staying. The sun was coming through as it was setting over the mountains. What a beautiful place to be visiting!

Much love, Brianne

Mountains, Castles and Grocery Stores

This morning, Chet and I woke up later than expected and had a slight change of plans for the day. We had previously expected to head to Salzburg this morning, but with a later start (due to me not setting the alarm clock correctly), we decided to head up to see some castles instead.

Though a gray and drizzly day (much like a normal day in Washington... we felt quite at home), we enjoyed the driver over Fern Pass through steep mountains. All along the way, there were deep blue green lakes at the bottoms of the peaks and, in more open valleys, small villages scattered in green fields. Once again, the driving was super windy on narrow 2-laned roads. Thank goodness Chet is a good driver!

This is the view from the car window as we headed down from the pass. Much more beautiful in person... we were in awe!

So, being the good tourists we are, we went to see the above castle... Neuschwanstein! The famous castle of King Ludwig II is quite impressive. I had been there once before, back in high school, but it certainly was much more fun and memorable to visit it today with Chet! We explored the adjacent family hunting lodge as well.

We enjoyed bratwursts at a beer garden type place for lunch. We are having fun taking pictures of our food to help us remember the trip!

This is a picture from up above the family's hunting lodge, Hohenschwangau... and one of the two lakes that surround it. We also did a tour of this castle which provided a great background to the family. Very interesting tour.

Some folks took a picture of us in front of Neuschwanstein from Mary's Bridge. Ludwig constructed a bridge up above a gorge with a waterfall to view his castle as it was being built. Great view, quite a distance down to the grown below... made me a bit nervous standing on a 150 year old bridge with a bunch of other tourists!

Chet and I decided to hike down the hill through the gorge under the bridge. There was a well established path and signs, but, amazingly, almost no one else on it! This is a picture from that path looking back up at the castle.

The fun part about the trail through the gorge was that you get to a point that there is no trail... just these metal grates with a handrail bolted to the rocks directly above the rushing river! It was a excellent surprise and definitely gave us a great view of the river.

On our way home, we finally had the chance to stop at an open grocery store (since they all were closed on Sunday). We wanted to pick up some breakfast supplies since we have a mini-kitchen want to minimize our eating out a bit. I must say that a grocery store in a foreign language is an experience. I'd say that we did fairly well except when it came to fruit. They had a system where you print a label for the fruit after weighing in on a scale (kind of like the bulk candy area at Haggen or Top Foods). The only thing was that we couldn't figure out what number to enter! So we just got a box of grapes with a bar code. I am also glad that I recalled from a prior visit that grocery stores don't provide bags unless you pay for them. Luckily, we had our own. Overall, it was a successful experience... but a bit funny as we were trying to figure out what things were!

Anyway, our goal is to go to bed and attempt to get up early tomorrow to head to Salzburg! This time the alarm clocks will be set correctly!

Much love, Brianne

Initial Adventures into Austria

On Friday morning, Chet and I hopped on a plane and headed for our long anticipated trip to Europe. Not only was it a celebration of finishing grad school and my exam, it is our way of getting in a few more adventures prior to starting a new job and, some day down the road, starting a family. The flight left Seattle at 8:30am and arrived in Munich at 8:30am. The time different made us basically lose a day! We have been doing okay at adjusting to the difference in time zone, though we just are not moving as quickly as we usually do. I suppose that it doesn't help that both of us were short on sleep from lots of work and studying prior to leaving so we are also catching up on sleep in addition to the jet lag.

For our trip into Austria, we decided to rent a car. After arriving, we picked up a cute little Mercedes-Benz A class that appears brand new but is pretty gutless. Chet has been doing a marvelous job driving through the narrow streets and windy alpine roads. People here definitely drive fast and have no problem passing if you are going anywhere near the speed limit. We have managed to not get too lost either... though we do have a fair bit of the trip left so we'll see if that continues. The road signs are different and we are constantly looking at the guidebook to make sure we are following the directions correctly.

On our way to Austria, we stopped in a small town called Andechs to visit the monastery there. We had heard they have hearty food and good beer. It was quite a popular place on a Saturday afternoon... lots of families, groups of couples and all were chatting, eating and drinking.

Here is a picture of the monastery church. Very, very ornate inside. Many of the churches we have seen are quite Baroque appearing with tons of paintings, gilded decorations and lots of detail work.

This a picture of the town of Andechs from the monastery, which is up on the hill. I just adore the cute houses which are mostly white with red roofs. The streets are narrow and often with stonework and green rolling hills extended wherever you look.

Okay... so our first ordering experience in German was a bit interesting. There was a long line behind us and we weren't sure if we should try to order in horrible German or see if the servers spoke English. Chet wanted to try a certain piece of meat (a pork knuckle) and I was under the impression that we would just get a chunk of it. Nope! We got the hug pork knuckle you see under the pretzel and then, because we were flustered, we accepted potato salad and a pretzel! Needless to say, we had a ton of food and didn't need to eat much the rest of the day. I was somewhat in shock that I was eating a pork knuckle. Chet was in meat heaven. It was quite the way to start the trip!

We made our way through southern Germany and across the border. We had to buy a Vingette, which is basically a sticker for the car to show you paid for using the roads. The road through the northern Alps was beautiful, though by this time we were both exhausted! The most amazing part starting our way down into the valley where Innsbruck is... all of a sudden, you are going down a steep, winding road with the whole valley laid out below. Pretty impressive! Unfortunately, we did not get pictures. We just made it to our hotel, which is in one of the small towns up the valley from Innsbruck (with a strong farming background... we had to wait for sheep being herded down the main road), and then we crashed for a much needed nap. The small studio apartment we have has a balcony (with birds constantly chirping outside), a small kitchenette, couch and other normal amenities. It wouldn't work very well without a car but it is a great, relaxing place to have to explore the area.

Today, Sunday, we explored Innsbruck. A few things we have learned are that "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" is one of our favorite phrases, there are no grocery stores open anywhere in this area on a Sunday, and this area is absolutely beautiful! We are certainly enjoying our adventure.

We ate breakfast at the above cafe in the middle of the old town area of Innsbruck. Thank goodness for the nice waitress who explained the menu to us. They had lovely bread, marmalade, Nutella and coffee.

We walked up to the ski jump used for the Olympics when they were in Innsbruck in the 60s and 70s. Though we didn't take the funicular to the top of the ski jump, we did enjoy the view of the city. We hope to take a gondola ride up the mountains at our back later in the week and do some hiking.

Another view of Innsbruck... thinking pastel painted old buildings surrounded by beautiful mountains.

A few things I've noted about the people here so far... most people are moderate in size, not like the many overweight Americans. Everywhere we looked there were people nordic walking, biking, running or just out with their kids for a stroll around town. Also, speaking of kids, children are the same everywhere with their amazing curiosity and adorable high voices. Small children riding very small bicycles around the city streets pretty much made my day. Lastly, the pace of life is a bit slower. Very few stores (and virtually no grocery stores) are open on Sunday and there wasn't a sense of rushing.

Anyways, on to Salzburg tomorrow for more exploring. We now have access to the internet while we are at this hotel so we should be able to continue to write updates about our trip.

Much love, Brianne