GERMANY, ETC. - PART EINS (ONE)

The Iceland volcano only delayed us about an hour on our flight from San Francisco to Dusseldorf, but that was enough to miss our connection to Munich. Fortunately, we were able to catch the next flight that arrived two hours later.

Being really hungry we stopped at a Burger King in Munich for our first “German meal” – a Whopper! I had my initial experience with the autobahns as we cruised along in the “slow” lane doing 75 miles an hour and were passed like we were literally standing still! I swear they looked like Indy 500 cars whizzing by.

Having arrived after dark the first night, I was amazed to see bright sunshine & beautiful mountains the next morning outside our family run hotel in Garmisch, among the breathtaking Bavarian Alps of southern Germany. We planned to take several day trips from our Garmisch “base camp” during the first week.

The view from the front of our hotel, Rheinischer Hof.

With a gorgeous day looming, we hit the road early for a cog wheel train trip to the “Top of Germany”, the Zugspitz, Germany’s highest mountain. Once you reach the end of the train ride, a cable car takes you the rest of the way to the top of the peak. There aren’t words to describe the view – awesome, breathtaking, incredible, don’t come close to depicting it. Maybe some photos will help.

The old cable cars which now mark the entrance to the cog wheel train.

The cog wheel train that takes you to the top of the Zugspitz.

The "Top of Germany", the Zugspitz, in the Bavarian Alps.

It was bit chilly at the top but truly amazing!

An ascending cable car taken from our descending cable car ride.

The visitor center where the cable car takes you the last leg of the journey.

From the exhilaration of the “Top of Germany”, we headed to a couple of castles built by Mad King Ludwig II. (Our hotel clerk said that was too much for one day – but, hey, he doesn’t know how Lou & Kathy travel.) Apparently, Ludwig pretty much bankrupted Bavaria in the process of building his castles and I can certainly see how. They are like seeing a bigger than life fairy tale right in front of your eyes!

Hohenschwangau Castle - another of King Ludwig's residences.

King Ludwig's masterpiece - Neuschwanstein Castle, Disney's inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Another view of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Our weather decided to change dramatically overnight. We had our worst rain & gloom the next day as we headed to Berchtesgaden, the Eagle’s Nest & Salzburg, Austria. Unfortunately, the beautiful views from the Eagle’s Nest were totally obliterated. But we did have a traditional German lunch of bockwurst & potato salad in front of the fireplace Hitler received for a birthday present. I guess you have to be creative with gifts for a dictator who has everything – but a fireplace just seems like a weird present to me.

The tunnel, shrouded in fog & clouds, that leads to the Eagle's Nest.

Beer, bockwurst and potato salad - all German staples!

We drove through Salzburg at rush hour (quite stressful!) and the rain was still coming down hard. Given the time constraints and bad weather, we decided to skip the sightseeing and drove back to Garmisch.

The following day, the weather was better but still raining off and on. We drove into Munich and explored the famous Marienplatz with its glockenspiel among other sights. Lou likes to go up in any tower or available high vantage point so we took the first of four journeys to the top of something for amazing views. We shared a full litre of beer and lunch at the infamous Hofbrauhaus in the heart of Munich.



The glockenspiel in the Marienplatz.



Us at the top of the rathaus (town hall) in Munich - good thing Lou has long arms.

Nymphenburg Palace in Munich.

Now here is the way to sightsee in Munich - bier bike!

Lou enjoying a litre of beer at the Hofbrauhaus.

Me enjoying a litre of beer at the Hofbrauhaus.

The weather decided to cooperate for our next two day trips & we had spectacular weather. Lou’s comment that the whole countries looked like picture postcards was completely accurate. The scenery was once again, awe-inspiring to say the least. I’ll let my photos do the talking since there aren’t enough adjectives to adequately paint a picture of the gorgeous countryside in Switzerland, Austria & Liechtenstein.

Some of the amazing Austrian countryside.

The Swiss Alps on our journey through three countries.

Us at the Fluela Pass summit in Switzerland.

A church & castle (every town has one) in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Most of the country of Liechtenstein spread out in the 39-mile long valley.

Our last full day in southern Germany was another bright, clear day as we headed south through Innsbruck, Austria, to Bolzano & Vipiteno, Italy over the Brenner Pass. Our claim to fame for that day was that we had breakfast in Germany, lunch in Austria & dinner in Italy! How cool is that?

The first stop was just a few miles away from Garmisch at the 1936 Olympic ski jump stadium in Partenkirchen.



The modernized ski jump (with the old one to the left of it) at Partenkirchen's Olympic Stadium.



Innsbruck was much bigger than I realized. I was hoping for more of a village feel but it was a pretty big city. It was really fun to just be in a place that I have vivid memories of seeing on TV back in the 1976 Winter Olympics.

Some colorful buildings in one of Innsbruck's town squares.

A view from the top yet another tower - the places I go with this man!

My kind of lunch - Coke & apple strudel.

By this time we were getting much better at driving in bigger cities although it was still a challenge. We had a German GPS, but she was quite finicky at times, taking forever to find the satellites or simply spinning in circles with all the crazy streets – "turn left in 300 feet, recalculating, turn right in point one miles, recalculating, when possible make a u-turn, recalculating, recalculating, recalculating, lost satellite reception" – that was a real “conversation” we had with her at one point. J When she worked correctly, she was invaluable, but at times it was really frustrating when no one (me, Lou or the GPS) knew exactly where we were or where we needed to be. But somehow we managed okay.

There is something different about Italy that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It just seems more relaxed or laid back than Germany or Austria. Something “feels” different in Italy. I can’t wait to visit much more of the country on a future trip.

One of the colorful main plazas in Bolzano, Italy.

A scenic street in the village of Vipiteno, Italy.

Our only mishap with autobahns & highways came when we were returning from Vipiteno.  I was driving. In Italy & Austria they have toll roads.  Upon entering the highway, you take a ticket which you then put in the machine when you exit and pay the toll.

I took the ticket and made the cloverleaf onto the highway where we immediately found a line of exit toll booths. None of them are manned so I picked one and pulled to the gate. I put the ticket in and nothing happened. Of course, we can’t read the instructions and it seemed strange that we had literally gotten on a couple hundred yards before and now had to pay. By now there is a line of cars behind me who I’m sure were quite irate at the stupid tourists.

Lou said push the button for help which I did. We couldn’t understand the man talking Italian. I’m saying, “I don’t understand. I’m American, no Italian.” I didn’t look in my rear view mirror but I’m sure there were lots of traditional “Italian salutes” going on behind me.

Finally, we thought we made out “take receipt” from the speaker-man and noticed a receipt which I pulled out. That opened the gate and we continued on. It said 3.80 euros which I’m sure they thought was a bargain to get rid of us!

We checked out of our Garmisch hotel the next morning and began our trip north to Berlin. Just a few miles away we stopped for a short visit to Oberammergau, the picturesque village which is the sight of the famous Passion Play every ten years.

One of the numerous picturesque buildings in Oberammergau.

A small street in Oberammergau in the early morning.

I couldn't possibly do this post without including some of the spectacular floral displays that we encountered - both cultivated and wildflowers. I love taking photos of unusal flowers.

There were fields & fields of yellow, purple & white wildflowers.

Every yard & every window has bright, beautiful flowers - we need to do that here.

I loved this large unique flower & its honeybee.

These deep orange red wildflowers looked like some sort of poppy.

This is the end of Part Eins. My report is much too long and unwieldy to do all at one time. Our journey through medieval towns and beautiful old cities will continue in a couple days in Part Zwei concluding with three days in Berlin spent with members of Lou’s family.