The final leg of our holiday took us to Austria. A small mountainous country located in central Europe, it is a strikingly beautiful area, made famous by Julie Andrews running through the Alpine meadow in "The Sound of Music".
Our first destination in Austria is Salzburg, located on the Austrian/German border in the Northern Alps. Jo Ann had previously visited Salzburg before we were married, and has told me countless times how beautiful it was there. She used to always tell me how much she enjoyed taking "The Sound of Music" tour, where you visited all of the famous landmarks seen in the film.
So, as we arrive into town, I silently wait for her to suggest we take the "Sound of Music" tour while we are here. But, thankfully, Jo Ann knows me well enough to know that a tour like that would be"cruel and unusual punishment" for me. She knows I can't even sit and watch the movie, much less, go on a tour of the film's shooting locations...
First we stopped at our hotel, The Renaissance Salzburg. After unloading the bags and finding no Executive Lounge at this hotel (horrors!), we freshened up and headed out towards the old town Salzburg. Almost all of the tour books that we have read say to leave your car and take public transportation, because the parking is terrible. And, they are RIGHT!!! We know, because we drove in...
However, we were lucky to find a parking spot right near the river walk. We stopped for a snack at a small cafe overlooking the Salzack river. If you are looking for some breathtaking scenery, Salzburg will not disappoint you.
We strolled through the town centre and shopped along the Getreidegasse, an area dotted with plenty of places to spend money.
It started to get late, so we decided to call it a night and return to the hotel. Because we have been keeping the girls so busy during this vacation, they usually have no problems getting right to sleep. But, it seems that no matter what time they go to bed, they are up early the next morning and anxious to wake up mommy and daddy to see what's on the new day's agenda.
On the following day, we took a drive to nearby Berchtesgaden, which is just over the border in Germany. Kehlsteinhaus, or "Eagles' Nest" as it is known, is located on a high mountain pass, with spectacular views of the Alps. This retreat was Adolph Hitler's 50th birthday present, however he very rarely went to visit it. Unfortunately, the winding road up to Eagle's Nest must have put PS to sleep (just as we were arriving) and we knew better than to wake her up before she got her full nap in. So, we decided to move on to the next item on our agenda and return to Kehlsteinhaus at a later time (which, unfortunately, we never did...)
As PS slept, we drove out to Lake Konigssee, also in Berchtesgaden. This alpine lake, formed by glaciers during the ice age, is also Germany's deepest lake. Germany has never allowed anything other than electrically driven boats, row boats or pedal boats, so it is probably Europe's cleanest lake as well.
After lunch at the lakeside village, we took an hour-long boat cruise to the opposite side of the lake, getting off at Salet. From there, many tourists make the short hike down the trail to Lake Obersee. However, DS and PS were not in the mood to hike all the way to the lake, so the three of us stopped midway at a snack shop, and had ice cream cones while we waited for mommy to complete the hike, take some pictures and return to meet us.
As usual, she came back with some great pictures. (We are not "true" travelers, she tells us...)
Dinner was in a different restaurant at the lakeside village. We watched all of the tour boats come back to the marina as we had a nice dinner together.
Our final day in Salzburg started with a visit to the "Haus of Nature" museum. It was there that we saw a huge crocodile in the reptile exhibit. He was face to face with PS and DS, with only a 1/2 inch thick glass window separating them. I could see the headlines now: "Crocodile goes rampant in Austrian museum!", so I hurriedly grabbed the girls and moved on to the next exhibit.
After buying a "take away" lunch at the local market, we sat on the wall overlooking the river and had a picnic. Soon, PS started to yawn, so we let her nap in the stroller while DS and I hung out and people watched. Jo decided to go on a walking tour of the city and see some of the sites she remembered from her Sound of Music tour. She walked to St Peter's Cathedral and the adjoining cemetery (the inspiration for the famous cemetery scene in SOM), the Salzburg Festival hall (where the Von Trapp Family sang), Mozart's birthplace (was he in SOM too?) and Salzburg Cathedral, all within a few blocks of each other.
At the crack of dawn the next morning , Jo continued her walking tour while the rest of us slept in. Continuing her quest for more Sound of Music locales, she stopped to see the area where the Von Trapp children sang and danced around the Pegasus fountain. After walking by Mozart's childhood home, she returned to the hotel and found us just as she left us - peacefully sleeping!
After breakfast, we left Salzburg and drove to Reutte, Austria, located about 3 hours to the west. We were rushing to get there in time to ride the luge at Biberwier. This is a concrete bobsled track that weaves from the top of the mountain and down to the base. This particular luge was the longest one in Austria, at 4,250 feet (the real reason that thrill-seeker Jo chose it).
Two exciting runs later, it was time we headed into town to find our hotel, Das Beck. A small and intimate hotel in the middle of town, we found the accommodations to be very nice. The family that runs it recommended a nice restaurant about 20 mins away by foot, so we quickly freshened up and headed out into town.
Dinner at Restaurant Ernberg was a perfect place to have our last dinner of our trip! The food was fantastic, the service was great and it was priced very reasonably (at 43 Euros, or $65 including drinks and tip!) We couldn't have asked for a better place.
After dinner, the walk back to the hotel was a great way to work off the meal. We got in just in time, because a thunderstorm had moved in and provided a spectacular lightning display. We woke DS from her sleep to watch, but PS was out like a light. Nothing was going to wake up that girl...
Unfortunately, the rain didn't let up the next morning. It was unfortunate, because this was the day we had planned to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. Easily the most photographed, the most popular and the most beautiful castle in Europe, it is famous for being the inspiration of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland.
What we were supposed to see...
What we saw...Summer crowds at Neuschwanstein castle can be daunting. Tour reservations must be made in advance, which means careful planning is necessary to make sure you get there on time. Let's see, 20 mins to get to the castle parking lot, 20 mins to wait for the bus to get to the top of the mountain, and throw in an extra 20 mins just to be safe. An hour should be plenty, right? Wrong! Because of the rains and the extra large crowds of people taking the bus (people who would normally walk up to the castle entrance in fair weather), we made it to castle tour just a few mins late and had to join it in-progress. (which is a lot better than some of the other people we saw...)
The castle was built by King Ludwig II, who spent the last 17 years of his life building it. Just prior to completion, he was declared insane by the State and arrested at the castle. The interesting part is that he was found shortly after, drowned in a nearby lake, along with the psychiatrist who declared him insane.
The castle attracts over 6,000 visitors daily in the summer months and is one of Germany's top tourist attraction. It is located high on a rugged mountain, and it is not only a beautiful structure, but quite an architectural marvel. Visitors are not allowed to take pictures of the interior of the castle, but the finished rooms are as striking as you would imagine. On a clear day, the views are spectacular, but on the day that we visited, it was foggy, rainy and gray. However, it still did not diminish the beauty of the castle.
With all of our planned excursions completed, we had to make one unplanned stop: back to Nuremberg to pick up the DVD player that we forgot in our hotel room. We drove on through the rest of the day, through Munich, back to Nuremberg, and then homeward bound to Brussels. We stopped at a Subway sandwich shop along the way home, which was interesting. Although we are in the middle of Germany and the metric system, they offer foot long and 6 inch sub sandwiches!
Anyways, we pulled into Brussels just after midnight and put the girls to sleep in their own beds - for the first time in two weeks. We hope that they will remember at least some of this trip as they get older, but realistically, we doubt it. However, we have over 1,500 pictures, hours of video and this blog that we hope will remind them of the great time we had on our first summer holiday in Europe.
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