Last Stop - Munich

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Munich was our last stop. We saw a parade, went to a festival, danced a little, did some shopping, and will be getting on the plane tomorrow. We will post some Munich pictures later if we get any requests.

As we said before - hopefully - see you again - auf wiedersehen Deutschland!

Next stop . . . .

Bonnie and John

Ok Now - Everybody Sing - A1ANA2 -The Hills Are Alive With the Sounds of ...Salzburg!

Salzburg!  Sound of Music!  Mozart!   Castle!   Before we came, this was to be the place that we knew we HAD to go to.  And we were not disappointed.

After a quick afternoon in Berchtesgaden (home of Hitler's Eagle's Nest - which we didn't see because it was destroyed by the allies so there wouldn't be a "monument" to Hitler - and the lake Konigsee).

Our first night after arriving in Salzburg we went to a Mozart dinner concert by candlelight.  The next day we took a ride through the old town, then up to the castle - which was truly awesome. They said that the fortress was never conquered - and it is easy to see why because of its size, its walls of defense, and the steep drop on all sides making any attacker an easy target.  After that, we visited the catacombs built into the cliffs and also saw a few Sound of Music sites.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Bonnie - she spent six months here during a college semester overseas.  So we took a bus out of town to visit the place that the students stayed. What used to be a 350 year old Austrian boarding house in the middle of nowhere - is now with a Mexican restaurant with a private residence above and a sprawling suburb surrounding it!

Konigsee - with the Eagles Nest in the background

Candlelight dinner

Some classic opera entertainment

a little carriage ride in town

the Salzburg Castle

tacos anyone?

Out In The Country

About one hour from Salzburg Austria there is a small lake with a few towns around it called St Wolfgang.  People used to come here on pilgrimages because of the healing power of an icon at the local church. Other than that there is not much here to see from a tourist's standpoint.  It was really quiet at night.

So it was really great to take a day to just relax with no place to go -and this was the day for that this week. The hotel had a nice spa and we shared a couples massage to soothe the tired legs from the hiking. One of the coolest parts about the hotel was the swimming pool that floats out on the lake.  The water is warm in the pool, so when you jump into the cool lake you can climb out and get warm right away.  The water here is amazingly clear.  We asked and it was no problem to dive in, the drop-off at these alpine lakes is quite steep and they said that off of the deck the water was about 40 feet deep.

Austrian hotel decor

great bathroom too

view from the porch

relaxing by the lake (not John)

diving in (not Bonnie)

the floating pool 

downtown

looking back on the town of St Wolfgang

Oh . . . Away Down South in the Land of . . . Mountains

And on to Bavaria!  We spent three nights in a small but well known village called Mittenwald - famous for its Bavarian charm, steep mountains and painted houses. From there we also took day trips to the Zugspitz - the highest peak in Germany - and to a fairy tale castle called Neuschwanstein. Not a lot of time to write today - so I'll just let the pictures do the talking!

We had to go through Austria to get there - just a quick view for now

Where we stayed - the Post Hotel

an afternoon hike on the trail around Lake Eibsee

A view of the lake from the cable car- and yes, we walked the whole trail!

Bonnie near the top of the Zugspitz

John trying to get to the very top

another hike in the evening

ending up on a wet trail by a rushing river

Neuschwanstein

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

These are pictures of Gert's clock showroom at his warehouse.. The Sohnle family used to manufacture clocks in Germany - but now everything is imported from China.

There's No Place Like Home

We spent this weekend visiting John's German cousins Gunther and Gert and their families. We all enjoyed a great dinner of Schwabisch food at Gunther and Esther's home and also were surprised to have cousins Karin and Regina join us. As always the welcoming was warm and inviting. 

This is like home for John in Germany as he has spent many days over the years visiting here. The first was in 1976, while on a trip after college to Europe. He made the first recent contact between the German and American Kopp families.  Since then the family has had reunions in both countries every two or three years with up to 150 people attending.

The next day we went into the city of Pforzheim, and then on to Monsheim - where the original family home still stands - and attended the fireman's festival.  After a visit to the Gunther and Esther's wonderful garden, we spent the evening with Gert and Andrea.

On Sunday we visited a monestary in Maulbronn where the buildings still stand just as they did over 500 years ago.  The monestary is also famous for its wine - which is called Elffingen (literally meaning eleven fingers).  As the legend goes, the monks were allowed to test the wine by dipping their fingertips into the wine.  One of the monks said the wine was so good that he wished had eleven fingers!

Our farewell dinner on Sunday was at a golf club out in the rolling hills just north of the Black Forest where we said not good bye, but instead, auf wiedersehen - meaning - until we see you again..  Hopefully it will be next year at the family reunion in Monsheim!

Gunther Karin and Analena

Gert and Andrea

Happy Cousins

The old Monsheim Fire Brigade

Connie and Bernhardt in period costume

The old Kopp Family home in Monsheim

Gunther and Esther's back yard and garden

Maulbronn Monestary Main Gate

The Monk's Choir "Chairs" in the Chapel - Standing Room Only

A Tale of Two Stadts (and a Berg)

We made two quick visits to two bigger cities in two days - Nurnberg and Baden-Baden - traveling from the east side of southern Germany back to the.west side with a lunch stop in Wierkersheim along the way on the "romantic road"

Nurnberg is famous not only for it's very German history as a stronghold for the Holy Roman Empire, but more in our interests for it's 20th cntury hsitory as the centerpiece for Hitler's Third Reich and the military trial following the war.  We wanted to visit the museum there that traced the history of the Nazi party and to see the masssive places that Hitler planned and used for his huge rallies.

Baden-Baden is best known for it's hot mineral springs  - and we were able to visit the two well known spas - and take a "day off" from touring and just relax. Each spa has a completely different atmosphere. The "kur" (curative)  bath is in the very formal and historical Friedrichsbad Roman-Irish Bath. It has 15 stations to visit along the route (hot-desert hot-mineral steam-soak etc) ending in a great big circular soaking pool with a huge dome over it. The Caracalla Therme is a much newer building with lots of pools - both indoor and out - waterfalls, steam rooms, ice cold showers, and two special Finnish wood cabins that are dry saunas heated by fires. Sorry no pictuers from inside!

old nurnberg

picture inside the museum (not the real thing)

stadium where the rallies were held

Where Hitler stood to address the masses  

it is actually illegal to make any Nazi signs or salutes

Wierkersheim

outdoor lunch

Baden-Baden

the Roman-Irish bath