Lawings Visit

This past week Shanna's parents, Billy & Pattie Lawing, came to visit us. They had said they didn't need to travel all over the place, but Shanna & I wanted to show them around where we live and some of the places we'd been to that were within driving distance. A few days prior to their arrival Shanna had to travel about an hour north of us to Heidelberg for a training class. There was nothing going on around Stuttgart, so the dogs & I went with her. It was fun taking the dogs out on the town and exploring the old town area. Our hotel was literally right in front of the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), so it was a pretty view.  The picture below was taken from our hotel window.

The day before their arrival I took the car & the dogs home while Shanna got a train ticket to get home the next day.  Thursday morning I was at Stuttgart Airport at 9am to pick them up.  Once they came through customs we headed to the car & back home.

If any of you have made an international trip you know how dirty & grimy you feel once you land, so the first thing they did was take showers.  Once they were all cleaned up I took them to downtown Stuttgart.  I showed them all the same places that I had shown Kimber & Josh a month ago, including the Koenigstrasse, Schlossplatz, and there happened to be a fresh produce market that morning, so I took them through that.  For lunch I took them to our go-to, Zum Paulaner.  I wasn't sure what types of food they liked, but thankfully they were both big fans of German food.  The loved the food we had all week.  After lunch the jet lag was starting to catch up with them, so we headed home.  They took naps that afternoon, and around 5:30 Shanna called to let me know her train had arrived, so I went to get her.  This isn't related to their visit at all, but Shanna had a "small world" encounter on the train ride home.  She was sitting there on the train when a few kids that were college age walked on.  She heard them talk, and heard their American accent, so when they couldn't find a seat, she invited them to sit by her.  They started talking and Shanna noticed one of them had a University of Maastricht shirt on.  She asked if they went to Teikyo University in Maastricht, NL, and it turns out they did.  They were doing a study abroad program, and went to Baylor University in Texas.  The study abroad program they were doing was the same one Shanna did in college.  They were talking about the places they liked to go, and it was all the same places Shanna & her friends went.  She had a blast talking with them the whole trip home.  Who would have thought, 8 years after she left the school, she'd be on a train to Stuttgart talking with current students doing the same program she did. Once we got back home, Shanna threw in Manicotti that she had made earlier in the week & frozen, and we had dinner.  At this point her parents were exhausted, and called it a night.

The next day, Friday, we headed to Tübingen first to show them around that town.  This was mostly a shopping trip, so Billy & I spent most of the time outside the stores chatting while Shanna & her Mom looked around the various stores.  Eventually it started to rain, so we took them to the Neckar Müller brewery for lunch.  We'd been there last year with Jenny & Chris for dinner & drinks, and really liked their food & beer.  Their outdoor area was covered and right next to the Neckar River, so we ate outside for lunch.

After lunch the rain had subsided, so while Shanna & her Mom went into more stores, I introduced Billy to the lack of open container laws in Germany.  We grabbed a few beers and sipped on them as we walked from store to store.  After they were done, we headed up (with Shanna driving, of course) to Schloss Lichtenstein.  We took them through the same tour that Kimber & Josh went through.

After the tour, we headed back home.  That night we took them to our favorite Italian place, located near the hotel we stayed in when we first moved here.

On Saturday we had plans to head to Heidelberg.  That night they had a big fireworks show planned.  They do it three times a year to commemorate when the French tried to over take the city, eventually destroying the castle.  They light the castle up in all red light to symbolize it burning, then shoot fireworks off to commemorate the battle.  We relaxed around the house that morning, then that afternoon headed to downtown Stuttgart for the Wine fest.  Our friends Kate & Charles had reached the end of their tour, and were heading back home to DC.  We had wanted to see them one last time before they moved back.  We got down there, found them and ordered a bottle of wine.  Shanna's Mom enjoyed meeting the people she'd been reading about for the past year & a half.

We stayed down there for a bit, said our goodbyes to Kate, Charles, and of course, their dog Pixel.  We hit the road and started the drive up to Heidelberg.  We got there, parked, and were hungry at that point.  Shanna & I had been to this place in the old town area that had amazing pan dishes.  They literally brought the food out in the pan it was cooked in, and it's some of the most amazing food I've ever had.  They serve beer there from a local brewery in Heidelberg that's fantastic...if we lived in Heidelberg, this place would definitely have us as regulars.  After dinner Shanna & her Mom wanted to walk down the main street part of Old Town, so Billy and I bought a six pack of beer, grabbed the blanket, and headed to the bridge to cross over and find ourselves a spot to watch the fireworks.  When we got to the bridge, it was closed off because of the fireworks show.  We couldn't figure out why, but we were stuck on this side of the river.  We made do and found a place near by that had a decent view of the castle and laid out the blanket.  A short while later Shanna & her Mom found us.  When the fireworks started, we found out why the bridge had been closed.  They were shooting the fireworks off FROM the bridge.  So, without realizing it, we'd gotten a great spot right in front of the fireworks.

I like the shot above because it shows the old bridge with the fireworks going off, the reflection in the Neckar River and the German flag flying in front of it.  Yes, that's the same Neckar River that also runs through Tübingen.  The show was beyond amazing.  I've come to the conclusion that the Chinese may have invented fireworks, but the Germans have perfected it.  I thought I'd outgrown being impressed with fireworks, but after this display and the display we saw this past New Years, I can definitely say I was wrong.  We were so close to these fireworks that we could feel the debris falling on us from time to time.  One of the neat things they did was shoot these things in the water, then it got dark & quiet for a minute, and suddenly the water exploded.  The firework explosions you'd normally see in the sky were exploding on the surface of the river.  I wish I had known it was coming, but it was over before I could even pull my camera out to take a picture or video.  I did get some video, though, and it's on the pictures page that will be linked to at the bottom of this post.  The show lasted about 30-45 minutes, and when it was done we headed to the car and drove home.

The next day, Sunday, jet lag was really wearing on them and we had been up until about 1am the previous night, so we decided to make that just a day of rest.  Shanna took her Mom to the Exchange on base do some shopping, and then the Commissary to get food for dinner.  Billy and I stayed home and alternated between napping and watching College Football from the day before.  When they got home we grilled out and cooked a huge meal.  It was a nice change of pace from the go go go we'd been doing with sight seeing.

Monday we had planned on taking them to a nearby town of Baden-Baden.  It's a ritzy town famous for their bath houses and spas.  Shanna had the great idea of taking the scenic route.  She remembered the drive I'd done a few months back through the Scharzwald (Black Forest) and wanted to take her parents through it.  We drove to Freundenstadt, where the Scharzwaldhochstrasse starts and runs through the Black Forest, up into the mountains, and ends in Baden-Baden.  It's a beautiful drive, and one I could make every day and never get tired of it.  Her parents absolutely loved driving through the country side and seeing the valleys & mountains through the Black Forest.  Along the way you pass various resorts and ski lodges.  There was a big hotel with gift shops outside that Shanna said we should stop at as we passed.  I pulled over into the parking lot & we got out.  The first thing we saw was a big stone with various mermaids carved in it and the word Mummelsee.  "See" means lake, but I didn't see any lake there.  We walked over to the hotel, around the corner, and immediately saw the lake.  I had driven by this hotel back in May and had no idea a huge lake sat back there.

I picked up a neat Stein at the gift shop with a picture of the Mummelsee and it has "Schwarzwald" written on it.  Some of them said "Black Forest", but I wanted one with the German word on it instead.  There was a deli, butcher, and bakery right there at the hotel, so we got some pretzels, cured bratwurst, and smoked cheese and had a "snack lunch" there.  It was DELICIOUS...the cheese & sausage was the perfect mix with the pretzel.

After lunch we continued on and eventually got to Baden-Baden.  The temperature difference was drastic...in the mountains it was 55 degrees.  When we got to the bottom in the town, it was 70 degrees.  We found a place to park then headed to the tourist information center.  This place looked more like an old Roman government building then a tourist information center.

Once we had the information we needed, we walked around the old town area and headed to the Roman Bath house ruins.  They had built a brand new bath house on top of where the ruins used to be, but had built it above the ruins.  They built a museum around the ruins, then the new bath house sits on top of the museum.  When we got to it they had strange hours.  They were open from 11-2 and 3-4.  We got to the museum at 2:30.  You could look in the window & see the ruins, though.  At that point, Billy & I found a Czech pub to sit at and enjoy some Budweiser (the original one from Budvar, not Anheiser-Busch) and Billy was an instant fan.  He has always been a Miller Lite guy, but he really enjoyed this Czech beer.  When 3pm came, I decided to just sit at the pub and keep chatting with Billy while Shanna & Pattie headed to the ruins.  They came back about 15 minutes later.  Apparently what we saw from the window was all there really was.  We stayed for a little bit longer, then called it a day & headed home.  

We had checked the weather forecast  right before her parents came and saw that Tuesday was supposed to be beautiful.  We saved that day for the trip down to Lake Konstanz.  The lake is a huge glacier lake, and surrounded by Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.  You can even see the Swiss Alps from the lake.  It took about 2 hours to get down there, and we arrived in the town of Konstanz.  We got in line for the ferry, drove the car on, and took a ten minute ride across the lake to Meersburg.  Once we got in Meersburg, there was NO where to park.  We drove around what appeared to be the only parking lot around for 10 minutes before we decided to try & find somewhere else.  We saw signs to parking, and followed it, but it was definitely a hike.  We parked, and got lucky, finding a bus stop right next to parking that took us directly to the old town area.  The parking was cheap too...only 4 Euros for the whole day.  We walked around the old town area and eventually found a seafood place to eat at.  Good seafood isn't easy to come by in Stuttgart, so we were excited about eating fresh fish from the lake.  It wasn't bad...not the best I've ever had, but I enjoyed it.  

After lunch we walked around a little more, then headed down to the dock.  Shanna had really wanted to visit the flower island of Meinau (pronounced 'my-now').  We got our tickets, and eventually the ship pulled up.  It was a beautiful day on the water as we headed to the island.

After docking, we headed up to the palace area and the flower gardens.  It was peaceful there...very quiet, with gardens everywhere, a ornately decorated palace, even a chapel.  They had a greenhouse cafe with palm trees growing inside.  They had one tree I thought was fascinating...a Cactus tree.  It looked like a normal tree from a distance, but as you got closer, you could see that the branches & leaves were hard & sharp, just like a cactus.

We walked around for about an hour, then headed down to the dock to get back on the boat which would take us back to the mainland.  When we were riding back, a flock of seagulls followed us for a large part of the way.  We were on the side of the boat, looking back, and there were 20 or so sea gulls chasing the boat. Some would get up almost parallel with us, then have to break off because they couldn't maintain the speed.

Once back on the island we took the bus back to our parking area and figured out that it would be faster to drive home from there then taking the ferry back to the other side.  

On the way home we stopped at the Rittersport Chocolate factory so they could get some chocolate to bring home, then headed back to the house to get the dogs.  For dinner that night we took them to the Dinkelacker brewery that's about 10 minutes from our house at the bottom of our hill.  I had this delicious pork dish served in black beer sauce with skillet fried potatoes.  

The next morning we got up early and took them to the airport.  Like most trips to the Stuttgart Airport, it was empty and they flew through check in and security.  We said our goodbyes and headed home.

It was fun having them out and it was over way too fast.

It's going to be quiet for the next two weeks, then we have some friends from the U.S doing a European vacation and they are stopping twice in Stuttgart, once to ride with us to Münich for Oktoberfest, and again a week later to go to Stuttgart's version, Volksfest.

To see the pictures, click here or any of the pictures above.

Bern, Switzerland

This past Wednesday I went on a USO day trip with my friends Katia & Jenny to Bern, Switzerland.  Shanna couldn't get the time off work, so it was just the three of us.  Shanna & I had been to Switzerland a few weeks prior when our friends Kimber & Josh were in town, and we loved it, so I was excited about seeing a new city.  Bern is the capital of Switzerland and is a few hours south of Zurich, where we'd gone the last time.  The bus left base at 6:30am on the dot.  The USO guide, Renee, was the same person who'd been our guide for the Rhein Fireworks trip a few weeks back for Shanna's birthday, and we'd hit it off then, so it was fun having her along this time as well.

After we crossed the border into Switzerland the bus stopped at a rest stop for a break.  When I walked into the rest stop my mouth dropped.  It was the most amazing rest stop I'd ever seen.  First off, it felt like I was walking into a Trader Joes or Whole Foods.  There was a large bakery area where a baker was rolling dough to be put in the huge wood fire ovens behind him.  There was a giant breakfast buffet spread out with all kinds of fresh meats, cheeses, fruits, yogurt, etc...  In the back of the rest stop was a convenience store for any quick things you might want to buy.   Then there were the bathrooms.  When you walked in you were greeted with sounds of birds chirping, ocean waves breaking, and a light piano being played.  After going to the bathroom, the toilets & urinals flush automatically.  The faucet & soap dispensers were also automatic.  It was finished off with an automatic high powered Dyson hand dryer.  And to top off the whole thing?  Free WiFi through out the entire rest stop.  It wasn't just a break from driving...it was an experience.

After we were done, we hit the road and didn't stop until we arrived in Bern.  Once there, we had about 45 minutes to kill until our tour was supposed to start.  We were on the outskirts of the old town area, near a river, so we decided to walk down to the river area and explore.  After taking pictures of the water, the first thing I noticed was a bear walking around.  It was in an enclosed area, but then I saw a few more.  There were 3 or 4 bears just walking around, playing with tree branches, swimming in the water area that was sectioned off for them, and having a good time.

We walked down the stairs, closer to the river area and closer to the bear habitat area.  The first thing we noticed was how fast the river was moving...it was flying.  On the pictures page I have a video so you can see how fast the water was moving.  We walked along the river side area for a bit and came across a bicycle attached to a rock in the river.  It looked like it had been underwater for awhile and had been been retrieved, then put on display.  On our way back to the tour meeting point we saw about a dozen apples floating in the water, and a bear swimming right for them.  One by one he swallowed them all.  He'd go up to the apple, open his mouth, and in a blink, the apple was gone.  I got lucky and happened to get a picture a second before the apple disappeared.

Back at the meeting point, we met up with our tour guide and began the tour.  The city was founded in the 12th century, and our tour guide showed us the three city edges they had over the years.  Legend has it that they got the name Bern because the Duke who founded the city went on a hunting trip and said that the first animal they killed they'd name the city after, and it happened to be a bear.  As a result, you can see statues and paintings every where of bears, including on the state flag.

Once the tour was over, Renee, Katia, Jenny & myself went looking for a place to eat lunch.  Our choices were limited because most shops & restaurants are only open until 2pm, then they close down until about 5pm when they open back up for dinner.  We found an Italian place, though, and it had DELICIOUS pizza.  I'd heard that Switzerland was expensive, but when we were in Zurich the last time, we never bought anything, we just took the city tour and drove back home.  The prices here were no joke.  Every place whose menu we looked at were all priced about the same.  My small portion pizza was 21 Franks, which is approximately $26.  The half liter glass of beer was $10.

The rest of the day the four of us wandered around the city.  We stopped in various shops to look around and at various cafe's to sample some of the local drinks.  One of my favorites was an amber Maerzen beer brewed at what I later found out was our meeting point that evening to leave Bern.

I was hoping to find a nice beer stein or glass that said Switzerland, but had no luck.  After a lazy afternoon of walking around shops and relaxing in the old town area, it was time to head back to the meeting point.  When we got there, I walked into what appeared to be just a regular restaurant to use the bathroom and found out it was a brewery.  Not just any brewery...they brewed the beer I had enjoyed at one of the cafe's!  They sold growlers and kegs of their beer, and the growlers looked pretty neat.  So not only did I get 2 liters of this great beer, but I got a collectible growler to display with my other beer steins & mugs.

Finally the bus arrived and it was time to head home.  Renee sat in the back and chatted with us, and we made it home in good time, despite running into a lightning & thunderstorm.  It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got a chance to see it.  I think the next day trip I take, though, will have to be to a cheaper country.

To see the pictures, click here or on any of the pictures above.

Shanna's Birthday Weekend

Last year some friends of ours told us about this fun trip they took to a town in Germany called Koblenz.  It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive north of us and has both the Rhine and the Mosel river running through it.  Every year the little towns that sit along the Rhine shoot off fireworks and light up their entire town with red lights.  There are also small castles that sit up high on hill tops along the river that are also lit up in red.  To see it, there are all kinds of boats you can get on that go up & down part of the river.  They said it was an amazing experience, and the day they do it happens to fall right around Shanna's birthday.

So this year Shanna said she really wanted to go, so I went & got us tickets through the USO.  Neither of us are really big on USO trips because you pay a premium to have them drive you to & from a destination, and in a lot of cases, it's cheaper just to drive yourself.  While that would have been the case here, it would have been tough to coordinate with the group who was going with us, but more importantly, this allowed everyone to relax and have a few drinks without worrying about driving anywhere after.

The trip was going to be a long one, so Saturday morning I took the dogs to the kennel and dropped them off.  When I got back, Shanna had packed us a breakfast, and because she's just that type of person, she also packed a breakfast for everyone going in our group.  We got to base, met up with our friends, and the bus took off at 10am.  We eventually got to Koblenz around 1:30, and started to explore the town.  The boat we were going to be on didn't board until 6pm, so we had some time.  It was a neat town, with two major rivers converging on it, and a huge fortress up on a hill over looking the city.  I'd been through Koblenz before on a train when I was heading to Luxembourg last year, but I had no idea how pretty the city was.

It was a nice day at first, but clouds rolled in that afternoon.  We'd heard about a walking tour, but we hadn't eaten lunch yet and were all hungry.  After grabbing lunch, we didn't have enough time to make it to the meeting point to start the tour.  Instead we walked around ourselves for a bit, then found an outdoor cafe to sit at on the river.

Eventually 6pm rolled around and we headed to the dock.  After a little confusion, we eventually found our dock and our boat.  It was HUGE.  Including the top deck it was four stories, with multiple bars and a DJ on each level.  When we first got on the boat it started to rain, so we headed down stairs to the bottom deck where it wasn't that crowded.  The way the trip was laid out was we floated up the river until it got dark around, then we floated back to our starting point while watching the fireworks.  After getting a table we headed to the bar to get a round of drinks.  It took FOREVER because it was so busy, but that's when I noticed that in addition to selling beer in glasses, they also sold it by the 10 Liter keg.  Getting that keg ended up being a great decision, because it lasted us almost the entire night and we never had to go wait in line again.

The scenery was beautiful.  There were vineyards planted on the hills, and it quickly became apparent that this was a popular camping night because there were tents and campers all along the river side.  Eventually, as the sun set, we reached the point where they dropped anchor.  At that point we made our way to the top deck, and Shanna found a spot where we could put the keg and watch the fireworks while the DJ played all kinds of music.

When the sun had completely set, the show started.  There were all kinds of boats sitting near ours, and as the fireworks exploded over head, you could see them all.  Then we started floating.  It was an amazing sight, and one that videos, pictures & a description just can't fully convey.  As floated down the river there was a mix of dance music and instrumental movie soundtrack songs played.  There were fireworks going off on both sides of the river, and every town & castle we passed was bathed in red light.

It took about an hour to get back to Koblenz, but the show wasn't over yet.  As we approached we could see the fortress up on the hill flooded with red & green light.  Unfortunately none of our cameras took clear pictures of it, but this was the best I could get.

Once we were back there, the finale kicked off.  There were explosions left & right over the fortress, and it was amazing.  After the show was over we docked and walked back to the bus.  It was midnight at this point, and we were all beat.  When the bus got going, and the lights turned off, it didn't take long for everyone to fall asleep.  We pulled into Stuttgart around 4am, and were home & in bed at 5am.  It had been a long day, but we all had a lot of fun.

The present I ordered for Shanna hasn't arrived yet because it's being custom made, but it should be here any day now.  When you leave a city in Germany, you'll see a sign.  Half the sign will have the name of the town you're leaving with a red line through it.  On the other half of the sign is the town you're heading to, along with the distance from that point to the city.  Shanna had seen a tshirt when we got here of that sign, but it said leaving Washington DC and heading to Stuttgart, and how she really wanted that.  I couldn't find the shirt, but there's a shop on base that makes custom signs and license plates, and they were able to have it made.  Here's an example of an actual road sign here in Stuttgart:

We'll probably get it framed, then get another one when we leave Stuttgart with wherever we are moving to.

We have two weeks of down time, then at the end of August, Shanna's parents are coming to visit for a week.  It should be fun!

To view the picture page, click here or any of the pictures above.

Still Visit Pictures

As promised, here are links the picture sets.

Berlin

Tübingen & Lichtenstein

Zürich

Berchtesgaden & Austria

Münich and the final part of the Still's visit

On Wednesday morning we hit the road early.  Shanna & I had talked about visiting the Salt Mines on the German side of the border last year and Kimber & Josh really wanted to see it too.  We got tickets the night before online and were at the Salt Mines by 9:30am.  We got all dressed up in the miner outfits and were ready to take the tour!

The tour was the same as last time, so since I've already written about it before, I won't go in to detail here.  If you'll remember, there were two "slides" that helped you get from one level of the mine to the lower level fast. On the first one they snapped a picture of you as you went down, and I really wish Kimber & Josh had gotten the one of them sliding down the slide.  It showed Josh looking like he was having a good time, and you can't see Kimber because she's hiding behind Josh almost entirely.  It was a hilarious picture.  But I understand...5 Euros is a lot to pay for a picture with only one person in it. :)

After the tour was over, Josh called his friend Timo.  Timo was a German exchange student who did one year at the same high school in Arkansas as Josh.  They were friends while he lived there, and they recently got back into contact with each other through Facebook.  Timo was born not too far from here, and lives about 2 hours from Stuttgart in a town outside Münich called Regensburg.  He had planned on being in Stuttgart over the weekend to visit his Grandmother, but a close friend of his went in to labor and he stayed in town for that. Since he lived near Münich, and we were stopping in Dachau on the way back, we decided to meet him downtown for lunch.  He was a really nice guy and it was interesting talking with him.  While he was in Arkansas his host family & friends got him into Razorback Football and Baseball (The University of Arkansas), so when we met him on the Marienplatz, he was wearing his UofA shirt.  It was the weirdest thing talking to a guy with a German accent wearing a Razorbacks shirt.

We ate lunch and talked while Josh & Timo caught up.  They hadn't seen each other in over 11 years, so they had plenty to talk about.  Timo is an Anesthesiologist at a hospital in Regensburg, and his hospital is partnered with one of the local US military bases.  He was telling us how recently a US soldier had been flown in to them to be worked on after being injured in Iraq, and Timo asked where he was from like he does with all the soldiers that come in.  The guy was from Arkansas and the soldier couldn't believe that Timo used to live there.  They talked Razorback football while the guy was getting prepped for surgery.

After lunch everyone said their goodbyes and we headed to Dachau.  I wish we could have had more time, but I'm glad we got to see the Concentration Camp.  It's huge and is a real eye opener.  It was raining too.  The entrance to the camp has the chilling message "Arbeit Macht Frei", which translates roughly to "Work will make you free".

It's kind of hard to read...I should have taken it from an angle where the iron wasn't behind the gate, making it hard to read.

Walking through the camp you got to see the in-processing area, the living quarters (if you could call them that), and various other parts of the camp.  It was definitely a sobering experience.

After the camp closed, we were finally ready to head home.  When we arrived home later that evening we stayed up talking about the trip with Shanna, then eventually headed to bed.

The next day we dropped Shanna off at work and she said her goodbyes, then I took them to the airport and said goodbye.

Over all we had a great time, and it was a lot fun visiting with Josh & Kimber.  I think it's safe to say all four of us are doing the same thing this weekend...resting and recouping from being on the go non-stop all ten days!

Now I need to start sorting & organizing the pictures.  I should hopefully have that up by Monday!

Austria

Shanna only had a limited amount of leave, and with her parents coming to visit at the end of the month and the travel plans we have coming up over the next few months, she couldn't take off the entire time Kimber & Josh were here.  Since we've been to the Salzburg area and not Berlin, she took off the first part of the week.

Monday morning I took Shanna to work, and headed back home to pick up Josh & Kimber.  To get to our house from the Autobahn you have to go through a series of tunnels.  The last tunnel is the longest, and has an exit & entrance ramp in the middle of the tunnel to another part of town.  That means there's a traffic light there.  I was behind a big eighteen wheeler as we approached the light in the tunnel.  The light turned red long before the truck got there, but the truck never stopped, it kept on going.  At that point the light for entering traffic turned green and a car started to go.  As it pulled into the intersection, the truck plowed into it, running it up along the side of the tunnel.  It's amazing no one was hurt.  I saw both drivers get out of their vehicles, and another person got out to act as a witness.  Since no one was hurt, there was already a witness, and I don't speak the language fluently, I went around the accident and continued on my way.  I'm glad I was way up front when it happened, otherwise I would have been stuck in backup for a long time.

When I got home Kimber & Josh were ready to go, so we packed up the car and hit the road.  The first place we headed to was Hitler's Eagle Nest in Berchtesgaden, Germany.  Shanna & I had gone last year, but it was rainy on the way down and heavily foggy up in the mountain where Eagle's Nest is, so the beautiful view it's supposed to have wasn't visible to us.  This time it was a beautiful day outside, and we had a great view.

Clouds were rolling in & out, so when this picture was taken some had rolled in.  For the majority of the time we were up there, the view was spectacular.  Here's a picture I took of the valley below.

And another one from the bus when we were close to the top of the mountain.

The ride on the bus to the top of the mountain was a bit more disconcerting this time then the last time.  When we went before the fog was so thick you couldn't see more then 5 feet in front of you.  This time it was crystal clear, so on a bus with big windows, you could clearly see how high up you were, and should the bus topple over, you had a LONG way to the bottom.

When we got back to the bottom & left, Kimber mentioned wanting to stop in a small town we had driven through on the way to Berchtesgaden.  It was so small that if you blinked while driving through, you'd miss it.  It ended up being a neat little town with an old church built in the 1500's, a crystal clear blue river running through town, and a B&B that I think Shanna & I will have to come back to!

After walking around here for a bit, we headed to Salzburg.  After checking in, we headed nearby to the Stiegel brew pub that the hotel receptionist recommended.  They had great food, and of course, great beer.  After getting back to our hotel, we started looking at tours to take the next day.  Shanna & I had taken the Sound of Music tour the last time & loved it, and Kimber really wanted to take the tour.  I found two tours that looked interesting.  First was the Sound of Music tour, the second was a city / landscape tour that included most of the Sound of Music highlights.  We decided to go with the second option since it also included a tour of the city.  The rest of the night was spent walking along the river front and exploring part of the shopping district.

The next morning we walked a few blocks to the tour meeting point.  We got on a small van with us and 4 other people, including the driver.  I had pictured a large bus like we had taken last year, but I thought maybe with a small group it'd be more personal.  The guide took us around the old and new city areas, and pointed out Mirabel Gardens as well as taking us to the lake area where you can see the house used to film The Sound of Music on the other side.  I didn't take too many pictures since I had taken plenty the last time when we were in Salzburg, but since the weather was beautiful I took another picture of the house.

After we left here, we toured for a bit more, then were dropped off back at the starting point.  The brochure had said the tour duration was 5 hours, and the city tour had only lasted 1 hour.  I couldn't help but think we'd been ripped off, which was shocking since the company is well known and the other tour we'd taken with them had been fantastic.  We were told to come back at 2pm for the second part of the tour.  It was 11am at this point, so we had a few hours to kill.  I figured it would be a good time to head up to the fortress.  We took the scenic route and wandered through the shopping district until we got to the cable car that took us up to the fortress.  It was a pretty day out and you could see for miles up there over the entire city.

After the fortress tour I took them through the cemetery area where parts of The Sound of Music were filmed.  We grabbed lunch at a stand in the farmers market we stumbled upon and headed to Schloss Mirabel and the Mirabel Gardens.  There were several musical numbers from The Sound of Music shot there.  I couldn't believe how many locations from our tour last year that I remembered.  The tour we took showed a few places, and I remembered where the rest were and took Kimber & Josh there.  As a result, you'll see a few more times in this post where I mention places we visit that were used in the movie.  I took Josh & Kimber's picture in front of the main fountain in the gardens, then we headed back to the tour start point.

This part of the tour was on a big tour bus like we had expected that morning.  When the tour started we immediately left town and entered the hills outside of the city.  Before long we'd reached one of the most beautiful locations I've ever seen...Wolfgangsee (Wolfgang Lake in English).  It was a warm sunny day and the water was literally sparkling in the sunshine.

We boarded a boat, and this time, unlike in Zürich, it was meant for sightseeing as well as transporting people around various stops along the lake.  We sat out there for a good 20-30 minutes with a drink in hand, enjoying the lake breeze.  We passed a large sheer rock cliff.  As we got closer, people were climbing up it!  There was no ground beneath them either.  They pulled up on their little boat, dropped anchor, and started climbing.  I took a picture of it....if you click the picture below and zoom in, you'll see them.

Eventually we got to our stop in the small town of St. Wolfgang.  We were given 45 minutes to walk around this quaint little town and explore.  It was beautiful beyond words...pictures can't come close to capturing it. Here is a picture of the lake from part of the town.

We walked around, stopping in the various shops, and explored the giant church there that was built in the tenth century.  I asked our tour guide what the average cost of staying here was, and she said it was comparable to staying in Salzburg.  Sure enough the other day I looked up the cost for one of the hotels in town, and for their largest room with a lake view it was only 97 Euros a night!  Shanna & I are DEFINITELY coming back here.  It would be the ultimate relaxing get away.  Once the 45 minutes was up, and we all gathered back at the pre-arranged meeting point, Josh & I got our picture taken with our guide.

The bus then took us by various lakes and towns on the way back to Salzburg.  We drove by Mondsee, which was a town with a giant church that was used in the filming of the Sound of Music, but we didn't stop there.  I told Kimber not to worry, we could head there after the tour was over.  When Shanna & I  were there, we found a great pizza place so we could do dinner there.  Once we got back to the tour start point, we all agreed, this tour had not been a rip off and had been fantastic.

After the tour got back we headed to hotel and hopped in the car.  Mondsee was only 20 minutes outside of Salzburg, so it didn't take long to get there.  It was a beautiful night out, and the pizza place was just as delicious as I remembered it.  After dinner Kimber got pictures of the church, and there was some sort of Austrian festival going on in town.  A group of teenagers dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndls danced on stage while another guy played the polka.  We didn't get to see them perform, but on the side were little kids dressed up to dance too.

The next and final stop was Hellbrunn Palace.  It was a royal residence, but one of things it's best known for is the gazebo from the Sound of Music is located there.  It was the last Sound of Music location to visit and the next day was going to be busy, so we headed there right before it closed so Kimber could see it and get her picture taken in front.  I told her the reason the gazebo was closed was because several years ago someone decided to get on the seats and run in circles like in the movie, and ended up falling & breaking either a leg or arm.  Ever since then the gazebo has been locked shut.

The day was finally over and we headed back to the hotel.  In looking at this post I realized how long it was, and there's enough to write about to warrant another post.  Like I've mentioned before, the pictures above will take you to a high-res version, and later once I've sorted through the pictures, I'll make a post with a link to all of the pictures we took.

Next up is our trip to the Salt Mines, Münich, and Dachau.

Tübingen, Lichtenstein, & Zürich

Saturday morning I got up early to go pick the dogs up from the kennel and again put some gas in the car.  Getting gas was pretty common over the last 10 days.  We normally spend about 70 bucks a month on gas, but in the 10 days of travelling we spent about $150 dollars.  Lots & lots of driving, but well worth it because it was way cheaper then a train ticket.

After bringing the dogs back, we hit the road again, this time heading to Tübingen.  Tübingen is a small college town outside of Stuttgart that's fun to head to.  We've been there several times, including last year with our friends Jenny & Chris.  The old town section looks like a picture right out of medieval Europe.  Well, with the exception of the modern stores that is. :)  This was mostly a shopping trip for Kimber & Shanna, so Josh & I followed around, holding the bags.  It was driving Kimber nuts that we kept driving by IKEA's all over Germany without going in, so I think she was happy to finally be able to go shopping.  There was an Antique market going on that day, so it was neat seeing all the old things on sale.  The prices were ridiculously high though...a frame that Shanna liked was 450 Euros!  After meandering through town they were done shopping and we hit the road to head to the nearby town of Lichtenstein.  I thought I had posted about Lichtenstein last year, but I couldn't find any blog post referring to it.  Lichtenstein is a small town in the hills about an hour outside of Stuttgart.  The orientation class where I met Katia & Jenny took us there, but it was a foggy cloudy day.  This time it was a bit cloudy out, but no fog.

 
We walked around for a bit until the tour started.  They only do English tours once or twice a week, and this day was not one of those days.  They handed us a laminated sheet that described each room as the German tour guide spoke, though, so we were still able to see the history of the castle.  The tour guide was really nice too, she'd occasionally speak directly to us in English if she was talking about something not on sheet.  For example, she told us that when she first started doing English tours she had a word wrong that people didn't correct her on for awhile.  In one of the rooms there is a bullet hole in a mirror.  She said that during World War II, that an Alien soldier fired the shot that put the hole there.  Eventually she was corrected and told it was an "Allied Soldier".  That cracked us up.  At one point during the tour she asked, in both German & English, if anyone knew what the state flag for Baden-Württemberg was.  Shanna & I did, and she was shocked.  She told us afterwards that she couldn't believe of all the people in the group, the 30 Germans didn't know it, but two Americans did.  I was surprised no one else knew because you see it everywhere...even on our license plates!

We left Lichtenstein and headed to the Real (pronounced Ree-Al), which is the German Walmart.  We found out how accurate that analogy is...it turns out Walmart used to own Real until they sold it and pulled out of Europe completely.  Kimber & Josh wanted to get some things for friends back home, and this was the most economical way to do it.

The next morning we left early to get down to Zürich, Switzerland.  Shanna had been to Switzerland before, but never Zürich, and Kimber, Josh & I had never even been to the country before.  It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house and the tour was at 1pm, so we left with enough time to get down there, eat lunch, and hop on the tour bus.  One thing we found while down there was how friendly people were.  The tour started at a bus terminal near the main train station, and we had just eaten lunch.  Shanna wanted to use the restroom before we started, and they had a pay toilet in the parking lot.  The problem is Switzerland is not part of the European Union so it has it's own currency.  The pay toilet, therefor, only took Francs.  We asked the lady at the ticket booth if she could exchange Euros for Francs.  She couldn't, but when she found out why we needed it, she just gave us a Franc out of her own wallet.  The tour price was a little steep at 50 Swiss Francs per person (approx. $60), but it ended up being WELL worth it.  The tour started off with the guide telling us about the town as we drove around.  The first stop was at a dock on Lake Zürich.  It was a BEAUTIFUL lake with crystal clear blue water.

We got back on the bus after 15 minutes, and the tour continued.  An interesting fact the guide told us was about cost of living in Zürich.  In the main part of town the cost of land for a business is 800 Francs per month for 1 square meter.  So, for a typical 40sqm building, the monthly rent cost is 32,000 Francs, or a little over $40,000 a month.  The next stop was in the old town area near the church.  It was pretty walking around the town near the river that runs from Lake Zürich.  I got a picture of Shanna looking at a jewelry store...you know it's expensive because no prices were listed on the window outside.

After the 45 minutes we were given was up, we headed back to the bus.  The next part of the tour had us driving outside of town.  The city has mountains surrounding it, so if you live on them, you have a BEAUTIFUL view of the city.  We took a bus part way up the mountain, then disembarked and took a cable car lift up the rest of the way.

Once we got to the top, it was a short 5 minute walk to a restaurant area that over looked the city.  We could have stayed up there all afternoon.  It was quiet, had an amazing panoramic view of the city, and it was a beer garden!  It was one of the few chances we had to get a group picture with all four of us, with Zürich in the background.

We took the same cable car system back down to where the bus had parked, and this time headed to the lake to cross to the other side.   It was only a ten minute ride but we wished it was longer.  This wasn't a sight seeing ferry, though, cars drove on and it was used to get them across the lake.  Since that was the case, the whole point was getting across as fast as possible.  The sun was out and it was a beautiful day on the lake.  All the sailboats were out too.  

We eventually got to the other side, got back on the bus, and drove off.  Apparently this side of the coast was where all the really rich people lived.  We even drove by Tina Turner's house.  Our guide was explaining how heavily the Swiss people are taxed, and your taxation level depends on where you live.  People who live in this small part of Zürich accounted for 150 million Francs from taxes last year!

We ended the tour back where we started in the city.  I thought the price of the tour was a tad high when we first bought it, but by the time we got back we all agreed that it was well worth the money.  Zürich, like Switzerland itself, was absolutely beautiful.  Below is a great picture I got of the lake & the city from the restaurant.

That was it for Zürich.  We purposely made it a day trip and brought our lunch so we wouldn't have to spend any more money then was necessary.  Switzerland is extremely expensive, and the fact that the Franc is worth more then the Dollar makes it even worse.  It was a success...the only money we spent in Switzerland that day was on the tour.

We headed home after that began packing for our trip to Austria the following day.

Like I put in the previous post, the pictures above will only take you to a hi-res version of the pictures, not the picture page.  Once I have all the pictures uploaded I'll create a separate post with a link.  Next up, the post about the last part of Kimber & Josh's trip where we head to Austria, Münich, & Dachau Concentration Camp.