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Published: June 26th 2007
Well, we are back from our 4 day excursion! Mark always says you can tell if you've had a good vacation if you are tired and broke and we are both!!!
We took the train to Munich. Our train went 157 km per hour. We arrived in time to see the Glockenspiel at noon. It is a big clock tower in the Marion Platz in the center of town. Unfortunately it was being repaired so we were unablt to hear the chimes. It does have a bunch of lifesize figurines that dance and move around so we had to be satisfied with that. We ate our lunch in Munich. (Couldn't bring myself to eat the schnitzel, brian although I wish I would have.) Then off to Dachau and the concentration camp. It was really horrible the things those people went through and amazing to me how many people went along with it. I think some of it was lost on Nathan and I suppose that is a good thing. We saw the crematoriums and gas chambers, the prison cells and barricks, and heard many stories. The last words you see as you leave the camp now are "never again". Once we were settled in at the hotel, Joann and I went to a beergartein. We had a jumbo sized beer stein and enjoyed our beer while we sat outside under the trees. There were tables of people singing beer songs and carrying on. It was quite fun!! (no pickel, Mark--I don't think I could drink enough beer to make them appealing!)
The next day we were off on our tour of the castles. We saw 2 of the castles of King Ludwig, II. The first one was somewhat small in size as far as castles go, but very elaborate and ornate. The walls were decorated with 14 caret gold! We stopped at a little town just for some shopping and it had an intersting folk story. During the time of the plague the townspeople made a bargain with God that if no one else died from the plague they would perform the passion play every 10 yrs. legend has it that not another person died and so the passion play is still performed every 10 years to this day. Then on to Neushwannstein castle. This is the castle that Disney modeled sleeping beauty's castle after. It was beautiful! It is nestled in the alps. THe mountains were gorgeous!! I think I was more in awe of them than the castles. We had to hike up to the castle and the views along the way were gorgeous. I took a million pictures!!!
We stayed in Munich that night. The next morning we were off to Austria. Again the mountains were absolutely beautiful!! I think I drove the kids crazy making them look out the windows. We spent the day in Salzburg which is where the Sound of Music Takes place. We went to the saltmines there which was alot of fun. The town of saltzburg used to be an ocean and over time with the continents shifting and colliding the ocean dried up and the alps were created. Underground were huge areas of salt. We tasted the walls and they tasted, yep, you guessed it--salty!! We took a trail down the mountain that the miners used to take to get up to the salt mines. It was beautiful with waterfalls and beautiful views. Most people do not attempt this walk as it is quite a trek and not for the "unfit". OUr legs were like jello by the time we got down there but it was worth it. The next day we did the sound of music tour which took us around the town and showed us some of the areas where the movie was filmed. We also went to Saint Gillgan and the lake that it sits beside (I am at a loss for the name right now.) We ate dessert on the balcony of a little cafe tucked into the hillside and the view was stunning. we stopped at Echo cavern where we all yodeled and yelled and the mountains talked back. The tour ended with a louge ride down the mountain (reminded me of the Alpine slide). The kids loved this. I managed to roll my toboggan and make a fool of myself. We spent the rest of our day doing a self guided walking tour of salzburg were we saw many beautiful churches, gardens, and we took a lift up to the top of a mountain where we were able to appreciate the beautiful view. Then took the train back to Tracy's. We got back at 200 in the morning. Today was a recovery day. We relaxed and slept in, went swimming at a cool indoor/outdoor swimming pool with slides and diving boards. The kids recovered. Me, I am still tired. Tomorrow-we are off to Paree. Au revoir!
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Kath
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I hope you at least sang in your head, "Doe, a deah..." while you walked around Salzburg......I am jealous, as that is my favorite movie EVER! Enjoy the rest of your trip...love reading about it and telling the kids:)