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Published: August 22nd 2018
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Typical view from trainMonday August, 20th
Zugspitze was worth the trip, panoramic views of the Alps and surrounding area. There are a few steps to get there from the main train station. First, you take a train up to the base of the mountain to Lake Eibsee ( you have to change trains half way up), then you get on a cable car that holds 100 people (this recently opened last December) or you take another train that takes 45 mins to the Glacier below the top and then another cable car to the top. I chose the cable car because I read it was better and it only takes 10 minutes. The cable car goes basically straight up to the top of the mountain, 2900 meters, I am sure the pics do not do it justice, but it was quite a trip. When I got to the cable car, it was mostly full, after initially entering the platform to load, I saw all the people and decided to wait for the next car so I could get a choice viewing area. The man operating the car waved me on and yelled something at me in German, I am assuming something like, get
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Headed up the mountain on! I shook my head no and stepped back. He then yelled in english, "Where is your husband!" I should have yelled, 'the states!' but I just stepped back in the door and waited for the next cable car. It was an odd comment, considering the current time, maybe he thought I was scared? Anyways, back at the top of Zugspitze, you can scramble up to the absolute top of the mountain by way of metal scaffolding and then iron steps and cables drilled into the rock. It was not quite as scary as it looks in the pictures. Side note: Europeans, or at least Germany and Austria seem to care much less for the general safety of people than we do in America, or they expect the public to take care of themselves. There were very little safety precautions on this climb, no one there monitoring if people are following the rules, or staying on the path. This showed in other ways around the county as well, wear a seatbelt or helmet, don't wear a seatbelt or helmet, it's really up to you. The scary bridge I walked on in Reutte also pointed it out, the only place they
prevented you from trying to jump off the bridge or throw things from the bridge was over the road, otherwise, you had to limit yourself. I guess what I am trying to say is sometimes it feels America is trying to protect us from ourselves instead of allowing for personal accountability. I understand there are two sides to the story, so I am not commenting on what is better, just noticing the difference. Anyways, I scramble up to the top of the mountain with all the other sheep, I mean people. There was one woman in front of me that did it in open-toed flats. Some climbers walked on, there were paths everywhere of a very steep nature heading down different parks fo the mountain face. It was much colder up at 2900 meters, I was glad to have my down jacket. There was multiple restaurants up on the top of the world, and lots of birds. I thought at first they were crows, which I thought was odd for this elevatation, then I noticed that they had sharp yellow beaks and red or black talons. They were clearly use to the people and knew how to exploit them, if
people held up their hands long enough with food in them, they would climb on and eat out of their hand. They had amazing maneuverability with their tail feathers moving like a rudder in the wind. The structure itself that we were on was incredible, made out of steel and cement, I can not imaging how it was built on the top of this desolate rocky point of a mountain. I took another cable car down to the glacier area below. Here you could walk on the rocky ground with out fear of falling to your death, sled on some snow and walk to the foot of the glacier. You could also walk to the top of the glacier and look over the south end of the Alps and feel the wind, I chose not to after the amount of hiking I put my body through the day before, it was way up the slope. There was also the tallest chapel in Germany, a playground for kids and lifts everywhere for skiing, when there is snow. Right now it looked like a moonscape. I traveled back to the top, had a sausage and beer and headed back down to the
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These are the signs I explained about earlier, gives approximate walking times. They are all over Germany and Austria. lake. Of course the views were all amazing, I like being on top of the world. Once I got back down to the lake area, I decided to take a dip, it was quite a trip, swimming in a crystal clear alpine lake at the base of the mountain I was at just an hour earlier. The lake was warm on the top first 3 feet, it was refreshing after getting back down to the heat. That night I was to stay in Innsbruck, about 2 hours away by train. I had a simple meal at the train station and traveled through more beautiful coutryside. It is strange to think that at the end of the week I will be in a completely different climate and area, hot sun and beaches only a days drive away. I know it is that way in California too, but it would not be so easy to do with public transportation.
On the way to Innsbruck the train traveled through many tunnels, I assuming going through some of the Alps, when it came out we were on the side of a mountain, headed down to the city below. Innsbruck is a big city,
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Dogs everywhere! On top of Zugspitze! I did not know how to get to my hostel by bus so I walked, it was about 30 mins. I got to see a lot of daily life while I did that. That hostel was much larger than the one in Fussen, it was on the outskirts of town, which was nice, had a bar downstairs, so I could sit outside on the patio have a glass of wine and write my blog. The Alps were in front of me creating large blank towering monuments on the horizon. The weather is very pleasant in the evening, I never need long sleeves. I was upstairs on a top bunk again, this is because I am always the last to check in. The beds were comfortable, however, the bed moved anytime either I or my bunkmate below shifted. I briefly met my bunkmate and his friend, when they were talking to each other I heard their American voices, I have not run into many Americans. They are from the East Coast and they looked like they are in their early 20s. He has been living in Belgrad for the last 5 months and when his friend came to visit, they started
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The climb to the summit. traveling by car. They had traveled through Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and on to Germany. Almost, but not quite, a reverse trip of mine. Breakfast there was also on the patio, after yesterday's fiasco of missing my train, I decided, not to try and rush to the 0800 train, I could make the 0900. I wandered the streets of old Innsbruck before much was open. Beautifully decorated tall buildings in all sorts of colors with intricate shop signs lined the narrow cobbled streets. I do like these old downtowns, though I am not much of a shopper, so this is a nicer time of day for me to see them.
Tuesday, August 21st
Next stop, Salzberg. Here is where I realized that I am not a city girl. To start, for some reason my phone did not charge to full over night, odd, but I have a battery back up to use. I get to Salzberg around 1100, I decide to walk to the town instead of taking the bus, see more of the area, I head towards Mirabell Gardens, where parts of the Sound of Music was filmed. At this point, I figure out, my phone is
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The view of the building from the summit. not charging on the battery, so I have not actual map with me, except of the city center on my guide book and a phone that is loosing charge fast. I finally find the gardens as do the rest of humanity, the tourists. Selfie sticks galore, I found myself quite irritated by them all, not paying attention to who they were blocking, fixing their hair and making a duck face. I'm sorry if you do this, but I find it highly annoying. It was hot, there were all these tourists, I was missing my small towns and scenic alps. I stopped in the shade to listen to an accordion player, people streamed by without an acknowledgement of him, when he finished he shouted for himself and I clapped. I gave him 2 euros and moved on to figure out my next stop. I was headed for Old town to complete my Rick Steves city tour I had in my book. I also had it downloaded on my phone, but it was not long before that died completely. I knew the Old town was on the other side of the river, as I was walking toward it, I found a cobble
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Me holding on the the cross at the summit. stone street off to my left. It looked nice so I entered in off of the busy car filled streets. This was New town, per Rick Steves, and much less crowded then Old town. I think it is still old, just not as old as Old town. It was another lovely walkable shopping area. They had regular stores, you know, that people who are not tourists use. I had been looking for a razor for days, I did not bring one and I figured it would be easy to buy one. This was the first opportunity I had seen. I went into what looked like a health food store, I recognized much of the packaging, just in a totally different language. I asked about razors and she sent me to the apotheke. There, after asking, I was given these small one bladed razors. I asked for them using my German, to the best of my abilities, the woman was nice and corrected my 'two' word, she said it is very hard to say. As I left the store, I found a old looking passageway with a stone staircase leading up, it looked interesting, so I took it, it ended up
and a viewing point overlooking the city new and old, across the river. I could see the Hohensalzberg fortress up on the hill and many other picturesque buildings. There was a map showing that the park was a large hill in between new town and the river, it looked liked there were paths that would get me to the start of my walking tour, no problem. Here is where I also learned, my adventurous curiosity can get me in trouble. I headed off down the path passing a bust of Mozart, there were large signs saying something in german, warning of something, of course I could not read it, but I saw others walking and it looked perfectly safe so I headed the direction of the other side of the hill. It headed down, which seemed the right direction to get to the other side of the hill and the river. After a lovely meandering, the path stopped at a wall, built into this wall was what looked like small round rooms with iron bared windows. When I looked over the wall, it was straight down a cliff, no going down there, I could see where I wanted to go,
but I could not get there. The path followed the wall which headed back up, I had just come down, like a 'thousand steps'. After huffing and puffing my way up the steps it brought me back to where I was 10 mins earlier. Okay, so I headed another way, on a paved path, that should go somewhere, no. This brought me to the wall again, this time I followed it the other way, I ran into a woman picking some vines and asked her if this led down and out, she said, 'It's gud' and smiled. Thank goodness I asked because I would have given up, the path was overgrown and did not look like it led anywhere. I finally made it back up, again, to a paved path that led down to the river, I looked to my left and there was the viewpoint that I was at 45 min earlier! Oh well, it was a pretty walk. I figured out that the wall was a fortified wall from long ago with lookout points, the circular rooms, that a person could watch for incoming enemies up the river to attack the city, so that was cool. I finally
make it to the start of the tour and into a hugh open square. Again, the crowds, oh and the horses, there are horse drawn carriages everywhere and the square smelled like horse urine. At the start of the tour is a bronze statue of Mozart, they really love him here. There was also a pretty fabulous fountain, it was done in the Roman style and was over the top. Speaking of over the top, the churches were so ornate I couldn't even take it all in. The Roman church that Mozart played in had 5 organs! By the way, there are very little pictures of this because my phone stopped working after the fountain. I traveled around the different squares and pasageways. There was this pool that had a ramp into it with an ornate Roman sculpture in the back of it, I guess it was just a place to wash the horses. The tour took me past an old water wheel that was part of the Abby and brought water from the Alps 10 miles away. There was where the oldest bakery in the city was, the water wheel use to grind the flour. I got a small
hard roll to eat, it tasted of rye, and headed into St. Peter's cemetary. This was very beautiful, the grave sites are nicely decorated by the families. I learned that cemeteries are a hot commodity, if the families do not continue to pay rent for the space, they take out the remains and rent it to someone else! This was also the place where I found the catacombs, built right into the side of the mountain. They were pretty cool, both in temperature and interest. It is possible that monks had been living there since 711. At this point I was hungary and very thirsty(I had finished my water on the walk), but I did not find any food to my liking, I figured all the restaurants would be overpriced. I traveled through a square that is where the food market historically was, there was a fresh fruit vendor! I had not had much fresh fruit or veggies since the start of my trip, except for the breakfasts that had some fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers and strangely, sliced bell peppers. I purchased 3 beautiful tomotoes, 1 donut peach and an apple. They did not have water and I could not bring
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View up from the glacier area, this is a weather or so building. If you look closely, there are people hiking down that side of the mountain. my self to pay 3 euro for a plastic water bottle from the fast food stands around. There had to be water somewhere to fill my bottle, the water is so good here because it all comes from the Alps! As I walked on enjoying my tomatoes, I found an odd shaped tear tapered opening in the cobblestone street with a cement wall around it, there was water rushing in from an underground river and headed down into a large circular opening. At the end of wall was a cement tank with a spout over it with wonderful fresh cold water coming out! Can I drink it I thought? There was a sign showing water flowing into a glass, I still was not sure, so I asked someone. I was so hot and so thirsty, it tasted sooooo good. Then someone came up and rinsed the grapes they had just bought, oh, I get it, this is where you clean the fruit you purchased so you can eat right away. I washed my peach and was on my way it was 'lecker' or delicious. I was pretty done with Salzberg at this point, I wanted to get back to the
Alps and the country. I wandered a little through the shops and ducked out a passage to get back to the river and the buses. I headed back to the train station to catch the train to Bad Goisern. This is where I learned my next lesson. Buy your tickets ahead of time, online! The DB in Germany was reasonable, the OBB in the rest of Europe was not, unless you but tickets a few days ahead and get the type that is not changeable. I had wondered why it was so expensive to get a ticket to Salzberg, but it was not until now that I put it all together.
That's all for now, need to get some sleep.
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