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Published: August 6th 2007
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Konigsee
Sitting by the beautiful lake Konigsee. You may have noticed but the blog has been down recently and we just got access this morning. It is 7:43 am in Zurich and we have a few minutes before hitting the road towards Grindewald and Lauterbrunnen so here is a quick play by play of what we've been up to the last few days.
Wednesday - We visited Worms where Martin Luther was called on to recant his views that started the Protestant Reformation. We saw the Holy Trinity Reformation Memorial Church which was very modern but a neat little place. We headed on to Rothenburg which is a medieval village with cobbelstone streets and the whole bit. We spent the evening there in a gasthaus hotel and took a sunset stroll along the stone wall that surrounds the village.
Thursday - This was our WWII and Holocaust day of the trip. We started in Nurenberg and saw the Nazi Party Rally grounds where Hitler used to hold those giant rallies that you see in movies. It was a very informative tour and quite unbelievable how a man like him came to that much power. After that we headed south and visited the concentration camp at Dachau. It is hard to explain the emotions that come at a place like that. It is simply overwhelming. We are glad we visited at least one of the camps.
That evening we stayed on the outskirts of Munich and had dinner at the world famous Hofbrauhaus. It is a massive place packed with tourists and locals but we both loved it. They serve their beer by the liter and pretzels the size of your head. I had a plate that had 4 sausages, saurkraut and a heap of mashed potatoes. Needless to say we were both stuffed. The best part was that we got a ride from our hotel straight to the front door of Hofbrauhaus by a friend of the conceirge at our hotel. Saved us about 20 euros!
Friday - Spent the first half of the day touring around Munich and visiting the BMW museum and Olymic park before we headed south again to the Germany-Austria border where we stayed in Berchtesgarten, a little alpine village. We stayed in another gasthaus in a room for two....with two twin bed in opposite sides of the room. Katherine, needless to say, was a bit dismayed. We went to bed early because we had a big day ahead of us.
Saturday - We woke up early and drove about 5 km south to Konigsee which is the cleanest lake in Germany. It is a massive lake with towering mountains all the way around it. It is a bit like being in a fairy tale...with stinky people and cigarrette smoke. We took a boat tour of the lake which let us off at St. Barthelma where we took a 3 hour hike up into the mountains to an Ice Cave that stays frozen all the way through summer. It was quite an accomplishment if you ask me. Something I will accomplish once.
After our hike, we got back on the boat which took us a little further on the lake to a place call Salet. We were able to get off the boat again and walk a little ways (on flat ground) to another small lake. Mirror-like water made for good pictures and a very relaxing atmosphere but alas we had to get moving because we had a little drive ahead of us later that day.
We spent then night in another alpine village, Garmisch, next to the highest peak in Europe. We happened to be there during Garmisch Week, which apparently is when everyone dresses up in the traditional mountain clothes and marches through the streets playing music. Very neat.
Sunday - We went to Fussen and visited the Konigschlosser Neuchwanstein, which is the castle that Walt Disney modelled the Disney Castle after. We hiked to the top because we are too cheap to pay 3 euros for a bus ticket. Once again, 800 meters up, warm weather, being out of shape and breathing deeply to catch my breath combined with the same conditions, less deoderant, with the hundereds of other tourists was not a pleasent ascent. But the views took the remaining breath away.
We made our way down into Switzerland and spent yesterday evening and last night in Zurich which is a beautiful city. It feels like how we imagined the south of France would feel. We were able to see Ulrich Zwingli's bible in the Grossmunster, which is just a few steps from our hotel.
Monday - We are off to Grindewald! We will keep you posted as we can. Pics to come when we have some time.
Chet
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