Germany Day 19 - Is that an Eibsee I See?

Apparently, when we made our vacation plans, we were really clever and made sure to slow down a bit right at the end of our German adventures.

All we had planned for today was a hike around Eibsee, a beautiful and very clear lake that is surrounded by mountains. The hike is 7km long, and is a bit up and down hills in places, and it was a lovely hiking path.

The bad part was that we went on a Sunday, during a freak hot weather pattern. ALL the locals came out to cool off in the water of Eibsee. Paul and I talked about how it reminded us of going to Holland's state park on Lake Michigan on the weekend growing up. You know, lines and lines of cars waiting for parking, people all over the place with beach gear, etc. You can't have motors on this lake, so instead of jet skis and motorboats, it was a lake full of those people who stand on surfboards and a few paddleboats.

The nice thing though was that most of the crowds were here for swimming. So the hike was mainly quiet and calm. It was a nice change of pace from our hike yesterday at Hell Valley! Paul and I strolled the hiking paths at a nice meandering pace, while holding hands, and soaking in the beauty of the forests, lake, and mountains. It was cool, one side of the lake had rolling green mountains that reminded me of the Appalacians and the other side was huge craggy Alps. 

At about the halfway point, we stopped for a picnic lunch and swimming. It was weird to realize that we had ALL day to chill at the lake, with no other plans, and it took us a bit to really relax. We went swimming in the clearest water ever, and it was the perfect temp!

After swimming, I read a book while Paul napped. Then we walked a bit longer, found another lovely spot, and sat and read our books for some time again. At no point did we feel the need to check the time.

We finished the hike at a slow, relaxed pace, while soaking in the incredible beauty. You should visit Eibsee! It's incredibly beautiful.

We finished off the day with a 2 hour drive to our last airbnb on our vacation. This one was in Austria, and I was a bit nervous about crossing those steep Alps to get there! However, there was a tunnel under most of the steep part and the drive was very safe. We've got a great view from our airbnb balcony, and we ate dinner on the balcony watching the sun set behind the mountain majesty.

Germany Day 18 - Heck Valley

There are some days where you just feel really fortunate. I've got my health, enough money to travel a bit, and a wife that will do things with me even though they terrify her (ask her about the time we wrestled anaconda in the Congo). Today is one of those days (the blessed thing, not the anacondas). We embarked on the most spectacular hike I've ever been on. When asked how she liked it Cris admitted that she was also present on the hike. Welcome to ... Hell Vallley:

The pictures don't do justice to the terrifying heights, powerful waterfalls, and awesome tunnel network. Back in the WW2 era the quite pleasant German army needed a lot of lead so they created tunnels along this gorge and mined like crazy. There were a bunch of pictures in a little museum of miners carrying wooded ladders and bridging across crazy caverns. Luckily, there's a bunch of volunteers that maintain the rickety bridges and slippery tunnels for danger-hungry folks like Cris.

I usually try to be nice and not give Cris a hard time about her fear of heights and this place was genuinely scary in places. However, there was one point where a girl (in pink in the below pic) was heading back hugging the wall and Cris was going the opposite direction also creeping along. They had to pass each other on this little walkway and I couldn't help but laugh. Pink girl's boyfriend was guiding her along while I watched and laughed as Cris shakily passed them on the scary side of the path.

There were a bunch of places where there was still snow over the river and at one point it made a really slippery bridge across.

It was a long, uphill hike but eventually we made it to the wide-open vistas where deer were frolicking. Like most hikes in Germany there was a beergarden on the top of the mountain which was packed with people. Seriously, every hike we went on there was at least one restaurant along the hike that was miles from the nearest road. Gotta stay hydrated on a hike with beer I guess.

The walk back was pretty easy but we were still exhausted by the time we got home.

Germany Day 17 - Toboggan? More Like TobogFUN!

We made what we thought would be a brief stop this morning at a church in a small town. It's really just a few houses and farms and then a huge church on the hill, not sure why they needed such a big church. When we got there the Thursday morning service (I guess that's a normal catholic thing?) hadn't finished yet so we had to wait for a coffee-filled while. 

Back in 1738 in Wies there was a little Jesus statue that started crying (that's the story at least). As a result people from surrounding regions started flocking to this tiny town in a sort of pilgrimage. The Abbot of the area decided that they needed a church for these people to worship in so the Pilgrimage Church of Wies was born. 

Outside the church was a bit strange. Most churches we've seen this trip have been free and didn't really have anyone selling souvenirs besides candles, but this one really wanted to cash in. We had to pay for parking and then there were several buildings solely for selling cheap church-themed junk and they had pay bathrooms as well. The coffee was good and the church was stunning. It is pretty similar to the Ottobeuren abbey we saw a couple weeks ago but the paintings on the ceiling were bigger and better in this one. However, Ottobeuren was better overall, just way more to look at. The Church in Wies is still ridiculous:

After the church it was Summer Toboggan time (obviously). This may be the biggest disappointment of my young life: the toboggan was closed for maintenance! Youtube 'Steckenberg Summer Toboggan' and you'll understand my devastation. Luckily there was an alpine coaster down the street which is pretty similar. It's on a track like a coaster instead of a toboggan but was still super fun. 

I went up on the ski lift and then rode down the track on a probably totally safe kayak type seat. There were hand brakes and a seat belt from a car and they just shove you down with no instruction. It was fast (40ish kph), twisty, and fun. The top half had views of the alps and after that it was pure speed through the woods. It took several minutes to get down, it's surprisingly long. Youtube Oberammergau Alpine Coaster for this one.

Once I came down from the adrenaline rush we went to the equally exciting Mittenwald. They're known for their violin making so we were hoping for a cool violin-making demonstration or something but it was basically just a touristy shopping town. Besides making violins they also make beer so at least there was something to do.

Our new thing the last couple days is to make our own food for dinner at home. We've been pretty whelmed by all the German food we've had and it isn't cheap at restaurants. I bought a huge tub of sauerkraut and each day we just grab a meat and a fruit from the grocery store. It has been more delicious and much cheaper. Most German food we've had is just boiled sausage with dry bread or fries so we can definitely do better at home. Here's one of the many cute buildings in Mittenwald (photo taken by JJ Abrams):

After dinner Cris wanted to relax but I still had restless energy so I went for a hike. Germans are great at road signage but don't like to tell hikers much of anything. There was an arrow pointing toward a waterfall so I just started walking. And walking. I pretty much climbed the whole mountain but the waterfall and views at the end were worth it.

Twas another great day and now we're in the Alps! Oh, also the water in Austria is weirdly blue:

Germany Day 16 - "Beach" day

We started the day by seeing one of the castles that was on the list for yesterday and was cancelled due to our headaches. It was time to see Sigmaringen castle!

Sigmaringen was owned by the same family as the Hohenzollern castle from the day before, however, they are different branches, probably cousins or somehing. The Sigmaringen family side was technically not as powerful (the other castle was owned by the King of Prussia and such), this castle was actually in a city, and was therefore the center of the administration for the area. The Hohenzollern castle was just a hunting lodge, and Sigmaringen was actually a family home.

The difference was huge. Sigmaringen castle was exactly what I assumed most 17^th/18^th century castles were like: huge dining room, entrance hall symbology, parlour after parlour after parlour for visiting certain types of guests, etc. It was interesting to see the lady of the house's rooms, which included a “modern” bathroom, then a room where she could recover from her bath and discuss what dress to wear for the day (this room had shorter ceilings b/c the dresses were in an attic space above the room, and the servants could get to the dresses from a secret servant door panel), then a room where she was dressed for the day (and had to change 3-6 times each day, for different parts of the day activities), and finally, her bedroom, private study, and private living room.

It was an awesome tour, and we finished up by doing the highly recommended audio tour of the armory. It was FULL of old weapons and lots of great info on the audio tour about the medieval history of weapons.

After that, we ate lunch at our airbnb and then off to Meersburg, a German city on Lake Constance, which borders France and Austria. It was, of course, another super cute medieval town, totally pretty and full of windy streets and way too cute of buildings, palaces, castles, etc. We had hoped to eat at a stunning winery on the lakeside, but it was closed due to a private event, which was kinda frustrating because they didn't mention it on their website and we had technically driven 40 minutes to see it.

Fortunately, there was gelato all over the place, and since it was another hot day, we sat in a pretty courtyard and ate some tasty gelato. This town was creepy quiet. For real. It was FULL of German people, all eating at tables outdoors or walking up and down the lake side. But Germans barely ever talk over a quiet voice, so the town was quiet. We stopped at one point to listen, and it was so crazy how crowds that big could be so quiet. Americans are WAY too loud at everything they do. I wouldn't mind cities so much if they could be this quiet! No screaming kids, no loud voices, no music at all, no anything. Paul said that these were his people. Laugh.

After the gelato and listening to quiet crowds, we walked in the blazing hot hot sun for a little bit to a place where we could go swimming. It took a bit of time to figure out where to swim, because there isn't sandy beaches, but instead a few gaps in the trees where you can get down to the water. The water felt AMAZING. We were hot and sweaty and the water was super clean, clear, and cold. We soaked it all up and relaxed for a good long time before heading back to the airbnb.

Tomorrow should be interesting! We'll be heading toward the mountains, Austria, and Paul will try tobaggoning.