Norway: Fjords of Fun Part 1

Hellestylt

So, I am finally getting around to posting about our trip to Norway. Two weeks after getting home from Norway, I took the GRE which I had been anxiously studying for and now I've completed most of my graduate school applications. I submitted two out of three applications and had one interview. My final application should be completed within the next few weeks and I should receive a decision from two of the schools by February. Here is to hoping I get into grad school!

Rome, Pompeii and Mt Vesuvious, Italy

[Disclaimer: I wrote most of this post a month ago and believed that I had already published it. Sadly, I hadn't and just realized that today!]

Fourth of July weekend was a four-day weekend for us, so we decided to take a trip. After reviewing a few different options, our best bet was a trip to Rome, Italy.

Konigssee, Bavaria

In June, we decided to enjoy the great outdoors by taking a trip to one of the most scenic locations in Germany, Konigssee.

This is actually Obersee

Konigssee is located in Berchtesgadener Land, a national park in the Bavarian Alps on the Austrian border. Konigssee is best known for a few things. First, the close proximity to the Eagle's Nest which encourages a lot of visitors with interest in WWII history. Secondly, the famous "horn echo" which occurs when a horn is blown from a certain spot on the lake, causing an echo throughout the Alps which sounds like a symphony of horns playing. Finally, the beautiful views and amazing hikes through practically untouched Alps speckled with traditional wooden buildings and milk cows. German travel websites are covered with picturesque Bavarian scenes from Konigssee and the surrounding area.

Our main reason for making the trip was to enjoy a hike in the mountains, which we hadn't gotten to do since we lived in Colorado. On Friday afternoon, we packed up Augustus and the Jeep and set out for the southern-most portion of Germany. Unfortunately, we didn't get out fast enough to avoid traffic, so our road trip took almost 3 hours longer than anticipated. When we got to our hotel, the staff had gone to bed, so they left our key at the desk with a welcome note.

The next morning, we got up early to catch one of the earlier boats out. Konigssee can only be crossed on a particular kind of electric boat. No other vehicles are allowed on or near the lake to preserve it's crystal clear water. There are only two different stops to get off of from the boat and you pay by how far you plan to go. Each boat stops at a particular point to blow the trumpet in order to hear the echo.

On the day we went, it was soaking wet and pretty cold outside. We dressed Augustus in his best hoodie, put on our thickest rain coats and took a seat on the boat next to a group of British college kids. They all sort of laughed at Augustus cuddled up asleep in Greg's lap the whole trip. He barely noticed the trumpet playing, which, due to the weather, was pretty anticlimactic. The echo didn't have the same triumphant effect in the pouring rain, but it was still kind of cool. There is a famous chuch on the water which is where most people exited, but we stayed on until Salet which is the trail head for a path to Obersee and the Rothbach waterfall, the tallest in Germany.

Obersee is only a short and easy walk from the Salet port, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. However, there is a longer trail which leads along the edge of Obersee and through the mountains until it reaches a cottage which sells fresh milk. If you continue to follow the trail, it ends at the Rothbach waterfall. Despite the rain, we decided to hike it. We weren't totally prepared for that much hiking. Because of the weather, we assumed we wouldn't want to spend that much time outdoors so we didn't dress for the occasion. We ended up hiking several miles anyway.

Augustus was awesome. He only got tired and had to be carried for a short period, and I think it was more so because he was so wet and not because he was necessarily tired. He climbed up the steps carved into the rocks and carefully approached the cows blocking the path to see if he could venture forward. We even saw the British kids later in the hike who mentioned how good he was as hiking.

We stopped at the milk cottage and got some beer. It kind of grosses me out that people were stopping to get luke warm milk while hiking. Augustus got cold from all the rain so we had to wrap him up in Greg's hoodie to dry him off. The views were absolutely beautiful and worth the walk. After a short break, we decided to walk towards the waterfall before heading back to the boat. We didn't walk all the way down the waterfall trail, but instead stopped and allowed Augustus to run around for a little while in the cow pasture. He was interested in the cows, but not enough to attempt to approach them.

Luckily, the hike back was much more dry and the boat much less crowded. Augustus was so exhausted that he curled up in a nest he made in Greg's hoody and fell asleep. All of the Germans were watching him and laughing as he dug his way up under it to sleep "under the covers." This was definitely the longest hike he's taken since we moved to Germany.

Once off the boat, we dropped Augustus at the hotel to rest and ate an amazing Bavarian dinner on the water overlooking the lake. It was a nice end to the trip. At the hotel, we learned that it was a common practice for travelers in the area to return to their hotel at night for dinner. Most of the hotel guests did this. They even reserved a table for each of the hotel guests. We decided to go down to the restaurant for beer and cake.

There were more things that I had wanted to do in that area before we returned, but the weather was so bad that it wasn't worth it. There is a cable car that you could take to the top of a mountain overlooking the lake, but we didn't bother since the clouds were so low that you couldn't even see to the top of the mountains. There wouldn't have been much to see. We didn't go to the Eagle's Nest because we didn't have much interest. We considered stopping through Salzburg, Austria, on our way back, but I forgot to bring our passports so we didn't.

We most likely won't make it back down that direction again unless we try to go snowboarding in the area this winter. The drive to Bavaria/Austria is miserably slow. The scenery is certainly beautiful but that's pretty much all we are interested in around that area. I don't have any huge desire to visit Munich especially after realizing that Oktoberfest can be had in just about any city, but with less tourists and a smaller crowd. Maybe we will return to Garmisch at some point if we have time.

Strasbourg, France and Other Forgotten Local Trips

When we first moved to Germany, I thought I would document every single thing we did and every single trip we took. Then, after visiting a lot of places, I've gotten pretty lazy.

We've decided to try to visit a new place at least every other weekend. We hope to continue that trend through summer as it will probably be our last full summer in Europe. So far, we have done a lot of traveling both near and far since May!

Several weekends ago, we took a trip to Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is the home of the United Nations headquarters and is located in the Alsace region of France which has traded hands multiple times through history between France and Germany. The inhabitants of Alsace now speak both French and German with a very distinctive accent... or so I'm told.

Strasbourg was a beautiful city which is only 2 hours from our house. It's actually how I imagined most German cities would look before we moved here. The buildings seem to mimic the Bavarian architecture with their own extremely intricate markings which made them look much more artistic and, well, French. I actually told Greg that I think the most beautiful building I've ever seen was in Strasbourg. He didn't completely agree with that sentiment, but did comment that the architecture was more unique than in Germany.

We didn't do a whole lot in Strasbourg other than walk around and eat. The food was great and the town was beautiful, which was good enough for a day trip. It's also fun to be able to say that we can drive to France for a day from our house.

I love this picture of Greg.
(Obviously, this is not the day that it rained)

Twice in the past few months, we've driven up to Bozerwolf off-road park a little over an hour from our house to take the Jeep off-roading. Once, we camped out overnight for Jeep Topless day, which was unfortunately far too cold and rainy to actually take the top off of the Jeep. This was our first European camping experience. It is mostly illegal to go backpack camping here in Germany, so we have to plan out a campsite in advance.

Each weekend we've been in town, we've attending at least one festival in our local area. Wine festivals are just beginning in the Rhine-Main region and we are more than happy to attend. Our own local wine festival won't start until next month, so we have several more weekends to enjoy the festivities in our area. Germans definitely love to party outdoors in the summer!

Finally, we've also taken two bigger trips, one to hike in Bavaria at Konigsee, and another to Rome, Italy with a minor detour to the Naples area to visit the ruins of Pompeii. I'm already working on those posts, so bare with me as I slowly catch up on our adventures!

Backlog Blog

I promise that I have not forgotten about this blog. I have lots of day trips to update about but haven't had the time or energy to do it. This weekend we should have plenty of down time which should allow me to do some blogging! Until then, here is a cute picture of Augustus in a hoody.