An Alpine Road Trip with Kel and the In-laws.

Hey all, I wanted to remember all of the stories from this little trip so I thought I'd share a few of them with you. Well, Sherryl and Don (Kelly's parents) came out on Monday that was my last week of school, and while Kelly was still working before our time off. They were able to entertain themselves walking around Maidenhead, eating Pasty's, or as Don calls them, "Meat Pies", and watching some good old British telly.

Don and Sherryl arrive

 Kelly and them also went on the Jack The Ripper tour which they enjoyed very much. After a week though, we left at 4 AM on Saturday to get a cab to Heathrow and a 625 flight on Lufthansa to Frankfurt. Talk about flying in style, I wish all of our flights were on that airline. It was only a 55 minute flight and we connected in Frankfurt to get to Nuremberg where we had rented a car and our trip officially began.

DAY 1:
A theme on this trip was just how much better everything runs in Germany compared to the US and the UK. We walked up to the Hertz counter an hour before our reservation to see what was up with the car and the gentleman said it was no problem that we picked it up early, our car was not the Ford Focus that we had ordered but a BMW 1-Series and that there would be no extra charge for the Sat-Nav (GPS) because is was included in the car.

Nice Upgrade

After so long in the UK it was amazing to have good customer service. We picked up the car, played Tetris with our bags to fit the in the trunk and drove out of the Airport on our way to the first destination of Munich, which was about 200 km away. As we pulled out onto the freeway, I realized I was about to drive a BMW on the Autobahn. After some careful observation and timid driving I realized that in Germany, there really aren't speed traps and cops around every corner and that you use the left lane for passing and if you aren't passing you get over. There were countless cars doing 120mph and at one point I got our car up to over 100 but it scared Kelly so we settled on 90mph and man do you get where your going quick driving that fast. The most interesting part was that in contrast to American highways, there is literally zero trash on the side of the road, and in over 1000 miles of driving we never saw one accident. The Germans may drive fast but they also focus when they drive and have cars that can be safely driven at well over 100mph. It was pretty amazing for me to be able to drive like that on the Autobahn and a lot of fun. We pulled over for lunch in a small town in Ingvolstadt and found a Biergarten to take lunch. They spoke no English so Kelly and Sher ordered a schnitzel and Don and I got some pork steak that came with potato dumplings and hot red cabbage sauerkraut. It was amazing, filling, and a perfect way to start our trip in Germany.

I got the baby beer because I was driving

Typical German Fare. Very hearty

We made it the rest of the way into Aying, a suburb of Munich where we had booked an apartment to stay in. Rupert, hung out with us for a bit and explained all about Munich and what we needed to see and do. With his help we headed into the city just as it was starting to get sunny. Munich had a very Portland, hip and cool vibe to it, just with much better and older architecture. We walked around for a bit and walked along the outskirts of the English Gardens, to the Marienplatz where we saw the Glockenspiel but unfortunately it wasn't running. We also saw a very interesting sight in the fact that they had a bunch of pillows laid out in this town square and a little portable library for people to read in.

In the Marienplatz

Portable library

We spent some obligatory time taking in the city and looking in a few churches before heading back to the English gardens to take a few pictures including the one of the beautiful Freuline below and also getting some dinner in the park. The food was just okay, and expensive, but the atmosphere was grand as we ate, had a beer, and watched the sun set on the city. We headed back to the apartment for some much needed rest and decided to head out early the following morning to make a 2 hour drive up to see castle Neuschwanstein in the south.

Guten Tag Freuline!

DAY 2:
We headed south and were greeted by some heavy rains as we drove, but also with some amazing scenery as we started to get closer to the mountains. Down in southern Bavaria, it's funny just how stereotypical the buildings look. Even when they aren't too touristy they look exactly like you think they would with little window boxes filled with geraniums and it's pretty amazing. Even on my long drives I was completely taken with the scenery and it was a pleasure to drive rather than a chore. With that we pulled up to the castle and found that we would not be able to take the tour for about 3 hours, which ended up being fine because we had a chance to eat some brats, walk down to the lake and souvenir shop for a bit. After all of that we took a crazy bus ride up the mountain and went out to the bridge overlooking the castle for some pictures. Talk about sketchy, this bridge had these wooden planks that bent and cracked and groaned with every step but we're still here so apparently it was safe enough.

Castle in the Background

Picture from the bridge.

Once our tour started we were not allowed to take pictures so sorry, no pics from the inside. It was a castle built in the mid 1800's by King Ludwig II who was known as both the swan king and the fairy-tale king because he loved both of those things very much. He had the castle built to be his home, but died mysteriously in shallow water out on a walk just 6 weeks before the exteriors were finished. When he died, construction stopped on the castle and only about half the rooms were done. The tour was short because it only covered the finished rooms. From the decorations and the design of the castle you might have guessed and rightly so that King Ludwig was a little bit on the fancy side, and never took a queen soooooo...draw your own conclusions, but he built a fantastically cool castle that was the inspiration for the sleeping beauty castle made famous by Disney and can be seen at both parks and the beginning of every Disney movie. Don also found a fellow Army man who was stationed in Germany to talk to for a while. It was funny to hear them swap stories about the wars they fought in (Vietnam and Iraq) and agree on how worthless Westpoint grads were. It was funny. After a long drive back we decided to stay local in Aying and go to a local Biergarten that our host recommended and it was amazing. We got lots of beer, pretzels, and food that was so big it was impossible to eat. Kelly's schnitzel was literally bigger than her head and my sliced pork with kraut, gravy and a huge dumpling was amazing.

Im glad I ordered the small one. 

Kelly and Sherryl having fun with some steins. 

After dinner which was ridiculously filling and very very good, we headed home to get some sleep and an early start for our drive to Salzburg, Austria.

DAY 3: 
We woke up to rain and gassed up the car, hit up the bakery for some croissants and got out of town. This was the only anticlimactic drive as it was raining the entire time and we couldn't see much besides the bases of the mountains. It was stressful going for me driving that nice car, but we made it safe and sound in about 2 hours and checked in to our next place. I had no clue what to do in Salzburg, aside from the Sound of Music tour which we were doing the following day so we got some lunch from the local store and headed into town to see what we saw and we saw a lot. The city is also the birthplace of Mozart so there is a lot of stuff dedicated to him around the city. We saw some fountains, a church or two, and headed up the funicular to the fortress/castle at the top of the hill which as the rain was clearing afforded us some amazing views of the city. 

Weird horse fountain, also in Sound of Music

Kelly and Sherryl in front of another statue that was also in The Sound of Music

Salzburg from above

With all of that done we trekked back down the mountain, and wandered into a graveyard behind a church that was stunningly beautiful. Come to find out later that it was the graveyard they used as inspiration for the graveyard that the Von Trapps hid in at the end of The Sound of Music. We caught the bus home after wandering around and went to a brauhaus at the local mall. Now while it may not have been super authentic, it was however good. We had the local beer which had a natural raspberry flavour to it and it was amazingly good. We also had our best pretzels here as well as some good pork schnitzel and I had the chicken cordon bleu. Our waitress quizzed us about the states and was obsessed with the U.S. which to be fair, is understandable. Now when we reached home I decided that I better had watch this Sound of Music movie because I had never seen it. I really enjoyed it though and it was truly amazing just how many of the songs I knew despite never having heard the soundtrack. Rogers and Hammerstein have really seeped into American culture if I knew all but 1 or 2 songs from a film I have never seen. We headed off to back home and got a solid night of sleep for the first time in a while.

Day 4:
We slept in for the first time on the trip and actually got up at 11. Don and Sherry ran out to the local bakery and came back with cinnamon rolls to get us all going. Since the Sound of Music tour cost between 20-30 Euros, and didn't really make a lot of stops, just drove by stuff, I suggested that with the car I could organize a tour that wouldn't cost anything and go to all of the same sights. We had already seen a bunch of the stuff in the city center so we could skip that stuff. The first one was the house they used for the exterior of the house and shot the scene where all of the Von Trapps fell into the water. It was private so we had to see it from across a small man made pond.

Up next was the Hellbraun estate used for some exteriors and also has the infamous gazebo where the '16 going on 17' sequence was shot. We took a tour of the estate which included the trick fountains which were pretty cool. The owner 400 years previous was quite the prankster and loved to soak his guests. The table was one where there was water that rushed out of every seat except for the hosts. The guests were not allowed by etiquette to stand before the host did, so he would sit there as they got all wet. Hidden spouts of water were hidden everywhere and we got quite dowsed as we walked along but it was very fun none the less. They also had a 400 year old animatronic display with 200 moving figures that was entirely water powered, pretty amazing.

The table you would not want to be at if you were not the host.

Sherry getting dowsed.

Water powered animatronics

After we were done with the trick fountain tour we were able to walk around the grounds and managed to find the gazebo from the movie. Apparently this was not the original location of it, and it had been moved from that estate we saw first. They had to many problems with trespassers looking for it that they put it somewhere where people could come and see it. It was also locked up because of how many people had injured themselves trying to recreate the dance from the movie. Another interesting thing about The Sound of Music and Austria is that no one there is aware of it. They have no idea what the big deal is because is was not the cultural phenomenon at all that it was in the states.

16 going on 17 scene from movie with gazebo in the back

Definitely not close to 16 or 17

We also found a very cool playground with some toys that could absolutely never exist in America because of the lawsuits, but apparently in Austria the are reasonable and not out to extort money off of people by suing extensively. The first toy was  a zipline that Kelly tried out but due to the piles of bark sawdust, she didnt get very far. The Olsons also had quite a time on a swing built for multiple people and the most dangerous thing was this spinning wheel on a slight slant that you had to get moving by walking and then running on it. It was insanely dangerous and I almost killed myself. It was much crazier than it looks in the pictures.

Yes I told Kelly she would hit that pile, she didn't believe me, and yes, she did hit it.  The maintenance man was not impressed.

Olson family fun

This thing was insane, and no safety of any type, not even a soft landing. 

After our time at Hellbrun we ate a quick lunch of brats at the cafe on location and decided to go on a little adventure that would take us back to Germany. I had read that if you were willing to take about a 25 min drive way up into the hills, do some light trespassing and about a 200 meter climb you could get to it. Well we drove and followed the instructions and it took us back into Germany and sure enough way up into the sticks on some pretty crazy roads but also through some amazing scenery and look outs. We had to park in some ones driveway and almost didn't feel like chancing it, but we were there, so what the hell. We left the in-laws with the car and sprinted up the hill and it was without a doubt the exact spot. Tree line has changed but the mountains and the church in the background matched up perfectly. These aren't at the exact same angle but the church sealed the deal, but I think I'm standing in front of it.  See for yourself.

The Hills are alive...

Pretty amazing spot. 

Kelly and I had fun twirling around and taking photos and just taking it all in. I'm hard pressed to think of any place that I've been that was more beautiful than this alpine meadow. There's just something about being in the green green grass surrounded by the Alps and clouds. Not to sound cheesy, but I think about how much time I spend starring at screens (which I'm doing right now by the way) and how little I look at the beauty that exists around me. This brought that thought home for me.

After we drove back to our pad we rested up and decided to do one more piece of sightseeing down-town that was Sound of Music related and then get a few more souvenirs and get some dinner. We headed out again in the car, found some parking, got some gellatto and proceeded to the Mirabell Gardens that were absolutely gorgeous especially in the sun. We walked around for a bit and then went to dinner at Die Weisse which was the best food I had on the entire trip. Again we got the local beer and it too had a raspberry flavor which I'm guessing all of the local lager must have. It tasted amazingly good.

Brat, Sauerkraut, and potatoes.

Pork, Potato Dumpling and Salat. Best food of the trip.

With full bellys and full hearts we headed home and got some sleep in preparation for a 6 hour drive that would take us through 4 countries.

Day 4

We woke up early, had some coffee and headed out towards Switzerland but taking a slightly longer route through the Alps and specifically Liechtenstein. As we passed out of Austria the sun was up and afforded us some amazing views. I spotted the Eagles Nest at the top of a mountain that was one of Hitler's final holdouts and a now holds a restaurant, but to go up there costs a pretty penny so we were content to look from below. We passed through Innsbruck and then through a mountain pass including a stop to gas up in a small skiing village which was pretty cool. We even pulled over at summit point so Don could make a snowball and we took a few pics. I cannot stress enough that this was probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen. There is just this strange majesty to the Alps that other mountain ranges I've been in don't have. Maybe its the houses or the meadows, but it's amazing and I'm so happy we opted to rent a car and drive through. It was just breath taking.

A typical scene

Just driving through the Alps. 

This was at a gas station.

A stop to check out the snow (its off camera to my right)

We passed through the small country of Lichtenstein which took about 15 minutes and we got out to take a quick picture and kept moving. We had to meet our hosts by 2pm and we were on a major time crunch. We got into Switzerland and were talking about how it was so cool that my heritage and name specifically were Swiss and I was just really happy to be in the motherland. All of a sudden Kelly shouts to turn the car around and so I do and we go back. She had seen this sign, which led us to the small town of Arn Switzerland. I have no idea how this might have to do with my name but I'm willing to be there is some history there. It was a total blessing to have discovered this and it was on a really out of the way backwoods road that we just happened to be on because our GPS/SatNav took us on this little mountain pass between freeways.

Sign that led us to the town

The town. The town of Horgen was behind Arn.

 We got to the place right at 2pm and checked in. They had a plumber over at the time so we went to get some lunch at the local pizza place. Now Switzerland is expensive. Their franc is worth almost the exact same as the dollar, but stuff just costs about twice as many francs. Our 3 personal sized pizzas, 2 beers and 2 cokes cost 70 francs which is about 75 US dollars. That's insane. Luckily the pizza was just as good as the pizza we had in Italy, so while it was not "worth it" it was at least good and probably because we were only about an hour away from Italy. We went back and rested for an hour and then headed out to the town of Luzern where we roamed around taking pictures of the amazing scenery and went in a church with two very cool spires.

Almost waving my flag

Don on lack Luzern. Very cool architecture and the lake was packed with swans. 

Kelly and Sherry in front of a cool church that I forgot the name of.

Good Ol' making out by the lake.

 So after a bit of sightseeing and the fact that I got us a bit lost we finally found the restaurant that Sherry had really wanted to go to and we had made reservations at. It was a set menu but what made it special is that it had a full Swiss cultural show to go with it. They yodeled, played swiss music with the accordian, played the saw, the broom, bottles and those long horns made famous by Ricola. It was a bit pricey, but worth it to have a lot of fun. They even had a two person cow costume that came through the crowd and even gave me a lick. All in all a very fun and action packed day. We went to bed and got ready for our final travel day.

A very friendly cow. 

Very cool Architecture. 

Lake Luzern

Day 5:
Not very exciting, except for we went into 5 countries in one day as our route back to Nuremberg took us through quite a few. We made our flight in plenty of time and headed home. The only thing to note was an incredibly sketchy landing in London due to our small plane and some high winds, but we made it safely. In summary this was an amazing trip and I think everyone should put this at the top of the list for places to visit. A different type of beauty from a tropical paradise, but rivals it in every regard. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our latest adventure.