Danke Schoen Germany & Austria! - European Adventures, Part 3

Bad Gastein, Austria

On to Germany we went on Saturday, April 21^st of this year, driving the rental car back to Charles deGaulle Airport in Paris, again with no mishaps whatsoever (Considering the driver, Go Figure!).  We took a short flight to Zurich, switching planes there and continuing on to Munich.  We had another rental car lined up in Munich, but faced a big decision, namely this; do we include an onboard GPS with our rental car, or NOT (at an extra rental cost, of course)?  We chose the NOT option, deciding to save a few Euros and rely instead on our own somewhat unreliable (so far) GPS, the usually sweet voice of Gretchen (originally dubbed Tommi Thomas before our arrival in Europe, mfr name withheld to protect the innocent).  Anyhow, “Gretch”, who went by a more Frenchy name in, well, France, had proved unreliable at best, blanking out when on the outskirts of Paris during our first "drive on your own" test experience.   We had wisely paid for onboard GPS in France; but here, in Germany, we decided to run bare (almost), except for old Gretchen.

Munich, Capital of  Bavaria

Gretchen was fine  in Germany until we hit, well, downtown Munich, when she spaced out again.  Driving at night, and never having been in this City before, we could have been up the proverbial “Creek Without a Paddle” (good old fashioned printed maps are so YESTERDAY!), except for the fact that Elaine had wisely downloaded an interactive version of Google Maps to her IPad before we left France.  The IPad App, thankfully, got us to our hotel since Gretch had already retired for the night, prematurely, and in shame!  

You KNOW you're in Bavaria when you see a Lederhosen Shop!

But enough about Gretchen, and on to our adventures in Munich, where we would stay just two nights before moving on.  As in Paris, and then Bordeaux, we had signed up for an On-Off Bus Tour of this Great Capital of Bavaria.  Munich was kind of on my Bucket List after several earlier trips to Germany had always managed to bypass the City.   So I was eager to explore; but, to put it mildly, was a bit disappointed in the end.  Oh, the old town, the Marienplatz, which was kind of a town market square, was nice enough, with shops, restaurants and sidewalk cafes; but the rest of the town, to me at least, lacked the overall Old World charm of, say, Paris, or Bordeaux. 

 

Spires of the 1972 Olympic Stadium, where Steve Prefontaine of the Univ of Oregon ran one of the gutsiest 5,000 meters ever, taking the lead and pushing the pace thru the final few laps, only to finish 4th!

Maybe the highlight of our short stay was a wonderful little restaurant right across the street from our hotel named Heimgarten, run by a Croatian family; great food and friendly service.  We ate there on our last night in Munich; it was a wonderful way to end our short visit to the “Capital” of Bavaria.

Heimgarten Restaurant in Munich, a hidden gem!

On Monday, April 23^rd, we were off to our Timeshare in Saalfelden, Austria, some 50 miles or so SE of Salzburg, “Gretch”, our GPS voice, bravely leading the way.  But before we hit Austria, we stopped at the notorious WWII era concentration camp of Dachau, which was just a short distance out of Munich.  This was eye opening, and a bit sobering, all at once.  The little town itself was quite charming, a quaint Bavarian village, albeit harboring at its outskirts some very dark history.  We toured the former concentration camp, which was actually one of the first of such camps opened by the Nazis in the mid 1930’s to harbor “political prisoners”.  
  

Words over the Entrance Gate to Dachau translated to "Work Sets You Free"... YEAH RIGHT!

Mural from the Dachau Museum of "political prisoners" being rounded up in mid 1930's

What a moving experience this was!  Dachau has an extensive historical museum, housed within the confines of part of the former detainee’s living quarters,  We toured that, the grounds where detainee's were interred, and the crematorium and nearby mass grave sites, where, well, widespread atrocities were committed, and soon covered up.  It was both an unforgettable and troubling morning that we won't soon forget.

The perimeter "Shoot Zone"... Approach this Moat, try to escape, and you're Dead! More than a few of the Dachau detainees reportedly headed there on purpose to End their Misery!  SAD!

Moving Memorial to the Dachau internees

We left Dachau at mid-day, and drove the rest of the way down to our Timeshare in Austria.  On the way, and not long after crossing the border into Austria, we were motoring down a 2-lane highway between small towns when we spied the local Polizei waving their arms at us from the roadside.  Being the good, law abiding driver that I am (One, count IT, ONE moving violation in all my many years of motoring over roads in the USA), I moved immediately over to the shoulder.  The young Policeman smiled, then started jabbering at me in German.  When I shook my head and mentioned I didn’t speak the language, he then immediately switched to fluent English, and proceeded to politely explain that I had been clocked, by speed camera, going something like 79 kilometers per hour in a 60 Kilometer zone.  In American terms, that breaks down to 49 MPH in a 37 zone; too fast, but not purposely reckless.  I pleaded ignorance, telling the young Officer I did not see the signs entering the town telling me to slow to 60 Kmh.  He said something to the effect that everything was okay, and waved us on.  “Danke Schoen” to that.

Welcome to Austria!

Anyhow, ever mindful after that of the apparent nationwide custom of slowing down in little towns (to 60 or 50 Kmh, whether or not speed reductions signs were posted) we proceeded on to Saalfelden. The resort, set in an Alpine Valley amidst towering peaks, and with numerous small ski operations nearby, was adjacent to a busy two-lane highway; but the mountain views balanced the road noise for sure.  Yet, this was just a stopping over point for adventures that lay ahead.

In the hills above Halstatt

The very next day, A Tuesday, we drove to a little lakeside town called Halstatt.  This town had apparently been featured in a Rick Steve’s TV show; and is pretty much a tourist magnet, if still quite charming, despite those dang tourists.  We parked in a public lot a block or so from the tourist walkways along the lake in the Old Town, stopping for lunch in yet another sidewalk café, which was already a standard for us in Europe wanderings.   

Enjoying lunch in a town square in old town Halstatt

Then we worked our way to the Funicular Railway station we’d noticed upon first driving into town.  The railway went steeply up the mountainside; and we just had to go; enjoying the ride up and later down, with a drink and sweeping views from a hilltop restaurant in between.

About to go up the Funicular!

A Stop at the valley view restaurant on top for a glass of wine

And this!

Next day we were off to Salzburg, Austria, a quite historic and famous town ("Sound of Music" was largely filmed there, based on the VonTrapp Family), and with a skyscape dominated by the looming presence of the Fortress Hohensalzburg.  I had visited this historic City, if briefly, way back in the 1970's while working for an accounting and auditing firm, and had fond memories from that long ago visit.  We took, by now, the requisite On/Off Bus Tour of the City, riding the whole circuit, and deciding what places we would most like to visit later.  That turned out to be, predictably enough, the Old Town, largely filled with cobblestoned, pedestrian only streets.  We stopped for lunch at a restaurant owned and operated by one of the half dozen of so Breweries in Salzburg; and I have to admit the beer I had there was one of the best I've tasted in a good long while.

Fortress Hohensalzburg, lording over Salzburg

Our visit to Salzburg was short, just the day tour and lunch basically, but on the way back to Saalfelden we drove up toward Hitler’s “Eagles Nest” at Berchtesgaden.  We could see the Mountaintop Restaurant marking the location of the famed Hitler hangout occasionally on our drive up the mountainside.  But the retreat is reached ultimately only by a shuttle bus from a station a mile or so below the retreat.  And when we got to the parking lot and  bus station in late afternoon, we were disappointed to find that the last bus for that day had already departed. Oh well!

On our last two full days in Austria, we went on several drives through the verdant alpine valleys near where we were staying.  One of the first stops, a brief one as it turned out, was in Kitzbuhel, a famous ski area with a medieval old town, and home to the annual Hahnenkamm Downhill on the World Cup Ski circuit.  Unfortunately, this day was very cloudy, even foggy, and we could not see those famous ski runs.  We did drive into the old town, intending to at least stop for a morning coffee; but the entire area was closed to public parking; you had to park in surrounding pay lots and walk down.  We passed and went on to other scenic drives.

das Paradies ("Paradise"), or something close, in an Austrian Alpine Valley

The next day, a Friday, we thought we’d try to drive over the highest pass through the Austrian Alps, a winding scenic route through towering peaks.  It was not to be; as we got about 3 or 4 miles up the road before we were turned back; since the Pass was closed until early May (this was late April).  So we missed the experience by about a week.  No problem; we headed to nearby Bad Gastein, a place we’d read about in tour books and marked as “must see”.  And see you MUST, if ever in the area. It is literally perched on the edge of steep hills.  There is precious little level ground to be had in this charming town; it has a roaring creek running right through the town; but given the steep pitch of the land, is more like a long continuous waterfall churning under narrow town streets as they crisscross the watercourse.  It was a very enjoyable whistlestop  visit.

Bad Gastein

From Bad Gastein, we next set sight on one last mountain passage before we had to leave the Austrian Alps, the description from travel guides saying there was a very long tunnel, 4 miles or so, through the middle of the mountain.  Sounded like fun; so we headed out, soon approaching a railroad station, which preceded an end to the paved road just beyond the station. We nosed around, as the station seemed deserted, but found a pamphlet written in both English and German that explained the basics.  Seems like the tunnel was actually for trains only.  But cars traveling through were loaded on to flatbed rail cars and transported through the mountain on a 4 mile, 11 minute rail trip.  Unfortunately, the trains ran only once an hour, and the previous train had just departed; we had to drive back to our timeshare and pack for our flight to Munich the next day; so we passed on the train/tunnel ride.  Maybe next time!

So that was it for Germany and Austria; except for the drive back to Munich airport the next morning, Saturday, April 28th; for our flight to Sicily, and the beginning of our Italian adventures.  Auf Wiedersehn, Austria and Germany!