Here we are my friends back in Medford, Oregon after 26 hours in airports and on airplanes.
Thanks for joining us for this fabulous vacation – and thanks for the comments along the way.
Auf Wiedersehen, Dennis and Linda
Although the official tour was over yesterday we stayed an extra day.
There were a number of people that were staying an extra day so 8 of us got together and decided to do a day trip to the village of Melk and the newly renovated Abbey. To get to Melk from Vienna we hopped on the subway and then the train which went through the Danube Valley to Melk.
We arrived in Melk and you could see the abbey high on the hill from the train station. The monks of St. Benedict have lived and worked in this abbey for 900 years. The abbey was beautiful as was the church as you can see by the pictures.
After touring the abbey we walked down to the Danube River and boarded our boat for our Danube River tour – we went down the river for about 1 1/2 hours. It was absolutely beautiful – the sky was a little overcast – but the scenery was magnificent. I have included pictures of the land, homes and castles we saw along the way.
One castle in particular has an interesting history – in picture 26 you can see the castle that imprisoned Richard the Lionhearted in 1193. I am surprised there is anything left of the castle.
The cruise on the Danube River is something I have always wanted to do and now we have realized that dream. very cool.
After the river tour we walked through the town of Krems to reach the train bound for Vienna. What a great final day!!
Tomorrow we fly home – Dennis and Linda
Today is our last day on the Rick Steves’ tour. We had a 3 hour tour in the morning through Vienna with a local guide which was wonderful. As we walked through the streets of Vienna we tried to capture the many different examples of the architecture.
The anti-aircraft tower (flak tower) was indestructible in World War II – it is now under protection from a law protecting monuments. It’s in the middle of a residential section of the city.
We had our last group dinner in this very cool restaurant that was underground in a cave-like environment. Most of the pictures turned out dark but there is one that survived – ours!
What a great end to a fabulous tour!
Tired but happy – Dennis and Linda
We left Hallstatt early this morning – but I did get a couple of shots of the ferry that picks up and delivers passengers from the train station across the lake.
We went through some beautiful countryside in the Lake District – again taking pictures from the bus as we drove through.
Then we came to the sad part of the day – we toured the Mauthausen Concentration Camp – I am only attaching a picture of the outside as the rest of it is just too depressing. We were there for a number of hours and after that everyone was drained from the emotional toll.
After lunch we headed to Vienna which took all afternoon. We departed the bus for the last time and said Auf Wiedersehen to our great coach driver!
Today we left Salzburg – in the rain – for the Lake District of Austria. We arrived in the small village of Hallstatt around noon.
Dennis tried to snap some pics of the lovely countryside along the way. We passed the Red Bull Headquarters – it was weird – the buildings looked like they were floating on water.
The village is lovely as you can see – we had a room overlooking the lake which was lovely also.
Funny story on the two bottles sitting on the table on our balcony. Dennis and I walked to the little grocery store and bought what we thought were a bottle of apple juice and a pear/apple juice. When we got back to the room Dennis cracked one open, poured a glass and took a big gulp only to find out it was apple cider vinegar!!!!! YUK!!!! That’s what happens when you can’t read the label……we laughed over that one.
Relaxing day in a beautiful little village on a lake……ah.
Dennis and Linda
Today we had a walking tour of Salzburg with a local guide. It was pouring rain so the pictures are scarce. The pictures that start with number 1 were taken on this tour. The plaque of Christian Doppler marks the house where he was born – he was the one who came up with doppler radar – the one you always see in weather forecasts.
Salzburg is Mozart’s birth place but somehow we missed our photo op in the rain. Just to rationalize this – it was really raining hard in the morning! Oh well, just another house.
Number 1d is another cool church organ and the next one another cool door. The 1f pic is the famous old street in Salzburg for shopping. The signs hanging depict what they sell in the store. They have to pay “air” tax for these advertisements. As you can see this street is packed even with the rain – later on that evening we took a pic of the same street when all the stores are closed.
And of course you will all recognize the pic of Dennis sampling yet another bratwurst…..I do believe he has sampled every sausage made in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
After battling the crowds for a while we decided to hike up to the fortress that was built 400 feet above the town. It is well preserved and had many, many relics in it – but best of all were the views!
The “Salzburg Bull’ is still housed at the fortress – this is a huge player organ (like the old player pianos) – you can see this in pics 4a and 4b.
The pictures that start with 5 are views we got of Salzburg while hiking up to the fortress and while we were at the top of the fortress after the rain actually stopped for a while.
Oh – last but not least – picture 3 is the closest we got to the Sound of Music!
That was our day – cold and rainy but interesting.
Dennis and Linda
We woke up today to the sound of pouring rain. Well at least the first day of Oktoberfest had great weather!
We all piled on the bus – our next stop to be the Neuschwanstein Castle. This was the castle that “Mad King Ludwig” had built as soon as he was crowned king. Tidbit – this is the castle that inspired Walt Disney when designing his castle for Disneyland.
The other castle is the one Ludwig grew up in.
It was pouring rain on the hike all the way up to the castle and Dennis could barely get one picture for fear of getting the camera wet. I bought a post card and he took a picture of that which I included also. They didn’t allow us to take pictures inside.
The whole castle experience was way too touristy for us. They hustle you through like cattle and you can barely hear the tour guide.
We were supposed to go on a luge ride on the way to Salzburg but it is only open when it’s dry.
Our next stop was the Wieskirche Church which is a pilgrimage church. The church was built to house the statue of Christ that supposedly wept in 1738. The people who built the church made the inside look like what they believed heaven looked like. You can form your own opinion on that.
I had to put a picture of my dessert in. It was lovely. It’s still raining as we retire for the evening here in Salzburg.
Dennis and Linda
What an experience being at opening day of Oktoberfest!! Oktoberfest lasts for 18 days and over 6 million people attend.
Opening day hosts a parade – beautifully decorated horses pulling beer wagons and dignitaries and bands of all kinds. The parade goes through town and ends at the Oktoberfest grounds. We stood at the grounds and although we were many rows back Dennis tried to take as many pics as possible over everyone’s heads.
Prior to heading out to the celebration we did a walking tour of town which included walking into the Hofbrauhaus which is the oldest beer hall in the world. The Germans take their beer halls very seriously – you can see the steins that are locked up – those belong to the regulars!
Back to Oktoberfest – check out the pics I call subway squish – I mean there were hordes of people – I thought some of the festivals in California were bad – NOT – this was beyond anything I had ever seen for crowds.
There are 8 huge beer (Munich beers only) tents (which are really buildings) on the grounds – each tent serves only its beer. Getting into the tents is tough and once you get in one it’s tough finding a seat as you will see by the pictures. We snuck in a couple when security wasn’t looking – we just wanted to take pictures.
We did take a ride on the ferris wheel – see how pretty the cars are? and check out the pictures we took while we were high in the sky.
One more very important point – Germans don’t consider beer alcohol, they consider it liquid bread.
We had an amazing time at this fabulous party – it was a once in a lifetime experience.
Tomorrow we leave Munich for Salzburg.
Dennis and Linda
Today we packed up our things and climbed on the cable car for the last time. As we drove through the Lauterbrunnen Valley with the Alps on both sides of us Dennis got a great picture of the river that runs down through the valley. The water looks very milky because of the silt (rock that has eroded) in the water.
We stopped for lunch in a small town on the German border called Lindau – there is a lake around it but it’s such a large lake that it has a lighthouse! I’ve included pics from the pier and also the beautiful park and the flowers that are grouped by color.
We arrived in Munich at dinnertime -we ate in a restaurant that was below the old town hall – it was huge – we found out it held 1200 people! I’ve included pictures of the hall and eatery.
Tomorrow is the beginning of Oktoberfest which is the largest beer festival in the world. Originally the group was supposed to tour the large art museum but our guide is taking us to Oktoberbest instead. So it’s just a different learning experience.
I’ve had a number of you ask which tour company we are with – it’s called Europe Through the Back Door – it was started by Rick Steves’ which many of you have seen on PBS. If you google Rick Steves you can find it on the web. The nice thing about his tours are that they are under 28 people, you can opt out of the physical stuff if you don’t want to do it and you have a lot of free time to do other things. The guides are amazing also.
Tomorrow its Oktoberfest!!!!!!!!
Love, Dennis and Linda
Today was incredible! The weather was perfect – the sun was shining all day and we spent the entire day hiking. Depending on who’s pedometer you believe we did anywhere from 8 to 10 miles.
Our day started with taking the cable car down (incredibly early again) to the Lauterbrunnen Valley where we walked for about 45 minutes and caught the cog train at the end of the valley. The train eventually brought us up to 7,317′ in a town called Mannlichen. There really wasn’t much of a town – just a train station and a restaurant with the most awesome view.
We hiked from there to a place called Kleine Scheidegg which took most of the day. There were so many wonderful views that I am sending more pictures than usual.
We had a barbecue group dinner tonight and of course Dennis had to take a picture of the guys cooking.
This is our last night in the Alps and Dennis and I are sad – if we ever have the opportunity we would love to come back – there are dozens of hikes waiting for us!
Tomorrow its off to Munich – Dennis and Linda
