I Don't Think We're in Hessen Anymore: Salzburg/Berchtesgaden

It seems difficult to make a trip to Germany without going to Bavaria some way or another. I hadn't planned to go back to the land that can do everything, but speak proper German. But when one travels with a group, particularly one with someone in love with guidebooks, things happen. A group of four of us girls took a "girls' weekend" to Salzburg. Hitler and "The Sound of Music". We're a very diverse group.

We didn't spend much time actually in Salzburg, but mostly in the surrounding areas. A weekend is not really enough time to see much when you want to take tours. Our Saturday morning was devoted to history lessons. Since we were so close to Obersalzberg, we took a bus to Berchtesgaden to see Hitler's Eagle Nest and the bunkers under Berghof. It was really interesting to hear about the bunkers. They could basically be a mole city, but for people. It's also really eery being down there.

The documentation center is really cool, as well. All of the information is in German and there's so much of it, you could spend probably a whole day there. Of course it was also raining/snowing, depending on the altitude, so it was pretty cozy with everyone trying to avoid the weather.

There was a lot of snow by the elevator up to the Eagle's Nest. It was also crazy foggy, like "Oops I lost my friends in the fog." foggy. There was even more snow at the Eagle's Nest. It was the first day of the "season", so it kind of makes sense, but it was discouraging to have thought you saw the last of the snow and end up in a winter wonderland.

We had time to spare after we got back down from the mountain since we missed the first bus back to Salzburg by five minutes. It's a cute little Bavarian town, can't really understand what anyone says, but it's the American view of stereotypical German.

We had time to explore Salzburg a bit in the evening and walked around the old village, ate dinner we didn't have to cook and visited the wine market. It's a gorgeous city, even in the rain fog.

The next morning was devoted to "The Sound of Music". Since a lot of the movie was filmed in surrounding areas, we got to see the countryside. There's nothing quite like driving around the turn of a mountain and seeing a lake on one side and a deer farm on the other. We stopped to doing Alpine tobogganing between two of the smaller towns.

In Mondsee where the wedding scene was filmed, we visited the church. For a donation you can purchase holy water....in mini Jägermeister bottles. Now that's class.

Redbull Headquarters

Another quick stroll through the old town, a visit to the Mozart house and a trip through the castle gardens and it was time to head home.

The Aussie's first time Alpine tobogganing

 I must be allergic to Austria because I started getting sick on the way home. Or maybe I'm just allergic to Bavarians. Who knows.



There are only 4 more weeks left in the semester and I have 4 presentations in the next 2 weeks. It will be a mad dash to the finish with trips to Rothenburg and Berlin thrown in and some more exploring of Hesse including concerts and castles.