Germany 4: Berchtesgaden Part 1, fog, lakes, and a mountain

   It was a long drive down to Berchtesgaden.  I made a quick stop at Harburg Castle.  It was a short walk up a hill, with a nice courtyard and garden, and then a viewpoint of the city below.

  The exit from the highway had me driving slowly through Bad Reichenhall gave amazing views of the mountains, however by the time I arrived in Berchtesgaden, I was hungry and tired.  The hotel was a good twenty minutes walk from town, where all of the cafes and grocery stores were.  This was the view on the walk into town.

  The next day looked dreadful, dark and gloomy, with rain predicted.  I decided to give it a try anyway, and drove west toward Hintersee lake.  I stopped briefly near the Church of St. Sebastian.  I walked around on both sides of the river.  There was an odd and creepy bust of a man looking through the bushes with binoculars.

  While it didn't rain near the church, a few minutes later as I drove up to Hintersee, it began to drizzle.  I stopped at a cafe, hoping that if I waited a little bit, the rain would abate.  I had an apple pie.

  The light rain did not stop, so I decided to do a short walk anyway.  I didn't walk around the lake as much as I had planed or wanted to, before turning around due to the weather.

  Pulling away from the lake, I was able to see the mountains through the fog, so I decided to try to drive along a scenic route, to see what I could see.  I could not see any of the mountains, anywhere else, so I retreated to my room.

  The next two days were forecast as sunny.  My plan was to take the ferry across the Koenigssee lake.  Google reviews warned of large crowds and advised to go early.  I took their advice and booked the 8:30 boat.  The parking situation was reported to be odd.  Either you could pay eight euro, only in coins, or you could download a parking app.  However, the parking app does not allow you to pay directly.  It says it will be you in the future only.  I have yet to be billed.

  When I got out side at 7:45 that morning, I was greeted with a very cool morning.  I immediately ran back to my room and exchanged my shorts for jeans, and packed a light jacket.  On the drive over, there was still heavy fog covering the mountains.  I walked up to the ferry terminal at 8:15, and they allowed me onto that boat.  

  They required everyone to wear masks, though the boat's windows were open.  The fog was finally lifting from the mountains.  My chosen side of the boat ended up having the nicer views of the two sides, allowing me to capture photos of the Church of St. Bartholomew.  The boat stops at the small area with St. Bartholomew, both on the way across and on the way back.  I decided to visit it on my way back, so stayed on the ferry.  

  It was recommended to at the very least, take the fifteen minute walk to Obersee Lake.  I chose to follow the path for another forty five minutes to wrap around to the other side.  It brings you along a step path along a mountain wall.  It could get slow moving when there is a lineup of people, but fortunately, the crowds were minimal.

  On the other side of the lake was a small cafe.  I was thirsty, and the closest I could find to juice was supposed to be apple juice.  It had a small amount of carbonation.  Halfway through the hike back to the ferry, I encountered the hordes of tourists that were reported online.  I am glad that I went early.

  I took the stop at the Bart Church, but didn't have the time to hike to a waterfall.  Plus, I am kind of over waterfalls for the time being, between travel and now living in the land of waterfalls.  Unfortunately, it seemed like the boats were mostly backed up on the departure side, it took forever for another ferry to arrive in the direction of the parking lot.

  Just a few minutes walk from the dock was the Jennerbahn gondola up the Jenner mountain.  The gondolas were small, and I was easily able to get my own individual cart.  I took a quick picture at the beginning and then kept my eyes shut and focused on breathing and staying calm.  There is a midway station, where the direction changes toward the south, and then ascends again.

  I decided to hike the short route to the Schneibsteinhaus.  

  Once I arrived, I realized that the Schneibsteinhaus was actually a small restaurant, in front of a cow pasture.  The cows were would walk right up to you.  I ordered a coffee and vegetarian pasta, before returning to the gondola station.  Then, I decided to walk up the mountain on the other side to see if there were views.  There indeed was a nice view of the Konigssee.  On one of the benches, there was a small purse left behind.  I asked the people nearby if it was theirs, but no one responded in the affirmative.  I dropped it off at the restaurant's lost and found at the gondola station and began the incredibly scary descent.

  Near the parking lot, I was in the mood for coffee.  When I ordered, they asked if I wanted hot or cold coffee.  I decided to go for cold.  Apparently, their version of cold coffee was to put ice cream in it and whipped cream on top.  I honestly hated it, but drank/ate it anyway.

Germany 3: A day trip to Würzburg, Castle Colmberg, and a donkey hike

   My next hotel was only fifteen minutes away, and there was agap between the check out time and the new check in time, so I decided to visit Wurzburg for the day.  I parked my car in the large parking lot directly in front of the Würzburg Residence.  I did the indoor tour, despite photography being disallowed.  The second floor housed a majority of the rooms on display, and what was there was quite beautiful.  Back outside, I followed around to the side and behind the building, and spent time in the gardens.

  Afterwards, I walked thirty minutes through town, carefully avoiding all of the pastry shops.  Across a bridge, I began a climb up a hill to visit the Marienberg Fortress.

  The insides of the fortress were only available to be seen by guided tour, but I never actually saw a ticket booth or way to schedule it.  In any case, I wandered around, admiring the architecture and the view.  Then, I walked back across town and drove towards Castle Colmberg.

My castle hotel from the distance.

The view from my room.

The decoration on the elevator up to the third floor.

  The one full day while staying at the castle was reserved for one activity, a donkey hike.  Found on the Castle Colmberg website was a link to a donkey hike, so I had to give that a try.  The weather report showed rain, so I emailed the farm hosting the hike, but they responded that it actually was not scheduled to rain.  It began drizzling around five minutes before I arrived.  10 minutes into the walk it became a downpour.  Luckily, I brought my poncho, but it was still quite wet.  As a result, I was not able to take pictures of the wheat fields that we walked along.  Near the end, it finally petered out, and I took this picture of a rainbow and the farmer's church.

  The route that I had taken to their farm.  The route to the Bines Biobauernhof farm had me retracing my route to Rothenburg and beyond.  As I was returning to the hotel, I encountered the view of  Rothenburg, and a rainbow was extending out from the top of the city.  Unfortunately, I decided to leave my camera gear at the hotel, so I was stuck with my cell phone.

  Both nights, I ate at the castle restaurant, and ordered the same meal.  Frankische  Hochzeitsuppe, soup with two types of dumplings and pancake strips.  It tasted very similarly to matzoh ball soup.  The main course was Marinierte Tomaten-Mozzarella und Rukola.  It was essentially mozzarella cheese on a small salad. 

Germany 2: The medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber

  I navigated the medieval streets and drove to my hotel with surprising ease.  The hotel parking lot, on the other hand, was a nightmare to get in.  I did not move the car again until the 11 AM checkout time, two days later.  Luckily the lot emptied by then.  

  Rothenburg ob der Tauber is universally recommended on lists of medieval towns to visit in Germany, and so there is a massive influx of tourists for the day.  Staying inside the town allowed me to go explore once they have partially dissipitated.

  That first afternoon I stopped by a local cafe and tried two of their amazing pastries. As the early evening came around, I took to the town.  I visited the iconic picture location, walked out to the westernmost viewpoint in town, and then walked most of the city walls, which covers the north and eastern portions of town.

The iconic spot featured online.

I didn't catch it at the time, but I liked that the picture had a man peaking out of one of the top windows.

Towards the western viewpoint.

From western viewpoint back into town.

A view while walking the city walls.

  

  I discovered that Germany shuts down many shops on Sundays.  This forced me to find a nearby restaurant, as all of the grocery stores were closed.  Nearly all of the restaurants in town served Italian food for some reason.  I picked one off the main path, that also had outdoor seating, and ordered a vegetarian lasagna, with orange juice because I was super thirsty.  

  The next day I handed my laundry to the hotel in the morning, and received it back, cleaned within a few hours.  Unfortunately, nearly everything was still dank, so I hung the clothes out to dry throughout my room and bathroom.  I spent the day in my room, with the exception of another visit to the cafe and a return to the same restaurant.