Denmark, Germany, and Austria November 2022: Week 2

 

Saturday, November 19:

            When we awoke this morning we were greeted by a magnificent sunrise from the balcony of our Airbnb.  We had a beautiful view over the Alps and the valley below.  A fresh layer of snow was on the mountains and a slight fog was rising from the valley floor.  

The view from our balcony

The place we stayed in Obsteig, Austria

After scraping the ice off our car windshield with a credit card, we drove back over into Germany and arrived at the base of the Zugsptize, the tallest mountain in Germany at 9,718 feet.  When we got there the top was covered in clouds and we debated whether it was worth the almost $60 ticket price.  We then figured we were already there, so let’s do it.  We were so glad we did.  We took the giant cable car up to the top.  The ride only takes a few minutes.  There is only one support tower on the whole cable span!  Once we arrived at the top, the clouds were starting to break up and the weather was quite cold.  Almost everything was covered in snow and ice.  The actual summit, which is topped with a gold cross, is closed in the winter time.  It is only about a hundred feet or so from the viewing platform.  After taking some pictures, we walked over to the Austrian side of the summit.  There is also a cable car that comes up from the Austrian side, but that section was closed during our visit. 

Leaving the cable car station at the bottom of the Zugspitze

The only support tower on the whole cable car route

Looking down from the top of the Zugspitze.  Notice the one support tower way down below!

At the summit of the Zugspitze (the gold cross is the actual summit)

Cable car ascending to the summit

Some of the many building on the summit

After looking around at the restaurant, gift shop, and small museum, we took a smaller cable car down to the ski area.  By this time the sun had come out and the mountains were beautiful!  We took some more pictures, hiked around a little, then ate lunch in the sitting area.  Since we had a little time left, we rode the smaller cable car back to the summit for some more pictures with the sun fully out and shining.  We then went back down to the ski area and caught the cogwheel train back down to the base.  Since the train mainly goes through tunnels, it was not as scenic as the cable car ride.

Looking up at the summit

Taking the cogwheel train down

Next we hopped back in the car, loaded up on some more lunch and snack items and drove back over the Alps into Austria.  After passing through Innsbruck, we continued to head northeast through beautiful valleys filled with farms and churches and surrounded by high peaks.  Unfortunately, it got dark and we couldn’t see everything.  In the evening we arrived at our small inn just outside of Salzburg.  We walked to a local Italian restaurant for dinner and then came back to crash for the night. 

 

Sunday, November 20:

            This morning we found a local church in Salzburg and went to their sacrament service.  Thankfully they had headsets with English translation (our German isn’t that good).  After church we drove a few minutes to a small lake that was the backdrop for the Von Trapp’s house in “The Sound of Music”.  Across the lake was the house that was used for some of the exterior scenes in the movie.  We went for a short walk around the lake to stretch our legs.  Since it was a Sunday, we were able to drive right into the middle of Salzburg and find a free parking spot.

Church in Salzburg

Church in Salzburg

House and lake used in "The Sound of Music"

            We then walked into the main part of the old city and went to Mass at the Salzburg Cathedral. The Cathedral has five organs, but only one was being played today.  We listened to the choir and the organ, which sounded heavenly in the gigantic church.  After Mass, we wandered around the old cemetery and a few other old churches.  We then climbed up the hill in the middle of the old town to Festung Hohensalzburg, or the Fortress Hohensalzburg.  The fortress has been guarding Salzburg for over 900 years.  The fortress had several areas that you could tour with great displays. 

Old part of Salzburg

Cemetery

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Salzburg, Austria

            After the fortress, we descended the hill and walked around the old town.  Many of the Christmas markets just opened, so we spent some time wandering around and looking at the various stalls that were filled with gifts, decorations, and lots of food!  We also walked around the main shopping street, passing by the house where Mozart was born.  

Main shopping street

Mozart's Birthplace

Christmas market

Hohensalzburg fortress overlooking the town

        Since it was getting dark and we still had about two hours to drive, we hopped back in our car and started our drive toward Munich.  Luckily, once we crossed back over to Germany there were several sections of the Autobahn that had no speed limit.  Even though it was dark and rainy, I was able to get our little four cylinder Citroen rental car to 180 kph (112 mph).  The speedometer was almost topped out and the car started to shake, so we had to slow down.  It didn’t matter how fast you were driving, there were always other cars that would fly by you.  You definitely didn’t want to sit in the fast lane too long!  We made it to our hotel outside of Munich and took it easy for the night.

 

Lots of fun driving on the Autobahn (112 mph)

Monday, November 21:

            We started this morning by driving over to the city of Dachau and touring the infamous Dachau Concentration Camp from World War II.  After passing through the gate, you tour the main building, which is now a museum filled with very informative, but gloomy displays on the history of the concentration camp and what happened in Germany before, during, and after the war.  Becky and I spent over two hours looking at everything.  We then went outside and walked down the path that passed between all of the bunkhouses.  All of them are now gone, but two have been recreated to show you what life was like inside.  After that we visited the memorials that were erected by different religions to honor the victims that died during the Holocaust. 

Dachau Concentration Camp

Bunks for prisoners

Once you pass the memorials, you follow a small gravel road over to a few brick buildings in the middle of a thicket of trees.  These were where the gas chamber and ovens were located.  Going inside the gas chamber there was a definite ominous, evil feeling inside.  It was overwhelming to think what took place in this building.  During the whole tour of the camp, we had personal headsets that had different tracks you could play.  Many of them were eyewitness accounts by those that survived the camp and those that helped liberate it.  Their stories were chilling.  We ended up staying there longer than we thought we would, just because there was so much to learn. 

Gas chamber and oven building

Entrance to gas chamber

Gas chamber

The ovens

After Dachau, we drove to the outskirts of Munich, where we parked our car and took the train into the center of the city.  It was good thing that we parked the car, as there were a lot of pedestrians and bicycles. In fact, as we were pulling into the parking garage, I almost hit a lady on a bike pulling a trailer with her child!  We got off the train at Marienplatz, the main square in the middle of old town Munich.  Most of Munich’s Christmas markets were opening today, so there were a lot of people out in the streets. 

New Rathaus, Munich

Our first stop was at the Residenz, the royal palace of the Wittelbachs, the royal family of Bavaria.  Several parts of the palace were bombed during World War II, but most was reconstructed to its original glory.  The palace is huge and has 130 rooms.  Since we only had a few hours, we had to hurry in order to see some of the more spectacular rooms.  Many of the royal rooms were decorated in the rococo style and were over the top elaborate with gold and silk.  We barely made it through most of the palace just as they were closing the doors.

The Grotto inside the Residenz

One of the many rooms in the Residenz

Main banquet hall

Christmas market inside the Residenz

Throne Room

In the evening we wandered around downtown Munich.  We went over to the enormous Frauenkirche, the famous church with its two towers.  Around 5pm, we walked back over to Marienplatz for the lighting of the Christmas tree and the official opening of the Christmas markets.  The whole area was packed with people!  Next we walked over to the Hofbrauhaus, which is the world famous, gigantic beer hall.  Although we didn’t drink, it was a fun and lively atmosphere.  We then spent the rest of the evening wandering through the many separate Christmas markets, looking at the displays and buying some gifts and decorations.  We ate a lot of tasty food until we couldn’t eat any more!  After walking around 10 miles, we took the train back to our car and drove back to our hotel for the night.

 

Frauenkirche

Christmas market stall

Lighting the tree in Munich

Eating Spatzle

Christmas market in Munich

Becky having a "drink" at the Hofbrauhaus

Tuesday, November 22:

Since there were three grocery stores all within three blocks of our hotel, we spent some time this morning going to each store and loading up on several varieties of chocolate bars to take home.  Each store had sales on different varieties.  Once we had loaded the trunk of the car up with chocolate, we were back on the Autobahn, heading northeast toward Leipzig.  Our Airbnb apartment was right in the middle of Leipzig, which made driving a little difficult.  Thankfully our apartment had an underground parking lot (with duplex parking), so we could just park the car and wander the city on foot.  After dropping off our stuff, we walked to the city center.  There we met Emma, who was an exchange student from Moldova that lived with our friends a few years ago.  She is studying in Germany and came down to visit with us and explore the Christmas markets.  Together we walked over to the Marktplatz, where we watched the lighting of the Christmas tree, along with thousands of others (this was the opening night of the Leipzig Christmas markets).

Our parking spot at our place in Leipzig (we're on the bottom left)

Leipzig Christmas Market

Lighting the Tree at the Leipzig Christmas Market

Our friend Emma

We then spent the rest of the evening wandering through the various Christmas markets (and there are several in Leipzig) and doing some shopping and of course, taste testing lots of different treats!  We helped Emma find some Christmas decorations and then walked with her back to the main train station, where we said goodbye.  After that we wandered around the markets for another hour or so until we were beat and decided to head back to our apartment.

 

Delicious food!

More delicious food!

Shopping for ornaments

And even more delicious food!

Wednesday, November 23:

            Our plans changed a little when we got up this morning.  We were able to get in contact with Alev, an exchange student that Becky supervised that lives in Hanover.  She was able to take some time off of school, so we decided to stop in Hanover on our way to Hamburg.  We met up with Alev in Hanover and walked with her around parts of the downtown area.  Some of the Christmas markets were opening up, so we were able to shop at a few of the markets and of course, try some more food.  Hanover has some interesting buildings in the city center. 

Hanover

Becky and Alev

More food!

            

        After we said goodbye to Alev, we got back in the car and drove north to Brackel, a small village south of Hamburg where Franca, our exchange student that lived with us from 2021-22 lives with her family.  Once we arrived at their house, we met Franca and her mom and drove with them over to Luneburg, which is a neat, old town.  We spent the evening walking around Luneburg looking at some of the old buildings.  We walked up to the top of a hill overlooking the area for a beautiful sunset.  To end the evening, we went to a great restaurant that served delicious German food.  We had a great time talking with Franca and her mom.  Later that night we drove back to their house in Brackel.  We spent the rest of the time talking about how they converted their house from an old barn. 

Franca and her mom in Luneburg

Luneburg

 

More food!

Franca and her mom

Christmas market in Luneburg

Thursday, November 24:

            We got up early this morning to have breakfast with Franca and give her some gifts that we brought for her.  We talked with her dad for a little bit and met her younger brother.  Since everyone had to get to school and work, we said our goodbyes and hit the road.  Thankfully we were on the road early enough that we didn’t spend too much time sitting in traffic as we made our way north through Hamburg.  Just before the border, we stopped to buy a few more chocolate bars.  We then continued to head north into Denmark (with a brief border inspection by a border officer that was a little confused why we were driving a car with Denmark plates coming from Germany and that we were Americans).  After a few more hours, we arrived at Dragor, a small fishing village outside of Copenhagen.  We walked around a bit and looked at the unique houses.  We then drove over to our hotel by the Copenhagen airport.  We left the car at the hotel (Copenhagen is much easier to explore on foot or bike) and walked to the metro, where we went back down to the city center. 

House in Dragor

            In the evening all of the town was lit up with Christmas lights and decorations.  We first went back over to Nyhavn and wandered around the Christmas markets.  Since it was Thanksgiving, we decided to get Turkish donner kabobs for dinner (it wasn’t turkey, but they were delicious).  After that we went back over to Christainborg palace where we were able to take an elevator to the top of the tower.  From the top you get a great 360-degree view of Copenhagen.  But since it was night time and raining, we couldn’t see much.  

Nyhavn, Copenhagen

Thanksgiving dinner consisting of Donner Kabobs

View over Copenhagen

    We continued to wander the streets, walking past Tivoli Gardens and many other squares.  Toward the end of the evening, we took the metro over to go see the Copenhagen temple.  On our way back to the metro we were “greeted” by a not-so-friendly dog in a dog park.  The dog was barking at us aggressively and continued to nip at us.  We started to yell and swing at the dog, but then the owners yelled at us that we were “upsetting the dog” and to just stand still.  That was tough to do, since the dog continued to jump and bite at us.  Finally the couple somewhat got their dog under control.  We finished the night riding the metro and walking back to our hotel. 

Tivoli Gardens

Copenhagen Denmark Temple

As we packed our bags, we finally opened the suitcase we had in the trunk of our car.  The whole trip we continued to buy chocolate and put it in the bag.  Of course, each night we would pull out a bar or two to sample the goods.  Then we would buy some more chocolate the next day to replenish the stash.  We didn’t keep track of how much chocolate we had.  In the end, we had close to 70 chocolate bars in our suitcase!

 

Friday, November 25:

            When we dropped our rental car off at the airport, our flight was only going to be delayed by 20 minutes.  Then, when we arrived at the airport, the airline said the plane just landed, but had some mechanical issues, so our flight was now delayed 5 hours!  So, having no other choice, we got the opportunity to hang out in the Copenhagen airport for a long afternoon.  After almost 6 hours, the parts arrived, they fixed the plane, and off we went.  Due to this delay, we of course missed our connecting flight at JFK in New York.  Fortunately, Delta put us up in a hotel in Queens for the night (even though we only got about four hours of sleep), gave us some food vouchers, and got us on an early morning flight to Seattle.  Luckily, the flight to Seattle was uneventful. 

            When we arrived home, we tallied up the numbers.  During our two-week trip, we had walked over one hundred miles and driven over 3,000 km (about 1,800 miles)!  We were able to visit five exchange students and meet some of their families.  We had an amazing trip and can’t wait to get back to Germany.