Yode-le-hi-hoooo, Bavarian Day 1&2

Welcome to The Alps

On Thursday Morning, our group departed around 7Am to set out for the Bavarian Alps and a day in Saltzburg Austria. We all were excited as we departed, because first, it's a vacation, but second, it was going to be our first experience on the Autobahn. Unfortunately, our bus couldn't quite drive at the anticipated Autobahn speeds we were all hoping for...German bus rules are quite different from American ones. We had to make 25 minutes stops every 2 hours, which definitely makes the trip a little longer...we Finally arrived 9 hours later, safe and sound to our BEAUTIFUL Hotel in the Bavarian Alps.

This is our Hotel on the side of a Mountain
We had an awesome playground at one of bus stops!

On the First everning in the town of Schönau where we were staying, We headed off to explore the sites. Right down the mountain from our Hotel is the lake called Königssee or King's lake. Although it was quite warm outside, we all went to put our fet in the lake, and realized the water was not exactly the same! It was probably between 45-50 degrees! The girls mostly just ventured standing in the water, but a few of the brave boys decided to take the plundge! Brave, or just Crazy.

The girls in the Cold water

The boys

Roomates all Braving the Cold water!

For dinner the first night, I decided to brave the unknown and try something new and unknown. I ended up with 2 Liver dumplings, Saurkraut and Mashed Potatoes. It was definitely a little different, and took a little getting used to, but I am very glad I tried it out!

Liver, and Saurkraut, and 'taters OH MY!

It's the little things in life that can make or break a day, but after dinner Miriam, Sylvia, Lindsay and I took a walk. We encountered a McDonalds along the way, and as it was cooling off for the evening, I wanted to get some hott tea. Well, to Sylvia's absolutly delight, she ordered Water at McDonalds and they actually gave her still, non-sparkling water. Here at almost any restaurant or gas station, the only water to be found is either mineral water or sparkling mineral water. They do not serve tap water.

Day ones was a great adventure, but we were all exhausted after exploration and a long day of travel

Day 2 Adventure Time

Our first full Day in Bavaria! I began the day with a Wonderful breakfast of amazing cofffe, and bread with Nutella ( only justifiable on vacation).We then headed out to took to Hitler's Bergrestaurant Kehlsteinhaus, or commonly known as the Eagle's nest. A present from Hitler's captains and other officials, this location became a retreat for Hitler to escape the city, while also being able to gaze upon both Germany and his homeland Austria. It was beautiful up atop a Bavarian Mountain. It was hard for me to imagine all the war-torn ideas that occurred there years ago while in such a beautiful location. The view from the Nest was impeccable, The picture at the top is the view to the German side of the mountain.


Later in the day, thr group decided to take a tour of the Lake Konigssee. We toured around on a beautiful boat down the 8 KM long lake. It took about 48 minutes to get from end to end.


My favorite part of the day was halfway through the boat tour. At one end of the lake, you can get out of the boat and hike about 15 minutes to another small lake that is considered part of Konigssee. We all stepped off the boat and it began pouring rain. Of course it was hott and sunny when we left the other part of the lake so none of us had brought any rain gear. We hiked in pouring rain, but arriving on the other side, and trekking through the rain with friends, while seeing the beauty of creation around us actually brough about a moment of pure Joy. It was absolutly beautiful that day, the rain and all!

The backlake in the Rain

The ladies all soaked at the backmost lake
Dripping wet

We finally made it back to the city, and decided to walk around a bit so we would dry off before dinner. We did some shopping ( no mom, I haven't gotten your souvenir yet, but it's coming!) for a while. Then, Miriam, Sylvia and I split off from the group to have a very Authentic Turkish Kebap stand for dinner. I ordered a Kebap with Kase (cheese), sylvia got a Durum, which looks like a giant Burrito, and Miriam had something I don't remember how to prounounce, but looked like a pastry crust filled with meat and cheese. Yum! This was my alltime favorite Kebap dinner in Germany.

We went out to explore the city that night, and to our astonishment, one restaurant was playing good 'ole American country. And not just any country, but Johnny Cash nontheless. We stopped to enjoy the music for a while, basking in the brief return to America, but we welcomed with open arms the return to yodeling society. German traditional culture is a very rich and wonderful environment to live in and learn about.

I'll leave you with this, there was definitely no shortage of Lederhosen on our vacation to Bavarian.

I thoroughly enjoyed the traditional German Culture!

Look for more pictures at the top of the blog in the Picasa Web Albums. In case you didn't get enough, here are all the pictures from our endeavors! Enjoy

Love you and miss you,
Jenny