Another Erasmus Excursion

Spaβ und nass.

Those words pretty much sum up the weekend I spent in Chiemsee and Salzburg - fun and wet. It was a grand old time, but I haven't been that wet for such an extended period of time since... well probably since the last canoe trip I went on!

The bus came by bright and early on Friday morning and off we headed to Chiemsee. It was a long 5 hour bus ride (made much longer by the guy sitting next to me who thought it would be a fantastic idea to sit on half of my seat!) but the scenery more than made up for it. The further south we went the more mountains we saw, and the further into Bavaria we went. And Bavaria means a few things: flowers draping off the balconies, people wearing Dirndls and Lederhosen as their everyday clothing, and a very sing-songy dialect that's super hard to understand. By the time we arrived at our Gasthof (a little custy hotel) we were surrounded by mountains - which looked even cooler in the rain because there were all these low-hanging clouds. It reminded me of the rainforest actually. I kept expecting to hear Tarzan call :)

This is the Gasthof we stayed in for the weekend. My room is on the right-hand side of the top balcony.

We had the most beautiful view over Chiemsee. Much better than the random flatscreen tv we had in the room...
Looking out over the lake you can see land on the left - that's Fraueninsel. We didn't end up going there because it was pouring rain and all the sights are outside. But we did go to Herrenchiemsee to check out one of King Ludwig II's castles. It's modelled after Versailles, but never got completed. It's a beautiful castle - although you've got to shake your head at some of the things inside. The tapestries surrounding Ludwig's bed took 20 women 7 years to finish sewing!

It was quite nice to get inside - as you can see in the picture below it was raining. Now I'm sure we all look quite happy (you know, smiling for the picture and all) but that's not entirely true. You see, I decided that if it was going to rain all weekend, it was going to be humid. Wrong! But I left my jacket back in Bamberg. So I was cold. And my shoes proceeded to dye my feet purple for the whole weekend. But even when you're wet, cold, and have purple feet you can't help but enjoy yourself in a castle.

Here everyone's much happier - we're on the heated boat ride back to our hotel where dry clothes and hot showers await! Yipee!

Day 2 took place in Austria - in the wonderful city of Salzburg. Even on another rainy, gloomy day it was a beautiful city. We did a city walking tour and got to see most of the famous sites. Unfortunately it was a little hard to hear the tour guide - but that's what happens when you have 50 people with umbrellas trying to crowd around one person!

One of the stops on the tour is the Salzburg Cathedral. It's beautiful inside, but our group got a pleasant surprise when a choir walked up to the front and started to sing. I have never heard anything like it. The acoustics were phenomenal.

The picture below is of Mirabellgarten. And above in the distance you can faintly see the fortress that sits up on the hill. A lot of the movie "The Sound of Music" was filmed in Salzburg - I think some of it in the garden here as well.

Salzburg is also famous for being the city in which Mozart was born. We passed by Mozarts Geburtshaus (the house Mozart was born in), ate a Mozart pretzel (wasn't really all that good), and learned a little about the famous Mozart candies. Turns out the red and gold Mozart candies are not the originals. There is a blue and silver candy that is the original, but the red and gold brand had better marketing, and became the world-famous brand. You learn something new every day.

This is the smallest house in Salzburg. Looks rather squishy...

We wandered through the streets in the old city - it's quite dangerous when all the umbrella's are up!

Day 3 took us over to Berchtesgaden. First stop: the Salt Mines. Boy had it changed since the last time I was there 10 years ago. The uniforms have improved greatly!

We travelled some 650 meters into the hill and heard all about how they mine the salt. Interesting, but the best part is the slides you use to get to the lower levels!

After that, it was over to Konigsee for the rest of the afternoon. It actually stopped raining for most of the afternoon! Konigsee is a beautiful lake that lies between a bunch of mountain. So you sit on the lake and feel very small. It's quite the feeling.

We didn't take the actual boat tour, but we did rent rowboats. It sure felt great to get out on the water. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I for one love wearing flourescent orange. It just sets off the colour of my eyes so nicely...

Yep, you can see our PFD's glowing in the distance.

We only had an hour on the water, which wasn't such a bad thing. When we turned around to come home, there were some heavy rainclouds waiting for us. Although that certainly doesn't hamper the quaintness of the village.

We stopped for a brief cup of coffee - it was cold on the lake and I couldn't feel my hands anymore! Before it was once again time to hop on the bus and head home. It was perfect timing actually, it poured most of the way home.

I do love the rain - and dancing in it is super fun - but it sure was nice to crawl into a warm dry bed at the end of the trip.