4th stop: salzburg (austria)

We got up our last morning in Fussen, ready to hit the road and get to Salzburg. But...a moment of panic hit me as I looked out the window and saw this: lots and lots of snow falling. We tried not to worry too much and instead focused on our decadent and very large breakfast instead. :) And then, we were on our way. Luckily our rental car had winter tires (we never thought we'd need them), so the drive was safe - it was snowy and white the entire way to Salzburg. We got a bit of a late start, but that's the beauty of it being just us two, with no schedule.

The morning we left Fussen...our car is down in that parking lot

The snowy drive to Salzburg

The first day in Salzburg was a bit snowy and wet, so I found myself grumbling as we explored the city. I was damp, cold, and not happy about it! It was a nice reality check when we met an older American couple who reminded us to never let weather ruin our plans :) Those words (and some yummy food) somehow warmed me up a bit. The rest of the day we did some shopping and took in the sights. Salzburg is SUCH AN AWESOME CITY!! And for those of you who don't know, this is where the Sound of Music was filmed (we didn't take the tour though).

Walking around Salzburg - this river pretty much separates the old town from the new

The second day in Salzburg was spectacular. What a cool city. The sun was shining and we decided to take the funicular train up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The funicular is basically a train that goes straight up the side of the hill - yes, a bit scary. Up at the fortress we were able to see all of Salzburg, the mountains, and the river running through it. This crazy structure up on the top of a hill was used for protection from enemies, and even includes a torture chamber. The tour was very interesting!

You can see the Fortress up on the hill

View from the Fortress

We were lucky to have another spectacular day - view from the Fortress

Up in the tower

Another highlight of Salzburg was Mozart's house and museum. I was surprised to really enjoy this. The house displayed some of his original music, as well as the pianos he played on. He was such a genius! We also visited St. Peter's cemetery and catacombs, grabbed bratwurts from a street cart, walked through the gardens at Mirabella Palace, ate roasted chesnuts, and went to a typical Austrian pub for dinner (Jeff's request, definitely not mine).

Mozart's house and museum

Yummy pretzels - these are everywhere

The catacombs and cemetery at St. Peter's - the catacombs were built inside that rock wall above

It was so interesting to look at the dates on the headstones!

Old Salzburg

The gardens at Mirabella Palace

Enjoying some yummy beer after a lot of walking and a long day!

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Interesting observations about Austria...
*Families rent gravesites for their lost ones, rather than owning them like here in the US. Every ten years, a bill is sent to whoever is responsible, and if the bill is not paid, the remains are dug up and chucked.
*Smoking is allowed in all restaurants, etc. Haven't seen that in a long time!
*Not sure if this is typical, but the (skinny) people sitting next to us at the restaurant each ordered an apple strudel (it was huge), finished them and then ordered two more!
*Food is SO fattening. I felt like fat was stuck in my lungs or something after that one Austrian dinner Jeff made me eat. And I got the fish!
*Wein-spritzers are yummy. These are probably everywhere but the first place I tried one was at a food cart in Salzburg. It's wine mixed with bubbly water and is oh-so-refreshing!

3rd stop: fussen (germany)

After spending a few days amongst the breathtaking sights of Switzerland, I was feeling bittersweet about heading on to Germany and Austria. However, I was excited to explore a new country where a lot of my family is from or has lived.

Side note regarding our drive into Germany. At one point we did not know which country we were driving in - Germany, Austria, or Switzerland! Everything is so close to each other. No signs were posted. Finally we realized we had arrived in Germany because we merged on to the Autobahn, notorious for its insane driving...which I will definitely get to later.

Bavaria is a large region in southwest Germany (marked with fabulous castles, beautiful scenery, bratwurst, and great beer in my opinion). The state of Bavaria was formerly ruled by the Royal Family; the most common ruler you may have heard of is crazy King Ludwig. Jeff and I chose to stay in a cute little town called Fussen for a few days, because of its location near all of King Ludwig's castles. Fussen has a beautiful riverfront area, as well as cobblestone streets and old buildings. We loved strolling around here; the weather was crisp and very, very chilly.

Driving through Bavaria

"Downtown" Fussen, a couple blocks from our hotel

The riverfront in Fussen

Dinner at Pizzeria Il Pescatore: BEST Italian ever. We found this one on Tripadvisor,
it was the #1 pick. Ahh, still dreaming about it.

That first day we also visited Hohenschwangau castle, King Ludwig's boyhood home. This castle was used by the Royal Family as a hunting getaway. We took a 30-minute tour which was fascinating, as I hadn't been in a castle before. I absolutely loved the fall colors from up here!

Photo of Hohenschwangau taken from above (when we visited Neuschwanstein castle)

At Hohenschwangau castle, with neighboring Neuschwanstein castle in the distance

Walking up to Hohenschwangau castle

View from Hohenschwangau castle

The second day we visited two more of King Ludwig's castles: Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. Neuschwanstein was built for King Ludwig just "because he could" I suppose you would say. He only spent a total of around 150 days here - can you believe that? No expense was spared; this was clear in the ornate details inside (no pictures allowed). While touring these castles, I kept thinking of what a cold, dark, un-cozy place these castles would be to live in, especially alone! No wonder he was crazy.

Arriving at Neuschwanstein

The famous Disneyland castle is an exact replica of this one

Exquisite fall colors!

Mary's Bridge - Jeff walked out on it despite the signs "Beware: Danger of Death"...this bridge was where King Ludwig would come to admire the construction of his new castle

Linderhof Palace is the smallest of the three. It felt like a large house to me, and much cozier (if that's possible) than the others. King Ludwig lived here for the last eight years of his life, so it was home to him. It was so crazy to think of him traveling back and forth between his castles though - I guess it would take all day, because they went by horse and carriage and the roads were horrible. It gets SO cold in Bavaria; what a miserable ride it must've been. This palace has breathtakingly beautiful gardens but all of the statues were covered for winter and the grounds were dusted with snow.

Linderhof Palace and its gardens

Standing in front of one of the many ornate gates (freezing - it was snowing outside)

Our last stop was at the Ettal Monastery. Yet another beautiful and very old church. The monks who live here are not just sitting around studying spiritual things, but in fact are very busy. Apparently it's common for monks in the area to brew their own beer and liqueurs. How cool! Of course we had to try some, so we stopped into a local restaurant across the street from the monastery to give the Ettal beer a taste. Yummy!

We LOVED our Bavarian style hotel in Fussen - the Hotel Kurcafe. Jeff actually found this one after a bit of research, and it was a gem. Right in the cute little city square, and only about 5 minutes from all of the castles. Tons of fab restaurants and bars around too. Breakfast here was amazing!! Unlike most hotel breakfasts that are included with your room, the Hotel Kurcafe's was over-the-top. Bacon, eggs, belgian waffles, pastries, mimosas, a chocolate fountain, fresh fruit, crepes with all the toppings, fruit juices, croissants...we were stuffed both days, and if ever in Fussen again, we will be back!!

2nd stop: switzerland

One word: breathtaking. Switzerland is hands down the most beautiful place that I have ever visited (2nd being the Cinqueterre in Italy, 3rd: Costa Rica, 4th: Venice :). I hope all of you can go there someday if you haven't already. This part of our trip was a nice change from the bustle of a big city - all of the towns we visited were teeny tiny. I was in awe of the different ways people live.

We took a quick flight in from Amsterdam and picked up our rental car in Basel, Switzerland. We had previously bought a GPS with European maps, which made the whole road trip process incredibly slick. No squabbles over directions, no banging our heads against the steering wheel in frustration (I mean, that wouldn't happen in our car anyway but...:)

Our first night was spent in Lauterbrunnen Valley. Here is a shot from our hotel room at the Hotel Staubbach. We were lovin' life as we laid in bed and looked out at this view. Incredible! In the parking lot below was a cow beauty contest - a sight every person has to see. All of the cows in Switzerland wear HUGE bells around their necks, so the farmers can find them in the hilltops. Apparently on this particular day they were having the "Miss Lauterbrunnen" contest, where the best cow is chosen and then all of the cows are paraded through the streets - also something we saw often in Switzerland, as cows have to be exercised regularly.

View from our hotel room

A highlight of this town was our cheese fondue dinner. Switzerland is known for their great cheeses! As you can see, Jeff takes his cheese very seriously.

The weather was insanely cold - this town was our first glimpse at "the winter that came a month early" as the locals informed us (lucky us). It didn't stop us though - the first day we took a lift (straight) up to Mannlichen, which runs as a ski area in the winter on one side, but is literally on the edge of a cliff above Lauterbrunnen Valley. The ride was a bit nervewrecking, but I decided to just get used to it - it would be the first of many! I was nearly frostbitten by the time the photography session was over, so we went into the restaurant for some warm drinks (there are restaurants EVERYwhere, literally)! Here are some pics of the view at Mannlichen, and the gondola ride up.

It was a steep slope to say the least!

Here we are pretending we aren't freezing our rear ends off

The second day we parked our car, and took our luggage with us up a different gondola to stay in the teeny tiny town of Murren (only accessible by gondola), to stay for two nights. This was our favorite portion of the whole trip. Such a quaint and gorgeous place. We rented a little chalet that was brand new, warm and cozy, and with a great view (Hotel Blumental, ask for the chalet).

The gondola ride up to Murren

Our time in Murren included several hikes, wonderfully sunny (yet cold) weather, relaxing on our chalet balcony, drinking wine and tasting different Swiss beers, exploring the town, and eating a LOT of cheese. Murren was very low-key, due to the fact that it's off-season (between summer and ski season). We ate dinner both nights at a great little restaurant - thankfully we loved it, because it was the only place open in town (cheese fondue round #2).

The town of Murren - to the right is a steep drop-off

View from our chalet

One of our hikes, from Murren to Grutschalp - spectacular the entire way

Another hike, down to the even tinier town of Gimmewald (200 people). Cows everywhere!

Last hike: up to Allmendhubel, steep all the way up

The highlight of our trip was definitely the visit to the Schilthorn restaurant and viewpoint. Remember the picture I posted before our trip of the view in the Swiss alps? That was it. James Bond was filmed here, and it's one of the highest peaks in Europe. We took several gondolas/lifts to get there, but once we arrived the view was out of this world. Of course we made the most of our spendy little ticket up there and ate lunch and had beers here too, in the rotating restaurant!

On our way up to the Schilthorn - you can see it in the distance on the peak

Enjoying the sunshine!

The spectacular viewpoint, with 360 degree views of the snowy Alps

In Switzerland, this is a typical gorgeous setting you will drive by


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Observations I had about Switzerland...

*The locals are often people who come intending to stay a summer, and never leave. It's that great.
*Many new chalets mixed in with the old - like circa 1353!
*Most people have huge gardens and cows roam freely. At certain times of the year the farmers move their cows from lower to higher altitudes. We could always hear the cows because of the giant bells on their necks.
*Manure smells are common...
*The local kids ride gondolas to school!
*We ordered beer at the local Murren restaurant - Jeff asked the owner what kinds they had on tap - the owner nonchalantly answered with a smile, "the kind over there in the barrel!" It's quite a bit simpler, but the beer is GOOD.
*Cheese fondue is to die for.
*Cleanest bathrooms I've seen in Europe.
*Which brings me to...the TP feels like sandpaper, wherever you go. My Charmin Ultra Ultra-loving friend W would absolutely hate it.
*Most expensive place I've ever been. A Big Mac was $12 SF (=$12 US), and it was around $110 to fill up our small car with gas (but that's just Europe's gas prices I suppose). I heart America.
*The language is Swiss-German.
*We could not read any road signs! EVER!
*All of the countries are so close to each other. At one point on our road trip, we weren't sure which country we were in - Austria, Germany, or Switzerland! So funny.

1st stop: amsterdam

As I say about many European cities...Amsterdam is a truly unique and fabulous city. Similar to Venice, Amsterdam is filled with canals that run between stylishly old buildings, row houses, and market squares (typical age of buildings is 16th century!). The city is very environmentally friendly, much like Portland, and most people ride bikes to get around - there are thousands, everywhere. People come from all over the world to check out the architecture here. There is a very hip scene going on in this city, with great little boutiques and decadent restaurants. We felt right at home!

Our first four days were spent here, exploring the city. We visited the house where Anne Frank and her family hid during World War II, went on several boat tours on the canals, visited the Van Gogh museum, walked a gazillion miles, gawked at the Red Light District (yes, the girls are posed behind glass windows, literally at eye level with street walkers, wearing almost nothing - it's shocking to say the least), explored Vondel park, shopped, and had some of the best food of our entire trip. Amsterdam is definitely a city I will return to - I LOVED almost everything about it (besides the prostitution, and they get a lot of rain).

A lovely little canal

I like my savory breakfasts...so, it was a sacrifice to go with Jeff to the Dutch pancake house :)

On one of the main canals

Typical row houses you will see in Amsterdam, all hundreds of years old

This bar we had to stop into for an afternoon beer - isn't it so cute? Been around since 1695!

There are bikes EVERYWHERE in Amsterdam - this is the primary method of transportation

Our second night, we had the most fabulous 3-course dinner of our trip at Seasons restaurant. Charming, friendly, and designed for gourmet foodies is how I would describe it! A must-visit if in Amsterdam.

4 countries, 16 days

Wow, it feels like we've been gone forever.

Jeff and I just returned from a long jaunt to Europe. So much has happened in the past few weeks! In the next few posts I will attempt to catapult you to the places we explored - the world is a fascinating place and I think it's such a joy to hear and share experiences with other travelers.

So off we go...Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria (with a stopover in Iceland)...all in a nutshell!

travel alert? don't worry. it may be worse here.

What a fortunate coincidence that there is all of this hub-bub about terrorism in Europe, less than two weeks before Jeff and I leave for our trip. FAN-TASTIC. When my dad sent me an article talking about the travel alerts, of course my immediate reaction was "whyyyy nowww?!" My fingers began flying across Jeff's iphone, googling for more information. (For those of you who haven't heard, a travel alert is not the same as a travel warning - govenment officials have said "We are not, repeat not, advising Americans not to go to Europe.")

Thankfully, I stumbled upon this article in the midst of my research. You have to appreciate such a perspective. Yes, we should be realistic also - terrorism is a threat in Europe, and even more so in the U.S. - BUT, if we are going to start worrying about death threats, we should broaden our worries to other departments besides terrorism. And...maybe this is ignorant of me to say, but it seems like all of this media buzz would deter terrorists to an area less "alerted" perhaps?...

I would rather continue on with my travel explorations as long as the government is saying it's safe to do so (which they are - even government officials who declared this warning are still traveling internationally, only telling people to become more aware). Just thought you might enjoy this, from my good buddy Rick Steeves. :)

Click here for the article.