Trip to Germany, Austria and Switzerland

[Exterous]

I've wanted to go to Bavaria and the surrounding alps for many years now so when cheap airfare showed up to Berlin I figured this would be a good time to string a trip together. So over 9 days we visited Berlin, Munich, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Oberammergau, Lucerne and the various mountains, palaces and castles in between. April in the mountains is always a risk and, unfortunately, this April was unseasonably cold and snowy. Even for mountain climates the weather was unusually unpredictable and capricious so this trip required more flexibility than our past ones. Still, overall we had a great time

Berlin Wall:

There is actually very little HDR in these. The clouds were that stark and angry and would be for most of the trip:

To scale chocolate models:

 

[Exterous]

While we were in Berlin the Konzerthaus was running a rare free tour. It was entirely in German but we both speak a little bit and were glad to have to opportunity to see the various halls.

Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church:

Checkpoint Charlie:

I wanted to get a shot of Checkpoint Charlie without the KFC in it so I went to the other side to take a picture and ended up with a McDonalds in the picture. My how things have changed...


Brandenburg Gate:

Konzerthaus:

 

[KMFJD]

Awesome pictures

 

[ponyo]

Beautiful! You saved me a trip!

 

[Cappuccino]

y u no sshwedan?

 

[Exterous]

After Berlin we headed to Munich on a Lufthansa flight with about 20 other people. With 120 seats on our A319 it was a pretty empty flight. The morning was pretty dreary and it was cold and rainy in the afternoon. Fortunately the Munich Residence is huge

Munich Residence:

Fortunately the rain held off a bit for the Glockenspiel show.

Forgot one from the Berlin Cathedral:

 

[Exterous]

Awesome pictures

Thanks!

Beautiful! You saved me a trip!

I don't think the later pictures will do justice to places like Hallstatt or Mt. Rigi. I'd go back to both because of how beautiful it was

y u no sshwedan?

Is that some terrible way to spell Sweden? If so we'll be there for a short period of time in June

 

[Exterous]

After a day in Munich we picked up a rental car and headed to Salzburg. While I had planned around Good Friday and Easter Sunday I didn't realize that Easter Monday was a thing so we found many places in Salzburg closed and were unable to get into some of the churches. The weather also refused to cooperate, periodically drenching us with rain so we didn't spend as much time here as we had originally planned.

Intricate design on the ceiling of the cathedral:

View from Salzburg Castle:

Oh so brief break in the rain at Mirabel Gardens:

After Salzburg we headed to one of my favorite stops of the trip: Hallstatt. Its a small town situated in a small strip between a mountain and a lake in an absolutely gorgeous setting. And when we got there it was absolutely overrun with tourists and this was shoulder season. I can only imagine how bad it is in the summer. I still recommend going - but stay the night like we did. The tourists seem to come in around noon and leave around 5pm

When we got there the weather was relatively nice but a storm moved in with cold gusty winds and torrential downpours of rain. No evening blue hour photos for us

Hallstatt:

View from hotel room and balcony:

We decided to try for nice sunrise shots and had better luck in the morning:

Thinking we were finally in store for some good weather we decided to pay for a boat ride to the other side of the lake for some nice pictures. About 2 minutes after the boat left the dock a snow storm moved in complete with low clouds and fog. The trip ended being a waste.

April snow showers:

The snow, fog and rain kept sweeping in and out of Hallstatt for much of the day although we did sneak some shots in during the brief moments of nicer weather

 

[Exterous]

With the bad weather we debated not going up the mountain but decided if we didn't do it and the weather ended up staying nice we would regret it. Fortunately the weather on our side of the lake stayed nice for our mountain visit

Salt mine near top of mountain:

With some extra time on our hands we headed back to Germany to try and make the last tour of the day for Herrenchiemsee. On our way into Austria we had noticed a huge wait to get from Austria to Germany. It looked like the Germans were doing boarder checks. We checked Google Maps and, sure enough, there was a 55min wait at where Highway A1\8 crossed the boarder. We took the non-highway route into Germany and joined 8 right after the boarder check. The boarder check seems odd since you can easily avoid it.

Anyway - the snow picked up in the afternoon and we ended up being the only people on the boat to the island Herrenchiemsee is on. We were also the only tourists who showed up for the tour so we have a private tour of the palace. Sadly Bavaria does not allow pictures inside of the Palaces they own.

After that we continued driving into the snow storm on our way to Oberammergau. As it got dark we noticed some of the hotels and restaurants had strings of lights on the roofs. We felt like we were in a time warp to December.

In the morning we cleared off our car and headed to Linderhof Palace. The weather was brutal when we got there with our footprints disappearing within minutes although it did clear up some by the time we were leaving

After that it was a white knuckle drive to Neuschwanstein Castle. The roads had gotten much worse during our visit at Linderhof Palace. After a few minutes on the mountain road I was ready to turn around and take the longer but much more traveled route but we couldn't find anywhere to turn around. Instead I was slipping my way on a windy unplowed road squeezed between a mountain and a lake with no guard rail for the better part of an hour with no cell service, minimal vehicle traffic and next to no houses or buildings. This now ranks as #3 on my all time 'Worst drives' list

Sadly they had some of the mountain trails closed due to the weather so we missed the opportunity to get some of the more iconic shots of these two castles.

After our visit there we left snowy Southern Bavaria behind for clearer skies back in Munich although we were farther behind where we thought we would be so several places we had hoped to visit were closed by the time we reached the city

 

[Mayne]

pretty fucking awesome pictures.

 

[ponyo]

pretty fucking awesome pictures.

Yeah, his pictures are amazing. Makes me want to hop on the next plane and visit.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Exterous]

After some more time in Munich we boarded a train to Zurich and then Lucerne. In contrast to everywhere else the weather in Lucerne was perfect. We headed up to Mt. Rigi the first day and had amazing views of the surrounding lanscape. They had way more snow than they normally do this time of year so we didn't get to hike around as much as we had hoped. Still we spent the better part of the day on the mountain - more than enough time for a nice picnic lunch and for my face to get sunburned. The following day we spent some time on the lake itself.

The only downside was the cost of things in Lucerne. Switzerland is generally pretty expensive and Lucerne was expensive even by Swiss standards. So we figured we'd enjoy the scenery and did several picnic type lunches with excellent food from the local grocery stores.

After that we headed home. Pretty darn good trip considering the weather.

 

[Exterous]

pretty fucking awesome pictures.

Thanks!

Yeah, his pictures are amazing. Makes me want to hop on the next plane and visit.

Sadly they still don't do most of our stops justice. We went to some pretty beautiful places

Beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks and you're welcome

 

[Captante]

Thanks!



Sadly they still don't do most of our stops justice. We went to some pretty beautiful places



Thanks and you're welcome

Wow .... a "happy" necro since I apparently missed these the first time around!

Nice pics!

 

[dasherHampton]

I adore Germany but Austria is probably my favorite country in the world.

Hallstadt is pretty fricking incredible. Did you get a chance to hit Gmunden while you were in the area? I love that town as well.

Since you didn't mention it I'm assuming you didn't hit Graz while on your trip. I highly recommend it. I've thought about retiring there eventually.

The "Schossberg" is amazing.

Schlossberg hill Graz | Sightseeing in Graz

The Schlossberg hill with the Clock Tower belongs to the top 10 sights in Graz - the second largest city in Austria.

www.graztourismus.at

 

[Exterous]

Do you often travel to different countries? For example, I recently took a train to Germany, I really liked it!

We have been known to travel to different countries from time to time.

Wow .... a "happy" necro since I apparently missed these the first time around!

Nice pics!

Thanks!

I adore Germany but Austria is probably my favorite country in the world.

Hallstadt is pretty fricking incredible. Did you get a chance to hit Gmunden while you were in the area? I love that town as well.

Since you didn't mention it I'm assuming you didn't hit Graz while on your trip. I highly recommend it. I've thought about retiring there eventually.

The "Schossberg" is amazing.

Schlossberg hill Graz | Sightseeing in Graz

The Schlossberg hill with the Clock Tower belongs to the top 10 sights in Graz - the second largest city in Austria.

www.graztourismus.at

We didn't have a ton of time in Austria this trip but I've long used it as a place where I'd want to spend several months. Not only is the country itself beautiful but its got great rail connections and a decent airport if we want to get to some of the neighboring countries