Each time we move it takes us about 45 minutes to settle in to our new dwelling. (This time our location was unique…small resort town with cows in neighbor’s front yards.)   Our routine usually involves unpacking our clothes, checking out the location and contents of the kitchen (which usually dictates what sorts of meals we cook), hook up our Chromecast, figure out the internet and log our phones, tablet and computer onto the wifi. We’ve pretty much got it down to a science.

Because we had a glitch with our phone (which we only use for a rare phone call and text messages) I had difficulty connecting with our landlord in Prien and we decided to go to the grocery store while we waited to get into our apartment. Grocery shopping in a foreign country can be an adventure. Using pictures on packaging as context clues and guessing at some words usually gets the job done, but we’ve had some interesting confusions from time-to-time. For instance figuring out bacon from prosciutto is hard. Another time I bought croissants for our egg salad sandwiches only to find out when I sliced them open the day after I purchased them that they had ham inside. Since they hadn’t been refrigerated, out they went! Better safe than sorry.

On our first full day in Prien we headed to the train station for information. Generally every tourist information place we’ve gone has someone who speaks fluent English. The train station was no exception. The clerk was very helpful showing us the schedule and which trains we wanted and where to get on and off. Munich is an easy destination from here. The train is about a 5 minute drive from our apartment and in one hour we are in the center of Munich. For 30€ the ticket is good for the two of us on all Bavarian transportation for 24 hours. Salzburg, on the other hand, is a different story. It’s the Bavarian terminus the other direction but the clerk told us we didn’t want to take it. I asked if we were better off to drive. No, she said, we didn’t want to drive. I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about. Everything I had read said that it was an easy 45 minute train trip from Prien to Salzburg. Austria is part of the Schengen agreement, meaning borders are not controlled. I just didn’t get it. Then it struck me! Because of the huge emigration movement from Syria, people are trying to get to Germany because of their generosity in helping the refugees.  Thousands and thousands of refugees are streaming into Germany from Salzburg on a daily basis, packing trains and train stations. Cars and busses also transport thousands daily. Because of the overwhelming number of people coming for a better life, the Germans temporarily closed the border allowing only EU residents entry (putting into question the validity of the Schengen agreement). The result is an amazingly congested, slow moving crossing from Austria into Germany. Our trip to Salzburg will have to wait until another time!

We could still go to Berchtesgaden National Park in the most southeastern part of Bavaria, just across the border from Salzburg. We wanted to drive the Deutsche Alpenstrasse  and this seemed a good place to start. The German Alpine Road winds through lovely Bavarian villages, with spectacular views of the Chiemgau Alps around one curve, followed by breathtaking views of lakes, and meadows around the next.   I was mesmerized as I watched the cows on the mountainsides and listened to the tinkling of their bells!  I remember my mother telling how when she purchased a cow bell when she was in Bavaria in the early 1970’s, the gentleman selling it asked how big her cow was! Now that made sense!

Berchtesgaden is a National Park but also made infamous by Adolf Hitler.  “The Eagle’s Nest,” (so named by the American Military) was Hitler’s diplomatic house. It was presented to him by the National Socialist Party (NS) as a gift to commemorate his 50^th birthday. The brass shafted elevator’s original purpose was to transport Hitler to his mountain-top residence in comfort (although he rarely stayed there). After reading the information pamphlet, I really didn’t want to see it. I think it was the phrase, “the Eagle’s Nest is a unique historical building and monument to the NS period” that made realize I didn’t need to tour it. I could see it high atop the mountain from where I stood and that was enough. Bob agreed!

Instead we took an electric boat on Lake Konigssee (the King’s Lake) to St. Bartholoma Island. The focus of this island is the chapel of St. Bartholoma which dates to the 17^th century. Bavarian Kings have used it as their hunting castle. And until the beginning of the 19^th century it was the summerseat for the prince abbots of Berchtesgaden. As pretty as the island is, it was the boat trip that took our breath away. It’s about a 30 minute ride that’s steeped with history. In one place a small red cross marks the memorial of a boating accident in 1688.  The boat then passes Watzmann Mountain which represents King Watzmann, the second highest peak Queen Watzmann and the peaks in between represent their children. Legend has it that because the king was very cruel God turned the whole family to stone.  About a third of the way to the island we came to a Cliffside called Echowand, famous as the name suggests, for the echo of Konigssee. Here the boat captain stopped the boat, switched places with another driver, and the captain proceeded to the side of the enclosed boat, opened the windows and stepped up to the narrow edge of the boat and began to play his flugelhorn. If you listen closely you can hear the echo!  It’s said that in earlier times boat captains would shoot off hand canons and the shot would repeat 7 times! Heading back to Prien along the German Alpine Road we realized the views were equally beautiful, but very different, from our drive east that morning.  

Later in the week, we headed to Munich for a day at the Oktoberfest! The train was packed…at 10 o’clock in the morning. People in traditional dress, more than a few already enjoying a brew. The festival dates back to the marriage of King Ludwig to Princess Therese October 12, 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to the celebration which was held in the fields in front of the city gates. The name of the field Theresien means Theresa’s meadow. Later it was shortened to Wiesn, now synonymous with Oktoberfest.   When we got off the train, we saw signs along the street indicating the way to Wiesn, but signage wasn’t needed, we just followed the crowd to the giant party.  Admission is free. More than 7,700,000 litres of beer are consumed during the 16 day festival. The festival brings in more than a billion euros to the city during this period!  There are 14 beer tents, each holding thousands of people.  We had read that spots would be reserved from 3 pm on but before that people generally find some place to sit. We headed to the Hoffbrau tent and found a place to sit down and enjoy a beer.  In spite of the crowds, the Germans have dealt with this giant party in their usual efficient way. A waitress was with us within a few minutes. At first we thought the prices were steep, but as we thought more about it we figured  a one litre beer cost 10.30€…that’s probably not any more expensive than a beer at a professional sporting event in the States. Oktoberfest is fun! There are oompah bands everywhere, people chugging beers to the cheers of the people around them.   There are  amusement rides, food stands, beer tents, kiosks selling all sorts of souvenirs. And people from all over the world mob the midway!

The days fly by quickly and we still have much to see in the area including Neuschwanstein Castle and historic Munich! As Rick Steve’s would say, we just have to “Keep on traveling!”

In a previous post I mentioned that Bob and I try to plan our locations in fairly close proximity to one another in an attempt to hold down transportation costs. When we were planning our current trek, Paris was a definite must for us and we built our other destinations around it. Because it is cheaper to lease a car in Paris and return it there, the City of Lights became our city of arrival and departure. As we were researching where we wanted to live and deciding what our “must sees” were, we realized Paris was within a couple days’ drive of Oktoberfest! This was a definite “Gotta Do” on my list! And Bob was accommodating! Looking through listings on Airbnb I came upon the little town (about 10,000) of Prien am Chiemsee located southeast of Munich near the Austrian border. Train service was available from the town into both Munich and Salzburg. (Figured we had to go check out Mozart’s Salzburg if we were this close!) Both the location and the apartment seemed perfect so we booked it.

During our last few days in Caen, we began to plan how to get to Prien. As we looked at our maps, (We find the autoroute numbers are really difficult to follow.) we discovered that by adding less than two hours to the three days we had allocated to drive from Caen to Prien that we could go by way of Koblenz, Germany and drive from there to Mainz along the Rhine. We had seen lots of pictures, read a lot about cruises down the Rhine and decided this was something that we wanted to see, spending the first night in Koblenz, and the second in Baden-Baden (in the Black Forest) then driving on the next day to Prien. We generally make hotel reservations the day before we travel. We do this because we don’t have data except where we have wifi. And we feel more comfortable having a specific destination to aim for. We also try to stay in small European hotels or pensions because they are both cheaper and we meet more interesting people than in the bigger hotels.

The first day was pretty typical of driving anywhere; European autoroutes, like limited access expressways everywhere, generally lack much in the way of scenery, but as we approached Germany we began to encounter more hills and half-timbered homes. The Scholz Hotel in Koblenz was a wonderful find! I’m relatively certain the woman who checked us in was Frau Scholz. She immediately began speaking English to me and told me she had a larger room for us (at no extra charge) than the less expensive one I had booked because she thought it would be nicer. I needed information about where to park and she inquired where we were presently. I told her Bob was in a “no parking” area in front of the hotel. “Show me,” she said and followed me out the hotel door. No, that was a great parking place. We were fine just where we were. And everything she told us was followed by a big smile. The larger room turned out to have a living room/dining room with a spectacular view of the countryside and a separate bedroom with two twin beds that could be pushed together making a kingsize bed. We went downstairs to the restaurant, where a gracious waitress translated everything on the menu. Bob had a schnitzel, while I had veal in a mushroom sauce. We both had salads. I had a beer; Bob had a cognac. And we both had coffee for dessert. We put dinner on our room tab.

When we checked out the next morning after a huge European breakfast buffet, (complete with breads, cheeses, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, a variety of meats and sausages, herring, bacon, fruit juices, pastries, yogurt, cereal and of course wonderful coffee!) we were pleasantly surprised to find that the bill for our room and dinner the night before came to the total of 115€ (or $128). The breakfast buffet was included with the room, a fairly common practice in Europe.

It was a cool day filled with sunshine as we left Koblenz and headed for our drive along the Rhine. The route was a bit difficult to find. We stopped at a roadside park next to the river and asked a local which was the best way to go. He gave us directions and pointed out the castle right above us was one of the most important of the area. The drive was everything we had hoped for and more. Freight barges, and flat cruise ships passed periodically. On the hillsides, castle after castle appeared, many of which have been converted into hotels. Near the castles we could still see the remnants of stone fences that served to protect them during the medieval ages. Vineyards covered many of the hillsides.

Our GPS directed us to the address of our hotel in Baden-Baden, but unfortunately, there was no desk, no reception area there. Bob stayed with our stuff in the car (parked illegally) while I went in search of a solution. There was a card on the side of the building with an explanation and map but it was written in German. An older gentleman was walking down the narrow street next to the building, and when I asked if he spoke English, he shook his head but followed me to the card, read it, walked me to the bottom of the hill and then motioned in the direction of what I took to believe was one of the buildings on the map. After thanking him, I walked in the direction he had guided me, but still no luck. The area had lots of restaurants so I went into one of them, a particularly busy one, and inquired about the name of our hotel. The waiter said he didn’t speak English, but the owner did and he could help me in a minute. (I find it amazing even those who speak no English know enough words to do basic communications! I am so envious!) The owner appeared and I asked him about the hotel, “Ah yes, follow me.” He left his busy establishment, and walked me half a block to the corner and pointed to the cafe with the same name as the hotel. I walked into the café. Voila! it was where we were to register for our room. (Later that evening when I inquired of the hotel owner where I might be able to get wifi to communicate with our landlord in Prien, he first apologized for the poor wifi service, then logged onto a hotspot and handed me his iphone to use!)

It was about a 4 hour drive from Baden Baden to Prien the next day. Our four hour drives often turn into six because we stop so many times along the way to take photographs, get gas (I think our little Peugeot has about a 30 litre tank),or eat a picnic lunch…usually cheese, bread and fruit. We weren’t sure what to expect in Prien. I knew it was a resort city and I was a bit concerned that at the end of September it could be pretty quiet. Getting off the autoroute and driving the last 10 kilometers really had me concerned. There was a lot of road construction and the area was pretty desolate. But then we arrived in Prien!  It’s is a gorgeous city on the edge of the Chiemsee, a beautiful large lake. Herrenchiemsee, in the middle of the lake, is where King Ludwig II lived (after building Neuschwanstein and only living spending eleven nights there). We definitely are looking forward to the three weeks we are going to be here!

(I apologize in advance to all my FB friends who have already seen these pictures. I’ve had a difficult time finding internet to load my blog posts!)

One of the best parts of learning new places is meeting new people. I mentioned in my last post that Francoise is a friend we made while staying in Caen.  It never ceases to amaze us how people we meet, Francoise included, apologize for their English. Because others know English we are able to converse and learn about each other. After three years of college Spanish nearly a half century ago, I am able to make sense out of some of the French that I read; some also looks a lot like English, but when it comes to the spoken word both Bob and I are lost. (And how we celebrate when we pick out one or two words as we listen to the radio. ) Somehow what comes out of mouths sounds nothing like what we see in print! I often wonder how Europeans must feel when they come to the States where few people speak more than English…and many have a difficult time managing English. But I digress!

Francoise asked if we’d like to come to lunch and then we could “walk a bit in the fields.”  Of course we said yes. Her home is in a lovely little village not far from Caen but so very different from the city. Rural France has many little villages with narrow winding roads. Family farms are very much the norm and the result is amazing food!  Her home was a pleasant 20 minute drive from our apartment.

After inviting us to see her garden where she cultivates many plants and veggies including:  roses, dahlias, and nasturtiums (which are very tasty in salad), she suggested we eat out on her patio. This little lunch turned out to be a gourmet feast. She first served a plate of hors d’oeuvres which included salmon on cream cheese on crackers garnished with parsley, and an olive spread served on amazing French bread; in addition she served prunes wrapped with bacon. This course was followed by a Normandy specialty of a cod-like fish in a cream sauce served with a salad. Just as I was thinking what an amazing lunch this had been, Francoise jumped up to fix the main dish, also a Normandy specialty, veal in a mushroom sauce served with fresh potatoes.  For dessert she served homemade applesauce topped with homemade jam. Her lunch was complemented with two wines. We found so much to talk about: the local area, schools, the United States, of which she is very knowledgeable, and our travel plans. It was a delightful time.

Shortly after lunch she asked if we might like to take a ride in her car and see some of the local sights. One of our complaints with the GPS is that it’s hard to stay off the bigger auto routes without knowing exactly what cities we want to visit. Just to meander through the countryside is difficult. Not so when you have a local tour guide!

There was a light rain in the air but miraculously whenever we got out to walk, the rain stopped!  Near Francoise’s home, there is a small cemetery from World War II where both British and German soldiers are buried. What an adventure it was to find it. Francoise knew about where it was located. We drove down a two track and over hill and down dale in an attempt to find it. Finally when a young man approached from the other direction on his motorcycle, Francoise waved him down. Yes, he knew it. No, it wasn’t where we were. Just follow him. So we did and lo and behold within a few short minutes we were at this historic site in the middle of a cornfield. It felt sad…here was a cemetery of men who had sacrificed their lives now lying in the middle of “no where,” a place people wouldn’t come upon unless they knew about it. On the other hand, the loneliness of the location felt so very appropriate.

Francoise told us she wanted to show us an old church. Talk about understatement! After driving a short distance, she parked the car and got out walking sticks for all three of us. We followed her lead through the woods and hadn’t walked far from the car park when we saw a beautiful stone church in the distance. We continued walking down the path, crossed a footbridge over a small stream and came to St. Peter’s Church in Thaon dating from 1050. Absolute silence; it was as if time had stood still. Such a perfect place to think, to meditate, to dream.

We continued on to Fountaine Henry Castle. Little did I know when I asked the guard if I could walk in the gates to take a picture (Well, I didn’t really ask…it was more a matter of hand motions and nods of my head…) that the house had been in the same family for more than 800 years and family still lived there. (And yes, the guard nodded his permission for me to enter the gate to take a picture.)

It’s hard to believe so many people live in this area of France and go about their daily lives without giving much thought, if any, to all that has occurred near their homes  throughout history, history that dates back hundreds and hundreds even thousands of years. I feel so very lucky that we made a friend who offered to share it all with us on one fabulous afternoon! It was definitely an experience we will NEVER forget.