Germany (south)

Munich

Munich is a vibrant city of 1.4 million, alive with the new, while treasuring its past. It also helped that it was sunny during our visit of three days...a fact that always improves our impressions of any new place.

At the center of the city is the Altstadt (old city) with the Marienplatz at the very center. Here we visited the new Rathaus, a neo-gothic creation of churchlike proportions. We didn't take pictures, but you can find one at this link: http://www.alltravelgermany.com/Germany/Destination_Guides/Cities/Munich.htm. It features a glockenspiel that chimes at noon and 5 PM. Some found the sequence of moving characters a yawn, but Fran found the re-creation of historical jousts, dancing figures and crowing rooster at least a little interesting.

The sounds of the street musicians in Marienplatz attracted many tourists. Imagine, if you can, a chamber music ensemble (cello, bass, violin, etc) dressed in tuxedo ...or a marimba duo performing classical music...playing for money in front of Burger King in the mall. That is Munich.

There are also many world-class performances. While we were there, one of the biggest plazas was cordoned off for the open-air symphony to be performed that evening.

Munich is highbrow music, but it is also beer gardens and polkas. A visit to Munich is not complete without lifting a few liters of beer at the famous Hofbrauhaus, site of the world's biggest beer drinking event...Oktoberfest. Not to leave any experience undone, we visited and hoisted our liter glasses with all the other tourists assembled there. The umpaah band belted out the polkas and the American country favorites (we didn't know that "Country Road" was a traditional German favorite!) The crowd lived up to its reputation of shouting drinking songs at the top of their lungs and generally having a whopping good time. Even the food was good...weiner schnitzel, würst, dumplings...standard Bavarian fare.

And lest you think that I am focusing too much on beer, think on this. The city logo is of a monk hoisting a tankard of beer. This harkens back to the days when the Benedictine monks were the major beer distillers. You see the logo everywhere...on city hall, on the buses and on information pamphlets.

Germany is wild about football (soccer, for us Americans). What better place to watch the deciding game of the World Cup, Germany vs. Brazil, than in Munich? On the big day, we found ourselves walking through the park looking for a place to watch the game. We entered a large outdoor beer garden (of course) with a big screen TV and settled down with the locals to watch the big game. The sun was shining brightly, the beer was cold, the fans waved large German flags and shouted cheers -- anticipation was high. Even the three Brazilian fans, though far outnumbered, were seen and heard in the crowd. All become quieter though in the second half, after Renaldo pushed the game irrevocably in Brazil's favor. What was truly amazing to us was that the Germany fans did not lash out after the loss, and the few Brazilians were allowed to enjoy themselves. The jubilation of Germany's victory that we hoped for was instead stillness in the city. All was so quiet, as if everyone went inside to sulk.

Munich does like to party. While there we attended Tollwood, a 2-week music festival with musicians performing on many stages each evening. There were no big name artists when we were there, but we heard reggae and 1970's American music. (Funny how much American music is everywhere!) The festival takes place in the Olympic Park and includes craft and food booths and yes, beer. The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show as we filed into the tram to return to the city center. The party continued on the tram ride...waiters served cocktails while loud music excited the riders to dance in the aisles. (Can't imagine this on Tri-met in Portland!)

Munich also has a darker side that it does not try to hide, but rather accepts as part of its history. That is the history of the Third Reich in Munich. On a very informative walking tour of the city, we were able to see many of the sites that were important to the early development of the Nazi party, balanced in a wider perspective of churches, museums and buildings important throughout the city's history. Hitler (an Austrian) started his rise to power in Munich. We stood in the very plaza that Hitler marched his troops and where the great book burnings took place. We saw the window to Hitler's bedroom in the large building he called his home. We saw many buildings, which housed different arms of the Nazi party. It was sobering. And it is very important to the future that we never forget this dark era of mankind.

Lest you think that Munich is all museums, churches and buildings, take in this fact. The city center is ringed with parks. One of them, the Englisher Garten is the largest city park in Europe. It is perhaps the same size as Forest Park in Portland, but with a big difference. It is filled with joggers, university students listening to lectures from their professors, people meeting after work in the beer gardens, cyclists, horseback riders, people out to enjoy the sunset sitting on a bench near the lake, and elderly people walking their dogs. There is even one youth hostel in the park...a big communal tent with indoor shower facilities. And don’t forget the modern art gallery at the southern end! Rod and I were one of those enjoying the sunset near the lake (yes, just after a beer garden) while the swans inspected us.

Just across the Isar River from the Englisher Garten is a green space that stretches for at least 5 kilometers. In it are the Zoo and the campground where we stayed. It consists of canals, rocky beaches for sunbathing and wide-open spaces. Here, if you are lucky, you will have a view the surfers. Yes, 1000 km from the ocean, in the midst of Munich, you will see surfers. At one particular canal, the water is channeled in such a way as to provide standing waves perfect for surfing. We saw it ourselves early one morning and have it documented on film for you non-believers!

Munichers are not in the least bit inhibited. In the same park you will find nude sunbathers. And not just a few, but many of the people. At least most of the fifty and sixty year old men are naked. The postcards show a rather different physique laying au naturale in the sun...

One of the great wonders of the world is the Deutsches Museum (http://www.deutsches-museum.de/e_index.htm). It is a science and technology museum unparalleled...six floors of in-depth displays covering everything from Aeronautics to Zirconium. The mining display took you down in the depths of the mines and you felt firsthand the history of mining. (No, Fran did not go down in there!) Chemistry, textiles, glass making, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, boating, metal making, optical, bridge building, a planetarium...we could have spent days there. The aeronautics is on a par with the Smithsonian Air and Space museum (well, almost). Many of the displays were set up for school children, but they also included good educational material right up to the level of a short Scientific American article. Some things would be so easy to learn there, such as optics, since all of the principles are laid out. Other fascinating areas included civil engineering, such as dams and bridges. Again there was the simple stuff for kiddies (build an arch bridge from seven wood blocks) to wave tanks of river sand, which allowed you to construct bridges and barriers to attempt to create sand flows and bars, and lastly exhibits with the explicit formulas for calculating the stresses on bridges. There were also fascinating facts, like the Roman aqueducts that crossed mountain passes with tunnels and bridges and were perfectly level with under 30 feet of drop every mile --that required exquisite precision lest a bridge be just a bit too low in relation to the next one on the other side of the tunnel. And then there was ...well, you get the idea. Rod had a great time, and we obviously stayed until they kicked us out at closing time.

Germans are very social. Where else would you find chess games played on large boards painted on the plaza with two foot high pieces, watched aptly by spectators?

All in all, we found Munich to be a lively city full of surprises and much to treasure.

South of Munich is two castles, the famous fairy tale Neuenschwanden castle and the Hohenschwangau. They were both impressive, particularly the furnishings. Both are actually fairly recent creations imitating medieval castles, and are largely just a facade. For example, the stone block walls are really concrete, the gold is paint, and the marble is fake. Since we have already seen quite a few authentic European castles, this did feel a bit like Disneyland. (And yep, the Snow White castle in Disneyland is patterned after Neuenschwanden castle). On the other hand, it was built by a real King and was quite lavishly decorated. Unlike the royal palaces in France, which were all empty (looted during the French Revolution), these were full of lots of cool stuff, like magnificent dining tables, center pieces, paintings, etc.

Berchtesgaden

Berchtesgarten is a national park in the farthest south east corner of Germany, containing the highest mountains in the country. The border with Austria runs along of the crest of these Alps, also forming the edge of the park.

Almbachklamm Creek

We arrive mid-day, without enough time for a full hike. But after encountering rain in Interlaken we know to take any sunny day in the Alps that we get, so we find a nice half-day hike up Almbachklamm creek.

The creek flows through a narrow gorge, dug into marble. The walls are polished white, pink and creamy marble. The water is crystal clear green, probably due to mineral content such as malachite or copper. Or maybe it just looks green in contrast with the red of the walls.

At the base of the trail is an old mill, which uses waterpower to polish marble stones. Using an old wooden waterwheel to turn a polishing bowl, odd chunks of marble are reduced to polished spheres, large and small. The sound of the rocks tumbling in the bowl rises above that of the rushing water.

The trail is a metal walkway hung on the side of the canyon, built to support a constant stream of visitors, and to keep them on the trail. We meet young couples, older people, fitness buffs, and groups of school children. The later take the simpler route by starting at the top and hiking down, but it is prettier to hike up and see the gorge ahead of you, and many of the kids seem oblivious to the surroundings. Hopefully, it at least helps start a lifelong love of the outdoors.

The water slips over polished edges into perfect green pools, and then gently slips down a raceway to splash into the next pool. The water rarely goes more than a few meters before dropping again, but in most areas, it is gentle as it slides down the marble faces.

We climb up the canyon, through the lower oak forest into the higher pines. We joke a common refrain at this point --why do all of our hikes go uphill?

We reach a cascading waterfall, with maybe seven or eight sections and a total drop of over a hundred feet. It provides a serene backdrop for a quiet lunch.

We decide to climb up out of the canyon and return along a trail down the face of the mountain rather than backtrack down the canyon. The trail exists in some places, follows the roadway in others, and has disappeared in a few. At one spot we follow the map past a farm house and down his pasture road, thankful that we find the signpost at the other end and aren't really trespassing. At another the trail disappears completely, so we backtrack around a gully.

The top of the hill is a green patchwork of meadows and forest. The pine and fir forest is dense, helping to keep the racks of cordwood full for the winter. The meadows are bordered with brambles and hedges, and everywhere is green. This is the "Sound of Music" country! We follow the route back down the hill, and are the last car to leave the parking lot.

Schneibstein

The next day we want a "real" hike. We pick a 12-mile (20 km) hike over one mountain and along the ridge, with a gain of 5000 feet (1200 meters). We pack light and hit the trail early.

The initial trail follows a roadway up through the ski area. During the summer, the ski runs are perfect dairy pastures, and we encounter many grazing cows. At this lower elevation there are also many huts, farm homes and restaurants, and most advertise fresh milk.

We quickly climb up past Jenner Mountain. At this level we encounter several hikers in their seventies, some obviously quite stiff. A ski lift brings people up to this level in the summer, and they can then walk the trails in the alpine meadows, and catch the ride back down. One older lady excitedly points out the Marmots to us. They are quite far away, but she has spotted one, and we soon discover another, standing on top of a rock in a field. Later we cross through a deep grassy field that is literally crammed full of marmot trails, bordered on all sides by harsh barren rock.

Even as we climb, we encounter a few more huts (more accurately called restaurants and hotels). The last one is deep in the pass at the Austrian German border, as we begin the final climb up Schneibstein Mountain. For the rest of the climb, the trail is just a scramble across boulder fields. It is very slow going, continually picking our way through the rubble and looking for the trail, delineated with a pattern of painted stripes on occasional boulders. This mile or so takes several hours, and climbs a couple thousand feet. It is not arduous, since the pace is so slow. As we continue through the boulder fields, we begin to see a couple of other groups of hikers ahead. The gap closes as we reach for the top.

An unspoken understanding of silence is in effect at the top. We join several other couples and groups, and settle down for a quiet lunch. Scarcely a word is spoken by anyone as each stares out in the infinite space below, and a few nap in the alpine sun. The clouds are forming, but not ominous. The ravens sweep in, knowing it is lunchtime on the top, and looking for a handout.

We haven't yet finished five miles out of twelve, and it is one o’clock in the afternoon. However, this is due to the boulder fields and the elevation climb. We figure that seven or eight miles downhill shouldn't be more than two and a half hours. Regardless, we decide to get moving. We don't want to spend the night at the summit of the Alps! We quietly slip away from the rest of the hikers as they rest at the top.

The route continues along the crest, and consequently the trail remains largely a boulder field. Even though it is downhill, it is slow going. We are glad we started early, and hope we started early enough.

We do not have a good topographic map. All we have is the tourist information center map, which outlines the entire trek on a map about three inches across. We are careful to use all of the visual clues we have, such as direction to nearby mountains or canyons, and search for trail signs. Still, it is difficult to follow through the boulder fields, so we go slowly and carefully. We see one group of three younger hikers going down a canyon that we think is incorrect. We can't know for sure, but we continue on the ridge a bit longer, pretty sure that we just need to circle one more mountain. We drop down into a ravine and find a lake that is not on the map. It is getting late, and the clouds are forming. As we stop and pump water through our filter into our water bottles, the other hikers from the top appear at the lake. It is reassuring that we are all on the same trail. Soon we catch up to an older man hiking by himself, quite red and sweaty. He is noticeably relieved to hear that we are headed the same way as he is, as he was beginning to fear that he had missed a turn. He relaxes, and after hiking with us for a bit he drifts off ahead.

After rounding the last turn and sliding down a snow field, we are pretty sure that the trail is the right one, and we can finally make some time through the forest and meadows. The boulder fields are gone, and the trail is easy. We are still six miles from the end, but it is easy hiking and goes fast. The rain starts just as we reach the parking lot. We get a gentle shower, the older man before us is dry as we see him climb into his car, and the groups behind us get drenched. Ten hours of hiking, and what a difference a few minutes make!

Konigsee

We plan to leave the next day, but somehow we just don't. Not right away, anyway. It is just too beautiful. We head down to the lake, and rent a rowboat for a couple of hours. The exercise feels good. The oars and oarlocks are excellent quality, allowing a strong stroke. We row full strength into the wind for an hour, figuring to coast back the second hour.

We read about the various folklore of the lake, and are in the perfect spot to hear the magnificent echo as a ferryboat parks below the arcing concave rock face of the mountain, and a trumpeter plays against the resounding echo of the wall. There are at least three echoes for each note.

We watch small waterfalls plunge into the lake. Fran spots a Grey Heron. As we turn, the wind stops. But the current provides the assistance we need and we still get back in under the remaining hour. It feels good to row hard for two hours. Time to leave the Alps again...