Wow, what more can you say when you have a day like yesterday! The weather forecast was for bright sunny sky’s so we set the alarm for 6:00 AM and rose to a beautiful sunny day with bright blue skies! Wow!

We quickly got ready and headed out on our driving tour. The first stop, Grainau and some spectacular vistas! Wow, mind numbing.

Then on to the ski jumping area, of which the spectator seating remains and is being renovated. Wow, can’t believe people ski jump. They must have a little crazy in them.

Then a trip through the valleys to Mittenwald, a small German village. It is exactly the way you hope it would be, small village, lovely markets, great scenery and no other tourists! We wandered the village and then set off for the bottom of the Romantic road and the castles of crazy King Ludwig ll.

Driving through the valleys, log outbuildings dot the meadowlands. They are used to store the cut grass of the meadow for winter use by the cows, goats and sheep. They cut the meadow grass up to 3 times a year. There is sometimes a dozen in a meadow, very alpine stuff.

We stopped and enjoyed our picnic lunch in the grand settings of the Alps!

Neuschwanstein Castle is the castlee Walt Disney used as a model for the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland’s throughout the world. It’s location is very magnificent and it teems with people. Across the way is another Ludwig Castle, Linderhof, the Golden Castle.

We visited Neuschwanstein several years ago, so we just took pictures this time.

We drove back to our Airbnb and enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck and watched the sunset on a great day.

Today, we will drive to Innsbruck and walk the city, then drive back and take a walk and see more of the city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Auf Wiedersehen

Leaving Salzburg in the trusty Peugeot, our tour guide Cindy took us into the Alps with the final destination being Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is back in Germany (on the German/Austrian border). Garmisch-Partenkirchen is located close by the Neuschwanstien Castle.

The weather semi cooperated with partly sunny skies and staggering views. The drive, not long ( 3 hours on the Autobahn) but construction on the autobahn and side trips took most the of the day. We stopped and enjoyed a picnic in the Alps, lovely. The valleys here are still snow covered from Sunday’s snow.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is an interesting place, founded by the Romans (who else) in 400AD, it never gained traction as a city because of the lack of trade. It’s a hard place to grow crops because of the weather and farm animals were killed by the areas wild animal population.

The area also had the Bubonic plague and witch trials in the 1500s, taking the population down to less than 100 at times.

Hitler changed all that with the 1938 Winter Olympics held here. Garmisch-Partenkirchen became a Nordic sports Mecca.

During WW2 Garmisch-Partenkirchen became a hospital area for Germany and later the USA. Today there are several military bases in the area.

Now Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a ski and summer destination for both Germans and Austrians. It’s like their Vail/ Breckinridge area. Homes/chalets are incredibly expensive and driving through the area there are hundreds and hundreds of them.

The city is beautiful and built for ski/summer tourists. It’s really expensive 😎

We walked the city yesterday PM and enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck!

Today the weather so far is perfect, so we will be taking a driving tour of the Alps with the hopes of getting ahead of the next storm.

Auf Wiedersehen

As per the forecast, we woke up to snow yesterday AM! Not only was there snow on the ground but it was socked in with a heavy mix of snow/ rain coming down😳

So, we did our laundry in the cool washer/dryer combo and hit the streets for a walking tour of Salzburg in the pouring rain😳

Salzburg a very old city, established by the Romans (who else) in 500 BC. It’s main purpose was being a salt mining area. The city was abandoned for 100 years between 600-700 AD. It’s had many different rulers but the Germans annexed it in the late 1930’s. They used the area for POW camps/Slave labor with both Austrians and Russians. The Allies bombed the city heavily and destroyed 1/2 the city, mainly the train stations area.

Today it’s known for its architecture and the lovely scenery (when’s its clear), the home of Mozart and the location of the Sound of Music. It’s a world heritage city and the tourists flock here.

Cindy is a huge sound of Music fan, so all day I had my personal Sound of Music Tour with Cindy as we walked the city.

14 miles later and dozens of Sound of Music photos, we somehow ended up at our favorite beer hall for a last liter. Love that place! Quick trip home on the #7 bus and dinner at a neighboring bistro, the last Schnitzel 😒

Up into the Alps today, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, back into Germany. FYI there’s snow on the ground there.

Auf Wiedersehen

Our trusty tour guide Cindy took me on a driving tour of the beautiful Lake District of Austria yesterday. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and clouds and dark skies limited our views.

The views while limited were great. I’m sure when it’s clear (5 days a year 😎) it must be staggering views.

We enjoyed a picnic along the riverbank, without rain! Lovely.

The drive was incredibly scenic and at times a bit scary, but we and the Peugeot finished unscathed! This is tour bus heaven, we must have seen or driven pass 100 tour buses.

Somehow we ended up on the #7 bus again and visited the Augustiner Brau. It was cold and wet so we sat in the beer hall side. Great people watching! Fun was had by all.

Today it’s snowing, so walking the city and laundry is on the agenda.

Possibly a Schnitzel dinner !

Prost !

We left Munich yesterday, happy knowing we will return in December! It’s a wonderful city and the beers not bad either!

The drive from Munich to Salzburg is only 1.5 hours so we used the GPS and drove leisurely through the German/ Austrian countryside, enjoying the wonderful views. We even visited the Eagles Nest, Hiltler’s retreat.

Unfortunately, the wet weather has returned with a possibility of snowfall tomorrow 😒 We then arrived at our cute and very cozy Airbnb and hit the #7 bus for our favorite beer hall/ beer garden, Augustiner Braustubll! It’s an old old monastery that started making and selling beer in the 1400’s to make ends meet. We first visited in 86 and have consistently voted this as one of our favorite places in the world! Its both a beer garden and beer hall with a food court from 1600 built in! The beer is truly delicious to us , heavy malt and barley, not hoppy at all👍

Today we are going on a driving trip to the Halstatt area and visit the Lake District of Austria.

As we said earlier, Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. So we will spend Sunday walking the city, with possibly a slice of Sacher Torte at the famous Hotel Sacher!

Ach, spring in the Alps😎

We enjoyed Munich today, sunny and 70s, love those beer gardens!

We used the S2 train to take us to the main square of Munich, the Marienplatz. It’s the heart of Munich and the location of the glockenspiel. As it was May 1st all retail was closed.

However, the crowds were large as they held large protest marches. We watched them protest anything and everything!

May Day was disappointing as they canceled the party here in Erding as there were issues last year. Munich has a great May pole downtown, but everyone was busy drinking or protesting so no May pole dancing, just protesters!

Cindy and I walked the streets and amazingly ended up in our two favorite beer halls, the Hofbrauhaus and Augustiiner Brauerei where we had der Schnitzel 😎

Fun day. One little snaffo , we were moving locations on the train, and trying to decide if we had the correct line. Cindy got in the train, I didn’t, the doors closed, wouldn’t open again and off she went, with both our phones😳

We had enacted of master plan. I stayed where I was when the train left, she quickly returned on the next train back. We will only get on the train together now😎 and she won’t be carrying both phones! Beer garden here we come!

More Munich today, it’s going to be 70 here!