Driving to Salzburg

After we finished touring the Linderhof Palace, we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to Salzburg.  We grabbed some rolls and salami at a German grocery store, and made sandwiches in the car for dinner.  The drive was gorgeous, so picturesque, and finally Lisa, who was driving Chris’s car with me, Dan, and Elisha, pulled the car off onto some side roads so she and Dan could get out and take some pictures.  The lighting was perfect. It was around 8:00ish, right before sunset, and Dan and Lisa couldn’t take pictures fast enough.  We just couldn’t get enough of the beautiful scenery!

    

Unfortunately, a tractor came up the road we had pulled off on, and couldn’t get past our cars, so Lisa hopped back into Chris’s car to back it up onto the main road.  In all the hurry, she forgot she had left her camera bag on the trunk of the car, and the bag fell off when she began to pull forward again.  Chris, in the van backing up right after her, completely ran over her camera bag which was now laying in the middle of the road.  Lisa saw the whole thing happen, and  let out a scream (I seriously thought it was a kid or something that had been ran over).  Obviously it was a good thing everyone was safe, but there was a tragedy in the camera bag . . . . Lisa’s flash.  At least it wasn’t one of her lenses or the video camera . . . . but still. 

We finally arrived at our Salzburg hotel around 10 pm.  It took a little longer than we had expected since the GPS took us there in the most round about way possible.  The hotel was right off the highway, so we knew something was wrong when we were winding our way through the dark remote mountain roads for a half hour!  Haha . . . . we’ll never trust GPS’s again!

The hotel was more of a bread and breakfast type place and we loved it.  Scott found it online for us, and we were all pleasantly surprised with how nice, modern and clean everything was.   

Linderhof Palace

I’m so glad we decided to come here!  It wasn’t on our original itinerary, but sometimes being flexible leads to good things!  A little history of Linderhof: This “Royal Villa” of King Ludwig II of Bavaria is the smallest of the three palaces he built and the only one he lived to see completed.  Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II, had a hunting lodge in this location, which Ludwig inherited when he became king in 1864 and 5 years later began enlarging the building.  Ludwig idolized the French Sun-King Louis XIV and it is evident that The Palace of Versailles was the inspiration for Linderhof.  Ludwig lived much of his last 8 years here.  

 

Photography was not allowed inside the palace, but Dan did manage to sneak this one shot showing how ornate and gaudy the place is.  It’s quite spectacular actually. 

The gardens surrounding Linderhof Palace are considered one of the most beautiful creations of garden design.  They cover an area of about 125 acres and are perfectly integrated in the surrounding natural alpine landscape.  The fountain below is right behind the palace.   

   

The gardens in front of the palace:

The Luke pose!  

We followed some trails that wind around the extensive palace grounds.  We couldn’t pass up these beautiful wild flower fields to practice our “The hills are alive!” spins and leaps!  haha. 

There were random buildings spread out all over the palace grounds.  This one is called the Moorish Kiosk.  Built for the 1867 International Exhibition in Paris, Ludwig II bought it and brought it here.

And this was Ludwig’s grotto . . . . by far the most random thing we saw in Europe.  Rick Steves on the grotto: “Inspired by Wagner’s Tannhauser opera, this performance space is 300 feet long and 70 feet tall.  Its rocky walls are actually made of cement poured over an iron frame.  The grotto provided a private theater for the reclusive king to enjoy his beloved Wagnerian operas – he was usually the sole member of the audience.  The grotto features a waterfall, fake stalactites, and a swan boat floating on an artificial lake which could be heated for swimming).  The first electricity in Bavaria was generated here, to change the colors of the stage lights and to power Ludwig’s fountain and wave machine.”  We couldn’t believe this place.  What a frivolous way to spend the country’s money.  But then again, I guess we was the king! 

 

Garmisch

 

After spending Friday morning in Heidelberg, we drove 4 hours down the Autobahn to Garmisch.  It was raining most of the way down, so we couldn’t really see any of the beautiful southern Germany countryside we were driving through.  Bummer!  We arrived Friday night at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort where we stayed in Garmisch.  It’s an exclusive resort just for U.S. military personnel, so it’s a good thing Chris was with us!We checked in, ate a buffet dinner, and played Dominion in the Johnson’s room until it was time for bed.    The hotel is in a beautiful location right at the foot of the German Alps, which we were hoping to hike and at least SEE on Saturday, but the weather was still not cooperating.  It was so cloudy and foggy, we could barely make out the majestic alps that were supposedly all around us.  So, taking the tram up to the top of the Alpspitze was out of the question for that morning.  We needed a Plan B!

So after browsing all the activity brochures at the information desk at the Edelweiss, we decided to hike the Partnach Gorge.  We checked out of the hotel, loaded up the cars, and drove across town to the Olympic Skiing Stadium, where we parked the car.  As we got out of the cars in our measly sweatshirts and converse shoes, we noticed a middle-aged German couple by us also getting ready for the hike.  They were taking off what seemed like full on hiking boots to put on their even more intense hiking boots.  They had all the gear, including hiking sticks.  Germans take their hiking very seriously.  We felt a little unprepared:)  Luckily the first 25 minutes of the hike was along this paved road:

Then we entered the gorge, and although the hiking was nothing serious, it was all very wet.  It actually wasn’t raining, but there was so much water coming off the rocks, it felt like a downpour.  The umbrellas came in very handy.  

The Partnach Gorge – where the Partnach River surges spectacularly through a narrow, mile-long gap between high limestone cliffs.  It was so fun winding our way through the path cut along the rocks with the raging river right below us.  The Johnson kids did great!

 

After we came out of the gorge, we decided to loop back around through the hills above the gorge.  We hiked to the top of the trail and found a beer house (behind us) packed with local German hikers taking a break for a drink.  It was quite hilarious, actually.  They hike up all decked out in their intense hiking gear, drink a few beers out of their huge beer mugs while talking and laughing their deep German laughs, and then hike back down.  Classic.

 

Elisha is doing Luke’s classic pose!

See what I mean about Luke’s pose?  So cute.

This bridge spanned high above the gorge and while we were taking pictures on it, we noticed some ropes hooked up to trees also going across.  We were talking about what they might be for, when all of a sudden a girl around my age walked past us up to the ropes, and started taking off her shoes.  “Are you going out on those ropes?” we asked.  “Yep!” she said and we watched as she clipped herself to the top rope and slowly made her way over and back.  CRAZY!!  I can’t imagine the adrenaline rush that would provide.  It was pretty entertaining to watch! 

Here I am doing my own tightrope walking through some mud . . . . hey, it was actually quite slippery! 

After the Partnach Gorge, we drove back to Garmisch to walk around the town for a little while.  Garmisch is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany, and everything here is just SO Bavarian.  It’s fun to see the different styles of different regions.  

 

Flower boxes in every window.  And fancy decorations painted around the windows!    

This house is just so classic Bavarian, with the wood balconies with intricate patterns.  I love it.

And it’s so neat how they paint their last name on their houses for all the world to know who lives there.  “Haus Walton.”  Maybe someday when we own a house, we’ll paint that above our door.  They can actually do this, because they keep their houses in the family for generations . . . . the older parents live on the bottom floor, while the younger generation resides on the top floor with their family, until their kids take their place and bump them down to the first floor.  Housing is very cheap for them this way:)  And it makes sense why all the houses are so well cared for. 

And check out the mural on this building!  Such detail.

By Saturday afternoon, it was still way too cloudy to go up to the Alpspitze.  We really wanted a completely clear day to go up, so we decided we would come back to Garmisch on Monday to try our luck with the weather then.  So instead, we hit the road, deciding to stop at the famous Linderhof Palace on our way down to Salzburg!