Jaime in Germany (Part 1 of 3)

Here begins the 3 part "Visitors Guide to the Coolest Parts of Southern Germany and Austria Worth Visiting if You Only Have Three Days."

Last weekend, Eric took Friday off, and we took off to Germany and Austria. I am going to have to break this weekend up into a few posts. Eric took so many good pictures, and he is going to have to label some of these since he is the one who speaks German.

Landed in Munich. Lucked out with a free rental car upgrade (more on that later), and hit the Autobahn into the city.

Here is the home of Ludwig van Forsyth. Okay, not really. But his first name was Ludwig and I was hoping that we were in some way related so that I could come stay there whenever I wanted.

Ludwig's back yard...niiice.

"Hey, Eric, can I take your picture? I'm taking it...."

"Surprise!" Ha ha ha.

Jaime and Eric in Sepia.

The real name of this place is called Schloss Nymphenburg.

Our view of Frauenkirche from lunch.

Marienplatz and the famous (still running and very old) Glockenspiel.

Marienplatz

Marianplatz and Frauenkirche.

Marienplatz is right next to where we ate lunch.

Lunch. There was pretzels just sitting on the table waiting for us to eat. we had amazing potato salad and I ate these little meat patties that were so tasty. but definitely not good for me.

After Munich, it was on to Salzburg to stay the night.

Jaime in Chiemsee and Salzburg (Part 2 of 3)

 After leaving Munich, we headed out to Salzburg, taking a pit stop at Chiemsee.

This is Chiemsee. It's the lake, not the town.

Though there is a town/island called Chiemsee in the middle of the lake.

He's so handsome.

Here I am, at the end of the pier.

Here I am standing in the water.

I'm not really standing in the water, just seeing if you're paying attention.

Lovely, lovely sunset.

This is the B&B (Haus Reichl) we stayed in while in Salzburg.

And here is the view..Love it! It was a really nice place, I would highly recommend it.

These next few are pictures of the Salt Fortress/castle in Salzburg that I will let Eric name later on.

Salzburg

"The Sound of Music starring Jaime as Maria the Marionette."

Inside the walls of the fortress.

From inside.

The castle courtyard.

Untersberg from the top of Festung Hohensalzburg.

It was a bit windy all the way up there.

Eating a pretzel and watching a giant game of chess. So nice. 

Where's Jaime?

This was right before we realized that our car got towed.

Festung Hohensalzburg in the morning before it turned into a beautiful amazing day.

After Salzburg, it was off to Hallstatt.

Jaime in Hallstatt, Austria (part 3 of 3)

We spent our last day in a little, one road town called Hallstatt. Not only was it cheaper and less crowded because of the "off peak" time we were there, but we had absolutely amazing weather.

Our entire drive from Salzburg to Hallstatt, Eric kept saying, "You can't make this stuff up," referring to the scenery. I had to correct him by pointing out that, "Actually, you can make this stuff up, and someone did." Hallstatt itself is an old (as in BC) salt mining community that is in the mountains but is also set on a lake. Think of a small, remote, Austrian Alps Lake Tahoe.

The view from our room at the Pension Sarstein

This stream ran from the top of the mountain all the way through town and into the lake.

Our place had these diving boards right outside. Unfortunately, we didn't think to bring our swimsuits.

Morning view.

The town across the lake.

Again.

Just to the right is the South end of Hallstatt.

The constant waterfall from snow melt - made me miss home.

Our hike up the mountain consisted mostly of stairs. My legs were on fire.

I would like to thank erosion for this picture.

The hills are alive with the sound of music ♪

Finally at the top of our hike!

There was a "guided tour" with these mirrors representing the past and future of Hallstatt.

Interesting ditties about Hallstatt's ancient salt mining inhabitants were on each mirror.

Waterfall.

Old salt mine entrance.

OoOooooo. Creepy.

No entrance to the salt mines.

One of Eric's favorite parts of the trip. Our rental car was a VW Scirocco TDI. It came in handy on the Autobahn where we reached the top speed of 200km/hr (124 mph).

Overall, it was a five star, two thumbs up, amazing wunderschön vacation - I would totally do it again.