Final day in Salzburg

Salzburg was very crowded. There are a few parking structures, but everything was full. We parked on a street somewhere outside of the Old City and then consulted the map....











The fortress above Salzburg is huge. It was actually a small city. The cannons are pointed out the windows toward the river.


















I thought the architecture was amazing!














Looking out over Salzburg.

















View of the Old City of Salzburg from the fortress. (Who keeps putting their thumb in the photos?)

More of Salzburg

We decided to re-enact some of the scenes from the movie....

Do-Re-Mi


A race through the arbor.



This is the house used for Von Trapp home. Now it is a school for Music.
Remember how the 'local urchins' are playing in the trees as Captain Von Trapp returns from Vienna with the Baroness and Max. The trees are a little bigger now, it's been over 40 years since the Sound of Music was filmed.

Tuesday night we went to the Mozart Dinner Concert held at the St. Peter Stiftskeller, the oldest restaurant in Europe. It has been in operation since 803AD! Highlights of some of Mozart's works were performed and during the concert breaks a three course meal was served. We are cultured! At least for one evening.

Tuesday was a day we had all been looking forward to... th Sound of Music tour!!! Here we are at the lake where Maria and the children capsize the boat when they see the captain after her returns with the baroness. The house in the background was the house used for the back side of the house in the movie.
Wheeee!!!!
Maria and the Captain's wedding seems to be in the Abby, but actually filmed in this beautiful church in a little town about 20 miles from Salzburg.
The water in all the fountains is safe to drink and comes from the Alps. Just fill your water bottles anywhere.

Monday we decided to visit places near Salzburg. First stop was the Salt Mines. Each person is given a suit (fireman, astronaut, haz-mat, whatever...). At first we thought it was because they didn't want us to be cold. The mine is about 12C throughout. After riding a "train" deep into the mountain, we were instructed to sit one behind the other on two wooden rails and 'hang on' as we slid down. It wasgreat fun !
Our next stop was the Eagle's Nest. Here is the entrance, a long tunnel that leads to an elevator to the top of a steep mountain. Hitler had this retreat built but it was hardly ever used. The German people did not even know of it's existence.
Wonderful view from the Eagle's Nest.

Back down at the entrance looking up. Of note, we took a bus ride 4 miles up a very steep grade just to get to the entrance.

Catching up

It's been several days since we have have internet service (that we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for) so we haven't posted. Sorry. This is a picture of a beautiful garden at Nymphenburg in Munich. We revisited the grounds after church on Sunday before driving to Salzburg.

We went to the German speaking ward. Dad could understand everything. The rest of us enjoyed being in church and attempting to sing the hymns.

More Munich - More Olympiapark

Different art pieces in Olympiapark. Jill and Matt decided to ride the lion. All three know how to pose for a picture.

From the tower, we could see a large group filling one side of the Olympic Stadium. So we went to see what was worth such a gathering. It was free (no admission)... Everyone was dressed in Sunday clothing on a Friday afternoon... Families with little kids were there... No, not a regional conference of the true church... JWs!

Matt hooked up in a harness that was attached to bungee cords that were fastened to two poles. Underneath was a trampoline. You get the idea.

We ride the street cars and subways to move about the city. The hotel issues day passes, so for the cost of our room, we can leave the car parked and see the city. Jill and Matt are on the escalator coming up from the subway.

The mass transit system is really good. Covers the whole city, and trains and busses come frequently. During the rush hours we are packed in tightly with everyone else, it seems. But then we get a real "feel" for the locals.

When in a catholic church do as the catholics do. Matt and Jill lit a candel for all of us. The candels were paid for - 50 cents each. We came back later to this Frauen Kirche to hear a short organ concert. It is a very tall, very old, very beautiful church with great resonating accoustics for organ music and gregorian choirs.

In Munich with Jill

Jill is with us now - how fun! And we decided to go back to Munich to see more which we missed last week. On the way we stopped to play in this fountain again.



BMW's world headquarters is in Munich. It is in the Olympiapark (where the 1972 Olympics were held). So we went to check it out.

The office complex part of BMW Welt looks like four cylinders. Symbolic of parts in car engine, you are thinking? Turns out BMW is into symbolism big time. BMW buildings, presentations and displays have lots of symbolism expressing corporate philosophies and design concepts.



We spent some time in the BMW museum - lots of symbolism. It show the history of BMW cars, motorcycles and airplane engines.

Not suppose to actually get into the cars.... When Matt and Jill walked into the room with this little van, some tourist was sitting in the driver's seat. So they just climbed in when he got out. It was after the picture and after they got out that they noticed the sign to "not touch" written in both German and English.

The musem was a lot of fun. And Matt has his graduation gift already picked out - a sweet '86 sports car.




Matt went swimming in the Olympic pool.

The view from the tower was spectacular. Munich was all around us. Looking south we could see the Alps. And yeah, it rained off and on all day.

Point Alpha

Wednesday we went with the students to Point Alpha. It is about a 30 minute bus ride from Fulda. After WWII, Germany was divided into 4 regions. East Germany was under Soviet control, the Americans were in the central/south area, the French had a small part in the southwest, and the British had the north/central. After some time, those who lived in East Germany realized life was better in the west and began to move. The Soviets built a wall in Berlin and a fence 1000 km long along the border to keep the people from leaving.

This place was in the Fulda Gap, a long-standing trade route from the East to Frankfurt and the most likely route the Soviets would take if they invaded. So the Americans stationed troops here from 1961 until the wall came down in 1989.

The place where dad is standing was known as the Green Zone. There were two fences built by the Soviets. But the fences were still in Soviet territory, so if you crossed one and thought you were free, you were still in great danger of being shot. And for a time there were land mines between the two fences, causing an even greater danger.

One of the Soviet guard towers.
White poles with red on top marked the border between East and West Germany.
A tank and helicopter used during this time.
A view from the American guard tower looking East. The American flag still flies here at Point Alpha.

Thursday:

OK...the day started with great plans to travel to Frankfurt and meet Jill. Dad had to give a test, grade it, and turn in his grades. He didn't think he would be done in time, so Matt and I were going to leave earlier so Jill wouldn't have to wait by herself at the Frankfurt airport.

We got to the bus stop, caught the bus, arrived at train station with almost an hour to spare. We found Platform 3 and waited...waited...waited. No train to Frankfurt. (There was an announcement of some sort, but all in German) So we waited longer. The scheduled time came and went. Then a train arrived...not the ICE train we had tickets for, but another one. I asked a intelligent looking, uniform-wearing man if this is the train we should take to get to the Frankfurt airport. I showed him our tickets! He said Yes, take this train. So we climbed aboard.

It didn't feel right and I began looking around for someone else to ask. Finally, a nice older lady asked in broken English if we were OK. I showed her our tickets just as the train was leaving .....in the WRONG DIRECTION!!! Too late, we were on our way.

She told us to get off at the next station and return to Fulda, then ask someone there which train to take. By the time we got back to Fulda the next train for Frankfurt had already left, so we waited again. Finally at 12:44 we boarded the ICE train for Frankfurt. In the meantime, dad had arrived earlier than he had planned and was on the train we should have been on originally. The announcement that we didn't understand was informing everyone the train would be late. By the time it arrived we were on our way to Hunfeld. What an (unwanted) adventure!

Jill did arrive and dad met her. We have rented a car and have now arrived in Munich. It's great to all be together after a crazy morning.

Sunday on the way home from Munich we went to Dachau. It was the first of 1600 concentration camps built from 1933-1945. This is the only gate into the complex. The sign above the gate says "Work will set you free". How ironic since no one was every set free, they just died. The prisoners represented many different people. People who opposed the government were sent here, Jews, Gypsies, Russians, and prisoners of war. I think it was 16 different countries were represented among the population.
The prison barracks in 1933 housed 40 prisoners. Each had a wooden bunk about 3x7 feet and a small shelf above the bed. The increasing population forced the same barrack to house 400 people by 1943. The beds were now smaller and 3 people had to share a bed. The average weight was 80 lbs. Dachau was only for men, the women were sent somewhere else.

This is a picture of the security system. The electric fence is about 10 feet tall. There was enough voltage in the fence to kill anyone who touched it. The ditch is about 1 meter deep and 2 meter wide. There was no water in it, just another barrier. The 8 meters of grass in front of the ditch was actually a deadly area. The guards in the seven towers surrounding the camp were given orders to kill anyone who stepped onto the grass. They were armed with machine guns. If a guard did not like you, they might grab your cap, throw it on the grass and then order you to get it. You had only 20 seconds to respond to any order given or you were shot immediately. So either way, you were killed.

The entire camp is very somber (as it should be), but when we got to the creamatorium the sadness hangs in the air. The prisoners themselves had to do the work here. The ovens were operated 24 hours a day and could not keep up with the dead bodies. Just before this room is the gas chamber where 150 people at one time were executed. A total of over 200,000 people died at Dachau during those 12 years. It is now a memorial to those who died.

Today I went with two new friends, Gudula and Agnes to the palace near Fulda. It is actually the summer residence of the prince and was built in the 17th cnetury. This first picture is one of several gazebos throughout the grounds. It is enclosed with doors on 2 sides. Groups still reserve this for events or luncheons. The grassy area in front is huge and will accomadate big groups.

The palace is now used as a museum of furniture, artwork, and ceramics dating back as far as 1200BC. It is quite amazing. This is just the front of the building. Through the main entrance is another huge courtyard, another gate and then the horse stables. The tour we took was in German, but they gave me a printed explanation of the rooms and antiques so I wasn't completely lost. No pictures were allowed inside the building and if you touched something, an alarm would sound. You were responsible for the cost of the police coming if the alarm went off. Needless to say, everyone kept their hands off!

Munich

The day started with a tour of the city with the students from the university. We boarded our bus and a local tour guide joined us to show us Munich. There are so many places to visit. It was nice to get a quick (2 hour) overview of sites.

In the afternoon we had free time to do whatever we wanted. We chose first to visit the Deutsches Museum. It is a huge place of science and technology. There are a few interactive things, but mostly just things to look at and read about. Thankfully, there were English explanations at most exhibits.

Today there was a big celebration going on on the bridges of the city. It is to commemorate when the king tore down the bridge to build a new one because the old one belonged to the Bishop. I can't even remember what year that happened....Regardless, there were live performances of music and lots of booths selling food and trinkets. And LOTS of people! We wandered for a while, then took the streetcar to revisit some sites from earlier today.

Our first stop was to a cool fountain that is in a circle. You can activate a sensor so the water stops spraying in a section so you can get inside.

We walked down the street to the buildings the king had built because he loved Italy so much. He visited 25 times (in the days before trains or other good transportation the trip was very long.) So he decided to just build replicas of some of his favorite buildings in Rome so he could see them whenever he wanted. Our guide this morning told us that this is what the royalty did...They had all the money they needed because of the heavy taxes imposed on the people, they didn't work because they were royalty, so they designed and built castles, palaces, churches, and replicas for their enjoyment.

Nearby the "Italian" buildings is the building that housed Hitler's office in Munich. Notice dad pointing to the window of the office.

We took another streetcar to get to the Bavarian Motor Works headquarters. There is a museum but it had closed already so Matt posed with the car he hopes dad will buy him :)

Across the road from BMW is the Olympic Stadium and Park. Things were closed here too so we just wandered for a while. Then we saw a sign pointing us to the train. We walked and walked and walked and walked. No sign of a train station. Finally we took another streetcar back to our hotel.

A fun day. We plan to come back here after Jill joins us next week. There is so much to see here.

Travel to Neuschwanstein Castle

Today began early...we had to be at the University at 6:30 am to meet the bus with the students to travel to Munich by way of Neuschwanstien Castle. We went by chartered bus on the Autoban. We arrived at the Castle about 12:30. First stop was for lunch at the brautwurst stand. The bratwurst is delicious!

Notice the flowers in the windows. This is EVERYWHERE! I'm not sure if there is even one window without a box with flowers. It is really pretty.

After lunch we started toward the castle, but were saved from the hike by those who know better. So we rode to the top in a horse-drawn carriage. What fun!

The Neuschwanstein Castle is probably the most famous in Germany and has a very interesting history. But of interest to the Disney fans is this is the castle Walt Disney used as a model for the castle at Disneyland. Of course, this one is huge and sits high on the hill overlooking a beautiful lake with the Alps in the background. The pictures are from different windows, but we know that pictures are more interesting if someone is in them...notice Matt's thumb to prove we were there.

After meeting back at the bus, we spent another two hours getting to Munich. Here we will spend the next two days. We ate dinner at the Augustina Biergarten and then a walk back to the hotel in the rain. Good thing we brought umbrellas.