The castle isn’t that big, so we took a self guide tour of the castle building. The grounds around the castle are beautiful with many ponds, fish and nice hedges. We took a tour in the back of the castle to see the fountains and other fun things that the bishop that lived here had built.

I really liked this castle because it was designed to be light-hearted fun and beautiful. So many castle are beautiful but stuffy. The bishop used the natural springs here to power different fountains at his dinner table, in door ways, rooms, and places where he could get you wet when you don’t expect it. The springs also powered little wooden figures, and a huge replication of a city scene with hundreds of moving figures. All with water. It was fun and we got wet several times. I tried to keep my camera protected but the tour guide got me and it wet several times. It was fun and amazing that they designed all this then.

Then we had a quick bite to eat, and got in the car and headed back to their home. We then went out to eat one last time. I had a fish that is only found in the Bodensee. It was great and it was a great last meal in Germany.

Tomorrow I take the ferry to Romanshorn and then the train to Zurich to fly back home! I wish I could see more, but I’m ready for a break!

When we did this we had wetsuits, helmets, gloves, wet suit type socks, rapelling harnesses and tennis shoes on. The wet suits kept us a lot warmer, but we still got really chilled some of the time. I brought a camera and hope to have some of the photos turn out. At times we had to do a little rock climbing.

I had a great time and was nervous about this. I’m fairly sore now the day after. It’s pretty hard on your body and tiring. So, after we finished we came back made dinner and chilled for the night.

Beth had a great time on the tour and got to tell us about some of the highlights. I would like to watch the Sound of Music when I get back, since most of it was filmed in or around Salzburg. And drink a red bull since it was founded here. It’s interesting why it’s called Red Bull, so look it up when you get a chance.

Then we still had a ten minute hike up to where we took a cable car up a few thousand feet then hiked the last bit. By the time we were at the top we were quite high, and the castle that looked high up before was tiny and so far below us. I have gone up on a lot of mountains so far on this trip!

The tour was a thirty minute walk in and then out. The entrance to the cave has a door. Because of the difference in temperature it was very windy when walking over the door’s threshold. The first ten minutes was climbing 730 stairs. It was very dark, but they hand out lamps. Brian and I were prepared though and had headlamps (which I think the guide might have disliked since he made a comment about viewing the ice in natural light. It was fun seeing the different formations and all this ice that lasts in the side of this mountain even when it is quite warm outside. I’m not sure if I would go all the way to see this again though.

On the way back we stopped and ate at a restaurant where you take the cable car down. This was probably my favorite lunch. The food was great, along with the weather, and the view was amazing. We could see many mountains with clouds moving and flowing around their peaks. Brian had a german pancake with apple sauce on it. It tasted just like the german pancakes that my Aunt Mary Beth used to make! Yum.

I had wiener schnitzel with potatoes, soup, and cream cheese strudel for dessert. The schnitzel was very fresh, had a great batter, and was warm. The only odd thing at lunch was the crows that were flying around our heads and landing all around the table.

Then we headed back down and drove to Hohensalzburg Castle. We decided to hike up the few hundred feet instead of taking the cable car to the castle. Unfortunately it decided to start pouring, so we waiting it out and it was mostly done after a few minutes. When we got to the top we watched the falconry show. They took out different birds and had them fly around. Several times they swooped down over my head. They even had a bald eagle (I really like them) that they took out and had fly around. It was huge!

We then took a tour of the castle, including several interesting torture devices, jail cells, cisterns, the bell tower (I even got to ring the bell!). Just as we were done and were going to hike down it started a torrential downpour so we decided to pay to take the cable car down, but no one charged us for it!

We hadn’t planned on going to the castle or didn’t even know what it was, but it’s nice being flexible with our plans on visiting another castle then.

Once we got back to the campground we made gnocchi (potato balls that you boil) with tomato sauce in the jet boil stove. Camping and making our meals has saved us a lot of money, especially since we are in Salzburg for four nights. Camping is different here, as the trailers or motorhomes are tiny compared to the US. On the trailers here they have little wheels that people can drive them with so they can be moved onto the hitch of their car. So, yes, they pull their trailers with regular sedan cars. It seems a little precarious, but must be okay.

I forgot to mention that on Wednesday on the car ride here we had a great discussion about Dachu, World War II and the moral problems that people had to face and more.

It was still misting / drizzling when I got up this morning. After getting ready, we had breakfast. Beth found a good recipe to use with there camp stove, so we had omelets in the bag. It was clean and easy, so I’d like to try it when I get home.

We drove to Hellain, just South of town where we took a tour of the salt mines. My parents had toured these many years ago, and my brother and sister-in-law had gone through them five years ago. The salt mines started in 500 BC and were very important for the area. Salt was a precious commodity, and helped to make the area prosperous.

On the tour you learn about how they mine the salt, the history of the mine and many other things. But you also do some fun activites, like ride a train into the mine, go down two slides (29 and 42 meters), ride a boat, and watch several videos. All of these activities though were things that the miners used and did while mining.

After that, we noticed we were close to Hitler’s Eagle Nest, where he had a resort area that he could (but rarely used). We didn’t know much about the area, but we found it. You have to take a bus to the top, which was fairly expensive, so we instead made lunch instead. We made rice and salsa burritos with the stove. They tasted great! While here it was incredibly fogging, and a little bit of a drizzle.

Then we walked around Old Salzburg. When we got downtown we unexpectedly saw that several streets were blocked off for old sports cars that were racing around the city. It was fun to see.

It was nice just walking around. There isn’t much that sounds out for me to point out, except that the (main) cathedral was fairly old. It was built in the 700′s. My memory fails me if these is usually old for a cathedral, but it amazes me none the less. Unfortunately most of it was bombed in World War II. Actually, most of the cities were bombed severely in the war, and some towns like Friedrichshafen (were Beth and Brian live) were demolished. There was only one statue in the park was the only thing left.

While walking around we had some pretzels, each covered in chocolate, nuts or filled with apple. They were good but HUGE and filling. As such, we didn’t really have dinner. Then we went to a restaurant, chilled and had a drink.

We bought the pretzels just feet from where Mozart was born. Mozart is a big tourist focus in the city, so there’s concerts with his music, statues, and lots of things to buy with him on it. But there are Mozart themed chocolates everywhere! If I didn’t know who he was, I would have thought he invented chocolate, or was the best chocolate salesmen.

Afterwards on our way back we walked the city wall. While it was our intention to climb it, walk along it, and then descend down where we needed to, alas we couldn’t find a way down. So we had to walk all the way back, which was taxing on our tired feet.

I say that rain was fitting because it was somber walking through the camp were so many inhuman, and heinous acts were committed. It’s scary what humans are capable of and also the pure evil that was present here and throughout Europe then.

While I originally didn’t plan on coming here, I had some extra time so I decided to come here. I’m glad I visited and learned, but also I am amazed at what happened here.

Brian said that each German high school student has to come to a concentration camp and learn about what happened. This seems wise.

Also, my parents came here several decades ago and said that they barely could find it and people wouldn’t want to give them directions to find it.

After I visited the camp, I went downtown and explored the centrum. By the way, on the way on the train I saw tons of teens walking around in traditional lederhosen and such (I imagine they were getting of work at a tourist restaurant or such…) I walked for a bit and then stopped and ate. I had some sausages (the basically ended up being breakfast sausages), and german potato salad. And of course a beer. Then I took the train to the suburbs were Beth and Brian picked me up, and we then traveled to Salzburg, Austria. This is where we’ll be spending the weekend (and my last days here). We are camping in the city at Nord Sam.

When we arrived it was late, dark and rainy. Rain isn’t fun to be in when camping, especially when setting up the tent and moving things around, but we more than survived.

Then I hiked around, and headed for Neuschwanstein castle. It was quite a hike up the hill and it was raining the whole time. I made it up to the bridge were you have a great view ofthe castle. Neuschwanstein looks very picturesque and ideal as a castle. It was actually designed that way. It’s only a few hundred years old and wasn’t designed for function (as almost all castles are) but Ludwig II had a artist design a castle that would look like one from centuries earlier. Oddly, he was only there for a few hundred days before he died.

I then took a tour of the place. It’s amazing inside. The throne room was breathtaking and was in great condition.

Then I scurried back to make the train back, but the bus there was 3 minutes late, so the train left before I got there, so I killed time in Füssen, and bought some dutch chees to go on my last roll. It’ll be a lite supper.

Now I’m on the train headed back, and switching trains at the next stop of Kaufbeuren. Hopefully I can get some rest then.

For dinner, beth made spatzel which is a German pasta with cheese and fried onions. It tasted great! I enjoy tasting the local fare.

After dinner we went to a pool and swam. I was expecting just a huge pool, but it was actually way better. It was a pool with all different things in it. There was jets, a really fast whirlpool, laungers in the water, and tons more. I believe each different area was designed to relax / massage different muscles. There were also slides and more. It’s hard to describe it… And the locked rooms are really confusing and high tech. Actually, almost everything here is high tech and
pretty fun to use.

The path started off quiet but as we got closer to Monteresso (and as the path narrowed), it got a lot more busy, so it’s good that we left fairly early. Because we have a long drive back, we didn’t see to much of the time, but instead took a swim in the Mediterranean Sea! After our hot hike, this was a great way to spend an hour cooling off. The water was crystal clear, only somewhat salty, and refreshing! We had a quick meal of focaccia sandwiches (another local treat). Brian’s had tomatoes and they are amazing here!

Then we jumped on the train, headed back to Vernazza and started our sidewinding trip up the hills. When we drove down we were in the clouds and couldn’t see most of what was below us, but now we could see down. It was really far, but also we could see incredibly far down the coast.

I’m surprised how distinct each country is in the landscape, cleanliness, people’s personalities and dispositions, and more. Needless to say, I’ve meant countless fun and friendly people.

Now we hunker down for the eight hour car ride back. We decided to count the tunnels that we’ll go through on the way back. We quickly hit 30 in the first hour. Now as we pass through Switzerland we’re at 70. Beth guessed we would go through 68, Brian said 97, and I guessed 100. Who’s going to win? I’ll update you later!

Well after making it through most of Austria, we had an awesome rest stop with a beautiful view of a valley and mountains that we passed through. A little while later we stopped at another rest stop and got rotiñi, the Austrian hashbrown dish I had earlier last week.

At the end of the trip we got up to 78 tunnels. I don’t even think we have any tunnels in the whole state of Michigan!

The paths between the cities are cut into the mountainsides, so even though they are a few miles apart we still had a lot of work to do climbing and descending between them. As we hiked along we saw many farms of olives, figs, lemons,and grapes. The hiking was a fair amount of work, but I can’t imagine having to work and carry everything to and from your farm (especially hundreds of years ago). Maybe the scenic surroundings make up for the hard work. I enjoyed getting above the cities and seeing the coast line. The weather was sunny and clear so we could see far.

We spent the full day hiking South, we stopped for lunch of pizza in Manarola. Unlike the other food it’s fairly cheap and was great. I had salami on mine and really enjoyed it, especially the great mozzarella on it.

In the furthest town we had ice cream. I enjoyed the strawberry ice cream. In fact this is our third night of ice cream! Maybe we’re starting a tradition?

We had talked about hiking the way back, but the day took longer than we expected so we took the train back. You might expect that the train ride was just as scenic, but actually the train stays in tunnels the whole way. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but there is no flat land here except a couple feet here and there. So, not only is land at a premium but everywhere you travel in town, between towns and everywhere else is on an incline.

Once back we did some shopping and then went down to the pier to watch the sunset. I think the area ten years ago was not nearly as touristy and the tourist that were there were mostly German. Now the cities are mostly focused on tourism. There is a restaurant right on the pier so we had a small dinner there. The food was great and the scenery was great. With Brian I split bruschetta with tomatoes and pesto. It was amazing, especially the tomatoes tasted amazing, unlike any I’ve ate in the U.S. Also, the pesto here is something that the area is known for. Then I had pesto lasagna. To drink I had limoncino, which is a lemon liquer. It was good and is something that the area is known for, and we saw lots of lemons being grown on our hike.

What an amazing day. I have had a great week traveling so far and enjoyed so many things. It’s hard to fully appreciate these places without being there for several days, but we saw tons and spent a lot of our day on our feet. I also really enjoy traveling with Beth and Brian. Everyone travels different and there are lots of decisions to make throughout the day, but we all interact well and decide things well. Plus they’re fun to be around!

Well, the car ride wasn’t to eventful other than it took a lot longer than we expected. It was fairly obvious once we entered Italy because everything wasn’t as maintained or as clean. As we went through Liechtenstein it was amazing to go down the switchback roads on the highway that slowly twists down to the valley. Once we reached Italy the land flattened out to be as flat as a pancake. As we drove further and got closer to the coast we started going down into the city of Genoa and then headed along the coast through countless tunnels. Lunch was pizza (foccacia with pizza sauce, and cheese) and also racceteria (I’m not sure how to spell it and it’s like a panini). Also, the drivers are crazy in Italy, they pass on blind corners into oncoming traffic.

As we turned of the highway to start are drive by the cities of Cinque Terre we descended further down very narrow and sharp cornered roads that were a little nerve racking. Brian did a good job driving down. The turns were almost all blind corners and several times we passed cars driving the opposite way it seemed like we wouldn’t be able to get by each other. But we made it through fine in the end.

Our destination for the weekend in the five cities of Cinque Terre which are nested in the cliffs along the coast of Northern Italy. These five cities are small, unreachable by car and very picturesque. Originally I read that we wouldn’t be able to drive to here and would need to take the train, but calling our hotel, they mentioned that there was room in the very small parking lot at the edge of town. (It turns out that the hotel owner, runs the parking lot too, so he told us this and gave us a great deal on parking!) Also, there are paths that connect these five cities were have great views and such. (I feel like I saw this about each place I go… but I guess I like this and thats why I choose to visit these places).

The hotels owners were very pleasant and nice, even though we showed up two hours later than we told them. The hotel is only two rooms that they let out. I only found out about it because I had emailed several other places, which replied saying that they were booked and that we showed try this place, the hotel Camere Vittoria. We love it! It’s very clean, has plenty of room, and was a great place. It’s a great find!

We strolled around town, enjoyed the huge waves at the sea (this was my first time seeing the Medditeran Sea too!). The waves were washing over the pier. I was shocked when some kids playing in the spray that would come over the edge jumped into a wave as it crested the pier. I thought he would be crushed or tossed around and probably killed. As the next wave crested the pier again he popped out and was standing on the pier again. It was shocking.

We had dinner close to the hotel. I had a local favorite, a white fish still all one piece with sautéed potatoes, pine nuts, olives, olive oil, and tomatoes. While we ate on the street it was funny to see a couple of things. Tons of people here just walk around drinking from wine bottles and people pee in the street and wherever! Also, it true about all th guys wearing speedos. Yikes!

After relaxing more at dinner we got some ice cream and went and watched the waves wash over the pier again.