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Munich, Salzburg, and so much more

This week marks our last week in Germany.  With Sophia off work and our trusty navigation system, Sue (read my last post for details) at our side, we travelled to a few landmark cities to take in some final sights.

Sue behaved incredibly well for nearly our entire time on the road.  She did falter, however, on our drive back to the apartment at the end of the week.  Opting to take the back-roads instead of the more direct route.  This gave us an opportunity to drive across a dirt road, past a small cemetery (see the photos at the end of this post), and through someone’s farm.

Our trip started by travelling to Munich, the capital of the German state Bavaria (in which we resided for the month).  Munich is a fairly large city and there are a lot of sites to see; however, we didn’t have the time to really go in-depth.  We programmed Sue to take us to a few points of interest and snapped some photos as we moved throughout the city.

Next we travelled to Salzburg, in the country of Austria.  This trip was made at the advice of Sophia’s co-workers.  We booked a hotel for one night and upon arriving at the city, we weren’t really sure why.  However, after checking in and walking to a local restaurant we realized that Salzburg has a beautiful tourist area.  This city is the birthplace of some small-time musician and composer.

As with Munich, there was more than we could enjoy in the day we stayed.  On top of a mountain on the edge of the city is a fairly large castle.  We didn’t visit it, but I took some pictures from the city.  There were several large churches whose architecture is amazing.  The city also has a public garden in one of its parks.

We left Salzburg on route to return to Germany.  We plotted a different course to take us through Innsbruck.  This let us capture several magnificent, snow-capped mountain shots.  The pictures really do not do justice to how magnificent the view really was.  We travelled through these mountains–and literally too.  The path we took put us in the valley between several mountain ranges.  We also journeyed up one side, down another; and even through a 4 km tunnel inside of one.  We reach an elevation of 1210 m at the highest point–obviously the mountains themselves reach significantly higher.

The last castle we explored was left in ruins (by France, not us; honest).  We wanted to tour one that was still in one piece.  This led us to Neuschwanstein Castle in southwest Bavaria.  Sadly, photographs were not permitted inside the structure; however, we did get quite a few pictures from the outside and courtyard.  The castle is fairly young (built in the 19th century).  It was never really used, nor completed for that matter.  King Ludwig II had the castle built and moved into it before its completion; however, he died shortly after taking residence there and construction stopped.

In the area we visited, there were actually three castles (only two are shown in the photos below).  We only walked through the one for the sake of time and money.

Of particular interest to me during our tour of the castle was the king’s throne room.  Inside was a tiled mosaic floor comprised of millions (literally) of small tiles.  The rest of the castle was equally lavished.  It’s amazing how much time, effort and detail went into the construction of these buildings.  Such effort is certainly lacking in most modern construction.

It was also interesting that Ludwig’s bedroom had two secret rooms adjoining it.  One had a toilet in it (with running water), and the second was a “dressing room” (read: walk-in closet).  The dressing room was actually larger than the bedroom.  I must say, if I were to ever put a secret, hidden door in my own castle, it would certainly lead to a room of greater extravagance.

Neuschwanstein Castle took us into the early evening and we programmed our next destination into Sue: a hotel in the city of Ulm.

The next day we ventured to our final destination, Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  Another old city, with buildings similar to those in Lohr.  What makes it unique, however, is that the entire city is surrounded by a large stone wall.  The wall is fairly large and housing was built right into it.  On the inside, the roads are incredibly narrow and the buildings very close together.  The entranceways are just like one would read in a medieval times book.  The wall has watchtowers throughout it and was built for old-era war with large fortified sections for heavy combat and defence.

The town was bustling with people and we had difficulty finding any parking (or even driving through it).  We stopped at various places to snap some pictures.

The month has flown by; it’s difficult to believe it’s already over.  This was really an excellent opportunity for both of us to experience another culture (or two), and it was quite an eye-opener.  It’s unfortunate that it’s over so soon, but it will also be great to finally be back home.  I’ll miss the great chocolate they sell here, but I’m looking forward to a good cup of coffee.

Take a look at our last photo gallery.  If you’re wondering about the first picture, it’s what we observed to be the primary mode of transportation in Europe.  Don’t forget to sound off in the comments.