Journey Home

Trips like this are always whirlwind affairs with too many activities and too little time.  In spite of our best planning efforts, we always go away wanting more and needing to return.  That is certainly true for all four of our stops on this trip.  We also found ourselves a little tired after two weeks of active traveling and touring.

The trip home started with a 4:30 am wake-up call Saturday morning in our room in Salzburg (that was 9:30pm Friday night at home in Houston!), with a 5:30 am departure in a van for the 90 minute drive to the airport in Munich.  Arriving in plenty of time for our 9:30 am departure, we had some time to relax and have a coffee before boarding.  The flight from Munich to Charles de Gaulle was uneventful and when we checked in for our flight to the US, we had a wonderful surprise at our departure gate.  We were upgraded to Business Class on Air France!  That was really a treat and made the long flight to the US much more enjoyable.  The seats reclined to horizontal for a more restful sleep, the space was generous, and the food was terrific.  Air France does a great job with food anyway, and Business Class was really good.

Our return was through Minneapolis, as the only non-stop from Munich to Houston left much too early for us to catch.  So, one more leg and we walked into our house at 9:00 pm Saturday evening, 23 1/2 hours after  our wake-up call in Salzburg!  It was a very long day, even with the Business Class perk.

This was another wonderful trip and we really enjoyed sharing it with our longtime friends, Paul & Vickie Pitts.  This was our first time traveling internationally with friends, and I know it will not be our last.  It was great having another couple along on the trip to share the experiences and memories.

Thanks to those of you who have followed along with this blog as well.  I am finishing this last post a week and a half after returning home, so I have not kept up as well this time.  But, I have enjoyed writing about our experiences and working with the photos.  I hope some of you have enjoyed this as well.

Jim

Final Evening

Our last evening in Salzburg, and the last evening of the tour, we all met in the hotel restaurant for dinner.  It was a good time to tell some stories and remember everything we had done over two weeks.  Some of the original group were not there as Salzburg was an optional extension and not everyone chose to do it.  Dinner was good and it was a nice way to cap off the trip.  We then gathered in the lobby for a group photo (see below).  The next morning we left very early (5:30am), the bulk of the group left at 9:30am, and one couple left about noon.  So this was good-bye.  Hugs all around.

The Eagles Nest

One of the top highlights of the entire trip was our visit to Hitler's Eagles Nest in the Alps just across the border from Salzburg.  This was our final tour of the trip, following the morning visit of the salt mines.  Known to the Germans as Kehlsteinhaus, this is a chalet-like structure built on a sub peak of the mountain complex above Berchtesgaden.  This chalet was built as a retreat for Hitler and a place to bring dignitaries.  

The road up to the entrance of Kehlsteinhaus is private and traveled only by buses operated by the facility.  The view is progressively better as the bus climbs the mountain.  The day we visited was cloudy and drizzling, so the clouds made interesting layers and patterns and were changing constantly.  Below is a photo from the bus as we climbed the mountain.

We exited the bus then walked a long distance down a bricked tunnel to the very same elevator Hitler used to ascend to the Kehlsteinhaus!  Once on top, the views were spectacular!

But the real treat was still ahead of us.  A pathway extends from the level of the Kehlsteinhaus, up along a ridge to a point well above the Kehlsteinhaus.  There are many photos from our walk up that ridge, but my favorite of all of them is below.  The view of the Kehlsteinhaus from the ridge above it, with the clouds slightly embracing the structure from the left, is really spectacular.  This may be my favorite photo from the entire trip!

There are many beautiful photos in this album and it is one to not miss!  This visit was one of top two or three activities of the entire trip!

The Salt Mines

Salzburg's early growth and wealth was largely due to the salt deposits discovered in that area.  In fact the word Salzburg means literally "salt fortress" in German, also "salt castle". The names derives from the barges that transported salt down the river in the 8th century and paid tolls when they passed by.  Salt built Salzburg.

This tour was on our final day and included an underground tour of the salt mines.  It was very interesting as these particular salt mines have been in use for over 500 years.  No photos were allowed inside the mines, so a description will have to suffice.  We put on jumpsuits over our clothes and then boarded a "train" where we faced forward, strattling a bench seat.  We were seated very close and had to hold onto the person in front of us, much like riding a motorcycle behind someone.  The train moved quickly down into the mines for about 10 minutes, then we got off and walked the rest of the time.  In two places we used wooden slides to rapidly go down to the next level, sitting in groups of four on the slide.  That was really fun!

The mining technique was a surprise.  They create large underground caverns the site of large gymnasiums, and fill them with water to the very top.  The water then sits in each cavern dissolving the salt from the surrounding rock, creating a brine that sinks to the bottom of that cavern.  The brine is allowed to collect for many years before extraction begins, then they pump the brine from the bottom.  The extracted brine is then processed in a nearby plant leaving the salt crystals we all use.  They have a large number of these chambers in operation at the same time, keeping the plant busy.

One interesting observation is the color of the stream running along the road where we visited the mines.  Due to the mineral content of the rocks, the water was a cloudy blue.  You can see that in the photo below.

There a few photos in this album of the area around the mine entrance and one of some of our group wandering around a bridge.

An Evening with Mozart

One of our special events was a dinner/concert at the oldest restaurant in Europe (so they claim on their sign).  It was an elegant evening with dinner and a wonderful concert of Mozart.  The waiters served a first course, then the musicians and singers entered to play and sing a few pieces, then left and the waiters returned for the next course.  It continued that way the entire evening.  It was a very nice event.

Hohensalzburg Castle

As with every city we visited on this trip there was a castle/palace on the highest ground in the city.  In Salzburg it's Hohensalzburg Castle that towers above the Old Town.  Below is a great shot of the castle from the Old Town.

We were so tired we almost skipped taking the cable car up the mountain to the castle.  The views were fantastic from the castle and this album is not to be missed!!  These are some of the best photos of Salzburg!

Construction on the Hohensalzburg Castle began in 1077 and was originally mostly wooden.  The castle was expanded over the years with the towers and ring walls added in 1462.  The castle was refurbished in the 19th century and today is one of the largest and best preserved medieval castles in Europe. The history of the castle is interesting and you can learn more about it at Hohensalzburg Castle.

There are several photos in this album that are favorites and I would like to highlight them all here, but that would overwhelm the text.  I will just insert one of my favorites below that show Salzburg and the river below.  Please check out the other photos in the album with this post.

Fountains, Squares, & Streets

Salzburg is so very picturesque that it is difficult to pick out a single scene or view that is a favorite.  The Old Town is filled with great architecture, beautiful squares, and marvelous fountains.  It was too hard to keep track of the name of each one, so I have collected them together in a single album here.  Some of the photos in this album are obviously taken from a second story, and those were from the outside balcony of the cafe where I had the apricot strudel (see previous post).  You will also see horses hitched to wagons in these photos, as there were many lined up for hire for the tourists.

One of my favorite fountains was in the square above where you see the horses.  This square was also the backdrop for a couple of scenes in The Sound of Music.  Below is another view that includes the fountain and also shows the towers and the dome of the Cathedral in the background.

This was a holiday for Austria and Germany (it was a Friday) and the square and the Old Town were filled with European tourists.  I found a bench at the edge of this square and just sat and enjoyed the scene and watched the people for awhile.  It was really interesting and a nice chance to rest my feet!

The album with this post contains some really nice shots and I encourage readers to take time to look at those photos.