Bavarian Alps

When we got Schengen visa in 2017, Lakshman asked me which destinations were on top of my list. I came up with Switzerland and Santorini. He countered with Bavarian Alps and North of Spain as alternates to avoid crowds and excessive expense. I was game.

So in 2017 Easter break, we flew to Munich from Heathrow and rented a car (Peugeot 2008) from Munich airport. I have to say this here, considering he has not driven either​ an automatic car or on the wrong side of the road, Lakshman tackled both these challenges admirably. We drove on from the airport to countryside without seeing even a glimpse of Munich city.

The countryside was beautiful and reminiscent of English countryside except for the houses which looked like Swiss Chalets. We stopped at a cafe for lunch and realised that communication during this trip was going to be a big challenge as English was not popular in rural Germany and my German, which was purely based on an offline dictionary app, was not quite enough. We had one slice of bread and a few thinly cut slices of cheese for lunch. But the cupcake and gelato slightly made up for that paltry lunch.

We drove on to Chiemsee Lake but quickly realised that the boating service was not in operation. We drove on to another side of the vast lake and walked along the shore and on the pier taking our fill of the wonderful views.

The drive to Hotel Stollsport near Berchtesgaden was beautiful and we checked in for two nights. 

The view from our room absolutely delighted us and though Lakshman was all logical about how the Alps were a single range of mountains with countries sharing similar scenery, I was convinced that such a beautiful place could only exist in Switzerland.

We headed to a pub for dinner and this turned out to be the most satisfying meal of the trip. I had a veg burger, thick cut chips and Lakshman had garlic bread with cheese dumplings. My mom would be glad to hear this because I was actually craving vegetables! It was a little funny being the only adult in the pub drinking a strawberry milkshake. After dinner, we turned in early, tired from our drive of nearly 250km after a two hour flight.

The next day we went for an early morning walk around the lovely neighbourhood. The huge houses were chalet style and in a nearby wooded area, the knocking noise alerted us to the presence of a woodpecker, a first sighting for us!

After an unsatisfactory breakfast consisting hard bread shaped like bun, cold boiled eggs and orange juice, we drive to Konigsee. We decided to go boating to Salet island and the views from the boat were gorgeous. However the commentary about the sights was in German so we understood nothing and were feeling left out and missed holidaying in UK where there was no language barrier. Midway through the boating, a crew member played a trumpet at the exact spot where the music would echo perfectly around the mountain range. Suddenly it was magical!

The Salet island had a small and charming old church housed inside the signature building that featured in all the boating brochures. We could see snow capped mountain views​ from the island but it was a little touristy. The boating ride back was far less crowded so a little more enjoyable.

There were some traditional German outfits for sale in the tourist shops but I thought they were overpriced costumes, not that I was planning to buy anyway.

We had lunch at McDonald's, unfortunately the first of our many meals there, and then went to Wimbakchalklamm.

Wimbakchalklamm had a gorge and a walking route in a wooden bridge-like path alongside the fast flowing river. We also hiked around a little and enjoyed more snow capped peak views.

Rain started pouring after that, so we went to a picturesque small town nearby called Schloss, to take refuge from the weather, where there were a couple of charming churches and a lovely village square. 

Though we were not particularly hungry, we went to an Italian place called Salvatore. The decor was funny with underwear, bikinis and lingerie hanging from laundry lines but the food was below average. My margherita pizza was without flavour and I was starting to feel a little morose about the lack of good food on this trip. After dinner, we went back to the room for an early night.

The next day after another unsatisfactory dry and cold breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and drove towards Eibsee where there was a popular cable car to Zugspitze peak, which was supposed to be the highlight of our trip. The drive was pretty long and it was raining non stop so we stopped for a leisurely coffee break but our leisurely pace meant that we reached Eibsee too late to go up to Zugspitze and spend enough time there before closing time. Slightly disappointed by our less than perfect planning, we decided to drive back at crack of dawn the next morning to go to Zugspitze. But this place was 100km from our hotel so it wasn't an efficient plan.

As we drove on morosely towards our hotel, there was a board that said ”Welcome to Austria” and that was not part of our plan! We had only planned to travel within Germany and were thoroughly surprised at entering another country without any form of border control. We stopped at a petrol station to get some fuel for both the car and ourselves as it was nearly 3pm.

The veg sandwich I had was pretty awful, bread was nearly as hard as stone and cheese slice so thick I'd trouble keeping it down. It was perhaps the worst food I had on this trip. I was missing not only Indian home food but the delicious vegetarian food we usually had on our road trips in UK. Perhaps we were eating at the wrong places but vegetarian food in interior Germany was rare to find and lacked any flavour. The constant rain brought my mood down further and I was ready to give up on the day. I even got philosophical about how some days we were the bird and some days we were the statue and we need to accept that the day was a failure. We bought some chips and chocolate to make up for the poor meal, the snacks actually helped us the rest of the trip.

We had noticed a bridge over the motorway before the petrol station, which was an attraction we had come across on YouTube videos while researching Bavaria though the bridge was technically in Austria. We decided to turn back and something happened to change our whole perspective about that unhappy day. The rain turned to snow!! All the tourists were leaving due to snow and we were excited because of it. I was jumping as I left the car and another family, leaving the parking area, gave me their parking ticket amused by my childish excitement. We saved €4 without effort, so this day definitely took a turn for the better!

We bought tickets for the Highline179 bridge and climbed up the hill during a snowfall. It was both magical and looked like something out of Game of Thrones. I wanted to shout - King of the North!

After passing through the ticket stile, we were at the bridge and the visibility was so low that we couldn't see the other end of the bridge. It was like that scene in Jurassic park where they get trapped in a bridge with those flying dinosaurs. Yikes!

 

We walked across the bridge in heavy snowfall, there was no shelter and the bridge was slippery. But as this meant we watched the scenery turn from green to white in front of our eyes, this only excited us further. It was a long walk and the motorway view below caused mild vertigo but in a good way. If it had been a clear day, the views would have stretched on all sides but it wouldn't have been as magical as walking in the snow!

No questions about it, this was the highlight of the trip. Funny thing was, not only was this not a planned stop, it was not even in the country we were holidaying in!!

After taking our fill of the snowy landscape, we drove towards the hotel near the town of Fischen. On our way, we noticed several cable cars for skiers and realised that there was no need to go to Zugspitze the next day. What we were looking for was just around the corner from where we were staying.

It was amazing driving during a snowfall and the scenery around us completely​ white. After passing through the most beautiful town in Austria called Reutte (according to me, as it is the only Austrian town I have seen), we re-entered Germany locally known as Deutschland without any fuss and a tiny road sign being the only indication of a country border being crossed!

The hotel was perched on a hill above the village with wonderful mountain views from the room balcony. 

We left the hotel to find​ dinner but every establishment nearby was closed. Finally we stopped at the shop in the petrol station and got take away sandwiches. Settling in the room to watch Prison break season 5, we turned down for the night.

After doing some quick online research on nearby cable cars, we left the hotel looking for breakfast. When the only breakfast shop we found open said - make your own breakfast for €12 per person, I was nearly crying for the fry up British breakfast served by the B&B’s in UK. We ended up having McEgg Muffin at the McDonald's nearby.

We headed to Nebelhornbahn to take the cable car to the top of the summit. A few skiers were lurking around with gear but to our utter surprise, the lady at the ticket counter discouraged us from going up and showed us the view from the top of the mountain telecast through a live camera, it was a shroud of mist. Still having gone to the Alps, we wanted the cable car experience so we were convincing her to please sell us tickets! The ride up took about three minutes and it was pretty magical but we saw her point. We couldn't see a lot, just the nearby snow. The whole thing took less than an hour and was the most expensive thing we did on the trip.

After that we drove to Almbachklamm waterfalls. 

It was a short hike up and we realised that this was an odd waterfall. The main fall was about 40ft high but after that, the water was distributed into multiple streams that gushed down through every gap it could find between the rocks. There were nooks and crevices behind the falls and the whole place had a tranquil natural beauty.

Somehow Lakshman convinced me to climb further after the falls and we arrived ​at a gorgeous meadow with snow capped peaks on every side. It was truly magical and perhaps the best view of the trip. We drank it all in and even sighted a red kite.

There was no one else for as far a eyes can see, which makes every view better.

After climbing down, we drove to a nearby McDonald's for another boring lunch. We drove on to Neuschwanstein castle but it was so overcrowded that we satisfied ourselves with seeing it from afar.

We then went to a small waterfall called Lechfall by the road near Austria border.

Once again we drove cross border via the long but beautiful route through the village of Reutte and the photogenic Alpenstrabe (pronounced as Alpenshtrasa by the GPS lady).

We stopped at a cafe for takeaway burgers and headed to the hotel. After a cold meal, we settled in for another episode of Prison break.

When we looked out the window the next morning, it was incredible. It had snowed all night and the view from the high vantage point of our room had turned white.

The next thing I did was the second highlight of the trip for me. I shovelled snow off the rented car!! I made snow balls and chucked them around. This was a dream come true moment for the girl hailing from hot and humid Chennai. Of course, having to do this everyday would be a pain, but for the first time and during a holiday, it was pure joy!

We left the hotel and drove without a stop to Munich airport. It snowed most of the way and the views were gorgeous. 

One moment stood out when we saw a red fox walking in a snow covered field, possibly looking for rats, without any camouflage. We drove for a short while on Autobahn - the highway without any speed limit! When we reached the car drop point, the staff approached Lakshman and greeted him by name. After a smooth car return, we stopped for another McEgg muffin breakfast at the airport McDonald's, thankfully our last meal at the franchise.

We took a train into Munich city to kill a few hours before our flight. It was snowing in the city we we reached Markienplace and the nearby interesting buildings. We relentlessly walked around in the snow, saw a few interesting shops and reached river Isar.

To be honest, it looked like any other European city. Rome, London and Paris stand out while Munich sort of blurred in. We took the train back to the airport and boarded the Lufthansa flight to Heathrow, leaving behind a white paradise with bad food.

The trip had exceeded expectations. I thought we would see beautiful mountain scenery but I did not expect visual perfection like Switzerland or playing in the snow. And the highlight was the hike during snow in Austria and that was during our trip to Germany! I was reminded of a dialogue from the movie Lunchbox - sometimes a wrong train takes you to the right destination. :-)