Mongoso European Post (Part 2 – Liechtenstein, Austria, Bavaria)

Wow, I can’t believe you came back for more punishment after yesterday’s infliction. I’m having some sneaky fun writing this because I get to relive the hedonistic (for my age group at least) lifestyle of the past couple weeks. Day 5 dawned with the group facing a seven hour bus ride from our first base of operations, Bern, Switzerland to our next one in Innsbruck, Austria. I was leaving Switzerland with a true appreciation of the drop dead gorgeous scenery and an impression of the thoroughly dour population inhabiting it. I was in for a treat though upon arrival in Austria but first had to stop off, in of all places, Liechtenstein. We had passed by Lake Zurich enroute to Austria when we pulled into the small town of Vaduz, the capitol of Liechtenstein. I asked Oz what the small brook we crossed nearby and it turned out to be the not so mighty Rhine River. I’m given to understand the river gets much larger as it makes it way north. This small principality is a country in itself but I’d always thought of it as trick question on a geographic quiz. It turns out to be an incredibly beautiful place although there seemed to be more banks than people there. We had about an hour to walk around town which was more than enough. The town is dominated by Vaduz Castle which sits on a cliff literally overlooking the town. It’s the home of the Prince of Liechtenstein. There were some spectacular views of the Alps surrounding the town and a weird modern looking house that looked like a huge wind chime (again worried my Favorite Panamanian was getting some ideas – she loves those damned things).

Wife and I in Vaduz

Vaduz City Hall

Castle On Top of Cliff

Wife in Main Street Vaduz

Nearby Alps in Background

Wife all gussied Up

Better View of Castle

Better View of Alps

The Wind Chime House

Waiting for Our bus

Not a Real Busy Place

Castle Again, I love Castles

Views from Our Trip into Austria

The Rhine River Just Getting Started

Our trip continued into Austria which provided the most spectacular views of the entire trip which is impressive as Switzerland put up some pretty stiff competition. I loved being immersed into the Alps and the vistas were almost non-stop, except for the many tunnels (including one eleven miles long). While I was interested in the scenery Oz put on an old movie on the bus video. It was a bio-pic about Empress Sissi who was a beloved ruler within the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 1800s. My wife was immediately captured by the 1950s era film while I contented myself with the view. We pulled into Innsbruck and I immediately felt a better vibe than Bern. The town is dominated by the accompanying Alps and our hotel, the Hotel Innsbruck (okay not a long suit in the imagination department) was located within the old town. I liked this hotel much better and not only because it had the internal bar that the first one lacked and that we each had bathrobes and slippers awaiting us. We were sent out on a walking tour of the old town almost immediately. We walked through the massive summer palace of the Austro-Hungarian emperors, including Sissi. Adjacent was another one of those stunning baroque churches, St James, another Jesuit one which had a fabulous interior. This included a flat ceiling that was painted to look like it was domed, truly impressive. You had to pay one Euro to take pictures inside and we were halfway through when one of our tour members was accosted by the staff for failing to pay, those Jesuits can be tough. I loved the walk thorough old town with its seemingly endless supply of street cafes and lively people. We ended the tour across from the factory outlet store for Swarovski Crystal which my wife had been looking forward to. You can guess where we spent the next two hours. It was an interesting place and even had a display room where a typical grocery store shelves had been depicted in crystal. My wife was in for an even bigger surprise as I completed my plan to buy her whatever she asked for – it left her a little bit in shock. We ended the evening eating wiener schnitzel at one of those old town outdoor cafes enjoying the atmosphere and delicious bier (beer). Okay that was mostly me. We ended the night at the hotel bar (good guess) where my wife enjoyed a fabulous mojito prepared by one of the nicest guys we met in Innsbruck, a Syrian refugee named Samir who could make a mean mojito. We were joined by more of our tour partners including the crazy gals who were becoming good friends. One of the others, a young Montreal cop accompanying his mother on the tour (also the guy busted by the Jesuits earlier), was convinced by my wife to seek his future wife in Panama over the upcoming holidays. This ended a truly great day despite all the bus time.

Moments After Arriving in Innsbruck

Our Hotel

View (Not so much) From Our Room

Wife with One of Our New Buddies

View from Front of Hotel

Entrance to Old Town

Peak on Far Right is Where I wanted to Gondola to

Old Town Innsbruck

Old Town Innsbruck

Central Hotel that Attracts a Lot of Celebs

Central Watch Tower That Also Served as Drunk Tank
Wiener Schnitzel Place in Foreground

Old Town Innsbruck

Ancient Central City Government  Building Roof is Gilded in Gold

Old Town Innsbruck

Old Town Innsbruck

Summer Palace on Left

Summer Palace

Summer Palace

Ancient Church

Central Courtyard of Summer Palace

St James Church

Wife in Plaza in Front of Church

Interior of St James

The Flat Ceiling

More of Church - I got my Euro's Worth

Wife back Outside

Wife with Tour Group Behind Her

The Crystal Grocery Store - Everything  Made of Crystal

Innsbruck View

Wiener Schnitzel and Bier

Other Side of table

What Became Our Nightly Standard - Mojito and Bier!

Day 6 was a fun one also as we drove two hours, though southern Germany, to Salzburg. It was a day liberally laced with references to the Sound of Music movie, the actual events of which took place there. A lot of the scenes from this childhood favorite were also shot in and around Salzburg. We met up our traditionally garbed guide (must have been a knockout 30 years ago), who was a lot of Germanic fun (she warned us the beggars on street corners were delivered each day by the Romanian mafia), in the Mirabell Gardens outside the palace of the same name. As you can imagine my Favorite Panamanian, dedicated gardener that she is truly appreciated the beautiful setting. I, on the other hand, being equally dedicated to the cinema appreciated the place as the setting for the do-ray-mi song form the Sound of Music. We then crossed a bridge into the old town which sat below the massive Festung Hohensalzburg, one of the largest castles in Europe. The bridge was liberally festooned with locks. Our guide explained couples would write their names on the lock and then toss the key into the river. If they were ever to break up one would have to dive into the river to retrieve the key. She noted a lot more combination locks were appearing lately. We made our way through an archway into what had become normal for our time in Europe, narrow, cobblestoned streets liberally laced with shopping opportunities. One of the first places we ran into was Mozart’s birthplace. We also saw a massive black basalt wall next to the national theater that was used in the final scene of Sound of Music. Salzburg, so named for nearby salt mines, was ruled for many years by a bishop which probably explained why there were so many churches. We toured the main cathedral which had another of those brilliant baroque interiors. It was bombed during WW2 because Hitler used to hang out nearby. At the end of the tour we had three hours to kill which in my wife mind equals shopping. We linked up with the pair of gals that had, at this point, become our buddies. We ate lunch at a food truck in one of the many plazas and had a hot dog like wurst which was served inside the roll which was hollowed out for that purpose – a great idea/innovation. My wife scored some ice cream which our buddies correctly pointed out matched her outfit – she is nothing if not fashionable. We reached my limited patience for shopping and still had 1.5 hours to go so my wife deposited myself and our two buddies at a sidewalk café overlooking the central plaza to drink bier while she continued onwards. It was a great afternoon to people watch and we were directly across from a huge fountain used, you guessed it, in the Sound of Music. We only had to walk across the plaza to link up with the tour group and even though we were only three minutes late Oz got a little snippy with us. The consumed bier helped us deal with our shame. We had a provided dinner in the oldest continually open restaurant in Europe and run by monks (didn’t see any of them though). It has been open since the year 803 and included the most modern bathroom I’ve ever seen – the monks know what is important. The dinner was a lot of fun with some serial laughter which was followed by a very long drive back to Innsbruck. We immediately seized control of the hotel bar upon arrival and stayed until last call after midnight. Our buddies were with us and I met another member of a tour group who turned out to be a fellow infantryman who had served in Vietnam. It was a special evening ending one our best days of the trip.

Mirabell Palace and Side garden

Wife and I with Mirabell Garden Behind us

Mirabell Garden

Mirabell Garden

Mirabell Garden

Mirabell Garden

Mirabell Garden Where Do Ray Mi Song was Shot

Wife at that Fountain

Mirabell Garden

Mirabell Garden

Exiting Mirabell Garden

Lock Bridge Behind Me

House Where Mozart Lived

Salsach River Looking Across to Old Town

Lock Bridge

Wife and I

Another View Across River

Old Town Street

Mozart's birthplace

Plaza Where we Scored the Wurst

Backside of Mozart Birthplace

National Theater

Festung Hohensalzburg Overlooking Old Town

Basalt Wall in Final SofM Scene

Back of National Theater

Founder of Saltzburg - Bishop Rupert

Monastary

Horse tour

Yet Another Church

Mysterious Golden Ball Below Fortress

Central Cathedral

Views from Inside Cathedral

Tour Guide at Ancient Baptismal Font
Mozart Got Dunked there

SofM Fountain in Central Plaza

From Other Side

Wife Shopping

Mozart Statue

Color Coordinated Ice Cream

My Buddies and I Passing on More Shopping

Great Afternoon

Wife returns and points out Fountain

Oh Yeah

Our Dinner Restaurant - Note Date it Opened

Views from Outside Dinner Location

Fun Dinner

Day 7 we were left alone to explore Innsbruck on our own for the day. I had planned on taking the nearby railway up to an intermediate stop where I could pick up a gondola ride to the top of the mountain overlooking Innsbruck. My Favorite Panamanian decided she’d seen enough of mountain tops and elected to go shopping with our buddies. When I walked outside I noticed there was a level of clouds between the top of the mountain and the valley floor and after our Mt Pilatus experience didn’t want to take the trip only to look down at the tops of clouds. I elected instead to take a walk across Innsbruck away from the tourist areas. I did get some weird looks from the natives as an obvious non-Austrian but I enjoyed walking the back streets. It reminded me of my youth when I would take similar walks around the city of Frankfurt when I was stationed there. My goal was the reach the Olympic Stadium since Innsbruck has hosted multiple winter games. It was on the opposite side of the city but this wasn’t a big city. I eventually made it to the Olympic ski jump which was impressive. At that point I declared victory, pulled out my map and navigated back to the old city. I ran into my wife and her partners in crime at one of the outdoor cafes and joined them for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon making our way down the street sampling bier at the various cafes and watching the various tour groups amble by. Side note – boy do the Asian tourist take their photographing seriously. We all ate dinner back at our original wiener schnitzel place. We met back up with the tour group because Oz was delivering us to a local concert hall for an evening of Tyrolian folk dancing and yodeling, yep, yodeling (insert joke here for the unfortunate connotation that word has assumed in some quarters). It turned out to be a serious amount of fun. Our hosts were a local family that has multi-generations performing the dances, yodels, and playing of the typical instruments. They were accomplished entertainers and had the large crowd of tourists on their side form the beginning. There was a lot of high kicking and lederhosen thigh slapping along with one dance that involved hatchets (it was all very Germanic). The high point was during a yodeling song when the head yodeler imitated a cow, incredibly funny. The video I have is too big to load here but if you run into me make sure to ask to see it - so funny. At the end of the program they saluted each of the countries represented in the crowd with a folk song from that country. The Canadians took the prize as the rowdiest. You can guess where we ended the night, Salim and his Mojitos once again dazzled and we even Facetimed with our kids from there around midnight (since it was only 6pm back home).

Scenes from My Morning Trek Around Innsbruck

Rivers We Saw were All this Light Green Color
Oz Says it was Because The Water Comes From Glaciers

Olympic Ski Jump

Back in Old Town

With this Young Lady

She went With Ice Cream Instead of Bier

With One of Our Buddies

Pose Time

Our Evening at Yodeling

Day 8 was our last day of touring and it was packed with sights and we were blessed with a perfect weather day. We were in for a treat driving through the Austrian Alps through the ancient Kunnz Pass through which the ancient Romans had established a road. The many ruins and castles along the way attested to the strategic importance of the route over the centuries.  Our first stop was Neuschwanstein Castle, the fairy tale like edifice that Disney based his castle upon. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t have time to walk up to the imposing castle but it was still striking. We did walk up to the nearby yellow castle where Mad King Ludwig first identified the location for his eventual masterpiece in Neuschwanstein. Then it was back in the bus for a trip to Wieskirche in Steingaden. That translates to the white church in the town of Seingarden, which it was. This was another of those baroque churches and was set up in the middle of nowhere. It dates back many centuries and was established as a pilgrimage church since a miracle occurred at that location. Legend has it, a statue of the Virgin Mary wept during a time of war. There were some nearby beautiful houses and an active farm. My wife was able to compare hair coloring tips with the local horse, reasons for which are evident for the photo below. Our final stop was the unbelievably scenic village of Ober Ammergau. This is the site of a famous passion play which is put on every ten years to redeem a promise made to God when the village was spared several hundred years ago from the plague. The village in so incredibly picturesque with many of the buildings sporting wall art along with the requisite window flower boxes. The town is also famous for woodworking and Christmas ornaments. We scored a late lunch at an outdoor cafe with our buddies and then set out for shopping in the Christmas shops which I didn’t even mind (too much) since you know how much I love that time of year. We finished our day with a sleepy ride through Garmisch and another Alpine pass which was high adventure with the twists and turns. We were playing peekaboo with a train as it tracked along beside us only to disappear for long periods of times into tunnels. We ended the day with a farewell dinner in the hotel and then our standard domination of the hotel bar into the wee hours of the morning. It was a great way to end the trip as many of the people were leaving early in the morning.

Moving Through Kunnz Pass

Hilltop Castle With Walkway Across Gorge (l)

Neuschwanstein Tourist Village

Yellow Castle Next Door 

Wife and I Making the Climb

Made It

View of Village from Top

Wife Almost All the Way Up

View from Very Top

In Courtyard

Fountain in Entry Courtyard

Another One

Neuschwanstein Seen From Yellow Castle

Lion Fountain in Yellow Castle

Wife Loves Flowers on Grounds of Castle

Wife Stole the Camera

Two Beauties

The Back Door

Close as we got to Neuschwanstein 

The Weiskirchen - yep, a white church

Surrounding Countryside

Inside the Church

Small Village Next Door

Wife Comparing Hair Color  with a new Friend

Wife with our Buddies

Thorn Amongst Roses

A Lot of Fun With These two

the Auditorium where the Ober Ammergau Passion Play Takes Place

Scenes from Ober Ammergau

Scenes from Bus Ride Home

Final Night at Hotel Bar with an All Too Great Crew

Our car showed up right on time Saturday morning and Oz actually caught a ride to the Munich airport with us so we had the benefit of his knowledge for that trip. The normal 2 hour trip took over three because of traffic but I was savoring my last views of the Alps as we left them behind. The Munich Airport is very modern but a little confusing. We weren’t able to get seats together for the flight back but the Lufthansa plane was awesome with plenty of leg room and a suite of downstairs (yep) bathrooms I’d never seen before. We blazed through customs, our bags were waiting for us and so was our next limo driver who got us home. So that’s it, our 2019 trip to Europe. It was everything we’d hoped it would be and more. I’d always scoffed at going on a fully guided tour but AAA and Collette made a believer out of me. I loved it and felt completely pampered.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the BRS; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Deckzilla Dude – senior citizen carpenter/contractor; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues