The Hills are Alive with The Sound of Music!!!

Back in June, Dan's mother, Theresa, was here visiting, and we took a week-long trip to Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria.  We had visited Salzburg six years ago when Ryan was a toddler, and we knew that we had to take Dan's mom since the whole family loves The Sound of Music (and who doesn't?).

The house where Mozart was born.

The city of Salzburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the birthplace of Mozart.  It is such a nice city to visit because it isn't as overwhelming as many of the European cities, and you can get around really easy by foot (even with kids in tow!).  The people were friendly toward us as tourists, everything is well maintained and clean, and I felt like it was a very family-friendly city.

Main pedestrian street in Salzburg.

On our first evening in Salzburg we visited the Marionette Theater and saw a marionette production of The Sound of Music.  It was really a special event for us to go to the theater, and we all loved it!

The next day we took the 'Fraulein Maria's The Sound of Music Bike Tour', and luckily we had a perfect sunny day.  We had so much fun, and got to see so much more of Salzburg and the movie sights than we would have if we had been trying to find the sights ourselves.  

A bicycle made for Daddy and Daughter!

We have confidence in confidence!

Grandma Tete and Dan with the
Hohensalzburg Castle behind them.

Lucky for me they are not yet '16 going on 17'!

We visited the Hohensalzburg Castle on a rainy day and took the audio-guided tour. Unfortunately, Ryan was sick that day, and I kept the kids in the hotel for the morning to rest.  Dan and Theresa ended up taking a walk in the rain and happened upon a pipe-organ concert in a church, and visited one of the museums.

Meredith in Mirabelle Gardens

I highly recommend the hotel where we stayed, the Hotel Elefant. It was right in the middle of the historic area, with all the main sights close-by.  Many times we visit cities and feel stressed by all the chaos of city-life and public transportation, but visiting Salzburg was so relaxing and beautiful.  Hmm, maybe we should go back since I think we are due for some relaxation, and desperate need of it!!!!

Tut Mir Leid, Ich Bin Deutsch Lernen

It has been almost two months since I have posted anything on this blog.  This is not for lack of good stories to share, because I have many fun things to share from our summer adventures. Rather, it is because I have been taking an intensive German course in an effort to improve my horrific language acquisition abilities!

In August we passed our one-year mark for living in Germany.  I had thought that with a little bit of studying and simply by living in Germany and being surrounded by the language, I would have no trouble learning Deutsch.  Unfortunately, I was very wrong about this!

My kids attend an English language International School, and because of this, it was very easy to make English speaking friends.  Therefore, because we speak English at home, at school, and at social events, I have found that I have not been as immersed in the language and I had imagined I would be. 

 

The language school I attend is called Inlingua.  In the spring I had some private classes, which were helpful, but very expensive.  When the kids went back to school in August, I jumped into the intensive course, and I go Monday-Friday for 3-1/2 hours each day.  Now that I have attended for five weeks, I can clearly see that I am finally improving.  The problem is that the more I learn, the more I can see how much MORE I need to learn if I can ever dream of being able to hold a decent conversation without sounding like a toddler! 

At this point I am registered for three more weeks of classes.  I am afraid that I will feel like a failure if I quit before I can speak comfortably, so maybe I will continue on a bit longer if possible. 

 

In any country, the citizens (understandably) want foreigners to speak the language if they want to live in certain country.  While most people are kind, or at least tolerant of my incoherent attempts at speaking German, every once in a while we come across people that can be downright rude about the fact that we are living here and can not yet speak German.  It has made me wonder about how foreigners in the United States are treated.  So please be kind to people who may not speak perfect English, because living as a foreigner at trying to learn a language is more difficult that it looks!!

 

Kehlsteinhaus, aka The Eagle's Nest

 

As part of our trip to Berchtesgaden, Germany, we visited the Kehlsteinhaus.  Kehlsteinhaus was built by the Nazi party as a 50th birthday gift for Adolf Hitler in 1938.

 

 

Hitler had a mountain house at the bottom of the mountain, and this facility only served as a place to entertain dignitaries.  Supposedly he only visited ten times due to a fear of heights and confined spaces.  The tour guide said that Hitler's girlfriend, Eva Braun, visited the house more frequently.  It was also used to host a wedding reception for her sister.

 

Entrance tunnel leading to the elevator to the top

The building was an intended target to be bombed my the Royal Air Force, but it is believed that it was missed as a result of low cloud cover during the raid.  At that time Hitler's mountain residence was bombed as well as many other targets in the Berchtesgaden/Obersalzburg area. 

The US Army was the first to take the town of Berchtesgaden and the 'Eagle's Nest' in May 1945.  It was used by Allied Forces until 1960, when it was given back to the State of Bavaria. 

 

 
Today the building is used as a restaurant, and is a popular place for tourists to visit.  The building was not very big, and did not have a lot of historical information presented, but the view was amazing!

Cheers to the Allied Forces!

The bird really wanted our left-over cake.

 
Despite the fact that we have smiling faces in the pictures, we did not take visiting the Kehlsteinhaus lightly.  We used the opportunity to talk to the kids about the war, and remember the terrible atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. 

Being a Jewish woman, it is heartbreaking to think how much different my life and the lives of my children here in Germany would have been 70 years ago.  I am so grateful for all that we have, this amazing opportunity to live and travel in Europe, and for the fact that I can raise my kids without fear or suffering. 



Visiting Berchtesgaden, Germany

 

While Dan's Mom, Theresa, was here visiting we did quite a bit of travelling.  We wanted to show her as much as we could since this was her first time travelling abroad, and hopefully entice her to come back and visit again!  Since Berchtesgaden is an area with a lot of history and WWII significance, we thought it would be a great place to explore.

Too bad it rained every day!!!

Berchtesgaden, the town:


Part of the former royal residence.

Berchtesgaden is a small town located in the very southeast of Germany, in the Bavarian Alps, and it took us about three hours to drive there from Ulm.  Many visitors go to Berchtesgaden as a day trip from Salzburg, but after doing my online research, there looked to be enough activities in the area that it warranted more than a day trip.  Of course, adults travelling alone could have covered all the sights in one or two days, but we have the kids with us and therefore move at the pace of a four-year old.



Interior courtyard of the former royal residence.

The area of Berchtesgaden was a historically wealthy area due to high salt content of the ground.  In the 1800's the area was given over to Austria, then given back to the Bavarian rulers.  The area was popular with the Bavarian royal family, the Wittlesbachs, who had a royal hunting lodge there, and also liked to visit the lake, known as the Konigsee (King Lake).





 

Seeing as how the area of Berchtesgaden was so popular with the Bavarian royal family, it should come as no surprise that it also became a popular mountain destination for the Nazi Regime's leaders.  Hitler had a mountain house there, which was demolished after the war, but the Kehlsteinhaus still stands and was known to the Allied Forces as 'The Eagle's Nest'.

Salzbergwerk (The Salt Mine):

We had a great time visiting the Salt Mine in Berchtesgaden.  We had also toured a salt mine near Krakow, Poland, and it was very interesting to see how the two mines differed.  This mine tour was great because it had a lot of fun stuff to do, but it was much less ornate than the mine in Krakow.  We rode a small miner's train to get into and out of the mountain, there were two slides we got to zoom down, and a barge ride across a subterranean saline lake.  They also had informative presentations on how the salt extraction process works.  Not to mention the stylish miner's overalls we got to wear!

Souvenir photo of the slide

Pictures from the Konigsee:

The water color in the Alps is amazing!

We ate indoors at this restaurant, but it would
have been amazing to sit outside!

Too rainy for the lakeside biergarten :-(

We had a great time in Berchtesgaden, and I think that it would have been much better in the sunshine!  I am glad that we took a few days to visit the area before heading on to our next stop, which was Salzburg, Austria.  The area has skiing in the winter, so maybe we will visit on a ski trip!

 

Meersburg

Meersburg, with a view of Switzerland across the lake

About an hour and a half south of where we live is Lake Constance, called the Bodensee in German.  Over the last year that we have been in Germany, many people have recommended that we visit this lake area and the many quaint towns which surround it. 

Walking along the Promenade with Grandma Theresa

What is interesting about this lake is that it is bordered by three countries: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.  This area is very popular for tourism for both Germans and International travelers, and draws many cyclers who can easily cycle from town to town all the way around the lake.  Germany has an amazing network of well maintained bike paths that make it safe and easy to travel just about anywhere by bike. 

 

Half-timbered house with waterwheel

The day we visited Meersburg was soon after Dan's mother, Theresa, arrived from Wisconsin for a month long visit.  It was a church holiday (sorry, I forget which one), and most of the shops were closed, but the restaurants and attractions were open.

 

 

The cobbled streets in the older section of town were decorated with flower petals and greenery in honor of the holiday, and it was very nice to wander the streets and see the flowers. 

 



We visited Burg Meersburg, also known as the 'old castle', compared to the newer castle that is also in town. Visiting castles is great with children, because you can really play it up to their imagination.  There was no guided tour, but we purchased a brochure in English, and were able to explore the castle at our own pace (as compared to Neuschwanstein Castle where you are herded through the castle as quickly as possible).

 

We never get tired of visiting these quaint towns, and watching the boats on the lake made for a very relaxing afternoon, despite the crowds.  I look forward to a return trip to the Bodensee to explore some other towns and see what else the area has to offer. 

Our family: Dan, Rachel (me), Ryan (7), and Meredith (4)

Holzmaden Fossil Quarry

A little while back, some friends invited us to go fossil hunting in Holzmaden, about 30 minutes from Ulm.

This is what a 4-year old chooses to wear to dig for fossils!

There was a small exhibition area with fossils and dinosaur bones displayed, but since the informational plaques were in German, we didn't quite understand all the details provided.  

 

 The quarry was a sort of pit that was full of excavated shale from the Jurassic era, which is about 180 million years old.  For a small fee, we paid our entrance and rented hammers and chisels. 

It was blazing hot the day we went to do this, and standing in a pit of black rock made it feel like we were looking for fossils on the sun! 

Ryan wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up, and I think he would have gladly stayed out in the heat all day chipping away at the rocks.  Meredith also had a great time, but she was traumatized when she developed, then popped a blister from hammering so much.

 

We mostly found lots of small ammonite fossils, but apparently some people have found some pretty impressive fossils in the area.  We ended up bringing home a box full of our findings, and Ryan was so excited to bring some in to show his class.

 

Ryan has asked when we can go back, and I think that this is definitely something we will do again.  I am so glad our friends invited us, because I probably never would have found this on my own. Next time I will make sure we go on a cooler day!