Innsbruck

On Tuesday we decided to drive to Innsbruck Austria for the day.  We parked at the parking garage in the old town area (seems like every city/town has an old part for shopping) and headed to buy tickets for the train up the mountain.  It was another funicular which also separated by car vertically so we could look out over the roof of the car in back or front of us depending on which direction we were going.

 We got off on the last stop and bought tickets for the cable car (and it was Marc's idea) to go higher up.  Here is what the view looked like from the cable car stop.

There was a little restaurant up there and Marc got some Apple streudel and it was yummy!  Notice the jacket...it was chilly up there and had been overcast all morning.

 We walked on a little path and then a littler path along the side of the mountain.  I was kind of scared, but did it!  That little path on the right side was where we walked.

 Views from the path--well worth the shaky legs!!

 Along the trail we also saw some beautiful alpine flowers.

We headed back and got on the cable car and this was our view ten minutes after the above pictures.

And another minute as we were going down...

 We wanted to eat lunch once down and headed to old town.  We found an Austrian restaurant which had the best food!  Marc had spaghetti with meat sauce and I had bratwurst, sauerkraut, and boiled potatoes. Yum!!  Here are some pictures from old town Innsbruck.

This morning we packed up and left Germany, drove through a part of Austria, and are now in a hotel in Switzerland near the Zurich airport.  It has been the best and somehow the longest couple of two weeks!  See you at home!!

Neuschwanstein Castle tour

By staying at the resort we were able to book a bus tour to the castle.  We have never been part of a tour group before, but decided to do this one so we could enjoy the ride and learn more about the area.  It was well worth it!  We stopped first at a wood carver's shop pretty close to Garmisch which had gorgeous cuckoo clocks as well as nativity sets all carved in intricate detail.  Much too expensive for our wallet!  Here is the shop.

Then we had a short hour break at a church with a little cafe nearby that made fresh donuts right there as we watched.  Marc had one and we both had some hot chocolate.  The small chapel was built by a family who found a statue of Christ in an attic.  It had been made for the town and was used for a short while and put in the attic because it was causing children to have nightmares as it was kind of scary looking with lots of red paint on it depicting blood.  Years later, a woman found it and decided to bring it to her home.  She prayed to everyday and one day noticed the statue was crying tears.  It was brought to the attention of the bishop who declared it a miracle and the huge church was built because of it.  I loved the humble little church! 

Then onto the castle!  We hiked up a steep wooded path to get to a bridge where we took this picture of the castle.  Absolutely beautiful!!

 

This was the only place we could take pictures inside.  What a kitchen!!  It was beautiful inside decorated with thousands of swans.  Such a beautiful setting and a great day!

Church in Germany

After visiting Dachau we drove to Munich to attend sacrament meeting.  We were encouraged  to hear a lot of English being spoken as we were walking around the building.  Someone came up to us and asked if we were visiting and we answered that we were.  He then asked if we spoke German.  That was when we found out that the ward was German speaking.  We sang the hymns in German and listened to the testimonies and the spirit was there even if we didn't understand what the words were that were said.  We have really enjoyed visiting churches in Europe.  Here is the building in Munich.

And from the side--

And look what was parked in the parking lot--Germany flags on a car for the world cup!  And there are pics of kids playing soccer on the back.

Dachau Concentration Camp

We got to Dachau just in time to watch a scheduled English version of a documentary. Children under 12 are not allowed to see it. It was, as you can probably imagine, pretty horrific. Everyone was silent as they exited the theater. It was hard not to cry. Dachau was for political prisoners at first and then for Jews also. The mistreatment of the prisoners/slaves is almost unimaginable. Interestingly, after the US soldiers liberated the camp, they forced the townspeople to go through the camp to see the crematoriums and piles of bodies. Very sobering; very depressing; glad we went. There are various memorials throughout the camp from a variety of religions. Here are a few pictures from the camp.

These are the foundations for 30 barracks that are on both sides of the trees. There is only set of barracks that were reconstructed.

 Here is one configuration of the barracks. There were supposed to be 50 people per room but they went up to 200 per room.

 Here is a picture of some actual prisoners.

 This is just one half of the area of the camp (you can see the foundations of the barracks).

This is a restored barracks that you can walk through.

Crematorium:

There was tight security at Dachau to keep the prisoners in including an electric fence.

Here is a sculpture that is part of the memorial.

Good Ride

When paying to leave a parking lot this is what the machine displays:

I thought it was pretty funny. It translates to "good ride."

Olympic Ski Jump

The Edelweiss Lodge where we are staying is in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This town hosted the winter olympics in 1936. There were actually two towns: Garmisch and Partenkirchen. Apparently the towns were not cooperating well so Hitler came and met with the two mayors and suggested they become one city. The mayors refused. Hitler then gave them the choice of going to Dachau Concentration Camp or combining the cities. Hence, the cities were combined and hyphenated. The original stadium is still there and used.

The ski lift has been updated and it is gigantic. I cannot believe that people fly off of the jump.

Partnachklamm Gorge

On the fifth of July we decided to do some hiking and heard about this gorge that was pretty close.  Here is the entrance--it was like a tunnel.

We walked along this narrow rock path next to a rushing river.  Here is Marc next to the waterfall which  we could feel.

We walked through tunnels,

sometimes ducking under rock, and reached this!

It was breathtaking and powerful and very loud!  After the gorge we walked to the beach of the river where we saw lots of these.

Then we hiked up to the bridge which was about 200 feet above the river.  We crossed on this bridge.

This is the view looking straight down 200 feet.

We crossed the bridge and hiked uphill again and finally down to a little meadow village with a very cute little chapel.

We heard cowbells and saw one cow and also heard other bells and saw these.

A little closer....

We kind of took the wrong way down to the entrance and ended up walking/slipping down a very steep, switchback road/path with lots of gravel.  Marc saved me at least once from a total wipe out. Finally we made it back to the regular path and passed a lumber mill right beside the river.

And these haystacks I just loved!  Very quaint!

We went back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen where our room was and then went shopping in the little shopping area in town.