Fussen to Salzburg - Day Three

The jet lag was not helping us out, we were both wide awake at 6am. So we got up, got ready, and took our time checking out. The rain had stopped. This was our view from our balcony, a fresh layer of snow on the mountains.

Gasthaus Kopf also gave us some candy. I love how little things differ from country to country. Instead of gummy bears, Germany has gummy sheep.

For breakfast, we went to Markthalle, a market with different stations that's been around since the 1400's. We had some delicious pastries. It would definitely be fun to eat dinner here and kick back some beers. But, alas, we didn't have another night to spend in Fussen. It was time to get to Austria.

We couldn't figure out how to get the Bayern Ticket through the kiosk, so we went to a teller. Don't be afraid to ask, it pays off, even if you have to pay an extra 2 euro for the teller. So this time we paid 28 Euro to go all the way from Fussen to Salzburg. The cheapest fare we were offered on the kiosk was 106 euro. Big difference.

Fussen train stop and station

The train ride back to Munich was filled with mountains and green fields full of cows.

Back in Munich we bought lunch at the train station for the ride from Munich to Salzburg: salami and cheese sandwiches, a Belgian waffle, and a cappuccino. The Munich station has a bunch of good options, all very affordable. Yorma's was my favorite.

Two hours and many cows later, we pulled into rainy Salzburg. We bought bus tickets at a tabacco shop (they're cheaper there than from the machine, 1.60 instead of 1.80) and took the #1 bus to get to our hotel. We got on going the wrong direction, so we got to see a little more of Salzburg than we intended, but it was fine. The bus was dry and warm and outside was not.

We stayed at the Star Inn Hotel Zentrum. The room was fairly large, the bathroom was nice, but they loved to run the heat. It was very, very warm. We finally figured out how to open the window because it was insufferable.

But the phenomenal location made up for all of the heating shortcomings. Besides being right in front of a bus stop for easy access to the train station, the hotel was just outside of the old city. We just had to walk outside, cross the street, and walk through a tunnel cut into the wall separating the old from the new. We were within walking distance to all the major sights. But the sightseeing was for our future days.

By this time, it was dark and still raining. We walked down Getreidegasse, the alley where Mozart was born, which is now filled with trendy shops. Down one of the little alleys off of it, we ate at Wilder Mann, a restaurant filled with communal tables and decorated with antlers and skulls. We each had a Konig Ludwig dunkles.

I had a reduced portion of croquettes with sauce.

Hubs had the smaller portion fried pork with fries. Lots and lots of fried food in Austria.

We also each had a bowl of cream of asparagus soup.

It was good food in a fun setting. By the time we left the place was completely full.

2 beers + 2 soups + 2 small entrees + tip = 31 euro.

We wandered around a little bit after we left, taking in a glimpse of the fog surrounding the castle on the hill. It had been an exhausting travel day, but we were left with the excitement and anticipation of seeing Salzburg in the coming days.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Rain or Shine - Day Two

In high school, one of my English teachers had a poster of the Neuschwanstein Castle hanging on the wall. It looked like a magical place, a castle in the sky. She pointed out that the Disney castle had been modeled after it, and all of my desire to travel to Disney World faded; I wanted to see the real thing.

As the years passed, and my list of travel destinations grew, the Neuschwanstein Castle was nowhere near the top of my wish list. But it just seemed to work with the places we wanted to go in Austria for this trip, so there you go.

Warning: everything is closed in Fussen on Sunday. We were able to find a single bakery that was open and had a muffin. Second warning: the buses run very infrequently on Sundays. Fussen is only a couple miles down the road from the castle, but it was supposed to rain so we didn't want to walk. We ended up taking a cab for a couple euro more.

You purchase a ticket at the bottom of the hill and get a tour time. Ask your hotel if they have a discount form. We just had to fill out a form and it knocked a couple euros off our admission, every little bit helps. Our tour time was at 10:25am, not a long wait, so we waited in the shuttle line and went up. By the time we climbed up the rest of the hill from the shuttle, we only had about a ten minute wait for our tour to begin.

The countryside surrounding the castle is stunning and we were looking out the castle windows at every opportunity.

The entire interior of the castle is a tribute to Wagner's operas, so it was interesting to be in a castle that didn't have family portraits or religious paintings everywhere. Instead, there were a lot of swans. King Ludwig's bedroom was small but the woodwork was amazing. The top of his bed reminded me of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

After the castle tour, we walked over to the bridge to get a good view of the castle. When we got there, the bridge was very crowded and the wooden boards were creaking and moving and I became paralyzed with fear. I'm not good with heights to begin with, but when there's movement and noise, I go into panic mode. I had to get off. Once some of the people left, I was able to go back and take photos.

When had taken our fill of photos, we walked back down to the bottom along a wooded trail that followed a creak. There was a small waterfall and rapids, and all the beautiful water noises that came with them.

You can see the bridge way up there.

Someone took the time to pile stacks of rocks.

We separated from the creek and walked back toward the little town area. We passed this gorgeous old house that looked straight out of a movie.

Back at the bottom, we ate at the first restaurant we walked by because we were starving. Hubs had some kind of sausage with sauerkraut.

I had currywurst with fries.

2 entrees + 2 waters = 25.50 euro.

At the bottom of the hill is King Ludwig's "old" castle, the one he grew up in. The one from which he dreamed about creating another castle on top of the hill that he looked upon during his childhood. Oh to be a young, rich king in Bavaria. But things didn't turn out so well for him, so perhaps I'm lucky.

We took the bus back to Fussen. The temperature dropped and the rain came back. We were trying to find take-out sandwiches so we wouldn't have to go back out in the rainy cold later, but no luck. We did stumble upon a shop that sold "snowballs."

It tasted like a ball of animal crackers coated with chocolate and frosting, and filled with frosting. 2.90 euro.

By late afternoon it was raining pretty heavily, so we trudged back to the guesthouse and lounged for awhile with some German TV. The rain was still coming down when we reluctantly walked back into town for dinner. We used Rick Steve's recommendations since I didn't research any restaurants in Fussen before the trip. We decided to go to the first one we came across, which happened to be La Perla, an Italian restaurant.









We ordered two large beers. Hubs had an artichoke pizza.

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I had mushroom.

They were good, like in Italy. Light and crispy with a flavorful sauce.

How come everyone in the world can make a good pizza except for LA?

2 beers + 2 pizzas + tip = 25 euro.

When we left the restaurant, the rain had stopped. We wandered around the old town for a little bit and got lost in the wet and empty streets. That's the way to do it.

Castles, Cathedrals, and Other General European Wonder - Day One

Hubs and I were fortunate enough to take a European vacation this past spring. As usual, I'm really behind in blogging it, but better late than never, right? In sixteen days, we traveled to Fussen in Germany, Salzburg and Vienna in Austria, and Prague in the Czech Republic.

Our small taste of Germany was all Bavarian and castle related. We flew into Munich, but didn't spend any time there, besides the airport and the train station. We'll definitely be going back because it seemed like a lovely place, and the immigration policeman was the kindest, cheeriest passport stamping experience I've ever had. Usually going through that line is akin to having to go to the DMV. But not in Munich.

We took a train from the airport to the Munich Train Station by purchasing a Bayern Ticket at a kiosk. If you are traveling in Bavaria, this is a DEAL. You travel by train to anywhere in Bavaria for 22 euro plus 4 euro for each additional person. Since there were two of us, our ticket to Fussen cost 26 euro total.

Fields of yellow flowers on the train to Fussen

The train ride was a couple of hours. When we arrived in Fussen, it was after dark. It's a quaint little town filled with shops, a fun place to wander around. This is what it looks like in the day.

We stayed at Gasthaus Kopf, which I definitely recommend for its comfort and affordability. However, it is a 15-20 minute walk from the train station if you're walking at a moderate pace and hauling carry-on luggage. There were a line of taxis waiting at the station, but I wanted to walk and see how long it would take. There is a paved sidewalk along the way, so hauling our luggage wasn't a big deal, but it is a little bit of a walk through a residential neighborhood.