King of the Lakes

The Bavarian summer season is quickly fading along with our chances to do summertime activities.  This weekend we took the opportunity to make a quick trip down to Königsee in the lower Alps (direct translation: Kings Lake, a translation which has bailed us out many times when we are struggling with the German phonetics).  We were also in this area with Logan and Ashley last year, but we scratched a visit to the lake because access by boat is restricted in the fall/winter.  After work on Friday, we packed up the dogs and headed out after for the 2 ½ hour drive to our Gästehaus Böhm. 

View from our Gästehaus 

We woke up early on Saturday to catch the first boat out at 8:00 (and the dogs licking our hands at 6:30am pretty much ensured we would not be late).  This turned out to be a critical piece of advice I received from a coworker.  We rushed through our hotel breakfast, packed up the car, and made our way down to the lake.  We were shocked to see that instead of these multi-tier, large capacity ships we are used to on lakes like Starnberg, we would be riding in a small ~50 passenger cruiser around the lake.  After securing tickets for all four of us (even the dogs had their own ticket), we awkwardly crammed in to what was already a packed boat.  Clearly this place was about to get very crowded.

The views on the lake in the early morning were absolutely spectacular.  The water was perfectly still and there was just a hint of lingering fog on the water, which of course means lots and lots of pictures. 

One of the highlights of the lake is the famous echo wall, and the boat guides play a trumpet duet to demonstrate.  It’s hard to make an echo sound really interesting, but this was definitely a pretty amazing echo and something you should go check out for yourself. 

We rode the boat straight across the lake to the end to get as far away from the surging crowds expected for the day.  We arrived at the Salet port to the most beautiful, calm scenery just as the sun was rising over the mountains. 

From there it was a 15 minute walk to the neighboring Obersee, where we then hiked for about an hour to the opposite side.  We had a nice picnic at this end before making our way back to the boats.  Lots of photos coming… 

As we got closer and closer to the docks, we started to encounter all the crowds.  We realized how lucky we were to have such a peaceful morning just by waking up a bit early.  We made a quick stop at one of the intermediate stops along Königsee (St. Bartholomä), which is famous for its picturesque church.  But the masses became too much for us after our very quiet morning.  Instead of lingering, we caught the next ship back, grabbed an ice cream cone, and made our way back to Munich. 

Crowds back at the main shore

Driving home we realized that having sights like Königsee just a few hours away is further proof that Bavaria will probably be the most beautiful place we will ever live…

The Ups and Downs of July (mostly Ups)

The month of July went by without any big vacations or trips, which is why we have been lacking in the blog-realm.  Also, the excessive heat (days of 90 degrees + with no AC…) mean the time at home is spent away from heat-inducing electronics (like a computer).

Regardless, I want to make sure we document even the little things that happen here.  That way, when we look back on our European adventure, we will remember the not-so-adventurous days too. 

First up: a 'Down' - Rita gets hit by a car, but takes it like a champ!  Let me start by saying she is completely ok now, and got only a little dinged up.  Earlier in the month, I was about to get on the train to head home when our dog-walker calls.  I answer to hear that there was an accident, and Rita is hurt.  She continues to explain that it was a car that hurt her, and she can’t use one leg.  I have her rush poor Rita to the vet around the corner, because they close at 6 and I would be too late. 

After a completely stressful train ride, I arrive home to the dogs and our dog-walker.  She explains that they were heading back to the apartment when a woman was carrying a large vacuum ahead of them.  So she decides to cross the street to get out of the way.  Unfortunately she didn’t see or hear the car, and the car didn’t see her.  She looks up in time to jump back, but Rita wasn’t quick enough and the tire hit her front leg.  Fortunately, the vet said she didn’t break anything, but gave her some painkillers to help.  We were very relieved – it could have been so much worse.  We then had a limping pup for a bit, who actually let us carry her up and down the stairs (so we knew she had pain).   But she is one tough cookie, and was quickly back to her old self.  Though she was mad at our poor dog-walker – for a few days whenever she came in to get the dogs, Rita would run away from her…. like she didn’t have enough self-imposed guilt (even though we tried to stress that it could have happened to anyone and we didn’t blame her ourselves).

Next up: my work’s summer event.  On a lighter note…. back on July 18^th, the Intel finance team hopped on a bus and drove the hour and a half north to the Kloster Weltenburg on the Danube river.  The monastery was founded in the 7^th century, and they began brewing beer in 1050.  This makes it the oldest “monastery brewery” in the world!  Take that Weihenstephan!!  Sure, Weihenstephan has the title of the world’s oldest working brewery in the world (the year 1040), but too bad you didn’t brew it in your monastery!

To get to Weltenburg, we hiked about 1-2 hours along the river, and then took a small boat across the river.  We were greeted by some nice butt cheeks from a naked man in the river (River Event at work!!), and then made our way to the biergarten.  Here is where I had my fail for the day.  We were each allowed 2 drinks, and food.  I order up the Radler – my go-to drink in Germany (it has beer in it – so I feel more authentic!).  Out come the drinks, and my Radler is mixed with dunkel beer, instead of helles beer (dark vs light).  Ummm… yuck?  Everyone around me was also surprised – this is not how a Radler is made!  Ok, I have one more drink order, and I am so thirsty – I’ll stick to a simple coke.  I see the guy across from me has a nice half-liter soda, so that should be good, right?  But instead out comes only a 200 mL coke for me (~7 OZ).  I drink it in 2 seconds.  And now I am out of drink orders. Oops.  That’s ok – my boss says I can have one more, since all of their masses of beers cost double my drinks.  This time – apfelschorle, the most reliable drink in all of Germany (bubbly apple juice).  I figure they can’t screw that up.  Yay liquid!

After my lunch of a salad and huge banana-split, because I am an adult and can order that for food, half of us went to the church for a guided ‘tour’.  The word ‘tour’ was rather misleading because it turns out we just sat the church while a guide talked to us.  And being the only non-German who chose to join the tour, the lady spoke in English just because of me.  Sorry guys!  It was neat to learn that the church was built by the Asam brothers, who also built our favorite church in Munich (the very small but extremely ornate one most of our visitors have seen).  Apparently this is the only church that has a giant horse at the main alter.  It has meaning, but I can’t remember. 

We were able to return to the bus by boat instead of hiking, which gave us different views of the river gorge.  All in all – nicht schlecht!

Third: Schleierfälle hike.   The next Sunday, the 21^st, we headed south with Ellen and Rüdiger to their old stomping grounds of Bayersoien.  Since they used to live there for many years, they had inside information on nice hikes in the area.  On the itinerary for this day: a hike out to a waterfall.  The way there was lovely and shaded, just what we needed on this hot summer day.  We had the noise of cowbells for a good portion of the journey, and even found some wild strawberries (that I later would deem ‘poisonous’, at least for me).

Once we made it to the Schleierfälle, the poisonous strawberries started to hurt my stomach, so unfortunately we had to cut the trip short.  But not before getting a few pictures of the falls of course.

Most important of all… My birthday!  My birthday landed on a Tuesday this year, and since we decided to take our big summer trip in August, I just spent the day at work.  It wasn’t bad though - I was treated to chocolates in the morning from Noah, pastries by my coworkers, and a Cat Cake by my Aunt.  For dinner, Noah took me to a nice sushi restaurant (Toshi) where we had our first dinner of decent quality sushi in Munich!  Yay birthdays!

Now Noah’s work has an event!  I would have Noah write this, but he is off enhancing his German with his Tandem partner, so instead you get my choppy version of events.  Roche held their big summer-fest down at Staffelsee, one of the many Bavarian lakes.  The big event scheduled was a dragon boat race (racing style row boats outfitted with a dragon head on front) – and needed people to sign up.  Noah of course put his name down, and on the big day ended up on Team Blue.  Unfortunately, Team Blue had too many people, and needed some to sit out.  Noah, being Mr. Nice Guy that he is, volunteered himself.  He was supposed to still get a shot at it after round 1, but I guess his team lost their first race, and just stayed out in the lake for the second and final one.  Oh well – he still got to wear some nice face paint and get a free hat (that he gave away).  And apparently they had a FEAST – all kinds of salads, meats, pastas, desserts, etc.  I wish I could have been there!

Lastly… Sunday at the Dog Lake!  The last Sunday in July was another scorcher – again in the 90s.  We grabbed one of our Statt Auto cars and took the dogs to the only lake we know where the pups are allowed in.  Needless to say, it isn’t one of the nicest lakes (not much shade, and lots of ants on the banks), but the water was cool and we could take the girls.  Once we got there, Noah and I quickly jumped in the water.  Rita would only put her paws in – but that was expected.  Sadie, on the other hand, who usually loves swimming, wasn’t so sure this time.  Maybe it has been too long since we last took her, but she would barely get in and then start running around like crazy.  Ultimately we would have the dogs sitting on our beach towels on the shore, while we humans were swimming in the dog lake.  Of course.  Regardless – we could tell the pups were having fun, and they were definitely cooled off by the water, so I considered it a successful day.  Sadie, du bist noch der Hammer!