"Füssen" Means Feet in German

Liz again, back guest blogging!  We had such a wonderful time in Füssen, I couldn't cover it all in just one post.  The adventures continue.

Our one full day in Füssen was dedicated to a nice, long hike through the surrounding woods and mountains.  Füssen lies along a river called the Lech, which has an interesting milky blue color.  I don't know where the color comes from, but if I ever find out, I'll leave a comment to this post with the explanation.

Our first sight of the day was Lechfalls, where a bust of King Maximilian is carved into the rock wall bordering the river.  This is definitely how I want to be memorialized someday, except it would be better if my statute showed me driving a team of four lions (like on the Siegestor in Munich).

From Lechfalls we walked through some beautiful woods and along a few small lakes (Obersee and Mittelsee), before reaching a lovely lake right below the mountains called Alatsee.

After lunch along the Alatsee shore, I contemplated a swim, but the water was so cold that I didn't quite commit.

 We made our way partly around the lake, and then left it behind to climb a steep trail to a place called Salober Alm.  According to a brief Internet search, "alm" means a mountain/Alpine pasture.  I found it interesting to discover that Germany apparently isn't keen on switchbacks...for much of the way, the trail went pretty much straight up.

This part of the hike wasn't very long, and close to the top we found ourselves at a beautiful outlook with views back towards Füssen and Neuschwanstein.

And, best of all...there was beer!  All the way up there, by its lonesome self, stood the Salober Alm Berghutte ("mountain hut").  We had no idea it would be there, and were pleasantly surprised.  Naturally, we rehydrated ourselves, while enjoying the lovely mountain view, complete with even more cowbell.

Salober Alm was actually in Austria, just across the border.  For security, they had a sign:  "Attention, border!"

And there was a teeter totter!  I had to promise to behave myself, but Kate eventually agreed to play on it with me.

Back down at Alatsee, we found a beautiful spot for swimming and wading.

After that we made our way back to Füssen fairly quickly, as we were pursued by a bloodthirsty swarm of mosquitoes.  More beautiful forest.

And that was our hike!  Definitely a highlight of the trip for me, and I would love to go back some day to explore the area trails further.

Three Trains, a Bus, and a Boat

That's what it took us to get to Hallstatt.  Normally, it would be two trains and a boat, but flooding has caused some problems in the area.  The train tracks from Stainach Irdning to Hallstatt aren't doing so well, so the train stops, you board a bus, travel past Hallstatt, and then get on a train to go back to Hallstatt.  Then, you take a boat (the Stefanie) across the water to Hallstatt itself.

Additionally, a river that runs through town decided to change directions the week before our arrival.  Switzerland responded by sending in the army to help sort things out.  The river was back to its usual course by the time we got there, but crews were still working on cleanup and repair.  Also, we discovered that a bridge had washed downriver into the lake:

Sorry, taken from a bus. That bridge belongs quite a ways upstream and not in the lake

So, what did we do in rainy, cold (50 degrees or so) Hallstatt?  A fair amount of hiding in our hotel, which was quite nice:

We took the short Rick Steves walking tour around town and were impressed by the trees growing along the buildings:

We visited the ice caves and saw... ice!

Along with about 30 eight-year-old Austrian schoolchildren.  Awesome.  The English speakers got to stay at the head of the group so the tour guide could tell us about the place before everyone else caught up.  Then she repeated the spiel in German.

We also toured the charnel house in Hallstatt, and by that, I mean we walked in and stared at all the skulls in this tiny room:

I felt kind of bad taking a picture (although the above is actually one that Paul took).  These are real skulls.  In Hallstatt, due to limited space, bodies stay in graves for only about 10-15 years, and then they are removed.  Previously, it was a practice to bleach the skulls in the sunlight for quite some time and then paint them with the person's name as well as with flowers, laurel leaves, or similar.  This practice has pretty much stopped, although I think people can still request it if they want.  The last person to do so was in about 1995.

We also went on a nice long walk on the day it didn't rain very much.  Austria really takes its walking paths seriously:

We enjoyed some lovely views:

That's Hallstatt nestled at the base of that hill.

It Doesn't Get Much Better than Lake Lucerne

On our first night in Lucerne, we ate at Rathaus Brauerei, a restaurant and brewery recommended by Rick Steves.  Paul enjoyed a delicious beer and pondered the tubes of mustard:

We feasted on sausage and sauerkraut and on a cheesy noodle dish traditional to the region: 

Our second day in Lucerne, we left the city to go for a beautiful hike around Lake Lucerne on part of the Swiss Path (from Sisikon to Brunnen).  Paul said it might just win the award for prettiest place we've been so far on this trip:

Here's a link to the full panorama.   Hopefully it works!

I think I might have to agree.  Toward the end of the walk, we came upon a sight that I thought only existed in US parks - exercise stations.  Apparently I was wrong:

Paul is attempting the exercise, but at this point, our arms and legs were quite sore...

Swans are a common sight in Lucerne.  I think this old guy is glaring at me to stop taking his picture (it probably didn't help that I wasn't the only one snapping photos):

Some of the buildings are decorated in a pretty interesting manner...

In the course of two days in Lucerne, we went for three two-hour boat rides (covered by our Eurail pass!).  We rode a steamboat and enjoyed watching the crankshaft and piston rods (at least, that's what Paul tells me they are called):

The final boat ride was a sunset cruise:

Lovely Interlaken

We spent one night in Interlaken in an amazing hostel.  If you are ever in Interlaken, I cannot possibly recommend Backpackers Villa more highly.  It was one of the cleanest places we stayed, and it had free lockers in the rooms.  Now that is a genius idea for a hostel.  Everyone was super-friendly, and there were lots of places to sit and relax.  We would happily have stayed there many more nights if we weren't eager to be on our way to Gimmelwald.

Switzerland is, well, beautiful, as you might expect.  The train ride in was quite pretty (and included breakfast - woot!).  Paul snapped several photos:

For lunch, I enjoyed a burger that included shredded carrots, something I think our US burgers are sorely lacking:

Interlaken is sandwiched between two lakes - Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.  We had hoped to ride one of the ferries to a castle on Lake Thun, but the ferry hours just didn't work out.  Instead, we hopped on one of the Lake Brienz ferries and floated along for three hours as it made its loop around the lake.  Switzerland has some great Eurail pass benefits, among them the ability to ride the ferries in Interlaken and Lucerne for free (or, as Paul is keen to point out, more like pre-paid, since our Eurail pass was pretty pricey!).  Paul got himself a beer:

And we enjoyed the endless views:

We topped off the day with dinner at the top of the ugliest and tallest building (a hotel) in Interlaken and enjoyed watching the paragliders land:

The Lovely Lake Como

Lake Como is bellissimo!  No wonder so many people vacation there.  Unfortunately, our visit coincided with what locals told us is the coldest spring in a hundred years or more.  Normally, it's 75-80 there, I think.  We considered ourselves quite lucky on the third day when we neared 65 degrees.  The other days were more in the 50s and very low 60s.  It was also cloudy and rainy the first 1.5 days, although the rain mostly stayed away while we were out and about.

We had a lovely view from our hotel room at Eremo Gaudio, a former hermitage, in the town of Varenna:

This hotel has its own private funicular.  We were in a room on the bottom part but took the funicular up to the top part twice for the wonderful views from the terrace:

There are a variety of ferries that you can take to other parts of the lake.  I was amused by the ferries for transporting vehicles.  It's pretty amazing to watch a large bus drive off of a ferry!

On our first full day on Lake Como, we took a ferry to the nearby city of Bellagio - it's a little bigger and has a lot more touristy shopping.  From the ferry, we admired the views of the Alps.  The photo belowwasn't actually taken from the ferry but shows some of the Alps hiding in the clouds.  I think at this time of year, there should not be any snow on them - ha!

In Bellagio, we purchased windbreakers/water resistant coats.  It's certainly been windy and rainy.  Plus, with plans to visit the Alps, we felt we'd get good use out of these.  Also, we match:

I would like to mention that I picked the coat first, and then Paul decided he liked it, too.  He said he was already planning on a black coat anyway, but I think he's just making excuses....

We also found a cute little library in Bellagio.  It's only open from 5-6:30 in the evening (wow, how do you like those hours?) though, so we didn't manage to go inside:

Walking away from the main shopping strip in Bellagio gave us some really great views - of the flowers growing along the rock walls leading to the water (this photo is taken looking downward along the wall into the water):

And of the scenery:

On our second day in Varenna, we took a cooking class, which I'll write about in another post, and went for a hike with yet more views of this gorgeous mountainous lake:

So far, there aren't a ton of places from this trip that I feel I must return to in the future, but Lake Como is definitely my top pick.  Especially if it were warmer.

Also, we've discovered that Italians take their hot chocolate seriously.  That stuff is thick and chocolate-y!  At first, I was kind of sad that they only filled the mug halfway, but then I learned why - can you see the thick drip of chocolate dangling off the spoon?

That's what I look like when wired up on chocolate, by the way (or when Paul uses the flash in a dark room).

And lastly, they have some peculiar tree-trimming habits in Lake Como.  They cut off the large branches and leave only the water sprouts, which I've always called suckers.  However, while looking up the term, I learned that suckers originate from the root of the tree.  These are water sprouts, since they are shooting up from large branches.  Who knew?  This isn't the best photo of it, unfortunately, but hopefully you can see how the very thick branches are covered with leaves from the water sprouts: