On Wednesday, 10/9, we headed to Mauthausen concentration camp Memorial. Rather than touring as a group, we were given audio guides to explore the grounds on our own as we wished. As you can imagine, it was a pretty somber experience. It was horrible to learn about the details of how people were treated here, how some tried to escape and how the Nazis lived it up (so to speak) in their respective quarters. Really puts things into perspective. I didn’t take pictures while there because I felt it would be in poor taste.

Vienna, Austria

After Mauthausen, we headed to lunch, then on to Vienna. After checking into our hotel, a small pension that we believe was a former apartment building and a bit run down, we did a brief walking tour of the area with a fun local guide.

Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria

While the buildings/architecture in Vienna were cool, I felt the people weren’t very warm and friendly compared to the other areas we visited—they were pushy and hurried. It’s also the only city where I saw graffiti during the entire trip.

The next morning, we visited the Third Man Museum, owned by the same man who gave us the walking tour the night before. Cool place of movie memorabilia, WWII Vienna history and (of course) a gift shop. As I learned on this tour, there’s always a gift shop.

After that, and given it was our last full day of the tour and the group was about to tour a library and treasury (sounded uber boring), I opted out and headed to the Sacher Hotel for a slice of their famous Sacher Torte and a cappuccino. The tour was very hurried and structured, and while it included free time here and there, I was just done with the tour. From there, I visited the Albertina Museum, took a nap, walked around some more and found a Geocache—with a bit of help with some drivers of horse drawn carriages parked near the cache site.

History of the Sacher Torte

Diet Schmiet!

Stairs up to the Albertina Museum

One of my favorites from the Albertina museum

One of my favorites from the Albertina museum

Leaving Seattle

On Friday, I ate breakfast with the tour group members who were still around, then headed to Vienna International Airport to start my long journey home. Vienna to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Seattle, Seattle to Portland. Here’s what I learned during the journey: Vienna Airport security staff is very nice; in Frankfurt, if the departures board shows your plane is boarding and it’s over an hour until your flight departs, don’t panic—they are likely just checking passports. I didn’t know this and freaked out, running from one terminal to another, somehow quickly getting through another passport screening and running to my gate. I was sweaty and disgusting by the time I got there (Thanks, Condor!). Luckily, Condor redeemed themselves with their in flight business class service and crew.

Happy to be back in my own bed and with my shower....plus, I really missed this little guy!

Buster Rhymes Knucklehead

Items lost: One earring

No, I don't like The Sound of Music, thank you very much.

After leaving Munich (honestly, the tour should have had an extra day there), we headed to Neuschwanstein Castle in another part of Germany.

Unfortunately, it was almost completely socked in by fog and there was a ton of scaffolding around the castle. I think we spent more time walking to and from the castle then we actually spent in the 30-minute tour they provided. Plus, they only show you the finished rooms of the castle--King Ludwig II died before the castle was completed. But even the rooms that are finished are undergoing renovation. And it was also tough to get a distance shot of the castle with all the fog. It was a very disappointing experience and it was one of the things I was looking forward to most on this trip since I haven't been here since the seventies. Grrr.

After that, we had lunch in a small town nearby and a cute little dining room of a local restaurant. From there, we headed to Salzburg, Austria. We had dinner, then did a brief evening walking tour of the city. Really cute, historic area that was fun to explore.

Salzburg

Salzburg

Salzburg

The next day, we did a morning walking tour with a local guide, then did a schnapps tasting at a local  liquor shop, then were free to explore on our own.

Schnapps tasting

I did a bit of souvenir shopping and had lunch at a local Italian restaurant. That evening, the group attended a Mozart dinner concert in an old church. It was a lot of fun and the opera singers and musicians had a good sense of humor and seemed to be having a great time performing. At one point when they walked in between courses, one of them played the Imperial March from Star Wars on his violin. :) Side note, 2nd violinist from left was cute.

The next day, we left Salzburg and headed toward Obertraun, which is a cute little town on Lake Halstatt in Austria. On the way, we stopped at a local farm that produces organic cheese and did a bit of cheese tasting. 

After checking into our Chalet style hotel in Obertraun, which is basically like dorm rooms in separate buildings with a common area downstairs, we took a boat across the lake to Halstatt to check out the shops and do other sightseeing. It's a cute one town, but completely over on by tourists, which is why we stayed on the other side of the lake. One of the cool sites we saw was the Bone house behind a Catholic Church. According to one website, "the grave yard in Hallstatt is very small and there is no space to make it larger. In former times, cremation was not allowed, and there was already a serious lack of space for new graves to be dug. 10 to 15 years after a burial, therefore, graves had to be re-opened, and the skulls and long bones which took up so much space were removed."  It was pretty damn cool.

Bone House, Hallstatt, Austria

Bone House, Hallstatt, Austria

Bone House, Hallstatt, Austria

We then came back to our chalet via bus, and me and my three housemates shared a bottle of wine, some giggles, then headed to the hotel restaurant for cocktails and dinner. Exhausting tour, though I am seeing way more than I would have had I traveled alone, and meeting new friends in the process.

Getting my culture and snack on

We left Switzerland on 10/4, which was sad. Such gorgeous country! 

Switzerland

Rode in the bus most of the day, and realized we ate our meals in 3 different countries that day: breakfast in Switzerland, lunch in Austria and dinner in Germany. Also picked up a small bottle of peach schnapps, which is really different than schnapps in the states--more boozy, less sweet. I have to figure out how to drink that up before I head home or Security at the Vienna Airport will be enjoying it.

Saw more beautiful countryside along the way, including more of Switzerland--and found out that's where Tina Turner now lives! Because our driver is required to take breaks every 2 hours,  we stopped at rest stops regularly, and they almost always had pay bathrooms (way cleaner than in US), a restaurant, and a great selection of snacks. One restroom really surprised me with its umm, interesting vending machine offerings?

We arrived in Munich in the evening and had dinner as a group at a restaurant off the beaten path. Great food (veal schnitzel, sauerkraut), but they were very short staffed and food came out slowly. If this was a US restaurant, people would have been ripping them a new one on Yelp. People use Yelp here as well, but it's usually just tourists and not many of them write reviews.

I did try my first Radler, which is half beer, half lemon soda--so delicious!! If you aren't a beer drinker, this is a nice alternative so you can feel like you fit in. This region's also known for white wine, and I've had some of that along the trip as well. At dinner, some of our party was finished eating before we even got out food, which was annoying. I've also noticed that German servers get a bit impatient with American tourists--they don't like being corrected and don't like taking your food order at the same time as your drink order. Are Germans supposed to be efficient? :) Probably good for us to slow down anyway, but these Rick Steves tours are on a fairly tight schedule if you aren't in free time. We've gotten used to moving quickly.

Dinner in Munich

The next day we did a 2-ish hour walking tour of Munich, which was fun and interesting. Saw some quirky things along the way and people were very nice there.

Such a cool city, they even have same-sex couple crossing lights!

At the end of the tour, we took the U Bahn (subway) to Oktoberfest. If you've ever taken a train in Asia, where it's allegedly very crowded, this was probably on par with that.

Here's Oktoberfest in a nutshell: big ass state fair + beer tents. It was cool, but I don't need to do it again. Cross that off the bucket list! I really liked Munich and don't think 2 nights was enough--so much to do and see!

Overall, I've never eaten so much and so much bread as I have in the past two weeks. It's a miracle my clothes are still fitting! And while it's nice to have someone else do the driving, scheduling, and ticket purchasing, I don't think I will do another Rick Steves tour. Prefer going at my own pace and picking my own lodging. Big fan of Airbnb and ensuring the places I stay have all the amenities I want, especially a washer and dryer and means to make my own coffee and tea.

Items lost: Debit card

A luge, terrifying gondolas, cute cows & Bond

On day 4 of our Rick Steves tour, we headed into the Black Forest for a little bit of adventure, which included a luge ride, tour of the Open Air Museum, and drive into Switzerland.

The luge was interesting--I was expecting something like a halfpipe where you sit on a sled and just go out of control down the hill. This one was similar to a roller coaster and with cables attached, so there was really no chance of you falling out of it. Forgot to get a picture of me in my car, but included one of other people so you get the idea.

From there, we went to the Open Air Museum, where a cute little old lady guide showed us around and explained how people lived back in the day. I hope I look as good as she does at her age, whatever that is! The Black Forest is also obviously known for black forest cake, and our guide surprised us with a cake and Cherry schnapps after we toured the museum.

Later that day, we headed into Switzerland and had to take two gondolas (AKA cable cars) up to our hotel in Murren. I was a bit nervous, but apparently they can carry very heavy loads! We then got settled into hour hotel rooms and regrouped in the hotel restaurant for a nice fondue dinner.

The next day, it was raining, so we had to swap itineraries with the following day. We headed to Trummelbach Falls, which was awesome--it makes Multnomah Falls look like an amateur. There are different levels you can climb to and we kept running into tourists from China and India. The Asian tourists were hilarious because they kept FaceTiming people, using selfie sticks, and one girl was even fixing her makeup.

From there, we took the bus to Lauterbrunnen to explore the town and meet up for lunch. After lunch, I decided to try to find a Geocache so that I could get a Switzerland country souvenir. Totally lucked out and found a cache close to the bus!

On Thursday, we woke up to light snowfall, which made the scenery even more beautiful! We took two gondola rides up to Schilthorn, which is where they filmed part of the On Her Majesty's Secret Service Bond movie.

The entire place is completely themed out with Bond paraphernalia...even the bathrooms! When you flush the toilet, it plays the Bond theme and ends with a shotgun sound. Kind of hilarious.

Some of us had boozy coffee in the rotating restaurant at the top, took a ton of pictures, then headed back down the mountain to Murren to explore more of our hotel's little town. Later that day, we took a funicular up the mountain, then some of the group took a long trail down and others of us took a shorter trail down. I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful countryside in my entire life!

We stopped for boozy coffee there as well, took some awesome pictures, and headed down the steep hill. Met some cows along the way, and while it was enjoyable, I was in a lot of pain by the time I got to the bottom. My quads, hamstrings, and knees are definitely hating me right now. Sadly, I'm the youngest one in the entire tour group, with the exception of the tour guide!

Side note: We need more cowbell!!