Cow Parade and Köngissee

Saturday, September 21, 2013

As we drove eastward toward Berchtesgaden, we fortunately made a brief stop in Kitzbühel, a ski resort. We found an affordable store to buy gifts, and we happened upon a brilliant cow parade! A kind passerby asked if she could take this fine photo of us at the 15th century AndreasKirche.

We started the day eating our remaining fresh items for breakfast, then packed, checked out, and headed southward. We got on the autobahn, past Innsbruck and exited at Wörgl. One of the first things we did was get gas, which we'd noted was less expensive in Austria than Germany. On our way east, we took a short detour to the south to see Kitzbühel. As soon as I thought we'd missed the turn into the city and said we should just forget it and go back, we saw the sign to the zentrum. We drove slowly through the picturesque town looking for a place to park, but it was too busy and crowded. As I circled the downtown and found myself repeating the same circuit, I was complaining about how cars were parked so far into the road that they were hard to squeeze by. Suddenly, one of those very cars pulled out right in front of me. "Well, don't mind if I do!" So I parked there, and stuck out too, but my car was much smaller and I stuck out less, so I decided that made everything okay. Ha!

What was cool was that we parked right in front of a store where the first time we passed there minutes earlier, Janet had seen a clothing sale and was anxious to check it out. They had sales on exactly what we'd been looking for - a dirndl for Rylee and a sweater for Baby Geddis. We compared colors and finally chose, happy with ourselves.

And here you see it! Rylee looks totally cute in her new dirndl, it fit her perfectly, and best of all, she loved it. She's holding Schwanee, our swan from Linderhof.

We figured we'd better park somewhere more appropriate if we were going to explore the city and locate the famous church, so off we went to find the church and another parking spot. At one point, it seemed like a particular turn was for pedestrians only, but I saw another car go that way so I followed. Mistake, we thought, as I crawled along, barely moving, hoping pedestrians would move and allow me through. All we hoped was that we could depart this crowded area unscathed. Just then, Janet saw a car pulling out behind us! I stopped, he passed me on the right, and I decided I'd try to back up and take the spot. Janet thought I was nuts and would get mobbed or arrested for backing up in all these people. But it worked! And wow, was it lucky considering what was about to happen!

We did notice all the people, but just assumed it was because it was a Saturday in a touristy town. But within a minute of us arriving and wondering which direction we should walk, this horn threesome in their Tyrolean costumes started to play music. We thought "how nice" to get to listen to an impromptu performance. But then bells rang and there was much noise and commotion, and something was coming up the street!

 First, goats led by handlers. What was this??

Then decorated cows. And more cows, and more cows. We had accidentally arrived just in time for their annual Cow Parade. We were stunned, but in the meantime, I just kept taking photos.

 Look carefully at their bells and all their decorations.

 Now THAT cow has a huge bell, and look at its head dress.

 Looks like one real bell, and another decorated one.

These guys at the end of the parade had smaller "real" bells and no decoration, but hey, they got to be in the parade. It was such a treat to see this, and my oh my was I glad I parked when I did because the parade went right where I'd been a few minutes earlier with my car blocking the road. In hindsight, I'm surprised that no officials were rapping on my window telling me to quickly get the heck out of there.

It was anticlimactic, but we still walked to the old church and toured it briefly. As usual, it was over-the-top extravagant. Then we departed and got back on our road toward Berchtesgaden.

The drive to Berchtesgaden was extremely scenic with peaks and rivers and valleys. The last 10 miles or so was back on the Deutsche Alpenstrasse, and we took it to its very end. From there, it's just a couple miles south to Königssee, Kings Lake. As we arrived, all we could see were cars and tour buses and thought "Oh no." I even assumed we'd need to go find the ticket office and buy a ticket for the next morning to take the boat trip. This place seemed twice as crowded and touristy as Neuschwanstein. But once we found the ticket office and no line, we surprisingly were able to get tickets for the very next boat. And just look at the reason it was such a popular attraction.

The lake is only 5 miles long and 600 meters wide at its widest. But its setting cannot be beaten -- tall peaks rising straight up, waterfalls into the lake, no settlements, only classic wooden electric boats, and the cleanest water in all of Germany (so they said). 

After a little ways they stopped the motor and in absolute silence, the guy played a tune, a few notes at a time, to let us hear the famous echo. 

 In this photo, he was just getting ready to stand out to the right and play. In previous times, they fired off hand cannons and the echo would sound seven times. It was pretty cool, all right. Funny though, when he was done, the guy passed his hat for tips. He actually was worth the tip because later, when he realized we weren't understanding his German explanations, he turned off his mike and translated for us privately in English since we were sitting right by him.

A little farther along, we reached a highlight, St. Bartholomä Chapel. It was first built here in 1134, and has always been a pilgrimage destination (Aug 24 each year). Nearly all the passengers on the crowded boat departed here, but we had bought a ticket to the end of the lake, so we kept going in a more relaxed setting.

See how charming the old boat was? Narrow, long, and wooden. Electric only, since 1909. Along the way, we could see Germany's 2nd highest peak, the Watzmann (in the clouds behind, in the photo below), as well as this nice waterfall.

Once off the boat at lake's end, we scurried over to the little restaurant which is serviced only by boat since there are no roads to there. We were quite hungry by then (3 pm) after having eaten nothing since breakfast. On the menu we saw the word for cheese (käse) and figured Janet would like whatever it was. Wrong. We learned later that Leberkäse has no cheese (nor liver, which is what leber means, and if we'd known that, she wouldn't have ordered it). Rather, it's a formed soft meat thingy that happens to be very popular in Germany, but not with Janet. At least she also had potato salad and I had a pretzel for her.

I ordered Weißwurst for the 2nd time, and again, it was served in this big bowl of hot water. We thought that pretty odd.We learned later that weißwurst always is served this way, and originally was something eaten as a "second breakfast", and ALWAYS before noon. We learned from Wilfried that in Bavaria, there is a saying that the sausages should not be allowed to hear the church bells' noon chime. Even though it is now served at anytime, most Bavarians won't eat it beyond noon. You're also supposed to pull off the casing, but I didn't know that at the time and ate it. So why the bowl of hot water? Just to keep it warm until eaten. 

After lunch we continued across a short, quiet, pathway to Obersee, another lake with a fabulous backdrop. The waterfall back there is Germany's highest. It felt really special for us to be in this serene place, far from the crowds, in the beautiful Alps. We were counting our blessings!

We hopped back on the next boat and cruised back to St. Bartholomä to see that area with, we hoped, fewer tourists than earlier in the day. Well maybe, but when it came time to board the boat back to the start, there were still tons of people. The chapel was pretty cool, and so were the costumed "real" Bavarians sitting nearby having a jolly time:

Were they ever decked out, and those hats! When later they happened to line up immediately behind us for the boat, we saw all their pins on their hats such as those of King Ludwig. Janet noticed their waxed mustaches. After we'd been gawking at them and sneaking this photo, how funny that they stood forever in line right behind us.

Another view of the lake's majesty, as we waited for that boat heading our way. If you look carefully at the far left on the dock, you'll see a woman in a white gown. Here she is up close:

How about that? A wedding in this truly romantic setting. (An old wooden dock. lol)

This is a picture of Schlafende Hexe, the sleeping witch. The profile of the far-back mountain looks like a witch lying on her back looking up (her head is on the right). The boat guide pointed this out while we cruised.

Here's a view looking forward from the bow as we approached back to the village. All in all a wonderful excursion in a magnificent locale. Now I can see why Germany battled Austria in 1810 to take this area for itself, even though when you look at a map, it seems like this whole section of Germany would logically be part of Austria.

After entering the McDonalds to see if they served beer, which they did, we drove back along the Deutsche Alpenstrasse to Ramsau, where our hotel was for the night. I had arranged it through Air bnb, and it was in a superb location. It was inside a Gasthaus, so the restaurant and beer were just down a flight of stairs. Viktor, the owner, made it sound like things could be bad for us, like slow hot water and noise, but they weren't. 

It was small but just fine for us for a night. We ate downstairs while a soccer match played on the TV, and Janet thought it was pretty interesting how entranced some people in there were over the game...AND the post-match interviews. She got to use her tablet for the Internet. A few beers and off to bed we went. Another great day.