Sausage Rules!

Josh has been following my blog, and he suggested the title for today's entry!  We've been in Germany for a couple of days and it's been truly special. We entered Germany from Austria and have been staying in a guest apartment (Haus Wilhelmine) just west of Salzburg in Berchtesgaden. It is so green here and all of the homes have flower boxes bursting with color. The days are quiet and breezy and the nights are cool and so starry! We have endless walking and hiking paths and animals all around.

 

We went on a tour at the salt mine (Salzbergwerk) on our first day in Berchtesgaden.  This was recommended by my friend Josef who is from Germany and we can't say enough about how awesome it was! Maybe our favorite thing so far. We learned about the history of salt mining in the area as well as the process. We also got to take a cool train into the mine, go down several mineshaft slides and take a boat ride in the dark brine pool. Photography was not allowed in the mine! but there are some pretty cool pics and videos on their website. I highly recommend you go there someday.

We took a long walk yesterday before dinner and passed a field of cows and another of goats (they were ALL very interested in us and literally running to the fence to be close to where we were). We saw some sheep and chickens too, although they were more elusive. We also found this beautiful church and walked the stairway to the top.

We had sausages twice yesterday and twice again (lunch and dinner) today. The grocery stores are fantastic here, and super inexpensive. Here are some prices for the things we bought, just to give you an idea. Keep in mind that 1 Euro is about $1.12.

4 large bockwurst: €1.99
3 fresh bretzel rolls: €0.87
Quart of milk: €0.42 (!)
Jar of mustard: €0.29
Muesli: €1.55
Bottle of Gruner Veltliner: €2.59 (!)

The only thing that was even remotely pricier was ground coffee, but still cheaper than home.

Today we went to Schönau am Königsee, a small town containing Königsee lake. The lake was formed by glaciers during the last ice age.  Except for the tourist entrance to the lake, it is similar to a fjord in that it is almost completely surrounded by steep mountains. There isn't a walk in path around it, and the water is quite cold, so most activities involve getting on a boat. We rented a row boat (my first German sentence: "Ein Ruderboot bitte, für drei Personen."  The guy renting the boats looks at me and says nicely "English?"  My response: "Yes please!") and spent 2 hours rowing through the lake. I'm sure our arms and shoulders will be sore tomorrow!



We also visited Maria Gern, a small and beautiful church on the top of the mountain. The sanctuary gates were closed, but we went in the main doors for a peek.


We're planning to spend the day tomorrow in Salzburg and our next stop just south of Munich, where we will be staying for a week on a working farm. We will have an apartment and we will be responsible for our own meals, but we do not have to work on the farm!  We do hope to learn a lot and have fun. The family who owns the farm has 3 children, all older than Josh, but we guess they will enjoy interacting with each other.  They also have a playground, a trampoline, a tractor and lots of farm animals and cats. The farm is centrally located and should be a good base from which to explore Munich, Oberammergau, and Garmisch.