My parents came to visit during the first week of November...and boy did they hit the ground running. There were zero "rest days" schedule into the itinerary. We wanted them to see as much as they could in the short 7 days they were here. They arrived on a Saturday morning, which of all days, was the most low key (jet lag....). We spent Saturday roaming around downtown Stuttgart (city #1), followed by the only evening of pure rest at our apartment having dinner, watching a movie (Hocus Pocus), and passing out candy to Trick-or-Treaters. They reveled in this rest...as they knew what was to come was non-stop traveling...next was:
Sunday: Salzburg, Austria (city #2)
Wake up call at 6:30, on the road by 8, heading east for Salzburg (and crossing fingers to avoid long border control traffic!) In about 4.5 hours we were in Salzburg, without much traffic. Greg parked the car, and we headed out to sightsee.
The yellow building is the exact building where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the 1700s...
Mozart's harpsichord (above)
Painting depicting Mozart's death (below), December 1791. He died in Vienna from a very high fever. He was only about 35 when he died. He was still perfecting a masterpiece while on his deathbed.
After touring Mozart's birth house, we explored a bit of the old town:
The Salzburg Castle sat high on the surrounding cliffs. There are catacombs all along the cliff, which we explored walked up through, and could see a few nice views!
From the catacombs we had a view of the St. Peter's Monastery...where Mozart and family are buried.
After climbing back down through the catacombs, we ate dinner at the oldest restaurant in Europe. the "Stiftskeller" dates back to the early 800s.
Monday: Berchtesgaden, Germany (city #3) and Salzburg, Austria...again.
Berchtesgaden, Germany had to have been no more than a hour drive from Salzburg. We took a tour to the salt mines, and along the way, stopped for some beautiful Bavarian Alp views:
From where we stopped, we were able to spot The Eagle's Nest (Hitler's headquarters), high in the Alps. (below)
Next stop was the town of Berchtesgaden. We were only there for about 45 minutes, so Greg and I just wandered around and snapped a few photos, while Mom and Dad chilled out in a shop to have tea.
The super fun part came when we got to the salt mine. We had to put jumpsuits on, and hop on a train to go deep into the mine:
There were countless opportunities to snap shots of gorgeous bird's eye views from up there!
...It reminds me a little of Whoville...
Here are some more photos as we explored the city, looking for more Roman ruins:
Karl Marx was born in Trier. This is the house where he was born. It is also a museum, which we toured Thursday morning.
Before we left Trier, we walked through an old Roman colosseum on the edge of town:
Schloss Heidelberg has been through a lot in its day...it is left with just its ruins. We took a tour of the inside, which was awesome, but we were not able to take pictures.
Sunday: Salzburg, Austria (city #2)
Wake up call at 6:30, on the road by 8, heading east for Salzburg (and crossing fingers to avoid long border control traffic!) In about 4.5 hours we were in Salzburg, without much traffic. Greg parked the car, and we headed out to sightsee.
After a scenic walk along the river to the old town, our first stop was Mozart's birth house.
Painting depicting Mozart's death (below), December 1791. He died in Vienna from a very high fever. He was only about 35 when he died. He was still perfecting a masterpiece while on his deathbed.
After touring Mozart's birth house, we explored a bit of the old town:
The Salzburg Cathedral
From the catacombs we had a view of the St. Peter's Monastery...where Mozart and family are buried.
After climbing back down through the catacombs, we ate dinner at the oldest restaurant in Europe. the "Stiftskeller" dates back to the early 800s.
We ate in the oldest room in the restaurant!
Monday: Berchtesgaden, Germany (city #3) and Salzburg, Austria...again.
Berchtesgaden, Germany had to have been no more than a hour drive from Salzburg. We took a tour to the salt mines, and along the way, stopped for some beautiful Bavarian Alp views:
...selfie with Dad...
From where we stopped, we were able to spot The Eagle's Nest (Hitler's headquarters), high in the Alps. (below)
Next stop was the town of Berchtesgaden. We were only there for about 45 minutes, so Greg and I just wandered around and snapped a few photos, while Mom and Dad chilled out in a shop to have tea.
The super fun part came when we got to the salt mine. We had to put jumpsuits on, and hop on a train to go deep into the mine:
(I took a picture of a picture that my dad bought) I wonder if the people behind us also bought this picture??
The best part in the mine, was a 2 story slide that we had to use! We went down as a group. Greg was the caboose. Soon after we stared to decent, Greg shouts "Wait! I'm unattached!!"
So, can you find Greg in this picture?
Sorry, Greg, Wagners only.
The day was NOT over after the tour. Upon arrival back to the city, we set out to explore the Salzburg Castle.
There were countless opportunities to snap shots of gorgeous bird's eye views from up there!
On my dad's side, we have ancestors with last name "Primusberger" from Austria. We wonder if this archbishop/ruler is distantly related!
Tuesday: Ebensee, Austria (city #4)
About an hour from Salzburg, is a town called Ebensee. My great, great grandmother Primusberger came from this town in the 1870s. She moved to Minnesota. As we explored the city, we discovered that during WWII, there was a concentration camp right in town. After the war, people began to build apartments and houses over the site..and now there is just a memorial left in part of what was the camp. We found a museum about the concentration camp. My dad got to talking to the curator (we were the only patrons by the way...this was a fairly small and quiet town). The curator knew about the Primusbergers who moved to Minnesota from Ebensee in the 1870s. He knew of a lot of families to do so at the time. The curator even had a map of plots of land where families from Ebensee moved to in Minnesota.
Things must have been pretty bad in Ebensee for so many families to move across the world...the place was so beautiful, why would you want to leave?!
...It reminds me a little of Whoville...
Here are some pictures of Ebensee throughout the years, that we found at the museum:
Nazi occupied in the 30s/40s
It is blurry..but Hitler has been in Ebensee..here he is standing in where we were in front of that lake.
Here are some photos from the concentration camp memorial:
This was the gate/entrance. Today, it is in the middle of a neighborhood. Not sure I'd ever want to live in this neighborhood...
Houses built where the camp used to be...
We drove back into Germany Tuesday afternoon...and did hit some border traffic. We were delayed about 2 hours.
Wednesday/Thursday: Trier, Germany (city #5)
Wednesday was another early morning, as we set out for Trier, Germany. Trier is where my German Wagner ancestors come from. It is also the oldest city in Germany, with many Roman ruins.
Mom and I in front of the Porta Nigra (the old Roman city gate)
We were able to explore inside of the Porta Nigra.
Here are some more photos as we explored the city, looking for more Roman ruins:
....a foot. Its a replica of a statue that stood in Roman times..
An old Roman bath:
The city center...
A three-wheeled-car:
We wandered around for a while trying to find a good place to eat. We stumbled upon "The Potato Restaurant"...which was THE BEST food we've had the entire week. I would go back to Trier for this restaurant. The best meatloaf I've ever had. Great if you love potatoes too. Cheap prices too....simply the best.
Karl Marx was born in Trier. This is the house where he was born. It is also a museum, which we toured Thursday morning.
Before we left Trier, we walked through an old Roman colosseum on the edge of town:
View:
On our way out, we stopped at St. Mathias Cathedral. I didn't mention much in this post....but we for sure went inside more than 10 cathedrals this week! I lost count in Salzburg...
Friday: Heidelberg, Germany (city #6)
Greg and I have already been to Heidelberg, in fact it was the first place we visited when we moved to Germany. As it is only a 45 minute train ride from Germany, and a very beautiful story book-like town, we decided to go with my parents. We only spent the day there:
Schloss Heidelberg has been through a lot in its day...it is left with just its ruins. We took a tour of the inside, which was awesome, but we were not able to take pictures.
We headed home after a day of exploring, and Mom and Dad rested up for their Saturday am flight home!
Saturday:
Mom and Dad left! And they finally were able to have a day to just sit there....though I don't think it is was where they would have picked! ;)
That's all! 6 cities in 7 days! A fun time was had by all!
-Gina
