Umhausen to Neuschwanstein to Göttingen

Saturday, March 30, 2013

I awoke early and couldn't get back to sleep so sat at the kitchen window looking out over this amazing view.

As I sat there, the clouds slowly started to roll in and began blocking the
view of the Alps. Since we didn't see anything the night before, I opted
to wake everyone up so as to enjoy the beauty. I wasn't sure if they would
get another chance. Jill and Scott had already been out enjoying the views
(and birds) but the boys were thankful to be awakened...maybe not initially
but after seeing the Alps, they were all excited.

Were we to go skiing again, this is where we would come. Umhausen is
absolutely breathtaking! What a great visual on the difference between
being in darkness versus being in the light as John talks about in I John.
We had no idea what we were surrounded by at 9pm the previous night.

Joel is just about to use the binocs to see a bird. We all learned so much
from Uncle Scott this week about birds. What a beautiful part of creation!

I obviously could not stop taking pictures!

Strange, right? And I completely forgot to ask our
hostess about these. Maybe stakes for making a
fence/pasture for the cattle?

Ban Kneissl's offers breakfast at 7 Euros/person, which is why we declined.
That would have been the most expensive breakfast I have ever eaten when
you figure that there were 11 of us. However, this is the barn where the cows
are milked in order to make the yogurts and cheeses served at breakfast.
It might have been worth it to try the fresh treats! Especially considering
that we never did find an open Backerei.

~ ban Kneissl's ~

We searched many a street in Göttingen when my parents were here and
since to find these kinds of antiques. I took this photo to show my parents
that there are some neat old items in Europe...just not in the stores that we
located. This is how all of ban Kneissl's was decorated - so neat!

Because breakfast was not included, we packed up and headed out with the intention of finding another Backerei. As we were preparing to leave, our hostess told us of Stuibenfall, which was just minutes from our doorstep. Stuibenfall has the longest drop in the Tirol region of over 150 meters or around 500 feet. So yes, worth a stop for us. However, by the time that we reached the falls, the clouds had moved in to the point that we could hardly see the falls at all.

Not much of a view. Had we been here just an hour
earlier, we would have been able to see much more.

So what did the boys do with these "lemons"? Made lemonade
via snowballs, of course! Now, instead of a snowball battle it was a
snowball throwing contest. Who could send their snowball the farthest?

All were watching to see where they landed - it's quite a drop so took a few
seconds to follow each throw the whole way down.

We were ready to jump back into the vehicles and find that Backerei, but
Scott suggested that since we were this close, we ought to at least hike down
to the falls a bit. We found another Gasthaus to park at, ate some more pb & js
and started the ten minute hike to the falls. The woman with whom I asked
for parking permission gave the warning that the paths were icy, but we were free
to hike them. Understatement. In fact, it got hairy enough that we put a stop to
all snowball battles while along the falls as there just aren't the same types
of guardrails/fences along such areas in Europe. And we just didn't want
anyone going for an unplanned swim!

Here the hike was fine but closer to the falls, the paths were sheets of ice.

Josiah pegged Joel in the back...where there was snow, there were battles.

At first glance, we couldn't tell that this was the top of
the 150 m drop. That snow in the foreground of the photo
is actually ice which the water was flowing under.

I asked the boys if they dared me to walk across the frozen
part of the falls. The water was just rushing under this thick
ice. I can't imagine in the spring when that thing finally
gives way and rushes down the falls. I'm sure it will be
much smaller then but still, that would be cool to watch.

There were a couple of places that had these suspension bridges over the
falls. It took Jill and me a bit of convincing that these were worth crossing!

This is the point that we ended all snowballs. A beautiful
hike was made even more enjoyable knowing our kids
were acting in a safer manner! The older I get, the more
nervous I become in these kinds of situations....I guess
this comes with age, right?

The suspension bridge that we crossed over is just out
of view at the top of this photo. The drop is so long
that it was difficult to capture even a fourth of the fall.

~ Cousins at Stuibenfall, Umhausen, Austria ~

For a brief moment, the sun peaked out while the clouds were shifting and
we were able to get a glimpse of the Alps around us. Within a minute of
snapping this photo, the Alps disappeared again.

Not too bad for a self-timer photo with a precariously
positioned camera!

~ Tracy and Beth ~

~ Scott and Jill ~

From Umhausen, we headed towards the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. This is the castle from which Disneyworld is modeled. On our way to the castle, we made a stop at Wieskirche, a rococo-style church built in the mid 1700s. It is just miles from Neuschwanstein so we made just a quick pit stop here.

We have seen so many old, old cathedrals this year that this "newer"
church was a very different place to see. The style was so unique in
comparison to those we've seen from the 1200s.

Though not our style, the frescoes were intricately and beautifully painted.

As in any church we've seen, it has always been fun to see what biblical
stories and figures we can find.

The entire ceiling was painted in similar fashion.

One of my favorite parts of the old churches is the
beautifully carved pews. If it would be appropriate
to have pews in our home somewhere, I would!

Joel wanted to buy this hat as a souvenir for his Uncle 'Buck'!

Instead, I had him model the hat for Uncle Tim so that
he would know that he was thought of in our travels!

~ Hohenschangau ~
This castle is where King Ludwig spent his childhood and decided to build
Neuschwanstein as a result.

As a result of too long of a wait to tour Neuschwanstein,
we ended up touring Hohenschwangau instead. We
heard that this is the better of the two to tour anyway.

It almost looked fake! Like we were in Disneyworld rather than at
some one's home, which was used by Prince Adalbert of Bavaria and his
family during WWII. 

There is never a bad time to "bird"!

~ Neuschwanstein Castle ~
[Image taken from the Internet]
This is what we were hoping to see....

And this is what we did see! The heavy fog was so dense that we had
to be right beside the castle before we could get a decent view of it.
Decent being relative.

Though it wasn't the weather we would have chosen,
it was still amazing to be beside these massive structures!

After making the hike between the two castles, we hopped in the vehicles to start the trek back to Göttingen. Opting not to eat dinner in Schwangau, we knew our options would be limited so were thankful after a couple hours to find an open Burger King. Highway rest stops are not at all like in the States. Finding a restaurant along the highway can be challenging. There aren't five or more options of fast food at every exit. Often you can drive for a couple hours and maybe see just a few spots to stop for a meal. We arrived back in Göttingen before midnight and settled in for a shorter night's sleep (daylight savings) with Easter the next day.