In other words, Austria and Bavaria. But it sounds slightly more exotic auf Deutsch, no? We are again in a race with the winter weather, so we decided to take a few days and go to Salzburg, Munich, and Nuremburg. For a lot of people, when you say Germany, this is the part of the planet that they think of.

Our first day was a long train day with several transfers from train to train. We are getting better at navigating the train system, but we are still learning. One thing we have learned is that the trains are inevitably delayed and tight connections are almost impossible. As a result, an already long day was made longer. Nonetheless, we made it to Salzburg and all was well. It’s Mozart’s home town, so there was a little concert that we were hoping to hear. We dashed to check into our hotel, drop our bags, and hoofed it into the old town and just managed to snag two seats in a small room in the museum near the cathedral. We heard three sonatas for piano (actually harpsichord in this case) and violin. It was great! We grabbed dinner and strolled back through the old town and enjoyed some nice fluffy pillows and a good night’s sleep. The next morning, we did a walking tour of the town. The baroque architecture and cozy streets and squares are really pretty. One of the lovliest places is the cemetery at the base of the cliff that inspired the dramatic scene at the end of “The Sound of Music” when Rolf literally blows the whistle on the Von Trapps (it was shot on a sound stage in Hollywood). We also visited Mozart’s birthplace, the cozy (cramped?) house where his family lived for many years. We enjoyed Salzburg. I can imagine that the town is absolutely overrun during the summer, but in the off season, it was quite pleasant.

I had a school assignment that required an internet connection, so we scooted off to Munich around lunchtime. By the time we reached the city and I was able to finish my work, the weather had set in. Decked out in our rain jackets and with umbrellas in hand, we did our walking tour of most of the old part of the city. It was mostly destroyed during World War II, but the people of Munich decided to rebuild as close as they could to the pre-war state rather than build new (like Frankfurt). The Frauenkirche was really pretty. It’s so tall and instead of the crazy baroque and roccoco decor in some of the other churches, it has a simple white and gold interior that really emphasizes the verticality of the space. After chasing Martin Luther sites in German cities further north, it was interesting to see what a city that stayed connected to Catholicism looks like. After slogging around in the dark and the rain for a while, we decided to find dinner and then we headed back to our hotel.

The next morning, since it was cold and still raining, we finished the walking tour, then we caught the subway north to the Olympiczentrum (site of the 1972 games) and the BMW Museum. We don’t always choose to visit museums, but they are a great activity on a wet day. The museum felt a bit like a long advertisement, but it did have some interesting exhibits, especially the more future-focused cars and the quirky vehicles from the past. We warmed up back at the hotel for a bit, then we actually ate German food for dinner. Then we did something that we haven’t done for months and something we love to do when the weather stinks: go see a movie. In Germany, they dub most foreign-made films into German, so to find the original version can be tough. We found a little old theater showing the English version of “A Haunting in Venice”. The theater felt like the old Tower theater in Salt Lake and was pretty full with a lively crowd munching on kettle corn and reacting to the movie. It was a fun evening. 

The next morning was much dryer, if not warmer, weather. We decided to take advantage of it and, since we didn’t get enough of the mountains while we were in Salzburg, we headed south to the Bavarian Alps. Oberamergau has a famous Passion Play during the summer, but in the fall it is quiet and beautiful. There is a tram to the highest peak there. In the Alps, there’s almost always a tram or a railway or some sort of transportation to the unlikeliest of peaks. We hiked up to the top and then rode the tram down. It felt like it was probably the last opportunity for that activity for the season, since it was slightly snowy and pretty slippery in places toward the top. The weather was moving in again as we reached the summit, but the views and tram ride down the mountain were totally worth it. We hopped back on the train for a scenic ride back to Munich, slurped ramen for dinner, and fell into bed after a long and satisfying day.

The last day, we hopped on a train toward home, but we made a stopover in Nuremburg for a few hours. Described by some as “the most German of German cities”, Nuremburg is pretty great. Of course, Hitler thought so too, so there are a lot of Nazi connections there. But the medieval old town was rebuilt as much as possible and the place is just charming. We walked around, sampled the famous Nürnburger wursts (they are little and usually come in threes), and bought lebkuchen (Nürnburg gingerbread cookies). The town was starting to get dressed up for the upcoming Christmas market season, so it was looking especially attractive and delightful. But we had to get on the train for home just after lunch. We watched “All the Light We Cannot See” on our ride back to Leipzig. It was a bit of a whirlwind week, but really worth it!