hike

The more time I spend travelling around Bavaria, the more I can’t get away from the fact that there are so many beautiful contradictions in this corner of the world.

It’s the perfect mix of old and new – from forward thinking green renewables and recycling to picture perfect castles nestled in the alps. Where I live in the Olympic park, swans glide around a lake placed in an unspoiled landscape – next to an impeccably maintained Autobahn filled with brand new, top spec BMWs zooming along at 120km/hr.

A mountain top tiny village we stumbled upon, just after we walked through the Partnachklamm gorge on Sunday.

Bavaria is a Catholic state and the place is brimming with breath-taking cathedrals.

Shops that shut on a Sunday to mark the day of rest and the lack of wifi connection everywhere you go is just unimaginable in the UK, with our 24 hour Tescos (Germans gasp in awe that these exist) and internet in almost every shop and cafe. In Germany there are butchers and bakeries on every street corner, and they’re busy. There can be upto 4 bakeries on the same street, and they are all full of normal people. I always just grab my meat and my baked goods at a supermarket back home, it’s sort of sad. I feel like Bavaria is better in touch with its past than we are in the UK.
However this massively contradicts with the clean, futuristic environmentally friendly techonolgy and amazingly well thought out ideas and projects that the place has to boast. The modernity of the area is clear. Just one example being the astonishing transport system around Munich – it is faultless and everything runs like clockwork, with your ticket you can enjoy the underground, the trams, the buses and the overgrounds trains. The train stations are all decorated differently – flowers for one station, a mosaic for the next. All so that illterate people can differentiate between stations. Its little things like that that are so impressive.

A tiny and traditional beer garden, equipped with lederhosen and music, we found at the top of Eckbauer – a mountain we climbed yesterday.

Nymphenburg Palace – where King Ludwig was born and spent some of his childhood. I can only hope that the buildings we build nowadays will hold so much beauty and be enjoyed as much by our descendants as we enjoy the buildings of our ancestors.

Two towers displaying brand new Volkswagen cars.

I could go on all day about the different contradictions that I have slowly come to love in this place. But I won’t. It just seems to me more and more than these contradictions compliment each other beautifully and go in hand in hand – there is no conflict.

I feel that we, as humans, are also full of contradictions and are not one thing or the other and that this is why I have become so fond of this region. I’m having such a good time but I know it is going to fly by and that before I know it, it will be over. I’m making memories that I can’t wait to feel nostalgic about. I think I’m going to have be dragged kicking and screaming back to Scotland at the end of next year.

Mach Lemonade daraus.. oder frag nach Salz und Tequila?

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade… or ask for salt and tequila?

So there have been more trials and troubles for me this week. From cracking my uninsured iPhone screen whilst leaving the Apple shop (ridiculous I know), to getting served Earl Grey tea passed off as normal black tea (why do Germans not drink normal tea?!), to getting caught dancing in my room to ‘Come on Eileen’ due to a misplaced mirror in my room being angled in such a way that my neighbour has full view of my bedroom from her balcony. Can I be blamed though? The song is a true Ohrwurm (ear worm – how the Germans brilliantly describe a catchy tune..). With an ever growing to do list and a very unhealthy ‘stuff to do’ vs ‘time left to do stuff’ ratio, life is most certainly giving me lemons.

Anyway, I’ve already said in prior blog posts that on Sunday all the shops are closed. On the signs in the windows of the shops’ opening hours it doesn’t just say ‘geschlossen’ or ‘closed’ next to the word Sunday.. it says ‘Ruhetag’ which literally translates to ‘day of peace.’ I love this German outlook on the day off.

So, on Sunday it was 24 degrees and we therefore decided to take the long trip to hike up to the the so-nicknamed ‘Eagle’s Nest’ just outside of Berchtesgaden. The journey included train strikes, a good few wrong turnings, trekking through private property with scary Bavarian farm owners, plenty of Google mapping and a lot of guessing – but we did in fact make it to the top of the 1,834m high mountain. The view was stunning – you get a real 360 degree view over Austria and Germany: Berchtesgaden, Salzburg and Königsee.. I think that the idea was that Hitler could have a full view of the ‘Vaterland.’

At the top there is das Kehlsteinhaus. This beer garden/resteraunt was orginally a 50^th birthday present for Adolph Hitler in 1939 and it was to be his retreat. Hitler loved this area and even built his own home lower down the slope. The beer garden is so peaceful and idyllic. Its difficult to compare this unspoiled, peaceful landscape with the evil atrocities that Hitler brought upon Europe during his time of power. Whilst we sat at the top chatting happily with a beer and a Schnitzel, it was strange to think that perhaps Hitler had once done the same.

Me looking rather dishevelled at the top after a long journey.

But I do not think that this amazing mountain and area should continue to be associated with Hitler and the many awful plans he hatched here. It really is an area of complete beauty and deserves to be known for this.

das Kehsteinhaus. Hitler’s retreat in the mountains.

The week also ended nicely including a trip to the top of St. Peter’s Kirche and a visit to an ice cream parlour Verrückte Eis (crazy ice cream) that served flavours such as Champagne and Beer (however I did get served lychee tea when I asked for a cup of tea… LYCHEE flavour! Come on Germans, you need Tetley’s).

View of Munich from the top of St Peter’s Kirche. Had to climb 306 steps to reach the rickety platform on top and my fear of heights took over just after I got this snap.

SO I’m still hoping for a change in luck when it comes to the frequency of my stressful situations. However as Autumn hits you in the face here due to all the trees, you really can’t but help but feel the change that Autumn brings about. The leaves are now a rusty brown, the air is now crisp and colder (very cold in fact – I’m currently waiting on a care package shoe box from home full of winter goodies including some ‘Handschuh’ – hand shoes. Yes, that does mean gloves. I really do love this language sometimes.) Change is definitely necessary – without it we’d be stuck with the sweaty summer forever … or in my case with bad luck forever. I’m hoping you carry me along with you Autumn and I can experience some of your change too.