Mountains, Cow Shit, Burgs, Beer & the Big Rock

We went to Innsbruck, Austria last Thursday morning. Innsbruck has hosted the Winter Olympics twice in the past. It is located in a valley amidst the Alps. The Alps were absolutely beautiful. There was a small town along the way, on the German side of the border, which was situated on the edge of a long hazy blue lake. Almost all of the buildings in this town were of the “chalet” style with the big overhanging roofs and porches, even the local McDonalds was in a building like this. LOL When we finally found our hotel which was just five minutes from Innsbruck, we were, (well I especially was), shocked to find that it was just feet away from two working cow barns! YUCK! The room as well as the rest of the hotel stunk of cow shit! After unsuccessfully trying to get a meal at the hotel and paying six euros for two Coca Colas we decided to hit the road and head back to Coburg. So we got the heck out of Dodge and ended up dinning at a fine local establishment, McDonald’s! WOO HOO! We enjoyed the ambiance almost as much as the fine cuisine. LOL On the way home we took a different route. I think Marsh really enjoyed the drive through the mountains and the scenery was spectacular. The mountains were absolutely beautiful yet ominous looking at the same time. Our little old Rockies don’t have a damn thing on the Alps! LOL Innsbruck turned out to be quite a large city. It was kind of strange that such a big city was smack in the middle of big rugged mountains. It was similar to seeing a K-Mart on Mars. LOL

The following Saturday we got up and went to the floh market, (that’s “flea” market in German), with two of Marshall’s coworkers Kevin and Pete. We were looking for old beer steins to bring home to a lucky few but didn’t really see anything that appealed to us. We did see a fair amount of East German as well as German WWII era military items. There were badges, medals, helmets, uniforms and pictures. Anything with the “SS” logo or a swastika had stickers or post-it notes over them as we have been told that they are banned here. After leaving the flea market empty handed we all headed to Wurzburg, which is a pretty large city which is home to a U.S. Military base. It is such a big city that it has two, yes count them, two Wal-Marts and even a Burger King! LOL There is a castle as well as huge palace in the city. We opted to just kind of wander the streets and check things out. There are so many old churches which surprisingly survived the many bombings of WWII. None of the buildings survived unscathed though, but were later restored to their original beauty. There is a river that flows through Wurzburg which is pretty wide and even has a set of locks for the large barges and boats. Over the river there is an old stone bridge which has ten or more statues of various saints along each of its sides. These statues are each about ten feet tall I would guess. We happened upon a place near one of the churches that had a little room with pictures, and various artifacts from WWII. It even contained a scale model of Wurzburg as it looked after the bombings had ceased. No building appeared to have escaped without damage. Luckily a lot was preserved and restored. Next we headed to Bamburg, another city with yet another U.S. Military base! LOL Bamburg is also a gorgeous old city with very old buildings and cobblestone streets. One building we came across had ornate paintings on the outside of angels. One angel had a leg that was actually a sculpture that protruded from the building. Pete told us that it is a superstition to have an angel that appears incomplete. So the leg was later added. I gotta tell ya, we saw the worse haircut ever while we were checking out the leg. This guy looked like a cross between Egon from the Ghostbusters and Doc from Back to the Future. I would’ve snapped a picture but he totally would’ve noticed and I don’t want some guy with bad hair attacking me. LOL The true reason for the visit to Bamburg was to try the Shankela beer, which has a smoky bacon flavor. EWWW! As we walked up the street to bar we were headed to, the sound of singing flowed down the street. When we arrived at the bar we were pleasantly surprised to find that that singing was in fact coming from that very place. It totally packed and we were lucky to have found a table right amidst the singing. Everyone in the bar sang along together and each knew exactly what parts their voice was meant to sing. It sounded amazing. The old Vienna Boys Choir doesn’t had a thing on that group of jolly German bacon beer soaked singers! LOL

Sunday we got up early once again and Kevin, Pete, Marsh and I headed out on yet another adventure. Today we planned on tackling the “big rock”. The rock is actually a big cliff that once was the site of an ancient Celtic settlement. Well we were thinking that we would just drive up to the top of the hill and park in a lot and there we would be. Oh no! It was not that way at all. It turned out that we in fact had to HIKE up a gigantic hill on a train that was 2 km each way. This was no ordinary trail in which you would go for a leisurely stroll, it was really freaking steep in several places. I of course about DIED along the way! Luckily there was a biergarten at the top along with a church of course. LOL The Germans love their churches and biergartens. I guess the view from the cliff was pretty spectacular.

Well that’s about it for now freaks, nerds and weirdo’s! LOL The other London guys have headed back to Canadia so it is just the three of us, Marsh, Gemma and me left. We’ll be home in just two more weeks! We can’t wait to sleep in our own bed with our own fluffy pillows to lay our heads upon. The pillows here SUCK! Just to put all of your minds at ease, my elbows have recovered and are back to their usual pastey white color. We’ll post more soon. Take care!