Part 2 of Mont Blanc Trip

After our trek of Mont Blanc we returned to Geneva, Switzerland to pick up our rental car. It took quite a while because we had to change the car we got to try and fit in all of our luggage, plus the four of us. We still ended up having to rent a locker at the airport to store a couple of duffel bags.

We spent the next couple of nights in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and Interlaken, Switzerland. To say it is breathtaking or beautiful is an understatement!!

Our first stop was Trummelbach Falls. They are the world's only glacier waterfalls that are accessible underground by lift, galleries, tunnels, paths and platforms. They alone carry the meltwater of the glaciers from the Jungfrau down to the valley-up to 20,000 liters of water per second. The water carries with it over 20,000 tons of boulders and scree per year and causes the entire mountain to shudder and make a thundering noise. We actually went here with John, Jan, John Jr., Andrea and our kids 22 years ago!! It is quite something to walk through all the tunnels and levels of these falls and yes it is LOUD!

After our tour to the Falls we ask someone directions to our hotel. To our surprise we had to take a tram to get there. It actually worked out good because it was one of 4 trams we were going to take the following day anyway. We spent the night in Murren in a hotel on the edge of a cliff overlooking the North Face of the Eiger....thus where "North Face" got its name.

The Eiger

Some of the best schnitzel we had was in Murren.

The following morning we took 3 more trams to the Schilthorn which sits at around 9744 ft. On a clear day, which is was, you can soak up 360-degree views of the majestic Alps. This was the first revolving restaurant built. We spent several hours here enjoying apple strudel with vanilla sauce & hot chocolate, the spectacular view and visiting the interactive exhibition of the James Bond movie, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" that was filmed here back in the 60's.

Russ, Lynette & Rich

Me enjoying some apple strudel 

Rich & Lynette Parkin

Russ & I enjoying God's beautiful creations!!

 Our beautiful hotel in Wengen that we stayed in. The view off our balconies was so pretty!!

We took lots of trams and several trains.

Germany 

Great view out our room!

 From Switzerland we drove to Bavaria to go to the Neuschwanstein (built in the late 1800's) & Hohen-Schwangau Castles. As you can see it was a very gloomy, overcast day, but we still enjoyed it along with a great wurst & pommes frites.

Another place in Bavaria that we love is Oberammergau. Many of the buildings have murals painted on them with colorful geraniums hanging from the balconies. This town is famous for the Passion Play that is performed here every ten years. We stayed in this beautiful place. I had the most amazing raspberry cake with fresh cream here!! 

One of the places Rich really wanted to go to was Dachau, the first concentration camp built in March 1933. Russ and I went there years ago when we lived in Germany & we couldn't believe the difference. Now they have a large visitor center, cafeteria, tour guides, monuments, etc. None of these existed in the early 1990's.

 Dachau remained in operation for 12 years. Three days prior to liberation, 7,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced to leave Dachau on a forced death march that resulted in the death of many of the prisoners.  On April 29, 1945 Dachau was liberated by the United States Army. At the time there were approximately 27,400 prisoners who remained alive in the main camp. In total, over 188,000 prisoners passed through here and nearly 50,000 met their death. 

Dachau was a model concentration camp, a place where SS guards and other camp officials went to train.

Since this was a concentration camp and not a death camp, there were no gas chambers installed at Dachau until 1942, when one was built but not used. This was a crematoria where they disposed of prisoners who died.

 One of our favorite places in Germany is Rothenburg. We have been here several times, but I never get tired of it. It is one of Europe's most beautiful medieval towns. It has massive stone town walls studded with 42 towers; half-timbered houses with red-tiled roofs; cobblestone streets and flower-filled window boxes. Its over 1,000 years old. At night a watchman leads a tour dressed in a black cape and a broad-brimmed hat, he carries a lantern and his tales bring the past to life. 

Russ & I seldom do "selfies" but this one cracked me up with Rich & Lynette in it.

I didn't have a good picture of "the night watchman" so I used this one from when we last took the kids in 2006. The same man does the night tours, but like all of us he's aged a little. 

 From Rothenburg we drove to Heidelberg to see the castle & wished we would have skipped it. The traffic was so bad, they were doing construction, roads were closed, there were people everywhere and we had to park a long ways away. Theres not a lot to see of the castle, because of wars & fires. The best part of it is the great view you get of Heidelberg overlooking the river.

This is the "smaller" of the two vats they used to store wine.

Another one of my favorite places is Strasbourg, France. I wish I had a better picture of this Roman Catholic cathedral. It was built between 1190-1439 and is 142 meters high (466 ft). It was the worlds tallest church until 1874 and is now the sixth tallest. It is MASSIVE!! 

After we went to the cathedral we went to the "old" part of town (la petit France), which is my favorite. It is SOOO pretty with all the old houses and flowers along the water. They had some markets along the way selling cheese, pretzels & other good things to make your senses come alive.

La Petite, France

One of my favorite places!!

Triberg, Germany

 We spent one of our last nights in Triberg, Germany. This is where we went with my parents back in 1988. They have loads of clock shops & this is where we got our chime clock we still use today. From our B & B was a short trail to this beautiful waterfall. 

Here is Russ & Rich with our trusty rental car. When we first got it the GPS was all in German. After an hour on the internet that night Rich learned how to change it to English....thank you Rich!! I have to say Russ made me nervous several times on the Autobahn 

as he has a lead foot & he wanted to see how fast he could go!! 

After almost 3 weeks we headed home with great memories & found everything as we left it.