We’re diving into the stunning landscapes and rich history of Berchtesgaden and Salzburg Germany. We continued on to Berchtesgaden after our time in Munich celebrating Oktoberfest to enjoy the stunning Bavarian Alps.

Join us as we recount our adventures hiking through the national park, cruising on the crystal-clear waters of Konigssee Lake, exploring the iconic Eagles Nest, marveling at the Wimbachklamm Waterfalls, and venturing on a day trip to the charming city of Salzburg, Austria.

Berchtesgaden and Salzburg Germany – Episode Transcript

0:35

Hey, squaddies.

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad podcast.

Today we’re taking you to Berchtesgarden, Germany, tucked away along the border with Austria and the Bavarian Alps.

0:54

Burchesgarden was my absolute favorite part of our Germany trip.

You know, we had a lot of fun last week at Oktoberfest, but it was really nice to get away, be in nature and it was such beautiful scenery.

So I wasn’t on this trip.

1:09

I did not go to Oktoberfest with you, although I wish I was there.

Explain to me what Berkus Garden is.

So Berkus Garden is in the Alps, right?

The Alps everyone knows as the famous mountain range within Europe.

When we say Bavarian Alps, Bavaria is the southern region of Germany.

1:27

So when I say the Bavarian Alps are the Alps that are in the southern portion of Germany here, right?

So just imagine those quintessential European ALP photos, pictures that you see or even if you’ve been to the Alps but not in Germany.

It, you know, kind of those same vibes here, but everything is a lot more lush and a lot more green here, big mountains, towering scapes, so green along tons of lakes.

1:53

And there’s a famous lake in this area too.

And on top of that, I mean it’s this, it’s this little mountain town, but it’s also a National Park.

Part of the area we were in is a National Park.

So you kind of like getting the two for you’re getting that really the mountain Bavarian town type field very secluded even though it is a touristy place to go.

2:11

And on top of that, National Park vibes because of the the nature that’s around there.

And this Bavarian Alps area, is it the same Alps that become the Swiss Alps and the French Alps?

Absolutely.

Oh, I did not know that.

So that’s what I was saying earlier, that very famous mountain range in Europe, the Alps.

2:28

This is a part of it right here.

And it’s a Bavarian town.

Does it look like Bavarian towns do?

It does, yes.

There’s not like a ton of hotels.

There are some hotels but like we saw a lot of Airbnb stays but were like the traditional Bavarian like cottages.

2:46

I would say really cute with the flowers on like the porch deck and coming out of the windows and.

Like, if you really think you’re in the stereotypical movie of what it would look like if like, oh, I’m in a mountain town in Germany.

Like this is exactly what it looked like here from just the the buildings, the way they carved the wood, the colors that they have, the wood, painted trim.

3:08

Like Britney was saying, like the flowers out front, the color of the green, so German, in fact, they’re even cows with giant bells hanging from them that you just hear like dangling all the time.

So this is the type of vibes that we had out here at Brookness Garden.

And again, just for context of where it is, you know, it’s in the southeastern portion of Germany and like I said at the very intro, really along the border with Austria.

3:33

So close in fact that one of the hikes that we did that we’re going to talk about where it ends at a waterfall if we can’t get there because we’re at the base of the water fall.

But literally probably no more than 1000 feet away is the border of Austria, kind of like where that trail dead ended us.

So really awesome.

3:49

One of my favorite things about being on a trip is when you have this realization, you look around and you’re literally living out a movie scene.

That was exactly what it was like, especially on one of the hikes that we did, where on the hillside there’s all the cows and they have the cowbells and you can hear them just jingling along.

4:09

But yeah, it was absolutely like a movie scene.

That’s how I felt in Greece, like I’m on a European summer vacation and this is a movie.

And that’s why you weren’t on this trip with us, because you were in Greece.

Yeah, so while I was on the beach, you all were out in Cowtown, Bavaria.

Let’s get into it.

4:25

OK, so we always start with the tips.

What are the tips for Burke discarded?

So one thing that we learned that we did not do is we took all train transport and bus transport.

We did not rent a car and I wish we had.

It’s a lot slower in this area.

4:43

You know, it’s not as go, go, go.

The public transport is there, but it’s delayed a little bit in terms of like how things are spaced out and how long buses run for during the day.

So had we had a rental car, it would have given us a lot of flexibility to do more of the activities that we wanted to do.

5:02

And Jamal wouldn’t have had his freak.

Out.

Yeah, we’ll touch upon that later.

You know, usually I say that my freak outs aren’t freak outs.

Brittany’s overreacting.

I had one here and kind of, like, rightfully so.

But to Brittany’s point, yeah, rent a car.

I mean, you go to Germany, You know, they’re famous for their mass transportation.

5:19

When I was planning this trip and our time in this region, everything that I said was like, oh, transportation’s good.

This, that and the other.

And of course, I know, like, in the big cities it will be.

But I was like, oh, no, this.

I mean, this should be totally fine.

You know, the, like, everything that I’m reading about what you want to do talks about this bus line, This bus line.

You’re good.

You’re good.

5:34

Bullshit.

Bullshit.

All that hoopla.

And let me tell you something.

That is not the case.

We came again from Munich to here and again with our friends Garrett and Melissa.

So this is a continuation on of our Oktoberfest trip here, right?

In Munich.

You don’t need a car.

I would have loved to have rented a car from Munich.

5:49

Drove to Burke.

Discarded thing about it is though, in this area, maybe parking would be a little bit more difficult or wherever you’re staying at a hotel kind of like pay to park.

But I’ll tell you what, do it, it’s going to be worth it because the bus transportation that they have here, because that’s all they have.

6:05

You can get from A to B, right, and then from B to C and everything like that.

The problem is the bus routes are so sporadic in terms of like time.

Like if it’s going to be at a spot in one spot, maybe it’s not coming back to pick up for another hour or hour and a half.

6:21

And then the hub is always at the train station.

So then you got to wait at the train station.

So you may be able to get back to where you need to do quick because maybe where you’re at has more bus routes.

But where you’re going to next, because they’re stopping you at the train station to catch your transfer to the next bus, maybe that’s not coming for another hour, hour and a half.

6:40

Yeah, so you could end up with a lot of wasted time.

So do rent a car.

Yes.

And you know, I have relied on the past on Google Maps before and using it for the public transport piece.

But we had a hotel where they actually gave us a paper bus route schedule and that was really helpful because what you see online doesn’t always match up to what is actually going on in the region.

7:05

So I would recommend having that paper bus route schedule.

Most of the routes only come once per hour.

Sometimes the connections can be really tight.

There was one day where we had a really tight connection and our bus was running late and we ended up missing that bus and then having to wait like 45 minutes till the next one went.

7:24

So that was just kind of a hindrance.

But you also have to pay attention to the stops.

While we were in Munich, they stopped pretty much at every bus stop here.

If you do not press that, that is the bus stop you need to get off at, they are just blowing right past that.

7:41

So we learned that the hard way where they just went right on by the stop we needed to take and we missed it.

So Jamal’s freak out was already starting to lead up because we he was already really frustrated and was like we’re going to take a cab back to our home.

Lots, lots of things from the time we left Munich to get here kind of really LED up to it.

8:00

I mean, this day of traveling to get to Berkness Garden was just like chaos from hell, but in a fun way.

Now that I look back on it, you know, it’s kind of like funny, But when you’re on the trip.

And I just want to say this, too.

Again, our friends Garrett and Melissa had come with us, had a really great time.

This was really their first international getaway whatsoever, and I did all the planning.

8:20

So then of course, if things start to go awry, like, one, you know, they’re maybe not used to travel hiccups because they don’t necessarily travel as much.

And two, like, I feel the pressure, like I wanna put on a good trip for them, right?

They spent a lot of money to come out here and then just so many things started going wrong that day leading up to it.

8:37

So we’re gonna I.

Mean no matter how much you plan, there are days like that, you know?

And this was one of those days when we ended up.

Coming out here.

So let me preface it a little bit.

We leave Munich, we take our first train.

Great.

Then we realize we have like a six minute connection to take the next train.

8:56

So we get off the train and we’re all running off of the platform down these.

Steps with your luggage.

And it was hard, actually.

I think Melissa’s wheel ended up breaking, didn’t it?

Or something like.

That I don’t know if it.

I don’t think it did.

But we’re coming off a platform.

We’re going downstairs.

9:11

We’re running across going upstairs then up the other platform to make our next train.

So then we make that train.

We’re like, Oh my God guys like we’re that was the biggest workout we’ve had this whole trip, right.

So we make that then we get to the train station in Birches Garden and then we realize, OK, the closest bus to our hotel isn’t going to get us close enough with our luggage for us to like want to walk up and all of that.

9:34

So we decided to take a cab.

Then they want to charge us more because we we have luggage.

So so then we take the cab, we get to our hotel and you know there was supposed to be another couple on this trip and we had booked all of the rooms.

When we were in Munich.

I had no problem canceling that other room.

9:51

But when we cancelled this room, even though we picked that we only wanted to cancel one, they cancelled our entire reservation.

So when we showed up, the woman at the desk, it’s a family run business.

She doesn’t speak any English and she can’t find our reservations.

10:06

So real quick too.

This is a really popular touristy spot.

When we were here, like everything that I read was like, oh, if you’re in Munich, you should come here.

This is a really great spot and it was in terms of the things to do, scenic beauty.

But this is not like Munich, where lots of people speak English.

10:22

Most people here are speaking German and it’s very hard pressed to find people really fluent in English in this area, so take it from there.

So now we’re she’s telling us that her daughter is asleep and she speaks English and she’s with the baby.

10:38

So she she’s going to have to like and she’s not answering her phone.

So we’re trying to like communicate.

And then they tell us like they just don’t have the room for us.

Even though on my screen I show our active reservation.

But for whatever reason, when they received the cancellation request, I don’t know if it was their system or they assumed that we were canceling all the rooms, but all of the rooms got canceled.

10:59

So it was all of that.

Plus the weather wasn’t that great that day.

We ended up taking a bus to do something that day and we got off on the wrong stop because they didn’t stop at the that we need to stop on.

That was building up Jamal’s freak out.

Building, building it up.

11:14

So I just want to preface real quick.

So eventually we ended up getting the hotel situation taken care of and by by taking care of.

Yes, but for one day.

Right.

So originally they were saying by the time the daughter who spoke English came out and was really able to help us she’s like, well, you’re cancelled.

11:29

We’re like, no, we only cancelled one.

We’re still showing active.

She’s like, well, I only have room for one people here.

You know, there’s only one room available when we technically we needed two.

Somehow, I don’t know, from 1:00 room available, There happened to be two.

And she was able to put us there for the night.

11:45

But she said we have literally no reservations for the rest of your time here.

We’re spending three nights there.

We were having to spend the night three nights.

So she says, well, let me call around.

She was able to find a place for us to stay, actually in a lot better location along the lake, which we’ll talk about that a little bit later here.

12:04

But this is kind of like the, the main area in the lake is really famous in Berkness Garden.

So she was saying, don’t worry about it.

Like, we got you there for the next two nights.

So tomorrow you guys are going to have to check out from here.

You’ll check in there.

I’m like, well, what about costs?

And there’s like, well, what you pay here is fine, you’re not going to have to pay there.

12:22

But of course, you know, she’s calling a friend in for a favor.

I’m like, are we really going to have to pay there?

Are we paying the full price of what it was supposed to be for the three days this, that and the other.

But you know she’s telling us this and saying it’s getting resolved and we had a room for that night and supposedly the next day, but till the next day came, we don’t really know are we really going to have that or not.

12:38

So you’re just.

Going down this anxious.

Oh yeah.

Pathway got it.

So another tip that I would recommend is stay near the lake.

It’s called Konig Sea Lake and 1st hotel that we checked into.

It was more in the mountain region and the 2nd hotel that we checked into because of that air was right next to the lake.

12:58

It was like the closest hotel to the lake and I would actually recommend staying there.

What’s funny is that hotel online, if you look at the pictures, they are not good pictures, it’s not rated that well and I was like getting nervous where.

13:14

Where?

Where?

She put us the next day.

Not where we originally made the reservations.

And I’m like Oh no, like this doesn’t look as good.

But they must have recently remodeled it because the rooms were amazing and they have not updated their pictures online, so I felt turning.

13:30

Around.

Yes, I felt like it was a hidden gem it.

Didn’t turn around till the next day because we didn’t know that till the next day, right?

So, but like our hotel where we stayed at the first night though again like Brittany said, kind of not by the lake, more in the mountain region.

So really beautiful views.

Had an amazing restaurant, amazing pastries.

13:47

We went out like after we had gone out for the day, finished with some like coffee and dessert there.

So I mean really good vibes.

If you have a car then you don’t need to stay necessarily near the lake.

But if you don’t have a car, you probably do want to stay at because the bus route and everything always goes there.

14:04

So you’re at least you’ll be in an area like right by a bus, right.

So, you know, pros and cons in each, depending on what you’re going to have, but we’re still on our first day arriving, We’re still.

Talking about tips, Jamal?

We’re still talking about tips, I guess.

I’m just so excited to defend myself on the freak out.

14:20

I had one, but it’s justifiable, I feel like.

But.

So another thing is on Sundays, the town’s very small.

They closed down very early on Sundays, so if you plan on being there on a Sunday, just keep that in mind.

We didn’t have any issues, but you know you could.

I imagine you want to purchase tickets in advance because this is a touristy area.

14:39

Yes, absolutely.

So one of the hikes that we wanted to do requires a boat ride on the lake.

So you need a purchase tickets in advance for the boat ride.

I would also recommend purchasing tickets in advance for the Eagles Nest and the Genderball Gondola.

Yeah, and if you don’t know what the Eagles Nest is, we didn’t mention this yet, so we’re mentioning it now.

14:59

I’m not going to pronounce the name of what it is in German, but basically the English translation is Eagles Nest.

And Hitler had a hideout and little kind of sanctuary at the top of a mountain out here called Eagles Nest.

It’s very known for him to have gone there several times.

15:15

It’s a very popular tourist attraction.

You have to take a specific bus because it goes up these steep mountain ranges.

You have to take an elevator to even get there.

That’s built within the mountain.

And we’ll talk about it more later.

But Eagle’s Nest was a really popular attraction.

15:31

You should probably buy the tickets online.

That way you can get to the specified time bus that will take you up versus buying your tickets when you’re there.

So that’s something to do.

And of course they have a famous gondola there.

We bought those tickets in advance, but one thing we should have done was buy the Eagle’s Nest in advance, which we did not.

15:48

Another thing too, and this is really cool, is that every hotel that you check into gives you a guest card for you to use on your buses, and so it will give you free bus rides everywhere you go within the region.

You’ll get one from your host upon check in, and it’s valid until the day of your checkout.

16:06

You also can get discounts on excursions, museums, buses, trains, train rides to Salzburg.

So all of that.

So then is it more cost advantageous to buy online early or wait for the guest card to get the discount?

Well, I feel like you’re getting most of the like the big things you’re going to want to buy online because those aren’t necessarily super discounted.

16:28

But you’re if you we didn’t do any of the museums and we didn’t do like a ton of other excursions, I would say purchase the tickets online and then use this for the bus.

Because I want to say the bus is like $5 per person per route that you take.

16:44

So you can easily spend like 20 to 30 bucks just on transportation if you didn’t have this.

Yeah, so if you’re staying in the region, the bus card comes in handy.

To your point though of like should you wait for the discounts, what you get?

Like Brittany said, the only place that we bought at time of and use that card for a discount for an actual event or thing to do was Eagle’s Nest.

17:05

And what it gave you was like a few dollars off.

And I would say that few dollars that you’re going to save is not worth the time that you’ll save to just not have to wait in the line to buy the ticket.

Then when you buy the ticket they have timed buses that go up, so you’re on a time bus.

So if you have that already in advance, you could just show up maybe 10-15 minutes before that time and you know the the amount of time you would save is more advantageous than the few dollars on that one.

17:28

OK, good to know.

Also feel like because it’s a smaller area, cash is needed.

We still needed cash in this area.

There were a few spots where we could use our credit card, like hotel or major restaurants, but if you’re just getting like street food or from like little vendors and things like that, you’re going to want the cash.

17:46

There was a lot of street food here.

Not like a lot, a lot of street food, but in the area that’s by the lake where they have a congregation of hotels and things like that, there are little food stands, like one night we wanted ice cream, so the ice cream was like cash only.

There was a place where they made sort of crepes and that was cash only.

18:05

So you know, other shops like mom and pop shops for souvenirs maybe.

But again, if you’re in a sit down restaurant, a lot of those were credit card.

But if you want those little small little knickknack things and street food like that or just little snacks, then they were pretty much cash only.

18:20

Another great tip we mentioned this when we were talking about Oktoberfest still holds true.

Here is download Google Translate for German and have it downloaded like I said, right.

So I mean, you can access it if you have data, but at the same time you just want to preemptively download it.

18:37

That way, if you don’t have service, you can still use your Google Translate.

Because here more than anywhere on our trip, definitely need to have that because less people spoke English here than one in Munich.

You would also want to download Google Maps of the offline area as well because you can lose reception in some parts of it.

18:54

So it’s good to have.

And then we mentioned before in our Oktoberfest episode, but you might want an esim or data of course.

So we have a link for our Arrow low esim and definitely buy some data in advance.

Good tips?

OK, how many days total were you in this area?

19:11

You said three nights, right?

Three nights, that’s correct.

OK, let’s get into it.

So I kind of already mentioned it.

We took that train from Munich.

We had that short connection.

We had that hiccup with the hotel, but the hotel that we stayed at, it was called.

I can’t even Pronounce It.

19:26

It was called Hotel Garni Honer Lonnen.

I know again from last episode of this one, forgive our German.

I mean, German is such a hard language to pronounce like.

We’re getting a bad review for that. 10 I know, I know.

Just like when we said the River Thames or Toms or Thames and they they ripped us a new one from London, huh?

19:46

So you Germans, please don’t rip us on this one.

But we took a taxi here, but they had beautiful mountain scapes.

Every room that we had had like a little patio area and you could look out and it was just so picturesque.

20:02

You know when you’re like in the mountain area and the cloud cover comes down low and you feel like it’s like foggy and misty and just like so scenic.

That’s like what it was.

They had a bomb little cafe with like they made their own pies and tarts and things and they had like a really good coffee and tea, so.

20:21

The best coffee we had on the trip was actually here.

Like, they made a really good, like, cafe latte, like vanilla water.

It was just so delicious.

So they also have a covered indoor pool and sauna too.

And did you use?

It we did.

Absolutely.

So this day we really wanted to go to this waterfall gorge, but we got here mid afternoon and to take the buses that we needed to get to the waterfall, we could get there, but coming back, the buses didn’t come back that late and it wasn’t even that late.

20:51

We needed to come back at like 7-7 or 8:00 PM, but they would already be closed.

So we’re like, OK, we can’t do that, We can’t do the Eagle’s Nest.

And she said, even if you take a taxi there, the taxi’s not going to wait for you.

And where the, where that little waterfall area is and this little gorge trail that you walk across, no taxis really go into that area that you’ll be able to flag down.

21:14

So like, if you don’t have a car and then you get on a bus there, like you’re literally walking 10 miles back into town, you know?

So we’re like, all right, well, we can’t do that.

So what else do we want to do that we’re going to try to do today?

Well, maybe you should have just offered the right price to the right cab driver.

Maybe, but it would have been very expensive.

21:32

So then we were just deciding, OK, well, maybe we’ll go up to the Eagle’s Nest because even though it’s cloudy out, maybe we’re not there for the views.

Maybe we’re there for the historical aspect of going up and being in the Eagle’s Nest.

Right.

But when we arrived and took the bus to the Eagle’s Nest, they let us know that the elevator to get to the top of the Eagle’s Nest is broken.

21:51

And they’re no longer doing tours that day.

So now after all of this, like the hotel situation, the bus ride, everything, Jamal is upset.

Well, yeah, ’cause I’m just like, OK, well, we couldn’t do this, you know, when we wanted to do the waterfall because of the bus, it was an issue with the hotel, the transfer to make sure that we got it because the train was running late.

22:15

So you know me, I I mean, I won’t lie, I’m prone to kind of agitation on that a little bit.

So.

But what really set me off was not that we couldn’t do it, It’s that when we looked at the bus schedule, it was like, well, the next bus isn’t even gonna pick us up from this area for another like, hour, hour, 15 minutes.

22:31

So we’re just like, all right, like, what are we gonna do?

So in that area for Eagle’s Nest, there’s really only, like, a couple shops because you’re nowhere near it.

You’re just where you catch the bus to go up the mountain.

So they only have like 1 little shop there.

So I’m just like, oh, great, we’re stuck here for like an hour.

22:48

So we’re like, all right, well, let’s go down to the shop and roam around.

And then all of a sudden, like I I hear something and I’m just like, is that a bus?

And then I look over and I really see a bus ahead.

Of.

Schedule ahead of We’re not even listed on the schedule, Kim.

Not even listed on the schedule that it was gonna come at that time, right?

23:05

And so I see it.

But where we’re at, at the shop, you have to run up some stairs and then you’re still kind of like a far away from the road because you got across a parking lot and all that stuff.

And I’m like, the bus is here, let’s go.

I start jamming because I do not want to sit there for another hour.

23:20

I’ve.

Seen you Jam you can.

I could jam when I need to jam, yeah.

Thank you, Kim, for throwing that out there.

I’m quite athletic when I need to be, and I just hit the gas on that one.

Everybody else is running, but not as fast.

But that’s a OK because I thought, like, if I get there, of course he’s just going to wait.

I make it to the bus and I start like kind of like tapping on it.

23:39

And they close the door, and Jamal’s like arriving.

And I’m like, I’m like tapping on it.

And then the bus driver gives 0 shits and just starts like driving off.

And I’m just like, what the F man?

Like I’m here.

Like I tapped on.

There’s no way you didn’t see me in the mirrors.

23:56

There’s no way you didn’t hear me like tapping.

Yeah, he he just gave zero fucks on that and just drove off.

And I was just like great.

Well, next one’s not going to be in another hour like right now.

So then I just got, like so pissed.

I had my water bottle in my hand.

I just freaking chucked that.

24:12

I’m just like not at the bus.

But yeah, yeah, but like, where it was at was like, the parking lot was down below, and I just, like, threw it because I was just so pissed.

It was actually a really good throw, too, because I don’t know how I made it through some, like, little banister railings that were really tight and narrow.

24:28

It just fit through there like perfectly.

And you scuffed it up.

So you we we had like a little.

Yeah, there was going to be a a reminder of this time in Germany because there was a scuff on my stainless steel because it made it through like the little banister rail.

But like, it hit some rocks.

And I was like, all right, well, you know, we, we got a good laugh at that and Garrett, Melissa got to see a Jamal freak out.

24:47

But just like so many things compound, I’m just like, God damn it, we got to wait here another hour.

Like they got to see a good freak out too, No?

They are honorary squatties now after that.

One.

Yeah, Yeah, absolutely.

Wait, so if it wasn’t on the schedule, then was it even the right bus?

It was.

25:02

Yeah.

So and like I guess they just like went up the hill and then turned around and they also on the bus schedule like I said, you needed that like paper one because they had all of these rules on like weekends sometimes they didn’t come or or.

School.

Days.

25:17

Yeah, Like.

Literally the their bus system there is like chaotic.

So rent a car.

Like, I really rent a car.

Do yourself a very rent a car.

So then we’re like, what are we going to do?

Like we can’t go to the waterfall, We can’t go to the Eagle’s Nest.

So we decided to just, you know, relax for the rest of the night.

We went to a traditional Bavarian restaurant.

25:33

We’ll relax an hour at the bus stop till the next bus and then walk to a Bavarian restaurant.

And then we got a even better laugh because Jamal and Garrett are like we need a beer after this day.

And so they order a beer that looks familiar to them and they order the non alcoholic beer.

25:51

So like it was, I was so upset.

So basically, you know, we go to this Bavarian restaurant.

It was really highly rated.

The food out there was really delicious.

Do we have the name of the restaurant?

Brittany.

What a shame.

Well, hopefully we’ll find it and we’ll put it in the show notes here for you guys on that one.

26:07

But it came up really highly rated and we’re like, all right, let’s go.

And then when we get there, finally, like Britney said, we were like, we need a beer and we went to the low embro tent.

If you guys remember from last week’s episode talking about Oktoberfest and we’re like, well, we know what low embro tastes like, let’s just go with the low embro, you know, we liked it enough.

26:27

Let’s get it.

And then as soon as it comes out in a bottle, I’m not even paying attention, ’cause I’m just like, all right, like, whatever.

Like, my beer is here.

I noticed she brings out little baby cups.

I’m just like, what is this like?

Why is it not, like, in a larger cup?

And then Garrett, I thought he was just trying to, like, irk my chain a little bit and play with me.

26:46

He’s like, bro, guess what?

I’m like what?

He’s like, these are non alcoholic.

I said no way.

Like, I was just so stupid.

They’re like, don’t play around with me.

These aren’t non alcoholic.

We just had low, bro.

What are you talking about?

He says.

Look at the menu and look at the bottle.

It definitely says non and then obviously alcoholic in German, but it’s so close that I know that that’s alcoholic.

27:07

And then we just started like busting up laughing because it was like how can this day get any more freaking ridiculous than this?

Like we both like we need a beer.

The calm nerves me more than anybody.

Like after the day and then I order non alcoholic beer and you see the person at the table kind of sitting across from us, He had a regular beer.

27:26

They could bring it in, the big boy glasses and all that stuff and we get the non alcoholic beer and she brings us little baby cups.

I don’t know if she was playing with us or if that’s common practice for them to serve, but she didn’t even tell us.

Like she was a nice waitress nice enough, spoke English, one of the few like in the area that actually did, but she did not give us fair warning.

27:42

I’m a little disappointed in that.

So did you order another beer with alcohol?

Not at that point.

I was just like F it I’m, I’m done.

You know, let’s.

Drink the non alcoholic.

Oh, I I drank.

I bought it.

I’m.

I’m not a quitter, you know, I’m.

I’m gonna have it.

You know, it still tasted like beer.

It just didn’t help take the edge off a little bit.

27:59

But what helped take the edge off was after dinner, when we went back to the hotel, that’s when we had that.

Really delicious coffee.

PG and no no.

I’m not, I’m not getting to to that.

When we got back to the hotel, we had that coffee dessert, then we got in the pool that was covered indoors in the sauna.

28:16

So that was kind of like the nice relaxation.

But I did find the name of the restaurant we ate at.

It was called Ghost House Unterstein and it was really good.

I ended up getting some pork and it was like crispy on the outside, moisten the inside, some sauerkraut and what else did it come with?

28:33

It came with like a cabbage slaw or something.

Well, that’s the sauerkraut, right?

It’s kind of like the cabbage slaw and stuff like that.

I think it came with some sort of potatoes.

OK.

Well, it was.

Or mashed potatoes.

Yeah, it was super, super good.

Again, like I said in last week’s episode, heavy.

You’re right, German food is heavy.

28:50

Had a nice gravy to it, but flavor profile?

Absolutely delicious.

And then we went to the pool and thought of the pools covered.

It wasn’t super heated, but it wasn’t cold, but the sauna was really nice to get into.

You know, we laid in the sauna a little bit, warmed up, but I think we mentioned in last week’s episode that we did get sick at Oktoberfest and this is like the first day I really started to feel it.

29:15

So it was just nice to like kind of take the rest of the evening at leisure.

But again, I’m not a quitter, so the next day we had some hiking to do.

So on Sunday we had we started the morning with a breakfast buffet at the hotel.

29:31

And it was really good because like I said, they had their own little pastry shop in there.

Really good.

So we were expecting great things for the breakfast buffet and it was pretty good.

But I feel like a lot of European breakfast buffets are like meats and cheeses and of course they had a few like other savory things and items like that.

But it was really good and it.

29:48

Was really good.

We really enjoyed the breakfast buffet here and then we went to the National Park, so we needed to How did we get there?

We ended up getting there via taxi and so this was kind of something that we were worried about, right?

Because we were supposed to check out of the hotel this day, because we were supposed to get to the new hotel and so to do our hike, we needed to take the boat ride.

30:08

The boat ride to the hike is like an hour then, plus it’s like an hour back and we’re just like, all right, well, we’re either going to have to catch the bus or taxi back from the lake to this hotel, Then we clearly can’t take a bus.

We’re going to have to take another taxi again to the new hotel, move our luggage this, that and the other.

And so I was kind of even stressed of that thought like earlier in the day yesterday at that point, right, of like, how are we going to move our luggage?

30:31

So when we woke up in the morning, the receptionist, who was also the owner who spoke English, she was like, all right, I’m just going to, like, help you guys out.

We’ll be transferring your luggage for you guys.

So don’t even worry about having to come back.

And that was like a really big weight off of our shoulders of like, we don’t have to find our transportation back here to get our luggage to only go back to the same place that we were just coming from.

30:53

Because where we caught the boat is literally where our hotel was 10 feet away.

Like, no exaggeration.

Like 10 feet away.

You guys could have just brought your luggage to the new hotel.

Things don’t work like that out there.

These are slower parts.

The reception doesn’t open until later.

31:09

It it wouldn’t have worked out.

So, like, it’s it’s not like you can walk in and be like, let me leave my luggage.

Here again, the car rental would have been.

Good.

We would have had a place to leave our luggage, so we take the taxi, we get to the lakefront.

We’re actually there probably about 30 minutes before our tour starts and we noticed that there’s an earlier boat.

31:30

So we asked them, hey, are we able to get on this earlier boat?

And she said absolutely no problem.

So we were able to do that.

Turning around.

Today they started turning around, started turning around, except for the fact that my COVID started to onset at this point in time.

But you know, we were going to be doing some hiking that day, so and I was sick.

31:47

So I made sure to put some liquid IV in my hiking backpack because it’s one of my favorite travel products and it keeps me hydrated while flying, traveling, and hiking in the Bavarian Alps.

We’ve said it before, we’re going to say it again.

It’s full of electrolytes that hydrates you two times faster than water alone.

32:02

We use them when we’re flying, when we’re feeling jet lagged after a long hike like this, or even before the hike, and especially when I’m having the onset of COVID.

Come on, you definitely want to be hydrated.

Super easy to carry and keep stocked in your hiking backpack.

Carry on suitcase, day, pack or purse.

32:19

Liquid IV comes in regular or sugar free varieties and has tons of new flavors.

Some of our favorites are Tangerine with immune support which you all needed on this trip.

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32:36

Just go to liquid-iv.com and use our promo code Travel Squad Podcast at checkout.

So like you said Kim, things were starting to turn around.

For us.

We were able to catch the earlier boat ’cause it was gonna be an hour ride along the lake on the boat to get to where we needed to be at the very end of the lake to start our hike.

32:56

Now the tickets for this boat we bought in advance their €2750 per person, and that’s for the Kings Lake Ferry boat.

So when Brittany was saying Canogue see earlier, that’s the translation of Kings Lake.

So we were supposed to be on the 8:15.

33:13

We ended up getting on the earlier one.

So that was really good news.

Just kind of helped with TIME 2750 Bind in advance.

And while you’re on the boat, you want to sit on the right hand side for the best views.

I read that Tip would recommend that we got to the dock really early in the morning and it’s so pretty with this beautiful morning fog right over the lake just above the water.

33:33

No one was really there yet, so really good picture spot along the ride.

Unfortunately they only narrate it in German, so we had no idea what they were saying about the region, but it was a nice ride.

But they did stop in the middle of the lake.

They did this little demonstration on the acoustics.

33:50

The captain came out, he played the trumpet, and you could hear the echo back of what he had just played.

Oh.

That’s so cool.

It was really cool.

And it was also really funny because then at one point Garrett looked at us and he’s like, I really thought somebody was playing back to us for a moment.

34:06

He didn’t realize it was the echo because he kind of stopped in front of the church.

So there’s multiple stops along this lake.

And this lake is long and narrow.

And when I say long and narrow to each side of the lake is just sweeping mountains thousands of feet up.

Right.

So like, you’re literally just kind of in this narrow inlet of the lake, So, so beautiful.

34:25

But at one point in the middle of the lake, there’s this one church called St.

Bartholomew.

And we were kind of in that area.

So I think Garrett thought like, Oh yeah, the sound is just coming back.

Somebody’s playing it from the church.

But it really was the echo.

And so that was a cool little demonstration to see, but really the scenic beauty along that in the morning and just kind of with that eeriness of cloud cover before the skies start to clear, really beautiful.

34:51

I remember watching the stories when you were all there and you could hear the trumpet playing back.

Even on the Instagram story was that loud.

That’s so cool.

Yeah, and I would recommend doing the first one of the day, because then when we got to the trailhead, you’re not fighting a lot of people.

35:07

We had the trail mostly to ourselves, so we were going to do the Rothbach waterfall, was about a five mile hike, took us about four hours.

You can only get to that trailhead via the boat tour and it’s so beautiful.

We got out and again, you’re a gun on this lakefront.

35:23

There’s restrooms there.

And then you start to go up the trail and you start to hear bells and you look over and it’s the cows on the side of the hill, just like grazing.

And you just feel like you are in Germany, you know, like in this little European town.

35:39

And it was just so amazing.

It’s that stereotypicalness that I told you about before, you know, just kind of like hearing the bells clank on the cows and just the color and everything.

So it really gave great vibes.

And this hike, the Rothback waterfall hike, again I mentioned earlier, where the waterfall is, you really can’t climb up it.

35:58

But just like a few 1000 feet behind it is honestly Austria.

So in a new country, so you’re tucked into this one little corner.

But if you go to All Trails and look at this hike, it will tell you the appropriate mileage.

But then when all the trails they show you elevation, it showed something that was like freaking wild.

36:17

Like I was just like, Oh my God, like, Britney, you’re choosing this.

Garrett, Melissa, don’t hike.

Like, I’m a little bit, like concerned a little bit.

And then I read all the reviews and they’re like, I don’t know what All Trails is saying on this.

It’s like this was no way at all as steep as like they’re showing on like the little animation or anything like that.

36:34

So if you happen to be in this region, want to do this and see that, I really want to attest to the fact that it’s not as crazy of elevation as all Trails shows, but it’s really nice because you start at the very end of the lake, Kings Lake, Kings Lake, it’s relatively flat.

36:49

You start hiking through a little area where you’ll get an incline.

Then you reach some sort of other little lake or pond, I don’t really want to call it.

But then you open up into this little valley at the waterfall and it’s a good distance to the waterfall, but you just get these amazing views and it clears out.

37:05

And I absolutely loved it here.

Like, even though I was starting to feel sick, I was just like, wow, this is, like, really beautiful.

We probably only came across two other people on the way to the trail, but on the way back there was a ton of people.

So going first thing in the morning to have the trail to yourself is absolutely worth it.

37:22

So after the hike, we decided that we wanted to go to the church.

That was the first stuff that we had passed on the way over.

So we get off at the church.

They actually have like the church open where you can go in, check it out, but they also have a beer garden on the outside.

37:39

So typical Germany, right?

Beer garden at the church.

But even beyond the famous church that’s here, there’s other hiking trails that you can take from this area, right?

So this may be a stop depending on if you do your research and coming to this area to do good hikes from this stop yourself versus the one that we did at the very end of the lake.

37:57

But we said to ourselves, well, why would we not stop here, this church?

Google it.

St.

Bartholoma Church.

Really crazy.

Kind of like Baroque architecture, wasn’t it?

And really bright colored red roof and really scenic, really beautiful.

38:12

But who doesn’t want a nice refreshing beer after a hike?

I could say all four of us did.

We did.

We did not exhaust ourselves from beer from Munich and Oktoberfest.

We were like, we are ready for one here and what a cluster it was when we were here at Saint Bartholomew Church.

38:27

I’m really kind of, like, disappointed because this whole time I was like, oh, this is going to be so great to have it.

Why don’t you tell what happened, Brittany?

So everyone was super excited to have their beer or maybe get a little snack and there’s a line with this food cart and where you could get your beers.

And so the woman that was manning the cart, she was taking every single order in front of us people getting their beers and getting their, like, little stands to put on their table for their food.

38:50

They get to Jamal and Garrett and Jamal is like, oh, we’re gonna take two Schnitzel and she goes, no and he goes okay, we’ll just go ahead and take 2 beers.

Then she goes no.

And she said, she said where are you seated?

And Jamal and Garrett Point.

And she goes.

They’ll take your order there.

OK, so we’re waiting.

39:06

And literally Garrett and I are in line for 10 minutes.

At least 10 different people order in front of us.

All of them walk away with beer.

All of them either walk away with food that she has there or with a number for the table for them to bring from the kitchen to actually have if it’s a more in depth meal like the Schnitzel or like whatever.

39:23

So we’re like well, why?

Like is it because we’re sitting in that section?

Because she asked us and she’s like, well, if you’re sitting there, they, they take orders there, right?

So everybody’s ordering in German, mind you, in front of us, Nobody’s ordering in English.

And of course we come up and we order in English and we’re thinking to ourselves, is it because we ordered in English and then we leave?

39:43

No one comes to take our order.

We’re not sitting too far from that car.

Everybody else who’s ordering orders in German still walks away successfully with beer, walks away successfully with food.

The only other people that did not was an Asian family that spoke in English also.

39:59

And so I think this lady here was so hard, really discriminating, like if you didn’t speak German.

So eventually we sat at that table outside for 20-30 minutes literally waiting for waiter to come to us.

They don’t.

So we go up to him and he’s like, you order up there and they said we tried to order, she told us no and he said I’m too busy, I don’t have time to deal with this.

40:18

Tell her she has to take your order.

So we were just like, well, F this, we’re leaving.

I mean we went into the church and saw the church cause of course the church is there, but this was probably like our worst experience.

Funny enough, like as we were hiking, of course, you know, you get into conversation on the hikes and as I mentioned, this was really garmalis first trip.

40:37

He asked, Like on our travels, have we ever really experienced discrimination of any sorts or just be like, oh, you guys are Americans?

I’m like, honestly, no, not really sure enough. 30 minutes later, boom.

I really feel like that was the situation here because I know no other reason why she would have not served us food.

40:54

And then the only other people were speaking English to her, and clearly not German because they were Asian.

So I think that’s what happened here.

I don’t want to say that to discourage you guys, but that’s kind of a situation that happened.

So we decided to go out for pizza instead.

There was spot like two blocks from our hotel.

41:11

We went there and we wanted to try a rattler.

A rattler is half German beer mixed with like half lemon, lime soda or like a lemonade.

And radler stands for cyclists in a dialect of German.

Because there was like a whole bunch of cyclists that rode miles and miles and miles on the strenuous bike trip, and they made it to a small town and they were looking for something that was light and refreshing and like not too heavy and so, but they.

41:36

Still needed the alcohol.

Yeah, so not I know I was about to say.

So not water, but give me some sort of beer, but give me something lighter in it.

So the.

Local Germans.

The operator of the inn made this drink to cater towards them and it caught on.

And so rattlers are very popular and so we decided to try it.

41:52

I actually liked it, Melissa did not.

What was your opinion on that, Jamal?

I didn’t like it.

Garrett didn’t like it.

But in fairness, I think my COVID was really starting to kick in.

So any alcohol at that point wasn’t necessarily, you know, too great for me.

Although I will say I’ve had other German beers that they sell here in the US that kind of have flavors that kind of in that same tone of being like a a soda and other flavor of mixed half with beer that I’ve really, really liked.

42:19

Wasn’t too huge of a fan of it, but it doesn’t surprise me that Britney liked it.

So give it a go.

But you know, hit or miss, it’s a coin flip.

It sounds good.

Yeah, it sounded good.

I don’t think it was that.

I liked it.

I liked it.

But Britney was the only one.

But then we wanted to go take the gondola up the Jenner Ball mountain.

42:37

We had reservations already, so well, we had tickets already.

Yeah, the reservations are open.

Right, So you take this gondola up, you’re going up 6100 feet in elevation, You get this amazing panoramic view up there.

You get to see the valley below, so green.

42:55

It’s so beautiful.

And we actually were teasing here and Melissa a lot because we were originally going to take the gondola up and then do the hike down.

Honestly, ridiculous like even us, we’re just like, man, like.

43:13

And I think all Trails is wrong in this region because it showed a mileage for that.

And when we were taking the gondolas and like looking and seeing all the switchbacks and other BS that people had to do and like, there ain’t no way this is correct.

Like, this seems terrible.

Like even on the down, ’cause you could hike up, of course and then go down, but yeah, no way.

43:30

So do yourself a favor, buy the round trip ticket.

The round trip was about like €38 per person at the time that we did it.

If you go after 3:00 PM, it’s €32.00.

So you could save a little bit of money if you go after three, but they close at 5:00.

So it’s something you have to do like at the end of the day because the gondola closes early.

43:48

There’s a restaurant and gift shop at the top, and Jamal was really funny because we did this research and he was like, there’s pictures that we could see the lake from here, we get to the top, we’re looking, we’re at the restaurant, we’re looking over, We do not see the lake.

We’re like, where is it?

Where’s the lake?

Then I see a trail.

44:05

So it was an easy day after the hike that we had just already done earlier in the day.

Another 15 minute hike up some seep stairs. 15 minutes.

It’s yeah it is no big deal if you haven’t done a like a hike earlier that day and stuff like that then or having onset COVID again.

44:21

So I was like, I’m going to go up.

You guys can stay here.

You guys can stay at the restaurant, and they’re like, we’re gonna go with you.

It’s fine.

You know, like Brittany’s dragging us along.

So we go to the top.

We got to see lake views.

It was really beautiful.

Cloud cover did start to come in, so it did start to obstruct our view a little bit, but we went up, got an ornament from there.

44:41

There’s a little museum with some exhibits there.

And then we took the gondola down and we checked into our new hotel right at the lakefront and it was so beautiful.

And the gondola here is right by the lakefront, right?

So everything like the gondola, the boat, rides along the lake, the kind of little village area where all the hotels are and shops all congregated in this area.

45:05

So this is would be a really good spot to stay in, no doubt for that reason.

So we didn’t have too far of a walk.

We’d go to the hotel and sure enough, our luggage happens to be there.

They already put it in our rooms or tell us you guys are paid up from the hotel that you were staying at the night before.

45:22

So everything worked out as it should.

And then that’s where we discovered that the hotel, at least the rooms were a lot nicer.

Because when she told us where we going to be staying, that’s when Brittany finally looked at it.

And we’re like, oh, the photos are like, dated, But they had done an update of the rooms and apparently didn’t show them online.

45:39

And it was a really, really nice room.

We loved it.

Here.

Yeah, it was a beautiful, beautiful room, nice big bathroom.

They had the heated towel warmers, you know, so you put your towel on and it warms up your towel.

So when you get out of the shower, your towel is all warm.

Hey, we’re in the Alps.

It freezes out there.

45:54

You need that towel.

I’ve never heard of this.

I’ve heard of towel like little dryer things for your bathroom.

But I know they have racks that have like heat currents run through them, so you just hang it up on the rack.

Just be warm on that one part that it touched.

No, it’s like a ring rung, like a ladder.

46:10

So it kind of goes all the way through it, yeah.

So we use that.

It was really nice.

The dining room of this hotel looks out to the lake.

So very beautiful views.

This night we decided we were cold.

We had some goulash soup.

It was delicious and they had a breakfast buffet the next morning.

46:28

Yeah, it was really good.

You know?

Again, this is when I started to really feel sick.

And by that I I don’t want to say, like, it was really bad.

It was one of those things where I started to feel a little tickle in my throat, but I couldn’t tell, Is this going to develop into anything more?

Is it because we’re amongst friends and we’re talking?

46:46

And I had been drinking at Oktoberfest like a few days before.

And so I was just like, oh, all right, you know?

And then Garrett tells me, hey, man, like after dinner, let’s come down.

There’s a beer garden right here at the restaurant, like, on the outside just overlooking the lake.

This will be great to, like, have a beer.

47:02

And I was like, yeah, let me go upstairs first.

I’m thinking to myself, oh, man, I really don’t want a beer.

Like, I’m not feeling too good.

Like, I just want some, like, tea.

So he’s like, are you game?

And I was like, oh, I’m not going to ruin this for Garrett.

Yeah, I’m game.

But I was like, I’m going to be down in 10 minutes.

You know, I had to, like, psych myself up to be like, all right, I’m going to go down and get a beer.

47:19

He goes down.

He’s like, they close at 8:00, but apparently they closed early.

And I was like, oh, no, but deep down.

So Garrett and Melissa, if you’re listening to this one, sorry.

I think I may have told him this, too.

If I was like, oh, thank God, because I did not like when I have a beer.

I was like, man, I’m like, this is when it like in the evening is when my sickness started to really kicking and like, oh, I’m not feeling good so we didn’t get to enjoy it.

47:39

But if you’re at this hotel then it’s a really good spot to have a a beer, especially on a summer month, you know, just out on the lake at no covering.

It would be really nice.

Tips like this are exactly what you can find in our travel itineraries, so I think this is a good time to mention that we have a ton of travel itineraries available on our website.

47:58

We get a lot of requests to send us what we did on our trips.

With these itineraries you can get just that.

And we have several international trip itineraries.

Japan’s a big caught one Banff, Spain.

We also have US itineraries as well for Kawaii, the US Virgin Islands and Utah Mighty 5 National Parks.

48:16

Each itinerary is a 20 to 30 page PDF instant download guide that tells you where to fly into, exact route we took, where to sleep, park entrance prices, where to eat, driving distance between attractions, the things to see and do, even the hikes.

We recommend their mileage and time to a lot for each and so much more.

48:35

We’ll go ahead and link these itineraries in our show notes.

You could also go to travelsquadpodcast.com, check them out there.

And do note, we also have free itineraries for you guys to download just as well.

So go ahead, click on that link, check out the ones that are available for purchase, but also check out our free itineraries for Are you there?

48:54

And this Birches Garden area, we actually have one for this area as well.

So on Monday we decided to take a little break from the area and do a day trip to Salzburg.

We went took a bus to Austria and again, Garrett, Melissa haven’t really been out of country much, so we wanted to head off another country for them and it’s not a long drive away.

49:15

It was, what, maybe an hour?

Or so it was like 45 minutes to an hour via bus, right?

So again, the whole purpose of this was to knock off another country for Garrett and Melissa to go to Austria.

Also, Brittany and I have been to Salzburg before when we did our Danube River cruise for our honeymoon.

49:32

Which we have an episode.

On which we have an episode on We did go to Salzburg, but Brittany and I love Salzburg so much that we’re like, well, let’s go again, right?

So it was kind of like A2 for Let’s Go Again.

We really enjoyed it.

Let’s let them cross off another country since we’re right there.

And so we were able to take bus 840 and it’s approximately €6 total with our guest card.

49:53

So it’s not free because of course you’re leaving the general vicinity of Burkdes Garden, but they give you a discount for it.

So we just showed our card and we’re able to get €6.00 round trip, was it not round trip versus I think it was 12 if you don’t have the card, even if you don’t have the card, €12.00 round trip I still think is a very nominal price to get you to another country and a really cool city like Salisbury.

50:18

How is the border?

Was there any type of?

Border.

There’s no border, There’s just a sign.

So you’re crossing between European Union countries and when you do that it’s like crossing states.

Nobody’s there checking anything, right?

If it wasn’t another EU country then there would be a border checkpoint, but this was just easy peasy, right and through.

50:37

And you know, we were still feeling sick, but it was another easy day.

We wanted to walk up the steps to get views of the city, so we did do that.

But sick were you?

Like not too sick like 1 to. 10 Not too sick.

So funny enough, the only two times I’ve ever caught COVID have been on vacations and have had me do hikes while I’ve been on COVID.

50:54

So I will.

Confirmed COVID both times, though.

But I’m confirmed because I didn’t have tests to test myself.

I’m not out there just trying to be a super spreader or anything like that.

I didn’t have anything to test myself with because I’m on vacation.

We didn’t know we had COVID.

Actually, like I didn’t.

I wouldn’t have said it was necessarily COVID.

51:09

It was like a cold.

And that’s, and that’s what I thought too, because the first time we were in Tennessee and I was feeling sick.

And then Brittany caught it later and she came home.

She tested positive when we were on this trip in Germany.

Like I was feeling sick.

51:25

As a matter of fact, this morning on our way to Salzburg, I told Garrett and Melissa, and they’re like, OK, well, what’s the plan?

I said, well, I’m still game for the plan to go to Salzburg.

I’m just giving you fair war.

I know, I said.

I’m just giving you fair warning, like I’m sick, like, so if you’re going to be around me, are you guys good?

And they’re like, Oh yeah, like whatever.

51:41

Both of them are nurses, both of them have kids, so they know what it’s like to just get sick.

So they’re like, alright, whatever, you know, no problem.

And again, I thought it was really a cold because all I had was a tickle in my throat.

I didn’t have a cough and I just really had the sniffles, you know?

You know, I would start to feel worse as the day went on, but when I would sleep at night and wake up in the morning, I would feel really good in the morning.

52:01

So like, it wasn’t like I felt super sick all the time.

I would feel sick as I was getting later in the day.

I would rest, sleep and then feel refreshed again.

No like smell or taste lost.

No, none of that.

That’s why I wouldn’t even think I had COVID.

I really thought we just had a cold.

52:18

I did have a cough and I did get chills 2 nights, but other than that like it was just like a normal cold and I didn’t feel that bad.

But anyways, continuing on with Salzburg, we decided to take the day pretty leisurely.

We walk around the city, get views of the city.

We were strolling around the streets and we actually accidentally walked into a cemetery.

52:39

It wasn’t even like, but they’re not enclosed.

It’s just like on the street.

You just like, walk along the path and you’re like, oh, is this a tombstone?

Yeah, it is.

And then it’s just a giant cemetery of, like locals.

I mean the city of Salzburg.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, Google, it’s very famous, very picturesque.

52:55

And so we really enjoyed our time here.

Like I said, Brittany and I have been before, but this is a city where you just kind of stroll the city streets, see the shops they have like an overlook area of famous Fort, like at the top.

We didn’t go all the way to the top because we didn’t want to do too much of an easy day right and like hike all the way to the top.

53:13

But we did take the stairs some point to just get an elevated overlook of the entire city.

And the first time Brittany and I had been here, we ate at a place called Mozart Cafe.

And why is it called Mozart Cafe?

Because this is the birth place of Mozart.

He was born in Salzburg, lived in Salzburg, maybe even died there.

53:32

I’m not too sure of that.

But point being, at Mozart Cafe the first time Brittany and I were here in 2015, we had some amazing apricot dumplings.

And I swear to you, Kim, we’ve been talking about it for the last nine years here.

I’ve heard.

How good these ones are.

53:47

So we’re like, oh, let’s go back.

We took Garrett and Melissa and they did not disappoint.

Mozart Cafe Apricot dumplings.

Go get it, bomb.

Because.

Sometimes you do go back to a place and it’s not as good as you remember.

It was really good.

And you know what’s nice too is Austria in general.

54:03

As a whole, they take their coffee very seriously.

They like, love coffee shops and just going in there and you can enjoy desserts.

They have a whole repertoire of desserts in there.

But of course we got the apricot dumplings since we loved it so much the first time.

But just go in there, sit, enjoy a leisurely coffee.

54:19

It’s just a nice atmosphere.

We really loved.

It and it’s in the Old city.

And what’s really unique about the old city is every shop sign outside kind of illustrates what is inside.

So, you know, if it’s a coffee shop, they have something related to coffee on the outside.

If it’s the Barber shop, they have like a pair of scissors and things.

54:37

And that’s because when this town was originally made, there was a lot of illiterate people and they couldn’t read.

So the signs had to be like illustrated to show what they were going in for.

And they’ve kept that because it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site too.

Yeah, so really, check out Salzburg if you’re ever in Austria or go to Germany, to Birkdesgarden or even Munich.

55:00

It’s not too far away.

So I mean, we just strolled the streets.

This is one of those cities where you just go into the shops, stroll the streets.

It’s just really nice and quaint and gives you this really unique European vibe that you really can’t get A lot of other places.

It’s also famous.

55:15

If you love the Sound of Music.

This is where they filmed The Sound of Music.

So lots of people who love that movie come here.

It’s known for The Mirror Palace and Gardens and so of course we saw that.

But one of the things that we did after we just roamed around ourselves was we booked a free walking tour.

55:31

We’ve talked about walking tours before.

We love free walking tours, Kim.

We know you love them too and we did that and it it’s also nice because one it’s freeze.

But when we say it’s free, of course you know you have to tip right?

So just be sure to tip your guide, especially if they put an effort and give you good knowledge on it.

55:48

But you learn so many new and unique things on these, and that was the last thing we did before we caught our bus back.

Yeah, she had a very nice walking tour.

We went to the Maribel Palace and Gardens, we saw a dwarf garden.

We went across the Lovelock Bridge, we went into the old city, we saw a marble staircase and then we also went by Mozart’s house.

56:10

So lots of different highlights for the city.

The tour did run a little long and we did want to catch a certain bus back to Burch’s Garden, so we ran back and we were able to catch the bus.

So luck was on our side that time and we just hung out for the rest of the evening, had dinner at our hotel that.

56:29

Sounds like like a lovely little day trip.

It really was.

And that’s the one thing I really love about Europe too, is people don’t realize how close things are.

And yes, we were right on the border.

So I mean, in fairness, but lots of things are really close when you’re in Europe.

So whenever you go someplace, just kind of look around and see, hey, what unique thing can I do?

56:47

And completely different, right?

Because Salzburg is right by Berkus Garden, which is in the Alps, but Salzburg is not even mountainous, right.

So then you just kind of get these like little different vibes and everything like that.

But Tuesday was our last day.

57:02

And Tuesday, funny enough, was a day that we didn’t have anything planned except for if we’re unable to do things, this is the day that we’re going to do it before we catch the train back.

And lo and behold, we weren’t able to do 2 things we weren’t able to do Eagle’s Nest on that first day because the elevator was broken.

57:19

We weren’t able to go to the waterfall and the little Canyon trail that they have along there because of the bus situation on the first day.

So this was our overflow day that we did both of those.

Yeah.

And you know, you were saying Kim before, like, should we originally have brought our luggage to the hotel?

57:37

The day that we took the boat across the lake, the hotel reception didn’t even open early enough for us to check out.

So we were like, we wanted to be out like at like 7:00 AM.

They weren’t going to be there till like 8 or 9.

So we ended up having to leave our luggage, just like by the entrance.

57:54

Like literally at the front door and having to tell the people working the breakfast buffet in the morning.

Hey, can you make sure reception takes this and puts it in the back?

So like we left on good faith that our luggage would be there upon our return.

Yeah, but we decided to take the bus to the Wynbachlum waterfalls and I would highly recommend this.

58:12

It took us about 45 minutes to get there by bus.

You can get there sooner if you take, you know, a taxi or have your own car.

That’s another thing.

It sounds like with the car it’s like 12 minutes versus 45 minutes.

Yeah, because you’re doing all the stops and then not only that, where we were starting from.

58:28

Again, I mentioned this kind of earlier in the episode, Everything transits through the bus stop at the train station.

So it involves transfers.

And then like we mentioned, the wait times between transfers are either very close or very long in between.

So that’s kind of why it takes a little bit of time, but we did that.

58:46

We got there early in the morning.

Where it drops you off for these waterfalls is on the main road.

You have to do a little bit of a hike.

I would say maybe what took about 1520 minutes to kind of walk up a little bit of a hill to get there.

And it’s an unmanned entrance, but you have to pay it cause a little bit before you get to the entrance.

59:05

There are actual like electronic kiosks.

I don’t even know where they’re getting the electricity from.

But you basically buy your entrance, which is really like a specialized token that’s like cut up in a certain way to fit in that will allow you to turn the turnstile.

But here at the Wimbachlim waterfalls, you can use your guest card when you’re staying at the hotel to get a little bit of a discount.

59:27

I think it gave you like €50 cent or like a euro off, but it was really only like 350 euro, €4.00 to get in to it.

But it’s really nice because this area takes you through a sweeping Canyon where there’s a boardwalk along the Cliff and you just see these waterfalls as they’re coming down.

59:46

The rock is filled with Moss.

If you think back to when we were kind of in New Hampshire, not together, but you know, when you went to New Hampshire and they had the waterfall area, flume gorge, it’s kind of like this, but a little bit more narrow.

So you could take that as a pro Recon, maybe feel it smaller, but I also felt that it’s a little bit more intimate that way too.

1:00:05

So I really like this area a lot.

Yeah, so we actually had the whole thing to ourselves, the whole boardwalk area, so you could choose to go all the way across it and then come out and come down a dirt path, but there’s nothing along the dirt path to see.

So we went all the way to the end and then we just took in the views on the way back instead of going down the dirt path.

1:00:25

And it was really nice.

Beautiful waterfalls, that Moss sweeping down the narrow gorge, watching the water come through it.

It was really nice.

Definitely a highlight I had been.

Jamal had told me that I might have to cut this out and I was like, Nope, we’re not cutting this.

1:00:41

Out.

Well, it was either this or Eagle’s Nest of Time was too constrained and the consensus was more people wanted to go to Eagle’s Nest for the historical aspect of things.

But we were able to fit this in in the.

Morning.

I was like, I will make it work.

We’re going to make it happen.

So we did.

Then we took the bus back to the main train station.

1:00:59

For waiting another hour for the bus to pick us up, by the way.

So when we were done, we had to wait another hour for the bus to come pick us up from this the remote area to take us to the train station to catch the next transfer to Eagle’s Nest.

Yes.

So we finally make it to Eagle’s Nest, and Jamal will tell you a little bit about the history of the Eagle’s Nest.

1:01:18

Yeah, so like I had mentioned earlier, Eagle’s Nest is the English version.

It’s called like Kelstein House.

And of course, you know, forgive our German again, I can’t help but keep saying that.

But basically Eagle’s Nest was a Nazi constructed site erected at the top of the summit here in Berkus Garden area, a top of Rocky Mountain.

1:01:39

It gives really good views of the surrounding area.

It’s very isolated.

So it was supposed to be a retreat and also a fortress for Hitler.

There’s, I believe only about 14 documented instances that Hitler was there.

More high-ranking members of the Third Reich went to visit.

1:01:56

Hitler didn’t go as often, even though it was built specifically for him and it’s the hideout because he was scared of heights.

From a hideout perspective, it’s not very hidden.

Well, it’s not very hidden, but to get up there is very tough, right.

So that you’re really in a very strategic area because it can’t really be rated because you, well, it could be, you know, with a bomb, that’s very, very true.

1:02:21

But at the same time, what’s really unique about this is it’s built up at the top.

But as we kind of mentioned earlier, you have to catch an elevator to the top.

That elevator is built in the center of the mountain.

So it’s actually still an engineering marvel to consider how they built the road, how they carved out the mountain to put that elevator in there.

1:02:41

Even to get to the center of the mountain, there’s a big long tunnel that’s hollowed out for you to go through and have to walk.

So it’s it’s quite an interesting thing.

But of course, one of the unique things about Germany, of course, is when they talk about World War 2, it’s not like they pay homage to anything.

1:02:57

As a matter of fact, they’re really like embarrassed about it.

So even though they know what it is, there’s very few things of there of reference to what it was.

And so now it’s just really an overlooked place of the beautiful mountains, the lake, very view, things to reference what it actually was.

1:03:14

And there’s a beer garden at the top.

So you really go of course.

So you really go for the views and yes, maybe the historical aspect, but they don’t really talk about the historical aspect up there.

When I have been hearing about this place from you all, I’m imagining something to look more like a birds nest, but it looks just like a little house.

1:03:34

Yes.

Yeah, it looks like a little house and that’s the area that’s shown above.

Of course, there’s a little bit area kind of like in the rocks.

It’s not necessarily too huge too, but you know, the elevators, how many feet, right?

I think it’s 400 and I.

Don’t know.

I do think it would be cooler if it looked more like a nest.

1:03:50

Yeah.

But I think they just call it that because it’s at the top, you know, Eagles and birds put their nests, you know, in certain strategic positions, right.

But really unique and I think there’s only literally one wall that tells you a little bit and shows a few photos of when Hitler and 3rd Reich members actually visited the area.

1:04:11

The only thing of historical significance that you can maybe go to and see of the building.

Cause of course they don’t pay homage to it.

It’s just it is what it is, is there is a very famous fireplace there, and the fireplace is made of marble.

And that marble was actually gifted to Hitler and the Nazis by Benito Mussolini.

1:04:32

But when Allied soldiers overtook Germany and in that area, the Allied soldiers that raided it actually like broke off some of the marble on the fireplace.

So you can go in.

The fireplace is still there, but you can see where they chipped it out as like personal souvenirs to themselves and like took it as a little bit of a victory for themselves.

1:04:52

So really unique experience.

I mean, if you were really into history, this is cool to go to, but you’re not really gonna get a lot of the history there because they don’t sell it up.

It’s really just for the view, the beer garden now, the nostalgia, but it just really unique.

1:05:07

Taking the bus up, they let you out.

You walk down this long tunnel that’s four, 500 feet.

You get to an elevator that’s gilded with brass and green leather, and this is the original elevator.

They haven’t changed it.

So if you like history, of course, or even the nostalgia of, like Hitler himself rode into this because there’s no way to get into the building if not taking the elevator, because the road ends at the elevator, you know.

1:05:32

So no.

You can hike up.

Wait.

Well, yes, you can hike up, but there’s no Rd. up for, like, cars.

Yeah, you know.

So yeah, you can actually skip the bus and hike up, but it’d be like a three hour hike to get up there, but when you.

Pretty strenuous too.

Very strenuous too, yeah, so we decided not to do that.

1:05:48

We took the bus, of course, and we just took the elevator, but you could choose to also forego the elevator and hike the rest of the way up there too.

When you get to the top, there are really, really great views.

You can do some hiking.

There’s some lookouts, there’s a great overlook of the lake.

It’s very beautiful and scenic up there.

1:06:05

When we got to purchase the tickets for the bus to get up to the Eagles Nest, it was a very, very long line.

We had mentioned in the beginning of this episode.

This is one of the things you should buy online because we didn’t know that at the time, but that would have saved us a lot of time.

We would have been able to get this done quicker, faster all of that.

1:06:23

Did you have a beer up there?

We did.

Of course we have to have a beer.

We had a nice overlook of the lake.

As a matter of fact.

The views of the lake and the mountains were better from here than the gondolas.

But the gondolas were nice because the views going up the gondola was nicer than when you were at the top.

So there’s kind of like a little bit of a pro and a con on that aspect of things, but great views all around.

1:06:43

And of course we had a beer.

How could you not have a beer when you’re up here?

Yeah, getting up there is a feat in itself.

I mean it took them to build 18 months with 3800 workers and they made them work even during like the harsh winter months.

So there was possible avalanches and rock falls.

1:07:01

People died making the road but beautiful panoramic lookout view and definitely worth going to see.

So from there we decided to take the bus back.

We had to go to the hotel to pick up our luggage and then we ran to catch the next bus back to take us to the train station.

1:07:19

Guys are doing a lot.

Of We’re doing a lot of running, so we wanted to catch a train to get back in Munich at a certain hour.

And one of the unique thing about German train tickets, which we did not mention, is if you buy a train ticket in Germany, you can go at any time.

So let’s just say we bought an 8:00 AM train ticket.

1:07:37

If there’s an 839, thirty or whatever time from wherever your original departure to endpoint is, you can actually take.

So it’s not time assigned.

So that’s really unique.

So God forbid we had missed it, we wouldn’t have really had a problem.

The problem is the next train is like an hour, hour and a half.

1:07:54

We wanted to do like one or two more things when we got into like Munich before we flew home, not the next day, because if we flew out the following day after that.

But we just wanted to get back to Munich at a good time.

And of course didn’t want to have to be at the whim of the transportation issues and the buses and all that stuff like we had been before.

1:08:13

So we rushed and our rush to pick up our luggage and run to the bus stop.

I set down my water bottle at the reception of our final hotel and I forgot it.

So I’ve lost my water bottle that has the souvenir of my scratch on the stainless steel of when I had my freak out at Eagle’s.

1:08:32

Nest, you know, I think it had some bad energy on it and it was time to let it.

Go.

It was time to let it go.

That’s right.

And as a matter of fact, since then I’ve gotten actually a couple new cooler water bottles.

I know that sounds stupid cool water bottles, but they’re cool to me, so I enjoy it.

I.

See it it’s it is cool.

Well that one, but I also have a National Park one that was gifted with stickers to complete off of you been so that that that’s what I mean by by that.

1:08:53

But All in all you know this was a really great experience here.

I will say though the transportation is not what it’s made out to seem like online like easy to do it is if you have more time and are at a leisurely pace or maybe not going to everywhere we went.

1:09:11

But I just want to reiterate, highly recommend the car.

If you take anything away from this episode, rent a car.

Rent a car.

And on that note, it is time for questions of the week.

Our first and only question coming in this week is if you had to choose between Eagle’s Nest and the Jenner Bond Gondola, which would you choose?

1:09:39

You know, if you had asked me this before we went on a trip, I would have said the Jenner Ball gondola.

But after the trip I would say Eagle’s Nest.

You get the same views, better views actually, and you get the historical component as well, so very similar area.

I feel like if you were hard pressed to choose between one or the other, I would choose the Eagle’s Nest because the views are better, you get a better view of the lake.

1:10:02

There are like the hiking trails around, so you can do a little bit of meandering around the beer garden at the top.

Historical aspect and I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Yeah, I would have to agree.

And one thing that we did not mention though, when we were talking about Eagles Nest just a couple seconds ago is that you have a timed bus back down.

1:10:22

So your time at Eagle’s Nest, if you don’t hike up, is very limited because they tell you at what point you have to catch the bus to get back down at the bottom of the hill.

So the Eagle’s Nest experience is a little bit more rushed, but I do feel like the views are better.

But I do think I touched upon this earlier too.

1:10:40

The views going up the gondola were just spectacular, but that’s of the mountains and the valleys and the greenery and everything like that, So I really enjoyed that.

But if we’re talking views from the top and just overall, like experience, historical aspect for sure, being able to see the lake eagle’s nest, I would say is the one to do.

1:11:00

Just know your time up there is going to be more limited than the gondola, ’cause you could go, come up and go down, you know whenever outside of you know when they close.

Very good answers.

Well, it sounds like you guys had a great trip in this part of Germany.

Little dip into Austria, coming off a good trip in Munich in Oktoberfest.

1:11:19

It sounds like it was just a really, really good time.

Yeah, absolutely.

I love this trip.

This is probably my favorite part of the Germany trip.

I would go back to this area.

It was that beautiful.

And it had been a while since we had a Jamal freak out, so I’m glad that we have a new.

One well, Jamal freak out that Jamal will acknowledge he had one.

1:11:37

Like I said I just want to attest knowledge.

Yeah, because Brittany over over you know, sells the freak outs when they’re not really freak outs.

This one was one, but it was a culmination of things that led to a terrible day and well, I shouldn’t say a terrible day.

It was a fun day, but just lots of things going wrong and the pressure of making a trip for people being really nice.

1:11:57

But I had a freak out.

I’ll admit it.

I’ll admit it.

I said it, I said it, I said it, I said it earlier.

I’ll admit it.

I had it on this one.

Other ones, though, so when I defend myself, I didn’t have one.

Just remember, Brittany oversells.

Well, on that note, squaddies, thank you so much for tuning into our episode this week about Jamal’s freak out as well as Berkus Garden and Salzburg.

1:12:17

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1:12:36

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