On Monday morning, Justin and I headed to Bad Tolz, a town about 20 minutes from Penzberg. Bad Tolz is a picturesque Bavarian town situated on a river with a great pedestrian area just off the water. We spent a couple hours just walking in and out of stores and checking out the gorgeously painted buildings along the way. And I even found a perfect (I think!) diaper bag for Baby A and me to use, so that was icing on the cake for a beautiful setting.
While we were shopping, we ran into a store clerk who spent a long time telling us (in almost perfect English) that she loved the US so much that she wanted to move there and that she also thought people from the US were terrible. Yes, that's right: In the same breath she both loved and hated on the US. And it wasn't just a brief comment - she kept talking to us for probably 20 minutes, telling us why she loved the US (the people are great and the opportunities are great, etc.) and her rationale for hating Americans, which was humorous. At one point, she said that Americans were terrible because they have electrical wires above ground. I know, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that seemed like an odd reason to hate an entire group of people, especially if you want to live among them. Plus, I don't know how one goes from loving the US for its people and then hating the US for its people. Then again, she could have it right and we are all mistaken. Who knows? Regardless, it was a very interesting interaction. :)
The one really beneficial piece of information this woman told us was that the best view of Bad Tolz was from the church up on the hill. We took her advice and tried to navigate our way up there with the car. I found out later that day from my coworkers that you can only get to that church by walking/hiking, which explains why we couldn't find the road to get there. I guess I'll just have to go back and try to get there another weekend. I am determined to see that view, as Bad Tolz was probably one of my favorite towns around Penzberg.
Although we weren't able to get "the" photograph of the town, here are a few pictures that we took around Bad Tolz. Note: The church in the photo below is NOT the church up on the hill. Sigh.
Both Justin and I had meetings to attend for work on Monday afternoon, so we weren't able to head back out to explore Bavaria until that evening. When we were trying to decide where to go next, we let our stomachs guide us. We found that Oberammergau, another small town about 30 or 40 minutes from Penzberg, has a Mexican food restaurant, and that was too fun to pass up. We were both curious what Mexican food would taste like in Germany, and we heard that Oberammergau was a great town to visit. So, we packed up the car and headed out to El Puente (the restaurant).
El Puente didn't open until 6PM, and we arrived in the town at 5:30, so we took that opportunity to wander around the town. There were many different hand-carved wood shops to tour that were just incredible. In one of the stores, the clerk even took the opportunity to show us how a couple of the impressive cuckoo (spelling?) clocks worked, one of which had a water component to it. He also (very smartly) told us that these were NOT clocks for a casual collector, as they need a lot of maintenance, attention, and care. We didn't have the heart to tell him we weren't interested in them anyway because they cost anywhere from 800 to 1500 euros each. That's a little more than we have to spend on souvenirs for this trip. :)
At a little after 6PM, we found our way back to El Puente. And, to our surprise, the food was pretty good! The flavoring reminded me of a Spanish-influenced Tex Mex. But in the true Bavarian spirit, the portions were HUGE (I have yet to finish a meal here, I think). The waitress warned me that my fajitas were going to be spicy, but I suppose that description was relative. The seasoning was tasty and mild, and the ingredients all tasted fresh. Needless to say, Justin and I were pleased with our gut instincts. :)
With happy, full bellies, we took a few pictures of this beautiful town and headed home for the evening. (If you look closely at the mountain peak below, you may be able to make out the cross that is on top.)
On Tuesday, Justin's last day in town, we decided to see what all the fuss was about the castles in this area. We chose to go to Linderhof, one of the only castles that King Ludwig actually completed. Plus, Linderhof is close to Oberammergau, so we already knew the way there.
Linderhof is a lot smaller than we expected, but the grounds were expansive. We took the tour through the castle (sorry, no cameras were allowed in there), which took about 15 minutes, and then we headed out to the Venus Grotto. The interior of the castle was unbelievably opulent and almost too much to behold. Modeled after Versailles, all but one room were covered in gold (the one exception was covered in silver because it was more appealing to have the contrast of silver against the gold tones of the room). There were many portraits of King Louis XIV and Ludwig's royal relatives, including his briefly betrothed and her sister (who were also his first cousins). There was so much to see that I could probably take the tour several more times and find something new and different to look at each time. I think my favorite items in the castle were the twin peacock statues, in perfect brilliant color and size, that were used by the castle staff, placed outside the castle when it was occupied by Ludwig (about 2 weeks per month). They were just stunning and beautiful.
After the tour (which, ironically, exits through the gift shop, for all you Banksy fans, on the other side of a "secret door" in the stairway), we were told to go up to the Venus Grotto, that our ticket covered that tour as well. WHAT A HIKE! To get to the grotto, we walked through vine covered walkways and along a beautiful path through the woods. However, the paths at Berchtesgaden that I took three days earlier were NOTHING compared to (what felt like) the 40-degree inclines to get up the hill to the grotto. I seriously thought about taking a breather a few times on the way up, but I saw so many other people just trekking along, so I was bound and determined to get up there without stopping either (and I wonder why my hips are revolting against my pelvis right now...).
We arrived at the Venus Grotto entrance just in time for the tour. And that was the highlight of that tour. We just weren't that impressed with the interior of the grotto: I love the painting of the birth of Venus and know the story, so I appreciated the beautiful sculpture in the middle of the water within the cave, but there was so much backlighting and scaffolding (that looked like it was there to help host a party, NOT to support or restore a piece of history) that the whole mood of the grotto was sullied. We actually left part way through the narrative because it wasn't our cup of tea.
Once outside, we took the opportunity to get some pictures of the grounds from on top of the hill. What a view! The only downside was that the water features on the back of the castle were shut off for maintenance, but the view was still spectacular. And we couldn't have asked for a prettier day. Here are a few of the pictures of the grounds:
After our adventure to Linderhof, we drove down to Garmisch just to say we'd been there, and then we headed home to get ready for dinner with our friend. We let our friend pick the restaurant, and he recommended a convent (cloister) in Benediktbauern, about 10 minutes from Penzberg. The convent is fairly old with a beautiful cemetery (yes, I know that sounds weird, but it was just beautiful and peaceful) and an amazing church. We toured both (without taking pictures) and then headed back over to the cloister's biergarten. The menu was mainly Bavarian, with a special "Spargel" (white asparagus) menu that I decided to pass up (I've had so many spargel over the last few weeks that I might turn into spargel if I have much more!). I had a traditional plate of meats, cheeses, and bread, while Justin had some jaegerschnitzel. And we finished the evening with apple strudel. Yum!
Afterwards, we headed home and got Justin ready to fly back home to Indy the next morning. Our friend, thankfully, helped us figure out Justin's train schedule to get him back to the Munich airport without much to-do the next morning, which was a tremendous help. Of course, if I could have had it my way, I would have kept Justin here with me for the rest of my stay, but I don't think work or Buckley or Cagney or even our families or friends would have been too thrilled about that...
Justin arrived home safe and sound on Wednesday evening, and Buckley and Cagney (and probably his family and friends) were glad to see him. :)
We made the most of our short Bavarian holiday; our only regret is that we didn't have more time. We have definitely identified some places we will have to travel to together next time. I don't think this will be our only trip to this part of the world.
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