June 01, 2007

Berchtesgaden

Der Watzman watched over me this morning from outside the window. It was another beautifully sunny alpine morning. It was the kind of waking scene that if it were portrayed in a movie, suddenly, but as it were an everyday natural occurrence, strings would start to play and long alpine horns would be heard in the distance.



(Note the forming clouds over the peak.)


I was excited for the day to take many amazing pictures to share and give myself a good workout in the mountains. The first objective was quickly spoiled by a cloud front that moved into position just in the half hour it took me to walk to town.



Waiting at the bus station, the sky started graying.



The new bus pads are behind the original Bahnhof conscripted by Adolf Hitler. The size and grandeur of the building does not match the alpine town setting. He wanted his arrival to be of grand style and not to just arrive at a cement platform in the mountains but an actual station. The station's functionality has likely saved it from the post Reich wrecking ball.





The Konigsee bus dropped me off at the Jenner Seilbahn or tram bearing ski lifts.



The lift takes passengers up near the top of Mt. Jenner or 1,800 meters. It is funny to think that just a few years ago these mountains seemed very high. Now they are just as beautiful as ever but toddlers compared with the Himalayas or even Mt. Kilimanjaro. For comparison, when we climbed the almost 6,000 meter Mt. Kilimanjaro, the starting gate for the climb was 1,800 meters above sea level and the first night of camping was higher than any mountain in the Berchtesgaden National Park.





So, with the “picture taking” plan thoroughly debunked for the day by the ever thickening cloud deck, kicking my own butt in the mountains was still a good option. The cloud cover made for comfortable hiking, especially since I left my “summit ball cap” on the bus and had no screen from the sun.


(Yes, Kristen this is the same peak we climbed a couple of years ago.)


After two hours of hiking it started to sprinkle and then drizzle. At first this was refreshing and added a little more texture to the beautiful alpine huts...



... and the famous adelweiss flowers.



I have no idea what this flower was, but the sparce petal structure sure was cool.



My general map ended up being a worthless trail map and with visibility down to about 50 meters it was time to make some decisions. The trails in this area can be confusing, even with a perfect trail map. Dad got so lost here, leading a group of soldiers on a day hike that they did not arrive until well after dark. Now I can see why!



So for those of you who know the area, at this point I am high in the mountains on the opposite side of the Konigsee from St. Bartholoma Chapel.



Starting to get wet enough to notice my ipod headphone were so waterlogged that they ceased to function the prudent thing would be to turn around and head back. So yes, I actually did this, until the intersection for heading back led to a decision to either climb up a thousand meters to the chair lifts or walking down the remaining distance. Choosing to walk turned out to be an additional three hours of “boot time” commitment, but this also provided a ski station goulash soup break from the weather.



So the net additional result was walking the total distance taken by the bus earlier in the morning, along side mountain ravines and finally on to the more punishing paved sidewalks. There is no telling what the distance traveled today was but the walking time was a little over seven hours.



I decided to have dinner at the hostel tonight. This hostel is more like a mountain hotel for young families. Meals are served family style and the parents retrieve the food from the kitchen window. After the meal, the families clear their own tables including wiping them down and putting the wooden chairs upside down on the top surface.



It is great to watch all these families in action, in one great dining hall. It is a mass community and yet everyone has their own unit.



A family close to me had three children, with one of them about nine months old, sitting between the parents on the bench seat. Both parents happened to take a bite at the same time and the little one reached for a mug to get something to drink. Not quite the master of dexterity, the weight of the mug easily slipped through his grasp and shattered on the stone floor. No one freaked out, not even the parents. The cute thing was the little tyke had both hands gripping the edge of the table, so he could get his little blonde head underneath to survey what had happened. The little guy had the most inquisitive look on his face. Where did my mug go? Up and down, on top of the table and below, he would look but couldn’t quite grasp that those little white pieces of pottery on the floor was his mug. It may be a “location” story, but it was cute none-the-less.

May 31, 2007

To Berchtesgaden

Thanks to Martina’s efforts and preparations on my behalf yesterday, today was an easy and enjoyable trip to Bavaria. The target was Berchtesgaden, literally one of my favorite places on earth. Most everyone should be familiar with the mountains and alpine meadows as they were “the star” of the opening scenes of “The Sound of Music”. There is something truly magical about the place and almost all is right with the world when I am there.

This was a multiple transfer traveling day. First, I walked for ten minutes from the hostel at Rosa-Luxemburg Plats to the train station at Alexander Plats, where I caught the regional train to the Schoenfeld Airport.




Berlin actually has three separate airports depending on carrier and final destination. I flew German Wings, Luftansa’s version of “Southwest Airlines” to Munich.




From there I wandered the huge airport to find the S-Bahn (Street Train) to the Eastern main train station.





The Bayern Regional train strode through rolling alpine pastures to Freilassing.




In spite of tempermental weather, the conductor kept us on schedule. The massive thunderstorms in Berlin brought the largest snows of the season to the Alps, even though it is technically almost summer.



Hungry and with a fifteen minute layover, I submitted to the new fast food of choice and had a Turkish gyro.



Finally, I boarded the train for the short 45-minute ride to Berchtesgarden. The entire trip cost 89 Euros and about six hours. The strange thing is that if the train was the only transportation method the cost would have been approximately 179 Euros and over ten hours of travel. What happened to the fairly inexpensive and fast trains of my youth?

The other surprise was the final leg of the trip. In 1997 I traveled to Berchtesgaden by train and the final stint was a tourist’s fantasy. The train pulled nearly antique cars, that had huge window opened to the crisp mountain air. From this vantage point, and the slow pace, I felt like the mountains were absorbing me into their perfect scene. The train was so unimposing that the cows didn’t even look up at it passed and bells tied with ribbons around their necks rattled a deep mellow tone.



Today’s trip could not have been more polarly opposite. Poised with my camera at the ready, when today’s train rounded the bend and into the station, a long sleek hermetically sealed aluminum bullet glided on track number five. I would have taken the rattletrap train any day over this modern isolation chamber. Tinted windows hid the light and the recycled environment filtered out any external natural scents that may have blown our way.





In talking with a German woman about the former train, she reminisced by saying, “From the other train you could pick flowers as you went along.”



In spite of the overly modernized ride, stepping out into the mountain scenery and amazingly pure mountain air still sent my senses and heart racing.



Berchtesgarden is a classic community nestled between jagged alpine peaks. To make the scene perfect there is an incredibly clean stream that runs through the center of town.




(For those of you who may have visited previously, check out the total replacement of the simple bridge crossing in front of the bahnhof with an amazing round-about.)


The architecture is "classic Bavarian". How's do you like the local bakery...



... Or church





The US Armed Forces were the major income for Berchtesgarden, providing tens of thousands of visitors during the year. The Berchtesgarden facilities were not immune to the decades long rash of US Military base closures and were returned to the German government in the late 1990’s. With the transfer, many historical buildings were razed in a continued decision to destroy almost any structures related to the Nazi regime. The former General Walker Hotel placed high in Ober Salzburg was bulldozed because it was used for a brief period as the former SS Headquarters. Parts of the structure dated back to the middle ages and are now gone.



Of much lower historical significance, but of great sentimental value, all that remains of the Berchtesgarden Hof is one basement wall and the former horse stables/garage. We would come to this grand hotel for conferences and it was amazing to wander the seemingly endless wood paneled halls. My first earthquake experience was in this building. As a third grader I had no idea what was happening, but the picture on the wall was moving. Then I realized that the bed and everything else was moving as well. The experience was so new that fear wasn’t even attached to the trembling, shifting, terra not so firma. The Berchtesgarden Hof survived many alpine earthquakes, but ultimately not the return from US control back to the German people.


(If the stables are this large and grand, imagine what the giant hotel was like.)


On my arrival day there were only two missions. First to find fresh cut meats, cheese, bread and fruit for the hike tomorrow and second, find my favorite German meal: venison drowning in mushrooms and brown gravy with spatsle (a Bavarian form of lumpy noodles), veggies and heffe weissen. So many of the restaurants were closed and really survive on the two month July/August native tourist window and many German restaurants are now replaced with Italian and even Chinese food choices. Success was hard to achieve, but after an hour’s walk, finally, alpine comfort food on a plate.



The hostel that is home for the next couple of days is a half hour quick paced walk from the center of town. After a filling dinner, the stint of exercise left me feeling great upon arrival at my hilltop lodge.



Along the way a trio of German kids were playing and asked to have their picture taken. It is amazing how similar kids are around the world. They laughed and smiled when looking at the digital image on the back of the camera. I loved the fact that these kids were playing outside and were naturally in good physical condition. It made me happy that one of them actually took the time to create a bow and arrows from scratch. My fear is that this kind of natural imagination and active play is or will be gone soon, replaced with low exertion electron substitutes (ala the US childhood obesity epidemic).



The night was an absolute sleeping dream. The double sash windows were left open for the cool alpine air to circulate in the room. With the Watzman mountain peak looking over me from outside my window and snug under a thick duvet, temperate perfection was achieved with body toasty and head cooled by the fresh alpine air.

May 30, 2007

Berlin

One final day, completely dedicated to tourist daytime activity, remained for Berlin. First I walked from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate made internationally famous by the former Berlin Wall and speeches made by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan. JFK endearingly declared himself to be a “Berliner” or jelly donut and Reagan challenged Gorbechov to “tear down this wall”.





No walk down Unter den Linden would be complete without a protest of some sort. Today’s flavor was a protest by EU postal workers, impressive for its multinational contingency.



From the gate I made a right turn to head over to the Reichstag, the German equivalent to the Capital building in Washington, D.C. On the way the strong winds blew over a bike. In my mind I challenged, "I wonder if anyone will pick it up?" No sooner than I had the thought and three strangers bonded together to re-stand the two wheeler. That never would of happened in New York.



Across the street stood the Reichstag building with its impressive glass dome...



... and even more impressive line to get inside for the tour.



Not in the mood for an extended stance in line, I continued on through Berlin's equivalent of Central Park to the Grosser Stern with the Sieges-saule. This stunning statue rises on a pedistal that splits the Strasse des 17, Juni.





Moving right along, I plodded by the poppy lined Landwehrkanal and zoo to eventually exit the park by the Kaiser Wilhelm Church.



(The bees were busy along the banks of the canal.)


(And, of course there is always time for a quick currie wurst break.)


The Kaiser Wilhelm Church was an impressive building prior to the bombings of the 1940's.



The tower has remained as a testament of the destruction of World War II.
As with most things, the pictures of the past were much more impactful than the actual site.



But, in the new and very modern glass edifice an Australian children's choir sang and this was a welcome relief to hours of walking.



From the western edge of the Tiergarten park I took the U-Bahn or subway to Hallesches Tor to walk up Friedrichstrasse, location of the former "Checkpoint Charlie", the definitive and emblematic dividing line between East and West Germany during the Cold War Soviet occupation.



I completely rocommend the Haus Am Checkpoint Charlie for hours of intreguing historic artifacts and log of the Berlin segregation. Many of the contraptions and vehicles actually used to escape Soviet occupation are on display.



(Pretty obvious, but successful, front end compartment for a VW Bug.)


(Not so obvious, and successful, hollowed out pair of windsurfing boards strapped to a car roofrack.)


After a large dose of reality from the Checkpoint Charlie Museum it is almost stomach turning to walk outside and witness the clowns in Soviet and US Military uniforms. The lack of respect and horseplay by these hired immitators was hard to endure. The scene made me wonder how difficult it would be to have an actual military guard on site. These joking, flag dragging, buffoons didn't add an ounce of respect to an extemely tragic point in German history.



Amazingly, there is practically no trace of the segregating Berlin wall or "no man's land" remaining. To find an upright section you have to peer into a corridor outside of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum for a small section moved to it current location.



The one, not so obvious, bifurcating symbol of the former East and West Berlins are the street signal lights for pedestrians. The hat adorned green walking man and T-shaped standing man signal that you are walking an East Berlin street. If the modernized signals are present, then you are on a West Berlin street. This hat bearing street aid has turned into a bit of an icon, with t-shirts printed for tourists.





Finally, bless her heart, Martina met me after a long day at the law firm for evening drinks and conversation. With the aid of an extremely long exposure, the moonlight glazed the gables of this beautiful section of East Berlin.