From Eggenfelden we rode south in very windy conditions to meet up with the Alpine road or Deutche Alpinestrasse.
We left Eggenfelden at almost 3 pm. We took the 304 and 306 to Inzell, the 305 to Berchtesgaden and then the 20 onto on to Konigsee. Here we did not expect the hundreds of tourists here to take the boat trips on the lake and take the tram to the mountaintop for alpine hiking.
We kept following the “brown signs” of the Alpenstrasse.
We were in Austria for about 30 minutes on the 305 after Reit im Winkl. As Canadians it is always a strange feeling to not know what country you are in at all times.
The driving here is really incredible with sweeping turns thru the mountains with picturesque villages.
We got back on the Alpine road and went west on the 307 towards Bad Tolz.
The GPS took us on a “short cut” where the only exit out of the valley we were in was a private road with a toll of 8 Euros! We tried to keep going and again ended up in Austria, but with very little gas we turned around.
Sara actually ran out and had to put in the gas from the camping canister and Dan probably has a few 100 ml left when we got to the gas station in Bad Tolz.
We went to Mc Donalds to look on line for a hotel, but it was 95 % booked and everything was very expensive. So we drove around looking for a hotel, but most were full and the one we found that had a room it war 180 Euros! We decided despite the bad weather to head 5 km west to the campground. On the way we saw a small inn about 400 m from the camping on the same side road. We stopped in here and they had a much cheaper room.
In the morning the weather had improved to cloudy, but not raining.
We continued on the Deutche Alpinestrasse west on the 11 to finally get to Wallgau.
Continuing west we took a small side trip into Grainau and up to the base of Zugspitze the highest mountain in Germany.
We had hoped to take the cable car to the summit, but it was totally in cloud cover. We were amazed to find massive car parks that were full. We did go for a walk to the near by Eibsee lake.
We then did the short back track and headed northwest on the 23 to Oberammergau. This is the town famous for the performance of the passion play. It was first done in 1634 after a vow made by the villagers to God. If He spared them from the bubonic plague they would all perform the play every 10 years. The plague had been brought to the town by a man that then died, but after the vow noone else in the town died and everyone else sick recovered. It has been performed by over 2000 residents of the town every 10 years since in years ending in zero, plus 1934 the 300 th anniversary, and 1984 the 350 th anniversary. The 1940 play was cancelled due to WW 2. This was the place Granny Jean really wanted to visit and did so on a tour.
We made another small detour from the 23 to see the Wieskirche “Pilgrimage” church. This was a very popular pilgrimage spot after it was said in 1738 that tears were seen on a wooden figure of Christ.
We stayed on the 23 north to the 17 south towards Fussen. On the way here the Alpine road meets the Romantic road and at the meeting is the 17 th fairy tale “Disney” Castle Neuschwanstein.
The “neo-Gothic” Schloss Hohenschwangau was built in the 19th century by Maximilian II of Bavaria. His successor, Ludwig II continued living there, but he ordered a new castle built on a high ledge. Neuschwanstein would be even bigger and more luxurious than Hohenschwangau, but the castle brought Ludwig no luck. He spent just six months in the palace, after which he drowned in suspicious circumstances.
We continued west on the 310,309, and 308.
We ended up in Lindenberg im Allgau just after 6 and found a hotel in this town that apparently has a Mammoth skeleton at their museum.
