Walking and picture taking and cows and one of the great sandwich stuffs there is. Day 7

Another beautiful day in Bavaria.  We ate our usual breakfast and headed out to Wimbachklamm which is in the Berchtesgaden National Park.  I have to say, the drive down into the valley was one of the most picturesque of our time here.  The one sound you hear everywhere here is the sound of cowbells.  We past these friends just taking a break on the roadside.

Here is an example of our descent.

One of the big frustrations I've had has been paying for things.  First of all, of all the countries we've been to in the last few years, this part of Germany seems to be the most difficult to use credit cards in.  It's certainly a far cry from Iceland for instance where we didn't even see any actual currency.  Upon finding the parking lot, we had to wander around looking for a bill changing machine because the parking machine took neither cards nor cash.  Ultimately we found a machine and I was rewarded with 40 .50 euro coins.  Having dealt with parking we had a very steep walk of about 200 yards to a kiosk where we bought tokens to the gorge..  It was hard to complain once we saw what we had come for.

It was cool and beautiful but only took about 15 minutes to walk through.  Once through the gorge we continued on a lovely hike along the river.

The stream bed and the water reminded us very much of Iceland.  We even ran across some rock stacking.

Just up from this dam the world looked like...

Below this dam was a fairly raging river.  Above was...

This.  It was very much like Iceland but with trees on the side.  It looked almost like an ocean but with rocks.

We walked for about 2 hours at a slope which was rather relentless and which slowly got steeper.  I was just before calling it when we ran into this!

Glory be!  The walk was certainly easier than yesterday but my legs are quite sore today and it was a bit warmer with very little breeze.  Fortunately, beer, weisswurst and a pretzel with sweet mustard makes everything better.

The walk back gave us some completely different views of the cliff sides.

We drove through a beautiful nearby town but the roads were too narrow for me to pull over and take pictures.

Remember the cows from before.  Well, they had taken up residence in the street.  A guy coming the other direction got out of his car and sort of drove them off the road.

I took a video which didn't work out unfortunately of these guys coming right at us.  I started to wonder if my car rental insurance from visa was going to cover "cow tantrum."  I could have pet them through the window they got so close.

Closer to home we ran into the same situation including my not being able to take a video.

Ultimately, sweaty and spent, we made it home mid day for some sekt, cheese, sausage and bread.

We showered and napped and then headed into Berchtesgaden for a döner which is the German bastardization of a gyro.  They are oh so good.  On the walk to the döner place we ran into this.

Having secured this beauty we found an ugly little spot at which to enjoy them.



I mean, what's not to love.

We walked in the local little church and had a look around.

Behind the church was a beautiful little cemetery.  I don't think there was a grave less tended to than this.

We have purposefully made this a WWII free trip but there were a few graves of former soldiers.  Sad to see the ages.

Right past the cemetery was a little park.

After a half hour stroll we made it back to our little place for one more refreshment.  Ultimately we walked 8 miles but all hills.  There is a beautiful rain going on right now which I think continues through the day tomorrow.  I don't know what we'll do but I'm sure we will come up with an adventure.  Maybe it'll be one which gives my poor legs a break.