​We took a last minute getaway to celebrate Mario’s birthday. Our first stop was Lake Chiemsee which is known as the “Bavarian Sea”. It is the largest lake in Bavaria which can be seen from the highway and has tides like the sea. There are three islands on this lake, but we only visited Herreninsel which is home to King Ludwig’s Schloss Herrenchiesmsee. This was the finaly castle we need to see from King Ludwig since we had previously visited his Linderhoff and Neuschwanstein.
 
We found our parking and caught the boat 3 minutes before it left. The boat ride was about 20 minutes to the island. The coolest part was dogs were allowed, so the dogs rode their first boat today. They did awesome! We got off the first stop which was Herreninsel to explore the castle. We couldn’t go inside because of the dogs but we enjoy the views of the castle from the garden and caught the fountains right before they turned off. Then we walked back to ferry/boat and waited for our return trip to the car.

From there we travel another 1.5 hours through the beautiful country side. I have decided from Munich east to Salzburg is such a beautiful stretch of land. Instead of driving through Salzburg to get to our final destination and paying the toll, we decided on taking the scenic way though little Germany towns. We finally arrive at Lake Konigssee. Our hotel was located right on the lake, so we had to travel down the shopping pedestrian road which is filled with touristy shop and tourist to get to our hotel. Always makes me nervous driving these sidewalk type roads. Our room had a balcony which provided a view of the lake.

 
The next morning started off with foggy skies and cooler temperatures. By seeing the fog roll off the lake was so pretty. Since it’s the end of September and getting close to the off season it was a ghost town when the dogs and I were out for our morning walk. We decided it was the best time to visit, as the day went on it did fill up with tourist but nothing compared to what summer would bring. We decided to start off early and glad we did, when we were coming back to the hotel around lunch time, the people were out and it was crowded. 

​A little bit about the lake:
It is a narrow, fjord- like lake is 8 km long (5 miles), up to 1,2 km wide (3/4 mile) and lies 602 meters (2000 ft) above sea level. With a maximum depth of 192 meters (650 ft), Lake Königssee retains its cold temperature even during the hottest time of the year. It is actually the deepest and, thanks to environmental protection, the cleanest lake in Germany.

Today’s adventure was seeing St. Bartholomew’s Church and exploring Lake Obersee, both I had seen on Pinterest and wanted to explore myself. A  ride on the ferry boat was the only way there unless you wanted to do some extreme hiking. We got our tickets and boarded the boat. It was about 30 minutes to our first stop. The views as we sailed were so pretty, half way into the boat ride, they stop the boat and play different tunes on the trumpet which echo around the lake and sounds like an answer, it was really neat. It Our first stop was St. Bartholomew’s Church.
 
Here is some information from Bavarian Palace Department:
The palace and pilgrimage church were founded by the Prince-Provosts of Berchtesgaden in 1134. The triple-concha design of the church dates back to 1697; the stucco-work is by the Salzburg master Joseph Schmidt. In the 18th century the summer and hunting palace was rebuilt, with older building sections incorporated. After Berchtesgaden became part of Bavaria in 1810, the palace became a hunting lodge for the Bavarian kings and was one of their favorite haunts. Since the Romantic period, the world-famous pilgrimage church, set against the Watzmann range, has been a source of inspiration for numerous landscape painters.

​From there we boarded the boat again and went down to Salat to see the Lake Obersee which means “Upper Lake”. It is located in Berschtesgaden National Park. It was about an 15 minute hike from the boat drop off to the other lake but the views along the way were awesome. You can hear the cattle bell from the cattle gazed on the mountain side and the brook running along the path. When we arrived at the lake you could see the Rothbach waterfall in the distance, it was about an 1.5 hour hike each way and we decided we would enjoy from a distance. It took about an hour to get back to the hotel. It was such a great day with sunny skies and a cool breeze. 

We ate a quick lunch at one of the restaurant near the lake and relax for a bit. I sat on our room’s balcony and soaked up some autumn sun. Then I walked along the pedestrian street and looked into the shops, buying nothing more than a few postcards. ​

​The next morning, I enjoyed some morning fog off the lake and then we headed out of town. On the way we stopped in Ramsau and took some pictures of St. Stephan church and surrounding area. It is so pretty and the leaves are staring to change..Fall is here!

Despite it being a rainy and cool Sunday, a friend and I heading to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. Dachau is located on the outskirts of Munich and depending on traffic it about a 2-2.5 hours  trip 

A quick piece of history:
In March 1933 this area became known as the Dachau Concentration camp for political prisoners and in the 12 years of it's existence over 200,000 people were incarcerated and more than 43,000 died here. On April 29, 1945, US troops liberated the survivors. In 1965 it become a memorial site. 

After a busy week, we decided to escape for the day and explore the city on Ulm. Albert Einstein was born there and is a little over an hour away from the house. I wasn't sure if the rainy weather would hold off, but it turned out to be a nice and cool day  which is great for exploring.

Our first stop was Ulm Munster or Cathedral which has the highest church tower in the world and is the largest Protestant church in Germany. A concert was happening in the church so we didn’t go inside, we opted to climb the 768 steps to the top of the tower instead. All I can say is that is alot of steps. The views from the top were amazing. I was feeling adventurous so I climb to the tallest point of the tower. The coolest part was while we were climbing the noon bells starting to ring and you can see them and they were super loud. I took a video but can't upload on here.

From there we saw the Tower Hall, then walked along the river Danube River to get to the area of town known as the Fishermen’s and Tanners Quarter. This area has tiber framed houses. One of the houses is the famous Leaning House which is a 14th century timber framed home which now houses a hotel but still leans over the river being supported by ancient beans. We then headed back towards the car but took a quick detour to see the rose garden which was still pretty but would have been nicer earlier in the summer.

Next on our list, was the Monastery Wiblingen which was about a 15 minutes from the  of Ulm. Wiblingen Abbey was a former Benedictine abbey which was later used as barracks. Today its buildings house several departments of the medical faculty of the University of Ulm. The big attraction was the Library Hall. It was so beautiful and the picture doesn't do it justice. We paid our admission and the photograph fee which was so worth it and explore. We didn’t explore the Church next door due to a wedding.

From there we travel to Blaubeuren which was about 30 mins west of Ulm on our way home. While searching on Pinterest one day I came across a city with a the blue lake so I wanted to check it out and glad I did.  In  German it is known as Blautopf because Blau is blue and topf is pot. It is a spring that serves as the source of the river Blau in the karst landscape on the Swabian Jura's southern edge, in Southern Germany. The Blautopf is 21 meters deep and one of the deepest and largest sources in Germany
While there a noticed a statue placed at the bank of this spring, so after some research here is the legend behind it.  The  story of the Schöne Lau, a mermaid and her husband, a male water-nix from the Black Sea, is told in great detail. Because the Schöne Lau could not laugh, the nix punished her by confining her to the Blautopf, and only allowing her to have still-born children. He would only allow her to return and give birth to a living child once she had laughed five times. In the end, the landlady of the inn Nonnenhof came to her aid. Legend info came from wikipedia