Friday, June 24, 2016

Europe 2016: Day 7...Chiemsee...

We woke up on Thursday with plans to go to Bamberg for the day.  We got to the train station and saw that tickets were 270 Euros!  We opted out of the trip and instead decided to go to Chiemsee which was only 29 Euros with the Bavarian ticket and only a short hour train ride away.

We did not know a lot about Chiemsee except that King Ludwig II had a palace there. Quick side note, King Ludwig was an odd duck.  He had many palaces in Bavaria with the most famous being Neuschwanstein, but I would hate to deal with all of the crowds there.

We grabbed our lattes and boarded the train to Prien am Chiemsee and watched the beautiful scenery pass by.  I had read that we could either walk to the boat ramp to get to the island on Chiemsee or we could take a small steam train.  Well, we decided to walk.  In the wrong direction.  About 2-3 miles out of the way.  In our defense, we were headed in the direction of the lake, just the side without a boat dock.  On the walk, we were both pretty hungry and could not find a place to stop, so we ate the gummies that I had in my purse.  Tough times call for tough measures.

We finally found the boat dock and then found a restaurant for lunch.  We chose a little Italian place and since we were in a small village, no one spoke English.  We ordered wine and pizza, which were both pretty tasty.  We were the only people eating outside, I guess it was too chilly for anyone else.  We like to eat outside as much as possible, since we do not always have the opportunity to at home.

After we filled our tummies, we walked over to the boat dock and bought tickets for the ferry ride to the island.

The boat dock with an iron cutout King Ludwig

Our ride for the afternoon

The other island that visitors can go to 

When we arrived at the island, we knew we would not want to tour King Ludwig's palace of  Herrenchiemsee, but we wanted to see if from the outside.  The palace was about a 15 minute walk or you can take a horse and buggy. 

Herrenchiemsee, which was designed to favor Versailles.

Herrenchiemsee

Herrenchiemsee

Herrenchiemsee


After we checked out the grounds of the palace, which were lovely, we walked back toward the boat dock.  Much to Ken's dismay, we also walked back to the train station, just the shorter way this time.  We bought a few snacks at the train station and boarded a train back to Munich.  

We had made reservations at a place in Munich that is famous for pork knuckle.  Ken was pretty excited about eating pork knuckle.  

Ken's pork knuckle, a pretzel, and potato dumplings.  About as German as you can get right there.  

The restaurant had .25 L of beer, which are more my size!  Tiny beer for a tiny person.

My delicious spaetzle

After dinner we wandered around and shopped for a bit and then made our way back to the Augustiner biergarten for a final round of drinks at one of our favorite places in Munich.  I ordered some amazing apple strudel that I was kind enough to share with Ken.  It was a lovely way to eat our time in Munich.  

Ken and me at King Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee


Next up, we go to Salzburg!  And yes, the hills were alive with music.

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