Hohenschwangau covered by snow

And I couldn’t leave without taking a look to the 3rd castle nearby, Linderhof. It was covered by snow too, and was closed to the public, however you could still access the outside, which is nice anyway even during winter (even if of course during summer is completely different with all the flowers, etc). It was cool, a strange quiet and at same time majesty was surrounding all the place, almost an intimidating atmosphere.

We explored it for a while, remembering how was different from the summer view, and we had a good time, a feeling of peace, relax.

Linderhof’s park during winter

During the last day of our short winter holiday, we decided to randomly explore Oberammergau surroundings, it’s one of the thing I like more. No predetermined goal, no time, just our instinct: we traveled by foot, following a strange white cross that was on a hill close to the village, and we passed through a wooden bridge…

…and lastly we spotted the cross, and discovered that every year the village people make a “passion play”, a really nice Christian tradition. You can read the whole history in the official site here: www.oberammergau.de

White Cross

Since we had still a few hours left before leaving, we took a short drive and started to walk into a nearby wood (of course was all snow-covered). Once again, there was a really weird atmosphere in it, of peace and mystery together, maybe also because the sun was fading and the darkness was slowly but constantly enveloping the landscape.

We stopped at one point where there was a small river, and we could hear a distant waterfall noise, or something like that. We were too much curious to find out what was hiding behind those woods, but it was really late and almost night, so we thought that was better to get back to the car.

We swore thought to come back there one day, to find out what marvelous nature’s masterpiece was hiding in that “magic wood” of the bavarian region…

a distant waterfall noise… what was hiding in that wood?

Anyway, probably we’re the only italians that had a winter holiday in Oberammergau, and not to ski! yes you read it well, we only had need to relax after the stress of the daily routine, and we found a nice environment-friendly holiday apartment, completely built with wood, warm and cozy. For only 35 eur / day, it was included also a sauna and bike rental (even if being winter we didn’t took advantage of it).

We arrived in the late afternoon, and we did a short walk in the town, since as you may know in winter gets dark early.

In the dusk light a curious figure attracted our attention: the vase-woman ! it was a very bizarre “sculpture” made entirely with vases, just in the middle of the town!

vasewoman, the new super hero!

The next day we decided to ignore the weather challenge (it had snown a lot during the night) to reach the Neuschwanstein’s castle, to see how it was during the winter (we had already the luck to admire it during summer). On the road to reach it, we found a very nice church in the plain before the castle that had a very particular atmosphere, you can see it in the picture below.

a small church in the winter landscape, with menacing cloudy sky behind…

At last we were arrived in front of the huge castle, that was magnificent even with all that snow and the cold (in Bavary can get very cold during winter!). Already from some distance the view was great, but we decided to leave the car and walk even more near.

Neuschwanstein during winter, like in a fairy-tale!

Unfortunately when we reached the Marienbrucke bridge, the perfect spot to take a picture of the castle, the sun was already going down so the light wasn’t really good to take photographs. Add to this that my digital camera isn’t exactly professional, and you can see the bad result in the picture below. I tried to fix it with Photoshop but unluckily that’s the best I could get

Neuschwanstein during winter, seen from the bridge of Marienbrucke

Well I was wrong, even if in all honestly I can’t say that you eat better/healthier stuff in Germany than Italy, however I can’t complain at all. Expecially the breakfast! just take a look at the picture below… this is what had to offer a very small pension somewhere in the Black Forest. Comparing all that stuff with the miserable breakfasts that you can get in the 4 stars hotels in Italy…!!

a really good way to start the day, don’t you think?

The first time we went in Bavary we didn’t rent a flat, so we couldn’t prepare the food ourselves but had to go out everytime. (BTW, Argus offer a car hire Germany service which is a decent option if you plan on moving around Germany a lot)

First of all is very hard to find menu with english translations, except in the most tourist areas. It was easier for me to find menu in italian or waiters that could speak my native language (expecially near the Austria south border). In Karinthia for example, it is really common to met people that can speak italian better than english.

Regarding what food can you expect: if you eat meat, you don’t have a problem here… very famous indeed is the “wiener schnitzel”, a traditional Vienna dish, probably originating from Northern Italy, where is called “cotoletta alla milanese”, but there are many other delicious dishes as well. Instead if like us you’re a vegetarian, you can find exquisite salads, and the german potatoes are really great, expecially fried… so if you order french fries you can’t be wrong!

fish and potatoes, with a mixed salad in Mittenwald

The next years we rented a flat, so we could buy the potatoes straight from the local farmers (is really easy to find someone selling them in Bavary) and we cooked them in all the possible way. A real pleasure! Another specialty, or as they say “spezialitaten”, are the cheeses. There are so many and so good, from the spicy ones to the seasoned one, and so on. I still remember a shop entirely devoted to cheeses, called “Kase-Haus”, that literally means “the house of cheese”!

And of course you can find some very particular dishes like the one in the picture below, at the restaurant “Lilie” in Triberg… it appears a sort of dessert but it is a cheese-based dish, really particular!

in the picture above, a local dish we tried in a Black Forest restaurant

Of course you can reach the lake by bus… But can you compare it with a little healthy exercise in places where it is still possible to breath clean air??

Oberammergau is an enchanting little town, just over the border between Austria and Germany. In the heart of Bavaria, a few kilometers from Munich is a real ideal place, both to visit and to use as the starting point for trips in the area.

You can pick up a cheap car hire Munich deal nearby from Argus. They offer some very competitive prices.

As you can see from the photo above, as always there is no lack of flowers on the houses. But a more special characteristic is the decorations on the walls of the houses. On some are stories from the bible, on others, simple fairy tales like Hänsel and Gretel, and so on.

Another event for which this town is famous is the performance of the Passion of Christ, a really special experience, well felt by the locals. Another characteristic is the woodworkers: if you walk around the streets, you can find many shop windows displaying wooden items, from gigantic statues to extremely small souvenirs, for all tastes (and pockets!) In short, for everyone… In the winter time, of course, it’s possible to ski, while during the summer there are many interesting places to visit in the nearby areas: Munich, Augustburg, Ludwig’s castles…

Take a look at the official site.