Fusson, Park and Gorge, Bertchesgarten, Salzburg, Norway, whew

On June 25 we went to the town of Fusson, which has Neuschweinstein and Hohenschwangau. Hohenschwangau was Ludwig II childhood home and Neuschweinstein was a palace he was building. At the time of his death, 17 years after construction began, the palace was still incomplete, and construction stopped. The kids and I enjoyed climbing the mountains and seeing these beautiful pieces of architecture. Though by the end of the day we were truly exhausted.

The view from the bottom of the mountain of Neuschwanstein.

The view from the bottom of Hohenschwangau.

Just a cute building at the foot of the mountains in the town between the palaces.

The view from the wall of Hohenschwangau. Wouldn't you love to wake up every morning to this? It doesn't even look real.

On the 26th, Mom took us to one of the wonders of Germany: Partnach Gorge. This was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen in my life. It is basically a place where water has carved its way between the mountains. The walls in some areas are maybe 10 feet apart, causing the water to travel forcefully through the wedge, causing very dangerous rapids. It is a truly wild beauty. The day we went, it was raining, not that it being dry would have made any difference. When walking through the gorge, water is coming at you from all sides. My mother was very wise in bringing ponchos for us to wear. We would have been drenched otherwise.

After leaving Garmish, we headed to Bertchesgarten, which is about 20 minutes from Salzburg Austria. We arrived Saturday afternoon, the 27th of June. We checked in to our hotel and relaxed for the evening. We went to dinner at an Italian place. Just a side note, unless you like Blue Cheese, don't order the Four Cheese Pizza. Also, there is no Pepperoni Pizza, just salami (giant pepperoni-like pieces of meat).

This was the hotel we stayed in. It is a ski resort in the winter and probably one of the fanciest places I've ever stayed. It had a pool with a waterfall, special spas and hot tubs, a solarium for tanning, and heated tile chaise lounges. The pool was heated, which was wonderful, as it was 50 degrees and wet the whole time we were there (as it was in Garmich, it had been several days since we had a full sunny day without rain.) They also served breakfast in the mornings. A true German breakfast: meats, cheeses, olives, breads, feta cheese, and a little bit of fruit and yogurt.

This was the view from our window of the hotel.

On Sunday, the 28th, we attended the closest church, which was in Salzburg Austria. It was cool being in a German speaking ward. Although the first talk was given by a young lady from Hawaii who was getting ready to move to Utah (ha ha ha). She began her talk with "Aloha" and bore her testimony in English, while her husband translated it into German. The rest of the talks were in German, which were then translated into English for us by the missionaries. After church we went into Salzburg. Nothing was open, but it was fun to walk around the city while it was very quiet.

Noleigh in the traditional German dress. She loved the dress so much and was so excited to wear it to church. I was worried that when we got there she might feel uncomfortable, because I didn't know if the young girls wore those for church or for special holidays, but I worried for no reason as many of the girls and young woman were wearing a dress just like hers. It was like we were in another country or something.

The dome in Salzburg. This is a massive Catholic church that was built in the form of a cross. You will see some of the inside in later pictures.

As I said, it rained the majority of the time we were there. The kids were troopers though and never complained. They were excited about what they were seeing and enjoyed being outside.

The inside of the dome. It was very ornate and had massive organs in it, you can see the pipes on the sides of the pictures. There were beautiful paintings that depicted stories from the scriptures and of saints. What was amazing about the church were the arches and domes inside. The ceilings were painted. Also there was red light glowing to let us know the Holy Spirit was present. I was grateful to know that.

Hiram was practicing his inside photography. To bad he wanted to practice on me, I'd been trying to escape the camera.

The next day we did some really amazing things. The first thing we did was to go into the Saltmines of Bertchesgarten. This was one of the coolest tours I have ever taken.

Before entering the mines, we had to put on our uniforms. I was grateful for them, as it was about 45 degrees deep in the mines. It was just a little cool.

You begin the tour on this little trolley that takes you deep into the mountain. Then you get on these old wooden slide that takes you about two stories down into the mountain. (Unfortunately this was another place where no pictures were allowed.) Once down they showed you how the miners collected salt form the walls of the mountains. Basically they filled spots with water, pumped the heavier water that had turned into brine from the bottom, then evaporated the water, which left just the salt. We took another slide deeper into the mountain, then took a ferry barge across one of the brine lakes, where it was 25% salt. I don't think you could have swam to the bottom of it, even if you wanted to. The ferry ride was amazing, because they had a visual light display to music. It seemed like a very long ride, but once it stopped and the lights came on, you realized you had travelled maybe 100 feet across the lake to the other side. It was really a lot of fun and I think my kids favorite part of the our trip in Bertchesgarten.

This was the little trolley we took to get deeper into the mountain.

This was a chess game going on in the main square at Salzburg. Hiram was so intrigued he wanted to stop and watch for a few minutes. He said he hoped he and his dad would be able to play on that board some time.

Some old fashion fun. . ring the unicorn. This was located in the courtyard of the castle in Salzburg, which was built by an Archbishop. Mirabelle gardens, another place of interest was where he kept his lady love and children. The gardens of Mirabelle are later in the blog.

The view of Salzburg from the top of the castle.

Mirabelle Gardens, just a glimpse, they go on for acres and acres.


After our time in Bertchesgarten, it was time to head back to Mom's house, but of course we had to fulfill our promise to the kids with a day at Legoland! Legoland was so much fun. They had amazing animals and creatures built of Legos, and a place where they had main cities and sites of Europe made out of Legos as well. The kids had a wonderful time going on the rides and looking at all of the different Lego formations. One of their favorite rides was a, well boat adventure ride a lot like Escape from Pompeii, only one was like escaping from spiders, dinosaurs, and scary Venus Flytraps.

Grandma's new boyfriend. We call him Larry.

This was Hiram's favorite Lego formation. A soccer game in the Alliance Arena.

No this is not a ride, but another lego creation.

Another things Hiram found that he thought was funny, especially after seeing te GIANT chess game, we got to see the mini chess game. He especially liked the guy who was mad and dumping the game.

After leaving Legoland went on to Mom's for a day of rest and getting ready for our flight to Norway. We arrived in Norway on July 2. It was late in the day, so we rested for the night an on the 3rd, we headed out to see what was around us. We are basically staying in Nowhere, Norway, but it is absolutely beautiful, and looks a lot like what I imagine Alaska or Canada looking like. There are Pine forests and huge rockformations and mountains. There are lots of lakes and is truly pristine. We are staying a few kilometers from the fishing village of Risor, whose port is pictures below. It was surprising for us when we stepped of theh plane to find it 85 degrees and very sunny. We were further North, how did that happen?

The view from the apartment we are staying in of the Lake Lovelia. A very fitting name!

More pictures coming from our trip in Norway!