Amazing photos, as always, Ingo!

I am reallyreallyreallyreally close to cancelling Sils and heading to Wolfgangsee.... :omg:

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St. Gilgen/Strobl/St. Wolfgang – Day 10

We’d overlooked that Spar is closed on Sundays, thus the larder was bare. So our day began with a walk down the hill for coffee and cheese pretzels in the Spar Bistro, then back to the apartment for a planning session.

We briefly considered taking the bus to Salzburg for the day, but decided we’d had enough busyness…and since we’d yet to explore Strobl, that seemed as good an option as any.

A long white cloud clung to the mountains, the sky looked vaguely promising, but this was the Salzkammergut; I was skeptical.

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St. Gilgen

Once again we made the trek down the hill to the bus stop, this time headed to Strobl, situated on the eastern side of Wolfgangsee (14.80 Euro return for both).

Upon arrival we wandered through the village, sleepy and deserted on this Monday morning. Soon we were gazing at what we assumed were cast members of the Bethlehem Stable, several sheep behind a make-shift fence near the shuttered Advent Market.

A gluhwein kiosk was positioned near the lake, looking forlorn and abandoned. We poked along the shore, watched the swans, and eventually found what we were looking for, the somewhat icy trail to St. Wolfgang.

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Wolfgangsee as seen from Strobl

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Walking along the lake from Strobl to St. Wolfgang

The first half of the four mile walk hugged the lake and was quite scenic, but the balance, on a path next to the road, was considerably less interesting.

St. Wolfgang was eerily quiet; a stark contrast to what we’d seen just two days ago.

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St. Wolfgang

We revisited the restaurant in Hotel Peter, now blissfully peaceful. Our waitress was the same we’d had two days before, but this time she had time to chat. Bill chose the lunch special of cheese spätzle and salad, I couldn’t resist the weirdly wonderful Christmas baked apple cream soup (34 E with drinks).

Afterwards we poked through the deserted streets and sleepy Advent Market, the absence of Saturday’s crowds allowing us to take a good leisurely look around and making photo taking easier, although the light hadn’t improved.

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St. Wolfgang

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St. Wolfgang

The smell of chocolate led me to a nearby kiosk selling Schaumrollen (a transgression for which I’ve already been scolded by Fourfortravel). The chocolate dipped meringue filled tube of pastry didn’t knock my socks off, but it satisfied my sweet tooth. When offered a bite, Bill declined, curling up his nose and looking mildly disgusted.

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St. Wolfgang

We eventually tore ourselves away from St. Wolfgang and took the bus back to Strobl (5.50 Euro for both), where we had a cold 15-20 minute wait for our bus back to St. Gilgen.

To be continued…

Adelaidean -

The streets of Scuol will be rolled up on Sunday. Including the Coop. It closes at 6 pm on Saturday, so better make it a priority if you want coffee and breakfast Sunday morning.

Restaurants shouldn't be a problem though - at least I don't remember them being a problem (other than the witching hour of course).

When are you going again? I see there are some closures in June too.

"We’d overlooked that Spar is closed on Sundays, thus the larder was bare."

Ah, yes. The "Sunday Shutdown," as I not-so-fondly refer to it. I long stopped counting the number of Sundays wherein we have decided to sightsee at the neighbors (CZ,SK,H) just so we can make a game-day decision on dinner and have an open grocery store from which to procure provisions.

I am curious about the baked apple creme soup. It sounds delicious! How was the preparation? Were there bits of apple in the soup?

(Shakes head) You just had to have a Schaumrollen...:lol:

fourfortravel -

The baked apple soup was cream based with a bit of texture - pureed apples probably - but no apple bits. It was topped with apple crisps.

I was afraid it would be too sweet, but it wasn't. It was surprisingly good.

The baked apple soup sounds delicious! Sounds like it could be a dessert.

I love the Christmas photos, especially the Christmas ornaments.

Karen - I thought the soup sounded like a dessert too, but it was actually more savory than sweet. I'm not sure how they accomplished that, but it worked!

Enjoying your trip report! And, loving the pictures!

Thank you joann!

St. Gilgen to Munich – Day 11

Gloomy and wet – surprise!

As we piled into our host's car for a lift down to the bus stop, he told us that rain was expected every day from now until Christmas, which was eight days away - it suddenly seemed the perfect time to leave.

We boarded Bus 150 one last time and were on our way to Salzburg (6.90 Euro each). Some six kilometers later, as we approached Fuschl, we were suddenly blinded by sunshine! The shimmering Fuschisee was a spectacular blue. Say what? Had the big yellow ball in the sky been over here in Fuschl all along?

It took about 45 minutes to get to Salzburg – the entire journey - save the first six kilometers – under vibrant blue skies, the views lovely. The congested streets that we drove through when we arrived in Salzburg on Thursday evening were peaceful and sedate on this Tuesday morning. What a difference.

Upon arrival at the Salzburg Hauptbahnhof we had 18 minutes to find the DBB ticket counter, purchase a Bayern Ticket (34 Euro) and then locate our platform for our train to Munich. The transition couldn’t have been easier; we had time to spare.

We were soon settled and cracking open an Austrian red we’d picked up at Spar, surprised that our completely random selection was actually quite good.

Some two hours and not a single train change later, we’d arrived at Munich Ost. From there we walked to our go-to hotel, the Courtyard, where we checked in, hopped on an elevator and I promptly dropped not one, but both key cards, which vanished into the abyss that is the elevator shaft. Oops.

Later, we walked back to Munich Ost Bahnhof and caught a train to Marienplatz, where we aimlessly wandered under vibrant blue skies.

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Munich
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Munich

Then it was drinks at Der Pschorr, followed by a wander through the Viktualienmarkt, which always sends me into a photo frenzy.

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Viktualienmarkt, Munich

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Viktualienmarkt, Munich

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Viktualienmarkt, Munich

As the sun sank and the skies darkened, we wandered through the sparkling Christmas Market.


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Munich Advent Market

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Munich Advent Market

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Munich

We eventually tore ourselves away and caught a train to Isartor. With time to spare before our dinner booking, we wandered some more, stumbling upon a store with more shiny grand pianos than either of us had ever seen under one roof, and a UPS delivery vehicle we’d not seen before.


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Munich

Dinner was at Goa, our favorite Munich Indian Restaurant, where they didn’t seem to know anything about our dinner booking until we showed them our printed reservation. Goa is very small and was fully booked, but never mind, it wasn’t even 6 pm, so they made available a table that was reserved for 8 pm. As we dined, customer after customer was turned away, even though most of the bookings were for hours later. Seems an odd way to do business.

As usual, the food was excellent – Paneer Achari for me, Chicken Tikka for Bill, garlic naan for both (36 Euro with drinks). So excellent in fact, that we made an encore booking for the next night.

Winding down...

Yeah, just in time to leave!

Mel, have so enjoyed your trip report - thank you!

Love_travel, I am already a fan of Uniqlo winter clothing - I'm yet to find out how it stacks up in really cold weather but am hopeful. Thanks for the recommendation.

Dreamon - the heat tech leggings and tops worked out ok with woollen jumper on top in January in Germany and Austria.(With a good coat of course.)
However the lightweight down is not really all that useful in really cold weather.
Hope this helps.
All the best for your planning and travels.

Munich – Day 12

The sun was gone again.

With absolutely no plans for the day (and having been told there’d be no breakfast for us since we were using hotel points…and then finding out later we’d been told incorrectly) we consulted our friend Google and set out to find a proper cup of coffee. Enter VogelMaier Kaffeerösterei on Einsteinstrasse, a nine minute stroll from our hotel and…drumroll please…they make flat whites!

The coffee was very good, the pastries okay. The owner’s curiosity about how we’d found the shop and where we were from (she guessed Australia given the flat white order), led to a nice chat, where we learned she’d been to Colorado. Small world.

Caffeinated, we spent a few hours just aimlessly wandering random neighborhoods, for no other reason than they were there and so were we.

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Munich neighborhood

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Wandering

After a quick stop at the hotel to drop off the provisions we’d picked up for our flight the next day (Iceland Air, the full saga of which appears under the Switzerland portion of this trip report), we walked to the Ostbahnhof, purchased a Gruppen Tageskarte (all day train pass for zones 1-4, 12.80 Euro) and went back to the Marienplatz so the carnivore could satisfy his craving for raw meat (Rindertartar) at Der Pschorr. The non-eater of raw beef, pork knuckle, Weiner Schnitzel, pulled ox and veal settled for a simple semolina dumpling soup (39 E with drinks).


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Rindertartar

Afterwards we continued to drift, until Chocolaterie Beluga caught my chocoholic eye, necessitating closer investigation. Unsure of the process, we hung back, watching a customer dunk a chococube into a steaming mug of milk. Sold! After perusing the rows of chococubes we agreed to share one that came with a shot of Bailey’s. Then it was back to the counter to buy a few to take home as gifts, and we were off to catch a train to Rosenheimer Platz…for absolutely no reason at all.

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Chocolaterie Beluga

Once there we wandered along the river of abandoned bikes (Isar?), counting five submerged within one city block. We popped into St Lukas church, discovering it’s the largest Protestant Church in Munich, then continued walking around the Gasteig (cultural center).

We eventually caught a train to Karlsplatz…where we explored the huge underground shopping center, busy with Christmas shoppers (The Stachus Passagen, evidently Europe’s largest with some 60 shops and eateries).

Here we stumbled upon Kay’s Champagneria – an oasis of sparkles surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Christmas consumerism – who could resist a Champagneria?

We settled in at the bar, placed our order and immersed ourselves in the rather unique experience of sipping bubbles in a bustling department store. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the festiveness of the season, maybe it was sitting amongst locals who’d gathered for a late afternoon chat over a glass of grape…whatever it was, I loved this place. What a fabulous way to wind down and watch the world go by.

Later we took a train to Isator for our encore dinner at Goa, which was quiet and in no hurry to feed us.

Then it was back on the train to Munich Ost, where we happened upon a pop up concert in the Ostbahnhof and were entertained by a very talented group of singers:


A serendipitous end to an excellent day.

Going home:

One last walk to the Ostbahnhof and we were off to the Flughafen, our train standing room only for the entire ~30 minute journey – not all that surprising on this Thursday before Christmas (11.90 Euro).

We mistakenly didn’t take advantage of the copious food options landside, and soon discovered that the airside choices in Terminal 1 were beyond dismal; a sausage stand or a bleak looking Italian place on the opposite end of the terminal. We were tempted to go back out through security and start over, but we were deep in the bowels of the airport; it was a very long walk back, so we just made do with sad, unmemorable sausages.

Return flight saga can be found here:

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...rland-1663446/

Thanks for tuning in!

I always find myself wondering “should we buy here now, or head through security first”?

Yeah, we definitely messed that one up. We had some food for the second Iceland Air flight, but figured we'd just have a combo breakfast/lunch before we boarded the flight to Reykjavik. That was a mistake.