Monday, February 20, 2012

Berchtesgaden & Berchtesgaden National Park

 Berchtesgaden is place with an amazing history. It juts down into Austria and is even 30 kilometers South of Salzburg, Austria.  It is most associated with Mount Watzman which is the 3rd highest mountain in Germany. It was a beautiful drive there!
Since there was no snow in Burghausen this day in January, we had to go somewhere to find some!  This was the place...
Behind Billy is  the view toward the Berchtesgaden National Park which extends into 3 deep valleys.
There was a great little museum in the National Park Visitor Center showing what life was like in the area in earlier times. Daily existence high in the Alps seemed basic, but sweet and charming.
This little cottage represented inside the museum was shown as it would have been on the upper pastures in the 1930's or so. They were usually built of hewn wood beams with stone floors and wood shingled roofs. It seems these still exist and since the 1950's these have gradually been updated...most no longer have the open fire places.
 The cemetery in the middle of the town was pretty amazing,
...especially in the snow.
The stones were all unique and many had lit candles in traditional red globes,
...showing that the dead were still remembered by their families generations after their passing.

There was a beautiful palace with an attached church with twin bell towers. There was a lot of pink inside and outside the old walls. I am always amazed as you set foot in these churches.  The main stone in the doorways are always very worn down by the thousands of feet that have tread there over the centuries. I tend to think about adding my own footsteps upon the many layers of history.
 The drive home was very nice too.  It alternated between snowing...
 raining
...and clearing.
The colors of the day and the changing light was something unlike anything I'd seen in the Souteastern USA.

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