Lake Konigssee Excursion

After leaving Mirabell Palace, husband drove straight to our next stop, Lake Konigssee.

The sky looks beautifully blue and clear, though the weather forecast predicted there would be thunderstorm in the afternoon time. Knowing the weather condition in the region wan't stable for the past few weeks, we took the forecast seriously.

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Husband modified the plan a little bit. So, we first went to the place that we supposed to go in the afternoon, and postphoned the originally morning trip to the afternoon instead.

An unknown small town located somewhere near our destination. Surrounded by magnificient Alps, all I see is a very beautiful neighbourhood.

Getting near to Lake Konigssee.

Lake Konigssee is quite near to Salzburg. Within 45 minutes, we were there already.

Berchtesgaden is a small town situated in the Alps about an hour from Salzburg. It's actually across the border in Germany. It's a strange feeling that we can cross the border of Germany-Austria to-and-fro like nobody business.

Along the pedestrian street, there are many shops selling this kind of stone, called Salzsteine. At first, I thought it was some sort of crystal stone, as Austria is famous for crystal, right. Only later in the afternoon, I get to know what exactly it is after visiting a fantastic place.

I am a died-hard fans of crystal. When I saw those stones, I got to control myself not to carry them back home.

Too bad I don't understand what was written on the board. Guess they are some sort of crystal stones?

Like mother like son, the boys were obssessed for those glittering stones too. Vincent liked this one the most, and he asked me to take a photo for him. Luckily he didn't bug me to buy it.

Some shops sell this kind of artworks. They are very beautiful, but expensive. For sure they are not made in China.

Konigsse is a tourist town, with many souvenir stores and cafes and bars leading to the dock where there were also a few hotels and guesthouses.

The lake front guesthouse. Heard husband said he was trying to book a guesthouse somewhere in this small town, but too bad, all were fully booked.



After a 15 minutes walk, finally we reached Lake Konigssee in the Berchtesgaden National Park. The lake is 7.7 km long, but only 1.7 km wide, and was carved by glaciers during the last ice age. It is advertised as German's "fjord", surrounded by mountains and waterfalls.

At the dock are electric boats used to take tourists down the lake. We bought a full trip family ticket, cost €37.

Lake Konigsee is famous for its clear water and advertised as the cleanest lake in Germany. For this reason, only the electric driven boats, pedal or row boats are allowed on the lake since 1909.

The boat was occupied very fast. Need not waiting long, it started to sail out the lake.

We felt thrilled when the boat was moving ahead, though I think it moves a bit too slow.



The boat stopped at a certain point on the lake and the driver took out his trumpet to show us the echo at this point of the lake. Everyone on the boat was quietly listening to him play a tune and then it would echo back shortly after from the walls of the high rising flakes of the mountains. Absolutely beautiful !

After some time, the boys started to feel bored as the scene at both sides look almost the same to them. When they get restless, one of the things they would do is repeatedly do the same thing, like keep asking me when all this will go to the end? Ahh...irritating.

After 20-30 minutes, the boat stop at the main stop on the lake, known for its small church, the Chapel of St. Batholomew. It is Lake Konigssee's landmark. Too bad the maintenance is in progress, spoil the view.

We get off the boat at this stop, while some other passengers continue their journey to the next stop.

The boys were busy when they get to see many small fishes swimming in the lake. Sigh, they always like to make their existance noticeable.



















Probably this is the only guesthouse at this place?

After visiting many churches, I start to believe that even a very small church, loacted in a remote place, like this one, is beautiful inside.

The boys kept asking me if I have brought anything for the ducks. Hemm...to be honest, I don't know what duckies like to eat? We only have some biscuits. Do ducks like to eat biscuit? Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea to feed the wild animals in their own habitat. So, I just told the boys we have no suitable foods for them.

The water is so clear that we can virtually see the details at the bottom very clear.

The famous Eagle's Nest, a summer lodge built for Hilter was on top of one of the mountains around this region. It's been said that Hilter spent little time in his special lodge, cause he had vertigo and didn't like height much.

The only restaurant at this place.

Gosh, I have no idea what's the menu are all about. General speaking, Austrian doesn't speak very good English, and many of their sign boards lack of English translation as well. So, it's not very convenient to get the information we need.

Some of the houses here. Don't know if they are still occupied or not?

Hello, anybody home?

Hello?

Besides the moutains, I love the vast greenery lawn too. It gives me so much energies.

One of play ground with beautiful scene. We just let them played there while we walked around the region.

When the boat approached the dock again, we continued our journey to the next and the last stop. The time by then is nearly 12 noon, William felt so hot that he didn't mind I stripped off his shirt.

The Konigssee is the deepest lake in Germany, with a maximum depth of 190 metres. Incredible !

Another 15 minutes later, the boat stopped here. The place is called Salet (Obersee). We get off the boat again.

The emerald-green hue of the shimmering water captures the heart of everyone who sees it.

It's really too bad my camera can't capture the view from 360 degree. Maybe I should consider to upgrade my tool to the one with video recording fuction, I need to think...

Yes, the dock.

A house at the other side of the lake. I asked husband if he can live in a place like this? He said as long as there is broadband service and he can go on line, it's ok for him to live there for a while. Emm...forget it.

While I was busy snapping photos here and there, husband stood in front of this sign board and started to estimate the distance for a hike. Again, there is no English translation here. After a while, husband said the hike won't take a long time, probably 1 hour. Well, I didn't challenge his estimation. No point to challenge his wild guess, right (unless I'm clever enough to read the map).

That's the trail husband pointed us to go. When the captain said go, we go. No need to use the brain and think.

It's getting very hot to walk under the sun. The only thing I had used my brain here was to check if we got enough water supply.

What a surprise to see a small guesthouse and restaurant in this remote place on earth ! The captain said we could take a lunch here on the way back. Yippee...

The captain who always walked ahead of everyone and looked back to make sure we were still there, somewhere.

One good thing about having at least 2 children, they really can keep each other a good company (of course that is when they are not fighting). And quite embarrass to say, they make lots of noise everywhere they go. They are such a big contrast in foreign countries when people usually talk in low voices.

I think he was trying to hear what that 2 little girls were talking about. Too bad they didn't speak English. So after a while, he came down the rock and continued the hike. Anyway, I talked to their mom for a while, asked her how long would it take to reach the end. She said another 10 minutes. YES !!

The captain was kicking our ass to walk faster.

But the 3 of us, still "kau-kau-zhang" here...

True enough, we reached this beautiful lake after walking for another 10 minutes.

Abosulutely beautiful. See it to believe it.

When daddy climbed up that rock, he didn't realize he had set a "role model" to his son. Well, he asked for it.

Due to safety reason, daddy refused to help him. Poor fella, he got to find something else to play.

He went to join other family instead (rolled eyes). A vengeance to his dad?

Sometimes, language is not a barrier. This is especially true for children.

Later on, I saw William pointing at the boy's leg and they seemed very nervous. They continued this chic-and-duck conversation for quite a while, till I felt curious and took a shot of them. Then, I saw the boy's knee was bleeding and he ran fast to his parents. William told me he saw a leeches sucking his blood. Boy, he then mentioned about this "big incident" over and over again for the rest of the trip.

We stayed at the lake side for about 20 minutes, then walked back via the same path.

I asked captain to carry my hat and glasses for me for a while, and that's the way he carried them. Cute...he made me laughed wholeheartedly.

Taking a short break here...

Taking another short break here too. This photo was taken by 2 Chinese girls, who dressed extremely hot and sexy, somemore wearing high heels. Amazing.

One last look at this beautiful place. When the boat came, we hopped in and went back to where we came from. That's take another 3o minutes time.

So cute, with my hat and my sun glasses. I think the hat and glasses are more suit them than me. (Jealous lah)

We didn't take our lunch at the restaurant in Obersee, caused we were not hungry, cuase we had taken a really heavy breakfast in Star Inn in that morning.

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Anyway, when I saw this biscuit, called Susse Brezen (one of the popular local delicacies in Germany), I bought one straight away. Besides the original version, there also got several modified version. I picked the original one.

Well, this biscuit isn't that tastless-hard-dry as husband had described before. In fact, I quite like it. So do the boys.


When we get back to our car, husband saw a summon ticket put on the windscreen. We didn't know we should have paid a parking ticket before leaving our car there. Luckily, the charge was only €5, not €50 or €500. Someone told husband he could settle the summon at any local bank. So, we quickly order 2 sets of MD's meal to go, and husband drove to the nearest small town to look for a bank.

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Funny thing is, the "xx-bank" building that we saw is not a bank. Apparently, bank means something else in Germany & Austria. I couldn't remember what bank is called in Germany's word. End up, husband could only find the real bank with the help from a foreigner student. Husband said this young man hates this boring place, and he can't wait to leave here for long. I think he must like Hong Kong then.

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