Day 3: September 16 Salzburg – Berchtesgaden – Konigsee – Salzburg

A great breakfast and we hit the road towards Berchtesgaden, back in Germany. Based on the Bimmerfest recommendations we want to drive the Rossfeld Ring Road, which goes up to an elevation of about 5000 feet above sea level and offers some panoramic views of Salzburg and its environs. Berchtesgaden is only 30 mins from Salzburg and therefore a great day trip. We want to drive Rossfeld and then head further south to Konigsee, which is a popular lake. Berchtesgaden is also historically popular as Hitler’s chalet in the Eagle’s nest area in Obersalzburg is also here, but we are not interested in Third Reich history.

The weather is great, and almost feels like 70F. But the GPS still has problems finding its satellites. So we run around in circles, hoping we don’t break any traffic rules along the way and ultimately stumble upon the road leading to Berchtesgaden. The rolling pastures don’t seem to elicit more than the occasional “wow, look at that” now.

Pretty soon, we are there and the road starts winding up the mountain. The grades are not very steep yet, but the car revs easily over 3000 rpm and we mindfully drive slow hoping that it shifts up soon and brings the revs down.

The road to Berchtesgaden

After about 10-15 minutes up the mountain we arrive at the entrance to the road and pay a toll (Euro 3.80). And onward and upward we go. There are umpteen stops and we stop and take pictures. The car smells of hot oil every time we step out and we don’t like it. My last Audi was a used 85 5000 that, in the short time I owned it, had the brake master cylinder and the cooling system fail amongst many minor mishaps. It also almost bankrupted me. Brings back bad memories.

Soon we crest the mountain, ooh and aah to the view and start heading down. Halfway down the mountain, only the right lane of the road is blocked off. Not knowing any better and heeding the wife, we go around the barricade. Wouldn’t the guy at the toll booth have told us if the road is closed? Seems logical. Further on, we come to a traffic light since only one lane is open. Our light turns green and we head past a bunch of people working, one of whom even waves to us. Since he didn’t halt us I feel more confident. A few minutes later and almost at the bottom, the road is blocked by one of those things that roll over freshly tarred roads to flatten them (the name escapes me). The guy driving it is walking around the vehicle and we decide to ask him if the road is open or not. Out comes Rick Steve’s handy little German-English book, but by the time we figured out the words to road, open and closed, he is done and headed down the hill. We press on. Sure enough we catch up to him and he waves us down and says “geschlossen”, which, we now know means “you are idiots because this road was closed 5 kilometres ago”. Only problem is, this road is freaking narrow, and there’s no way we can do a 3 point turn. Maybe a 30 point one. So we reverse up the hill. The backup camera sure comes in handy. Finally, we reach a wider section of road and turn around. Half an hour later we exit the way we came in. Phew. Wouldn’t be much fun without incidents like these.

Rossfeld Ring Road

We head south from there following the signs to Konigsee via the town of Berchtesgaden itself. Finally we arrive at a giant parking lot with a ginormous McDonalds. There must be parking for 5000 cars here and not one empty space. No sign of the lake, but enthusiastic visitors are pulling out hiking gear by the armload from their vehicles. Not our scene and we head back out to Berchtesgaden. No seeing the Konigsee for us.

Ten minutes later we park at Berchtesgaden. It’s 12:30 now, and all the shops are closed from 12-2:00pm! Siesta time. All we want is some coffee and it takes us almost 20 minutes to find a café. We order two coffees, which seem almost 250 mls each! We sip and plan our next move. The consensus is head back to Salzburg and walk around some more.

We drive back to Salzburg, park at the hotel and walk into town. One of the things we love to do wherever we go is hit the local grocery stores and walk around the aisles. Problem is, in the past ten years, it seems that a handful of companies own every brand in the world and of late, every store we hit looks no different from the international aisle in your local supermarket or Trader Joe’s in the US. But Salzburg is different. The brands are different. The products look different. It was fun. We buy some essentials, and (you guessed it) coffee to take home. By now we have already bought about 2kg of coffee and I suspect we’ll buy more in Munich. We walk around old town and are beginning to feel peckish. The sausage stands are still open and, based on some recommendations, we head towards the Bosna Grill, which is tucked away in a passage down Gerteidegasse. The Bosna is a mildly spicy Austrian sausage, and this grill, just like In’n’Out has only four things on offer (Bosnas #1,#2,#3 and #4). It is also strictly take out. We order ours (#2) and walk out and find a place to sit in a plaza. They are delicious! We meander around some more and then head towards the hotel. On the way we buy some Sacher Torte and an Apfelstrudel which we plan to have with some espresso in the room (that Nespresso sure got a work out).

We have dessert and coffee and then turn in. Nothing on TV, so we watch “The Sound of Music” and recognize the plaza where we ate our Bosnas. Looked exactly the same 40 years ago. They probably had to preserve it with more care than usual, or they would be missing a stop on the S.O.M. tour, as it is known here.