A little more from Ramsau

There were several other buildings that caught my eye in the sleepy little village of Ramsau, but these two in particular peaked my interest. The first is Ramsau's second church, almost totally ignored by the touring public but still picturesque in my opinion.

Ramsau's less famous church

The second is bit of a step back in time and interests me because the owners have preserved the environmentally friendly power source of water. This is the Ramsau Sawmill.

Ramsau Sawmill

Terrific amounts of rain fell in parts of Germany immediately prior to and during my visit and water levels in the rivers were extremely high. The canal used to channel river water to drive the saw was very full. Cleverly the designer of the millrace had allowed for this with the overflow system you see to the left of shot where gallons of very fast flowing water are allowed to spill back into the river thus preventing flooding of the actual mill. The shoot to the right of centre is 'used' water from the wheel-drive also returning to the river.

Overspill

I wish I'd taken a bar of soap... this would have been a great place for a refreshingly cold shower!

Ramsau Kirche

There's a famous little church in the village of Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden that I have seen in various catalogues and tourist guides so naturally when the opportunity arose to photograph it I gladly accepted. Sadly the weather wasn't exactly kind to us the day we were there, the Alps, which form the backdrop to the church, being completely hidden by low cloud. Nevertheless I did capture a few images of the church.

Approaching Ramsau Church

Conveniently there are several small bridges crossing the river that allow the photographer to capture the church.

Ramsau Church

And looking back on the church...

Ramsau Church

This monochrome is a copy of a black & white photograph displayed in the local Tourist Office and gives some indication of what I was unable to capture.

Ramsau Church with Bavarian Alps in background

On a good day the view would be nothing short of stunning. Try your luck by following this link to the Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden webcam.

Musical Madness

I had a moment of Musical Madness while in Bavaria recently with my pal +Silvia Antlady  and just started singing this...




Yes I know... hard to believe it might be, but even your old mate Usky has his silly side!

Berchtesgaden

I visited the municipality of Berchtesgaden, which is situated in the German Bavarian Alps on my first full day in Bavaria. The city is a mixture of the old and new and I wanted to share a few images of some of the beautiful old buildings within the city.

Sadly I don't have names for the buildings depicted here, but that doesn't detract from their beauty I'm sure you'll agree. Just look at this amazing place with the round tower on its corner.

As you can see it currently houses a mixture of shops and a cafe.

How about this wonderful memorial to the fallen of the two World wars?

Berchtesgaden War Memorial

Then there are these shops with the schloss in the background.

Look at the stunning detail on this Dollinger shop front:

And just in case you're feeling warm and cosy, there's this somewhat dark and moody building:

A touch on the dark side it may be, but it's still stunningly beautiful don't you think?

To be fair these are but a brief selection of mages of Berchtesgaden architecture. If these photographs have sparked an interest in you I urge you to visit southern Bavaria and see Berchtesgaden for yourself.

Familie Schwan

Being a lover of all things natural I couldn't resist taking a few images of this family of swans...

Come along dear, catch up!

 I spotted this family on the Chiemsee in southern Bavaria. Of course like me the Schwans could just as easily be tourists, but I rather suspect they were locals.

The Familie Schwan

 There's something very majestic about swans don't you think?

Do you think he was trying to tell me something?

This is 'Dad' showing his brood the finer arts of mooning! lol

Re-cycling

Tilly spotted a perfect cycle for a small person while we were out walking this morning...

Can't you just tell from the expression on her face that she wanted to take it home?

Wonder whether I could teach her to ride it?

Back from foreign climes...

I arrived home from a trip to southern Bavaria yesterday morning where I spent a very enjoyable week taking photographs in the company of my good friend Antlady69. We stayed close to a town called Marktschellenberg in the district of Berchtesgadener Land and I must say it was stunningly beautiful.

Antlady69 collected me from Munich airport and we drove south to our destination, stopping en-route at Erding to stretch our legs and get a coffee. I loved the model of the town plan - so much nicer than displaying a map don't you think?

Street Plan of Erding

Isn't it cute? I so wish more cities/towns would do this:

Street Plan of Erding

A lot of the churches in this part of Germany have what I referred to as 'onion' towers, which reminded me somewhat of buildings in Russia. I don't think there's any connection, but it was worth taking a few photographs to illustrate the style. Here's one from Erding:

Church in Erding

After coffee we moved on to Seebruck beside the Chiemsee for a spot of lunch and a short stroll. The Chiemsee is an absolutely huge freshwater lake, which was formed around 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. The Chiemsee is also known as 'The Bavarian Sea'.

Lake Chiemsee with the Bavarian Alps in the background

I was fascinated by the drive through the Bavarian countryside, it proved to be quite different to what I had imagined. Just goes to show how wrong preconceptions can be! Of course I was aware there would be mountains, but I was quite unprepared for their beauty: I will be posting more about the landscape in the days to come.

We stayed in a very nice ferienwohnung (FeWo for short) with the family Fuchs. The property was called Steinlehen and is fairly typical of the area.

My room opened on the right-hand top balcony at the side of the house

Although it was dry on our arrival the skies were quite cloudy and unfortunately the view from my balcony was somewhat restricted, but of course I had to document it anyway!

The view from my balcony

As nice as the outlook was, on clearer days this view was quite spectacular as you will see at a later date!