It was another normal week at home, which around here apparently means finding a few hours to squeeze in an adventure somewhere. Friday was my day off, so instead of doing the things I probably should have been doing at home, I decided to cross a few more things off my Germany list. This time I was going in a slightly different direction and visiting some of the religious and historic sites that I have somehow managed to live near for years without ever seeing.
I was never particularly interested in churches, monasteries, or religious history before moving to Germany. Then I read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and suddenly became fascinated by how these enormous buildings were designed, constructed, and somehow still standing hundreds of years later. Now I see an old abbey on a map and immediately want to know who built it, why it is there, what happened to the people who lived there, and how on earth they managed to build something that elaborate without modern machinery. I have officially entered a new era of nerdiness.
My first stop was Beuron, tucked into the beautiful Upper Danube Valley. I visited St. Martin’s Abbey, which has a history stretching back more than 900 years and began as a monastery for Augustinian canons. The current church dates to the 1730s and is a beautiful example of Baroque architecture, complete with an onion dome and an elaborate interior, and the monastery later became an important center for the Beuronese School of religious art. The monks were even chanting during my visit, making it extra special.
After visiting the church, I decided to take a short 15 minute hike toward the Danube River. The Danube starts nearby as little more than a trickle, and standing here looking at it as barely larger than a stream, it’s almost impossible to picture that this tiny stream eventually becomes the mighty Danube that flows through major cities across Europe before reaching the Black Sea.
The walk also gave me a beautiful view back toward the abbey across the meadow. It was one of those scenes that looked like it belonged on a postcard, so naturally I stopped for pictures before turning around and hiking back to the car.
From Beuron, I drove about 45 minutes to Zwiefalten Abbey, which immediately looked familiar. I could not figure out why at first, but then I realized that Zwiefalten is close to Wimsener Höhle, which we visited last year. Apparently I have been circling these places for years without realizing how much history was sitting right around the corner.
Zwiefalten was founded as a Benedictine monastery in 1089 and remained an important religious center for more than 700 years. The highlight is the enormous Münster Unserer Lieben Frau, built between 1739 and 1765 by Johann Michael Fischer. Inside, it is full Baroque extravagance, with massive frescoes, elaborate stucco, sculptures, gilding, and enough visual detail to make you realize that people hundreds of years ago apparently had a completely different definition of subtle.
After two abbeys in one day, I headed home for a very brief nap before going back out for dinner at China City Buffet to say goodbye to a coworker. Ryan, meanwhile, had gone directly from school to a camping trip with Scouts for an Order of the Arrow event, so the house was unusually quiet.
Saturday started early because Matt and I had plans for Switzerland. This was one of those hikes that really depends on the weather, and the forecast was supposed to be nearly perfect, so there was no way we were going to waste the opportunity. The entire outing would take roughly six hours of driving plus the hiking and time at our destination, which also meant there was no way we were leaving the dogs at home for the day.
Earlier in the week, we had ordered dog carriers so we could carry the dogs on our bodies when necessary. At the time, it seemed like a very practical solution. In hindsight, I am not sure we fully considered the fact that we were volunteering to hike up and down a Swiss mountain while wearing two dogs.
Our destination was the famous Äscher Guesthouse in Switzerland. The Äscher sits at about 1,454 meters above sea level and is built directly against the base of a massive cliff, which makes it look like someone took a perfectly normal mountain restaurant and wedged it into the side of a rock wall.
The funniest part is that I have actually been looking at a picture of the Äscher for years without realizing where it was. A photo of the guesthouse has been on the cover of a book sitting on my coffee table for probably ten years, and I somehow never bothered to find out where the picture was taken. It turns out this ridiculously beautiful place is relatively close to us, which is both exciting and slightly embarrassing.
We arrived around 10 in the morning and immediately knew we were not going to have the mountain to ourselves. There were already hundreds of cars in the parking area, and people were everywhere getting into hiking clothes, adjusting backpacks, and preparing for the trails.
From the parking area, we could see a line of people making their way up an incredibly steep ridge. From a distance they looked like a trail of ants marching straight up the mountain, and we watched them for approximately five seconds before deciding that we were absolutely not doing that if we did not have to.
Instead, we started at the Ebenalp cable car. Why hike straight up a mountain when Switzerland has thoughtfully provided a cable car? At the top, we watched paragliders launching into the sky before starting the roughly 20 minute walk toward the Äscher.
The walk took us through Wildkirchli, a fascinating group of caves in the cliffs that have been used by humans for thousands of years. Prehistoric people once sheltered here, and centuries later the caves became home to hermits, with a small chapel and hermitage built into the mountainside. It was a pretty incredible feeling to walk through the same cliffs that had been used by people for completely different reasons over such a huge span of history.
Then we rounded a corner and there it was. The Äscher was even more impressive in person than it is in photographs, partly because you can actually see just how dramatically the building is squeezed between the cliff and the mountainside.
We stopped for a while because it was impossible not to take approximately a million pictures. Eventually, though, our stomachs reminded us that beautiful scenery does not count as lunch, so we found a table and settled in.
Matt had white sausages and I had roasted chicken with potato salad. The potato salad was honestly the best potato salad I have ever had, although eating it on the side of a Swiss mountain with the Alps surrounding me probably did not hurt. We also had Appenzeller beer, which seemed like the only appropriate choice when sitting at a famous Swiss mountain guesthouse.
Then came the part where we actually had to earn that lunch. We strapped the dogs into their carriers and immediately became a spectacle for everyone around us. People stopped to stare, smile, point, and ask about them, and within minutes it became very clear that the dogs were getting more attention than the scenery.
The hike from the Äscher down toward Seealpsee was steep, rocky, and significantly more challenging than the pretty Instagram pictures would have you believe. The trail winds down the mountainside with steep drops, uneven rocks, narrow sections, and plenty of places where you really have to watch every step. Parts of it even required you to hold onto guide cables to maintain your footing. Add two dogs strapped to your body and suddenly you have turned a scenic hike into a full body workout.
We were also stopped several times by people who wanted to take our picture with the dogs. At one point it felt like we had accidentally brought the most popular attraction on the mountain with us, and we heard so many exclamations of “Herzlich,” “So süß,” and “Ganz geil” from the German and Swiss hikers that I was beginning to wonder if we should start charging for photos.
Eventually we made it to Seealpsee, and the moment we reached the lake, the entire hike felt worth it. The turquoise alpine water was surrounded by green mountains and dramatic peaks, and after spending the morning climbing around rocks, standing beside that perfectly calm lake felt like arriving in an entirely different world.
We finally unstrapped the dogs. While they were really relaxed and almost slept the first hour of the ride, they started to become increasingly squirmy as we got closer to the lake. The second they were free, they were ready to run, which was slightly annoying considering how exhausted the humans carrying them were.
We stopped at the lakeside guesthouse for dessert and drinks, which felt very deserved. Matt has a plum strudel with cinnamon ice cream and I had an ice cream with peanut brittle and caramel sauce. We sat by the water for a while, enjoyed the view, and tried not to think too hard about the fact that we still had to get ourselves and two dogs all the way back to the car.
We had planned to take an almost flat and paved route back, which sounded absolutely perfect at this point. Unfortunately, we followed the wrong trailhead and somehow managed to turn our easy walk home into another hike up and down a completely different ridge.
At least our wrong turn came with some pretty spectacular scenery. We walked through a cow pasture, climbed along another mountain trail, and eventually made our way down beside a waterfall through a forest so lush and green that parts of it looked like a rainforest.
Unfortunately, beautiful scenery only gets you so far when your knees are screaming at you. By this point the hike had stopped being fun, and I did not even take pictures during this portion, which is probably the clearest indication of just how ready I was for it to end.
When we finally reached the bottom, we realized that we had ended up on the same ridiculously steep path we had watched people climbing up that morning. Looking back, I was extremely grateful that we had taken the cable car up because I cannot imagine starting the day by voluntarily climbing that mountain.
The valley looked completely different by late afternoon, though. Hundreds of paragliders were launching almost simultaneously, filling the sky with colorful parachutes and turning the mountains into this incredible moving backdrop. It was one of those scenes that made me stop and think that even after living in Europe for years, there are still places that can completely surprise me.
Matt drove us home, and we had originally planned to stop somewhere else along the way, but by then I had developed a bad headache and really just wanted my bed. The dogs and I were completely worn out, so when we finally arrived home around 7, we went straight to bed.
Sunday was considerably less athletic, which was exactly what my body wanted. We met some friends for brunch at the local Brauhaus, and I have to shamelessly admit that we had never been before despite it being one of those famous local things that everyone seems to know of.
It was great, and we will definitely be back. After brunch, we carried on the party at a friend’s house with drinks and football, and apparently we were having such a good time that we stayed long enough for dinner.
By the time we finally got home, Ryan was back from his camping trip and the weekend had officially come full circle. It had been a pretty perfect few days, starting with centuries old abbeys, moving on to one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done, and ending with friends, football, and food.
Gilcrests Abroad 