Would You Like Fries With That?

Coming back to Munich on the A8 I want to lock this day away as a core memory. A new happy place. The A8 connects Munich, Germany with Salzburg, Austria and despite not achieving my target of driving to Austria my stop in at Berchesgarden was well worth the change in plans. The drive home now, as the sun was setting behind the mountains, the left lane was opening up and my playlist belted out over the sound of the wind and purr of the engine – well, is there any better place to be? I was driving a Porsche with top down, the Austrian alps a cascade of changing colours, the smell of pine trees filling my lungs and a grin absolutely plastered to my face.

My day had started by almost swallowing a yellow jacket wasp that stung its way to freedom by attacking the inside of my cheek. It was thanks to this wasp that I showed up to collect my car with coffee spat down my jeans. Yessir, you can absolute trust me with your $200,000 car just please don’t let me near another wasp. Although at this point I’d tried to wash the coffee out of my pants not wanting my one pair of jeans to be forever marred by this encounter. The result is that I likely looked like I’d pissed myself. No matter.

Everything was wholly better once I had fought with the parking garage boom gate attendant over Google translate and he finally let me out. And then boom baby, I had wheels and we were getting the hell out of dodge.

I chose Berchesgarden as a destination only because I knew it was in the mountains, and still in Germany but roughly the right direction for Salzburg. You need to buy a sticker to pass the border with your car and whilst mine already had one for Switzerland I needed one for Austria now.  The congestion leaving Munich was disappointing but the scenery was bloody stunning. Rolling green hills, church steeples, fat cows and in the background the mountains.

I made the trip slower than I’d liked but arrived in Berchesgarden pulling into a public car park to get my bearings. It was here that I met Lars and Wiebke amongst the throngs of rainbow flags, placards and a boom box thumping out Gaga. I’d meant to ask them for recommendations to eat but I appeared to have driven into a Pride event and after a quick chat to confirm this was indeed a Pride parade so I decided to join them on a impromptu march up through the town. As we walked, we had a great conversation that skipped over small talk and went to the heart of discussing the alarming rise of conservative policies in both our countries. We compared gay rights, women’s rights, police powers, climate change, economy, government structures and the frightening drought that was plaguing Europe this summer. It was amazing to find two people who I gelled with so quickly.

After the march we jumped in their car to find a place for a drink with a view climbing the mountain towards the Eagles Nest. The frank way they discussed Hitler and the war was interesting to me who’d been dancing around his name like he was German Voldemort. Wiebke must have sensed my awkwardness as she said, ‘if it makes you feel better he only ever visited about three times – he was scared of being struck by lightening’. I mean I guess? The moustached monster aside, Eagles Nest gives an absolutely stunning valley view and there’s an information centre there which ensures that you must confront the horrible truth of his regime in the hopes of deterring Neo-Nazi pilgrimages. I didn’t see any skin heads but I was also not looking for them.

We had a drink at a café a bit further down the mountain where you can cross country ski in the winter and where a herd of mountain cattle were sunbathing. Wiebke showed me a video where at the end of the summer graze, if there’s been no negative cow-people encounters the cows are decorated with elaborate flower crowns and bought down the mountain in a parade of cow-bell and applause.

We continued to chat for another hour with Holle-Schole, an Elderflower soda learning about their recent move from the north and their love of the region, the hiking and riding trails. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and after drinks we exchanged numbers and when they dropped me back to my car, promised to keep in touch.

At this point it was time to sample the great Bavarian cuisine and then hit the road home to Munich. With the heavily reduced traffic it was top down, stereo up and full throttle. Only the best way to spend a day in my humble opinion.