Champagne and orange, pancakes with lemon and phone calls home to Oz took precedence over unwrapping Christmas presents, but they were worth waiting for!
I can't believe what we all managed to come up with for each other in such a short period of time – well done everyone!
By 12 noon we were packed into Gunther and on our way to Königssee, a beautiful green lake Sam, Russell and I had visited in '08. Today though, it was not the emerald green that we had seen but almost black as grey skies and towering peaks blocked the sunlight. Only electric boats traverse the lake out to St. Bartholomew's pilgrimage church and the adjacent hunting lodge, once the residence if Bavarian kings. At 8 kms long and 190 metres deep, it has the reputation of being the cleanest lake in Germany.
I had made reservations for lunch at 1pm but unfortunately we missed the boat (seem to be making a habit of that lately?) which travels out to the hunting lodge and we arrived 30 mins late to an absolutely frenetic scene.
Tourists milling about (why weren't all these people home with their families I ask?) and apparently only two waiters serving the whole place – one of whom was exceptionally rude. Eventually we were seated and incidentally found the one English menu in the restaurant and subsequently ordered.
The meal itself was wholesome and generous in size, most of us starting with the venison goulash soup and following with either more venison, meat loaf or pork medallions. Luckily we were waited upon by the nice waiter who had a sense of humour in what was clearly a very understaffed establishment. Never before have I been served my main whilst still eating my entree on such a small table that I had to hold my main in my left hand until I finished my soup, hilarious. (And it was the same for all of us!) A Christmas lunch we won't forget in a hurry.
The setting on Königssee could not be beaten though and easily made up for the 'less than silver service.'
Wandering around in the vain hope that we were walking off calories, we found plenty to photograph as the temperature dropped markedly.
As the light faded, we boarded a boat back to Gunther and then home, strangely just as bloated and tired as any other Christmas Day.
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