Twenty-seven locals recently returned from a tour of Europe. The group included 17 adults and 10 students, aged 14 and up. Blake Olson, who coordinated the tour, gave an overview. He explained that he tried to include a variety of small cities, large cities, historical things, and beautiful things. Once he had it planned out, he’d reached out to Education Service, and they’d set up the tour.

“We started in Prague.” Olson began. They had a tour guide with them the whole way, from airport arrival to airport departure. They spent a couple of days touring Prague. Olson noted that “everything is within, probably a mile of each other.” There was a lot of walking on this trip. Junior Alex Shottenkirk estimated that everyone got 20,000 steps in per day there. The estimation of a total 185,000 steps was made.

“Prague is a beautiful city. It’s an interesting city because it’s in the Czech Republic, which when I was growing up was Czechoslovakia. It was still behind the Iron Curtain. They were definitely becoming more westernized.” Olson said. Shottenkirk noted that there were both old and new parts of town. His architectural favorite of the trip was St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Prague. This church had elevators going up to its shorter spires – but Shottenkirk and a friend wanted to get to the top of the highest spire. They rushed up more than 300 stairs to do so.

Next, the tour stopped in Brno, CZE. One thing of note about Brno: “I don’t know if you remember your high school biology, but when you did punnet squares in genetics, you made the boxes and crossed things. Gregor Mendel was a scientist who figured all that out, and he did his work in Brno. So we visited a museum there, and his grave there.” Olson said.

While in the Brno region, the tour also stopped at the Punkva caves. This cave system had a river running through it. The group took a boat ride on this river, which was approximately 30 feet deep. Shottenkirk said “I don’t think there’s anything like it in America.”

Eagles Nest View

Lake Konigsee

Prague

Salzburg

Strasbourg

Telc, CZ

Zugspitze

Previous Next

Next the group traveled south to Vienna, Austria. Olson said that this wasn’t quite in the mountains yet. “That’s kind of rolling hills – the forested area in the hills, and the agricultural area down below.” Olson was impressed by Vienna. “It’s a stunning, stunning city.” he said. “There aren’t many places I haven’t been now in Europe. And to me, that’s the most beautiful city of all.” he added.

One stop here was Wolfgang Mozart’s original burial site. (It was uncertain as to whether the composer had been moved.) There was a slight snag here of being temporarily locked inside an old, overgrown cemetery. Another stop in Vienna was the Schӧnbrunn Palace. This was a large complex – Shottenkirk recalled it having 1,000 rooms inside, as well as spacious grounds including a zoo outside. “If you remember your history, Marie Antoinette – that's where she grew up.” Olson said. He noted that it was part of the Habsburg Empire. “The gardens there are just incredible.” he said.

The tour included stops that appealed to history buffs. “There were quite a few people who had interest in history.” Olson said. “But some of the people were just there to see the beauty.”

After Vienna, the group headed to Salzburg, AUT. “The movie ‘The Sound of Music’ was filmed in the Salzburg area.” he said. The landscape changed a bit at this point in the tour. “Now we’re in the mountains, or on the edge of the mountains, I should say. It’s a view. It’s a smaller city, but it’s quite stunning.” Olson said.

Some of the sites along the tour had significance of World War 2. In Salzburg, this included the Eagles Nest. The Eagles Nest was a summer home that the Nazis built for Adolf Hitler “on the very, very, top of a mountain.” Olson said. “It’s a stunning view from up there.” The view, an elevation of about 6,000 feet, was impressive.

“It was spectacular.” he said. “You can’t drive there. You have to get tickets, and they bus you up there. It’s a winding road that goes up an extremely steep, high mountain. When you get there, you have to take an elevator up to it.” Olson explained.

“This was all built for, I believe it was Hitler’s 50 birthday, just as a gift to him. It was this crazy amount of money that they put into it.” Olson said. Shottenkirk said “In 4 years, he was there about 14 times.” Shottenkirk was also impressed with the view. He noted that the cable car going up there was the same one that Hitler rode in. Also, the fireplace in the summer home was one that was gifted to Hitler by Benito Mussolini.

The group also took a boat tour of Lake Konigsee. Shottenkirk said that part of this day included learning about glaciers and environmental concerns. He said “So many people visit the Alps and don’t clean up after themselves.” Another stop was a museum about WW2 and the Nazis. Olson wanted to see the Berghof as well. That was what was left of Hitler’s house. “For me, that was very interesting, ‘cause I have watched thousands of hours of documentaries on Hitler.” he said.

The next day, the tour went to the Tyrol region – but first they visited the Partnach Gorge. Olson explained “It’s an area where the water comes down through the rocks, and it carves a very deep channel in the rocks. It was quite stunning. I mean, everyone was impressed with that.”

Shottenkirk said “I’ve never seen water like that!” He emphasized that it was not a body of water one could boat through. The water, from snow melting off the Alps, had only one way to go, and a narrow space in which to travel. This put a lot of pressure on the water, and likely influenced its speed. Shottenkirk estimated it to run at 60 m.p.h.

“The next day we went – and this was, most of the people said this was their favorite thing of the whole trip. We traveled to another part of the Alps, and we took a train and a gondola up to the top of the Zugspitze. That’s the highest mountain in Germany.” Olson said.

This time, the elevation was around 10,000 feet above sea level. Getting up there took a ride on a train, a cable car, then another cable care. “We had a fairly decent day. It was a little hazy, but the view from up there – I mean, we could look over the whole Alps from where we were. It was quite stunning. Wow.” Olson said. He added “It’s just the beauty of the Alps. It’s just being up there. And it was quite spectacular.”

Shottenkirk said that the Alps were a little different from the Rockies, though both mountain ranges were sharp. “In the Alps, one tall mountain is right next to another. But in the Rockies, the tall mountains are further apart.” he said. He also stated that the Rockies were higher.

The next day saw the tour traveling onward to Baden Baden, GER. “Baden Baden is located along the Black Forest of Germany.” Olson said. They were only there for one night, as they were making the way to Belgium. Next, they went to Strasbourg, France for a short time. After that, they went through Luxembourg. “I’d never been in the little country of Luxembourg before, so I was pretty excited to go there.”

While in Luxembourg, they visited an American cemetery. Olson said “Everyone’s aware of the American cemetery on Omaha Beach, but there’s many of those cemeteries spread across Europe where our troops from WW2 are buried.”

They also visited the gravesite of a famous general – George Patton. Olson said that Patton didn’t die on the battlefield, but of a heart attack, and was buried there.

The group proceeded to Bastogne, BEL. This included more WW2 history. “That’s where the Battle of the Bulge occurred.” Olson said. In Bastogne, the group visited 2 museums. They also visited old foxholes dug during the war.

The last stop was Brussels, BEL. One notable stop was a chocolate factory. The group got to see how the candy was made.

“The next morning, we flew from Brussels back to Frankfurt, GER, and from Frankfurt back to Minneapolis.” Olson said. It could be a little bit of a let down to get home. “For me it is. Most of the people are tired. It’s an intense 2 weeks, you know? It’s not a lot of sleep, and we’re on the go all the time.” he said. “But I’m never ready to go home. I could explore and explore and explore.” he added.

Olson named Bastogne, the site of the Battle of the Bulge, as his favorite. “I know so much about WW2 history there.” he said. He also liked the mountain. “Being at the top of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany, was quite spectacular too.” he said.

Shottenkirk saw some differences between Europeans and Americans. First of all, Europeans seemed to be less friendly than Americans. “They’re not rude, but they keep more to themselves.” he said. But also, they seemed to be happier. Another difference was a social one. Shottenkirk thought that Europeans had more social events – but inversely, were generally less social people. Also, he said that he was surprised at how many Europeans spoke English.

He also found them to be fit, as they were unlikely to drive and thus had to walk or bike everywhere. Their food was generally healthier, less processed, and contained fewer preservatives. When asked about the food, he said “I tried everything, but I didn’t like everything.” One thing he noticed was that dumplings didn’t really look like dumplings – they were shaped more like garlic bread. These dumplings would be accompanied by lamb sauce. “There was a lot of lamb, and mushrooms.” he noted.

“Travel is very addicting.” Olson said. Shottenkirk agreed. Shottenkirk said that he definitely wanted to travel more. He stated that travel was important “to see the different perspectives of others’ views and customs.”

“I always tell the parents and the students, it’s life-changing once you get out and see the world. You just want to see more and more and more.” Olson concluded.