A.S.S. 
    Weekend Away
     
    This Year: Berchtesgaden
    (9.-11. 7. 1999)
    Hotel Watzmann, our residence
     
    This years weekend away drew a very lucky number of people (13 in all) from around Stuttgart, England, and Belgium to Berchtesgaden, a famous town at the southeast corner of Germany. After a lot of parking on the motorway A8 the first evening was well spent with sampling local food, beer, and spirits.
     
    Due to continuous rain we decided to go underground, visiting the salt mine. This is a very touristic place, with lots of waiting involved, just like Disneyworld.
    The picture on the right shows us on a small train which took us about 600 meters into the mountain.
     
     
    		Nonetheless, its a great experience, especially the big slides, as shown on the left.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    After being under cover for so long, most of us brave people hiked all the way to the Königsee, about 5 km away.

    This picture shows some of the intrepid hikers

    Luckily we found a bus to bring us home again. There we spent the evening, as before, with a hearty meal and a hearty beer, maybe more - memories are hazy at this point. What I recall, is that we did our best to put some limericks and other lyrics together - for our members far away. These lyrics are proudly presented now:

    Berchtesgaden is the place which is "in"
    if you want to get soaked to the skin
    as the rain never stopped
    we shopped ´till we dropped
    whoever said that's a sin ?
    Similar the next one:
    We came to the mountains for fun
    but forgot to order the sun
    Because the rain would not stop
    we went off to shop
    and the husbands wished we had not come !
    And the last one:
    To Berchtesgaden we went
    A mountain of money we spent
    As the sun didn't shine
    we went down a mine
    So we got cold and wet in the end !
     
    On Sunday, due to drizzling rain, we took some last pictures of the group, then we went our different ways, some home, some to a local festival, and some to the Königsee. 
     
     
     
     
    "The dirty Dozen"
     
    Some pictures from the trip to the Königsee:
     
    The famous chapel St. Bartholomä
     
     Two members of the A.S.S., caught between
    ice cold water and ice
     
    And now, finally, a very famous picture:
    This picture was taken on "the" sunny day, sometime in 1965 - the only day in living history where the sun actually did shine in Berchtesgaden. On this day all the pictures were taken which are still, to this day, being sold in all the tourist places around Berchtesgaden and the Königsee. As there are no postcards available showing the reality more and more unsuspecting strangers are lured to this place, where they buy raincoats, umbrellas, and other protective gear to boost the local industry.
    With this very interesting piece of information we conclude our report.