2009 World trip with the Percivals

GermanyAustria

Thursday 2009-03-26    Alamo Car Rental Depot Zurich City Our rental car for the next 12 days. It's an Opel Zafira and it was perfect for our needs. The cost of fuel in Germany was exactly double at €1.20 per litre compared with A$1.20 at home.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    On the A1/A4 heading north out of Zurich St Gallen is our destination at the eastern end of Switzerland.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    On the A4 heading east Those white puffs at the side of the road are snow. Spurrinnen means ruts.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    On the A4 heading east The alps come into view
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Thursday 2009-03-26    On the A4 heading east The alps become more prominent
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Austria We cross the border into Austria and travel through a small town before getting onto another autobahn.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Austria There was a lot of traffic entering Switzerland but not too much going in our direction.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Austria More of the Alps
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Thursday 2009-03-26     On the A14 in Austria We join the A14 autobahn and head north for Germany. We're only in Austria for perhaps 20-30 kms.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the A14 in Austria Mostly the roads go between the Alps but on three separate occasions, we had to drive through very long tunnels.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany We're now in Germany travelling to our destination at Buching on the Northern side of the Alps.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany The roads were dry so we were able to enjoy the scenery
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Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany The speed limit on these roads is 100 kmh for cars and 60 kmh for trucks - crazy rule. Note the cars blocked by the truck in the distance. It's snowing now - very lightly.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany Around about now, we came to a small town. We needed Euros, a pee and a coffee in that order. We stopped at a bank and got some money and asked where we could get the other two: at a nearby Gasthaus which was unlocked but not open. We turned on the lights and used the toilets before an unhappy owner arrived. No coffee.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany So we stopped at a McDonald's in the next town and had a McDonalds coffee. McDonalds is a universal synonym for awful.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany I borrowed Bob Whitely's jacket and felt the need to pose in it.
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Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany The drive to Buching was mostly dry but there were occasional patches of drizzle.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany The alps are behind these small hills hidden from view by the clouds.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany We passed through many small villages like this - speed limit 50 kmh.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the back roads in Germany Hermione, our GPS Navigator, plotted this route for us. We left the B roads for a while and joined the back roads but the quality of the roads was still superb. The scenery became even more spectacular.
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Thursday 2009-03-26     On the back roads in Germany We approach Lake Forggensee, very near our destination.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany The Forggensee. The suffix see means lake.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany Forggensee
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B12 in Germany We wait in the car while Jenni takes the photographs - it's too cold to get out.
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Thursday 2009-03-26     On the back roads in Germany Turn right on the B17 and we're almost there - Buching that is.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Approaching the B17 in Germany On our way to Buching, the little village in the middle distance.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Buching Germany Our accommodation for the next two nights, the Gasthof Geiselstein. It was inexpensive by European standards at only €60 a night including a very generous breakfast.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Buching Germany This is the view from the front of the Gasthaus Geiselstein
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Thursday 2009-03-26     Buching Germany This is the view from our hotel room at the Gasthaus Geiselstein.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Buching & Hohenschwangau Germany This map shows where we spent the next two enchanting days. Neuschwanstein Castle is a 1.5 km walk up the hill from the village of Hohenschwangau.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B17 Germany Our intention is to visit Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles tomorrow, so we decide to drive south from our lodgings to learn a bit about visiting them.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    On the B17 Germany It's only 8km from our lodgings to the castles. The road sign visible means all previous restrictions are over and the speed limit returns to 100 kmh.
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Thursday 2009-03-26     On the B17 Germany And there it is - our first glimpse of Neuschwanstein. What a glorious setting!
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     On our way to Neuschwanstein castle We turn off the B17 and head towards the village of Hohenschwangau. This church stands alone in a field and is visible from both castles. It has the peculiar onion-shaped dome common to churches in this part of Germany.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Schloß Neuschwanstein Ludwig II of Bavaria built the palace as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. Public photography of the interior is prohibited but the exterior is the most photographed building in Germany and is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Schloß Neuschwanstein After Ludwig's death in 1886 the castle was opened to the public, in part to pay off its construction debts. Since then, over 50 million people have visited the Castle. About 1.3 million people visit annually with up to 6,000 per day in the summer.
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Thursday 2009-03-26     Hohenschwangau village Hohenschwangau is a very small village nestled between both castles that provides tourist accommodation, food and trinkets.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Schloß Hohenschwangau Schloß Hohenschwangau is the original castle where Ludwig spent his youth.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26     Schloß Neuschwanstein We walk up the steep 1.5 km path to the castle and dodge the horse poo that is everywhere along the way. Horse-drawn carriages transport tourists to the top but we preferred the exercise.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    Schloß Neuschwanstein The concept of the palace was outlined by Ludwig II in a letter to Richard Wagner in 1868; “Is my intention to rebuild the old castle ruin at Hohenschwangau near the Pollat Gorge in the authentic style of the old German knights' castles... the location is the most beautiful one could find, holy and unapproachable, a worthy temple for the divine friend who has brought salvation and true blessing to the world."
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Thursday 2009-03-26    Schloß Neuschwanstein Construction of the castle started on September 5, 1869.Ludwig appointed a theatrical set designer, and not an architect, to design Neuschwanstein hence the fairy-tale nature of the building. A qualified architect created the actual construction plans.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    Schloß Neuschwanstein These school kids (not German) were among the rudest and most ignorant savages we've ever had the misfortune to share space with.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    Schloß Neuschwanstein The palace was originally called New Hohenschwangau Castle until the king's death, when it was renamed Neuschwanstein, the castle of the Swan Knight Lohengrin, of Wagner's opera of the same name.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    Schloß Neuschwanstein Neuschwanstein was near completion when, in 1886, the King was declared insane by a State Commission under Dr. von Gudden and arrested at the palace.
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Thursday 2009-03-26    Schloß Neuschwanstein Ludwig was taken to Castle Berg where he was later found drowned in shallow water, along with von Gudden, on June 13, 1886. The exact circumstances of the two deaths remain unexplained.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    Schloß Hohenschwangau Hohenschwangau means Castle of the High Swan County. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II and it was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria.
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 Thursday 2009-03-26    Hohenschwangau We return to the car, drive back to our gasthaus and call it a day. Considering that we started this day in Zurich Switzerland, we did quite a bit today.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau The next morning after a delightful breakfast at the Gasthaus Gieselstein, we return to the village and park the car. Jenni buys our tickets for both castles and our first tour starts at 9:50 AM.
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Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau It was raining and a few of the following shots have water on the lens.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Hohenschwangau Below us, looking like an illustration from the pages of a fairy tale, is the village of Hohenschwangau.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau Hohenschwangau Castle was built on the remains of the medieval fortress Schwanstein, first mentioned in records dating from the 12th century. A family of knights was responsible for the construction of the fortress.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau After the demise of the knights in the 16th century the fortress changed hands several times. The decay of the fortress continued until it fell into ruins at the beginning of the 19th century.
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Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau In 1829 Crown Prince Maximilian discovered the historic site, reacted enthusiastically to the beauty of the surrounding area and acquired the property in 1832. One year later the reconstruction of the Castle began, continuing until 1837.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of King Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia and their two sons Ludwig (later King Ludwig II of Bavaria) and Otto.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau King Maximilian died in 1864 and Ludwig succeeded him to the throne, moving into his father's room in the castle. As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Hohenschwangau When Ludwig became king, he commissioned the building of Neuschwanstein. Ludwig watched its construction from his bedroom for 17 years via a telescope.
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Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein We walk the 1.5 kms up Horse Poo Hill ready for our 11:50 AM tour.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein A commercial picture showing the palace at its best.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein As we walk up the path, the palace is shrouded in mist.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein We wait in the courtyard until it is our turn to enter. Fortunately, we are in an English-speaking group that does not include the schoolboy thugs that are present once again.
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Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein In my first trip to Neuschwanstein over 20 years ago, I stood on this bridge to take photos. However, it was closed today because of weather or lawyers.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein We aren't allowed to take photos inside the castle but on the way out we can see the frozen Alpsee with the Austrian Alps in the background.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein We can also look back at the King's bedroom in Hohenschwangau Castle.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     Schloß Neuschwanstein This model shows just how unusual is the design of the castle.
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Friday 2009-03-27     Hohenschwangau village The weather is starting to clear and the mountains are becoming visible.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau After visiting the castles, we had plenty of time left so we travelled a short distance to the village of Schwangau.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau As is traditional when Jenni and Bonnie see some snow, they stage a snow fight for our entertainment.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau Once they learn to stand up in it that is.
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Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau
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Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau We go into this lovely restaurant for a coffee.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau "What's that they're drinking?" we ask. "Latte Machiatto's" is the reply. "Four please".
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The village of Schwangau It's hard to believe I'm 68. The left eye still looks a bit bleary after the injection.
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 Friday 2009-03-27     The ski run and cable car We go to the Tegelberg Mountain ski lift but it is closed because of wind.
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Friday 2009-03-27     The cable car We decide to come back tomorrow morning after breakfast to try our luck.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Tegelberg Mountain cable car We check out from the Gasthaus Geiselstein and head for the Tegelberg Arial Tramway.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Tegelberg Mountain cable car Just after leaving the station, a bobsled run becomes visible.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Tegelberg Mountain cable car The Tegelbergbahn is 2,146.18 meters long. It climbs a height of 892.5 meters, has a carrying rope 48 mm in diameter and a hauling cable 26 mm in diameter.
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Saturday 2009-03-28     Tegelberg Mountain cable car The cost for the round trip was €16 each. This seemed a bit expensive at first, but the views from the top made it all worth it.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Tegelberg Mountain cable car The skiers look so small against the ski slope.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Tegelberg Mountain cable car The Tegelbergbahn has two cabs capable of transporting up to 44 persons each and are driven by a 2,540 KW engine. The tramway has a 38 meter high support pillar built of reinforced concrete.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Tegelberg Mountain cable car Tegelberg mountain is 1730m above sea level. It is still in Germany buts looks into the Austrian Alps to the south.
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain This is a small frozen lake almost directly north of us called Bannwaldsee. The B17 runs to the south of it.
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain Some skiers have just arrived at the station. They take the small track to the left (where the two skiers are), loop around the Tegelberghaus and from there proceed rapidly downwards.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain That's the town of Füssen between the trees.
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain The little villages of Schwangau and Waltenhofen with the B17 in the lower part of the picture. What appears to be a river in the background is a channel in the frozen lake of Forggensee.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain A small store was open but the entry was blocked by snow.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain The village of Füssen is below us. Near the bridge is St. Mang's Abbey that was once a Benedictine monastery. Ascending tourers?
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain In 1837 the former abbey church was transferred as a gift to the parish of Füssen and in 1909 Füssen acquired the rest of the estate. The north wing was used as the town hall. In the south wing the Füssen Town Museum is now located, with displays of the town's history and of the traditional manufacture of lutes and violins in Füssen.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain A carriage of the Tegelbergbahn.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain I wondered if the dog was a St Bernard but I can't see a brandy barrel around its neck.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain One of the problems at this point of the mountain was that the snow had to be cleared before customers could get into the Tegelberghaus.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain Jenni enjoyed the overspray.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain Bonnie on top of the world.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain This is the little church that we passed several times yesterday and the day before.
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Saturday 2009-03-28     at the top of Tegelberg Mountain That's 5600 feet in Christian measurements. Tegelbeghaus sold beer and snacks.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain Jenni and Bonnie appear to be surveying the mountain views.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain Damn, but they're a couple of beautiful women.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain It amazed me to think that kids this small thought nothing of plunging down a 1700m slope.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain We relaxed here over cups of hot chocolate.
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Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    at the top of Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain A glimpse of Hohenschwangau. The frozen Alpsee is behind the castle.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain Neuschwanstein comes into view
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    On the way down from Tegelberg Mountain
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    Oberammagau Only 46 Kms from Hohenschwangau.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    Oberammagau The Oberammergau Passion Play was first performed in 1634. The villagers vowed that if God spared them from the bubonic plague, then sweeping the region, they would perform a passion play every ten years.
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Saturday 2009-03-28    Oberammagau After keeping their part of the vow, the villagers believed that they were spared . The most recent performance of the play was in 2000 and the next will be in April to September 2010.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    Oberammagau The play is now performed in years ending in zero and involves over 2000 actors, singers, instrumentalists and technicians, all residents of the village.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    Oberammagau Early versions of the play were highly anti-semetic because of something purported to have happened two millennia ago. Because of this, Hitler approved of the passion play. What a curious mixture of piety and evil.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28    Oberammagau Oberammergau is also famous for its Lüftlmalerei (frescoes) of traditional Bavarian themes, fairy tales, or religious scenes found on many homes and buildings.
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Saturday 2009-03-28    Oberammagau Lüftlmalerei is common in Upper Bavaria and its name may be derived from an Oberammergau house called Zum Lüftl, which was the home of facade painter Franz Seraph Zwinck (1748–1792).
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau Curiously, Upper Bavaria is in the extreme southern part of Bavaria next to the Alps and the Austrian border. It includes Munich.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau
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Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau We stopped for latte macchiatos at the Cafe Italia opposite. As it was about 12:30 the shops were closing. This seems strange to us now but it wasn't so many years ago our stores shut for the weekend.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau This house is painted with a religious theme.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau The Oberammagau church, probably catholic as Bavaria is mostly catholic.
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Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau . . . and its graveyard.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau Oberammaga is surrounded by the Ammergau mountains and is in a very attractive setting.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Oberammagau
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Saturday 2009-03-28     on the B17 We leave Oberammagau and head for our lodgings at Wackersberg.
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     on the B17
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     on the B17
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 Saturday 2009-03-28     Wackersberg After driving 54 kms from Oberammagau, we reach our destination: Barbara Ostheimer's guest house in Wackersberg. This was our accommodation for the next five nights. That night, Claus Maikis joined us. Later, the five of us ate at the closest restaurant, the Altes Zollhaus 1.1 km away, and had typical, incredibly good Bavarian fare.
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Saturday 2009-03-28     Wackersberg The Red A on this map shows the location of our accommodation for the next five nights. It's not that far from the Austrian border.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich We spent today in Munich in the company of Claus Maikis. Our first stop was the Deutsches Museum, located on a small island in the Isar river. We didn't realise that this was the first day of daylight saving and this threw our schedule out somewhat.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The Deutsches Museum is the world's largest museum of technology and science. It has approximately 1.3 million visitors per year and about 28,000 objects on display from 50 fields of science and technology.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The museum contains 61 separate exhibition halls spread over six floors.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich It only cost €8.50 to get in. Jenni and Bonnie found things that they were interested in leaving us three lads to wander around the aeronautical and other exhibits.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich We enter the transport section which is what we're mostly interested in. This is the fishing vessel Maria .
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The Maria worked out of Finkenwerder in northern Germany as a deep-sea fishing boat for seventy years before finally berthing in the Marine Navigation exhibit at the museum.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The aircraft on display, the Etrich-Rumpler Taube , was the winner of the 'Reliability Flight' and the 'Kathreiner Prize' for a flight from Munich to Berlin in 1911. It was flown by Helmuth Hirth and he completed the 540 km flight in six hours, excluding fuel stops. This was faster than the railway which was until then the fastest means of transport.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The American Clipper Republic was a three-master that could set 57 sails before the wind. Its yards were set at right angles to the wind and were lengthened temporarily for more sails, known as kites, to catch even the slightest breeze. In favourable winds, the ship could cover 750 kilometers in 24 hours.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich Claus and Dennis.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich This engine was built in 1897 by Rudolf Diesel and is considered to be the first diesel engine. It has an output of 14.7 kW (20 HP) @172 RPM. It was not until 1924, 11 years after Diesel’s death, that the first diesel engines for trucks went into production.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich A MAN (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg AG) diesel engine. Predecessors of the company were involved in the development of the Diesel engine from 1893-97. MAN diesels have outputs of 450 kW to 97,300 kW (130,000 bhp).
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich Dennis examines the very sharp leading edge of a Luftwaffe F104G Starfighter. Of the 916 Starfighters flown by the German air force from 1960 to 1991, around one third was lost in accidents.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The Messerschmitt Me 262 was the first production aircraft to use jet engines. Maximum take-off weight: 6100 kg. Maximum speed: 870 km/h at 6000 m altitude. Service ceiling: 12000 m. Range: 1000 km
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The maiden flight of a Me 262 prototype with turbojet engines took place on 18 July 1942. Production started early 1944 and by April 1945, over 1400 Me 262 's had been built.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The Fieseler Fi 103, V1, was a cruise missile used during WWII. It was developed at Peenemünde by the Luftwaffe. Between 13 June 1944 and 29 March 1945, it was fired at population centres such as London and Antwerp. V-1s were launched from "ski" launch sites along the French and Dutch coasts until the sites were overrun by Allied forces.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich Messerschmitt Me 163 B Rocket-powered fighter aircraft. The rocket engine enabled the plane to reach a speed (almost 1000 km/h) and a rate of climb unheard of at the time. However, the duration of the engine's burning period was very short so that the pilot had to attempt the return flight on a glide.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The museum is large enough to display various sections of a Lufthansa Boeing 747. This is the high bypass engine showing how the majority of air pressure generated by the compressor bypasses the engine.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The Messerschmitt Me 109 was one of the best-known German fighters of WW2. More than 35,000 were built from 1936 onwards making it one of the most produced aircraft ever.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich The aircraft on display was flown by the German Air Force 'Condor Legion' during the Spanish Civil War, and later by the Spanish Air Force. It was manufactured in 1938 and had a maximum speed of 550 km/h.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich There is also a display of model aeroplanes at the museum. Claus poses with one of the models he gave to the museum, the red biplane overhead.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Deutsches Museum - Munich We're running out of time and due to meet the ladies so this is the last hall we visit: early stationary steam engines.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre Because it is raining, we get the car and repark it near the city centre. We walk down the Kaufingerstraße pedestrian mall to Marienplatz - marked with the red A.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre This is Karlsplatz, a large plaza near the parking station. Claus and the ladies rush ahead.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre Karlsplatz leads into Neuhauserstraße pedestrian mall. Dennis rushes to catch up.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre These are the twin towers of the Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady); the largest church in Munich. It is a catholic church, a major landmark and a popular tourist attraction. The time has slipped away and we still haven't had lunch.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre Construction of the cathedral began in 1468 and the two towers were completed in 1488, but the building's domes were not built until 1525. The cathedral suffered severe damage during World War II. A major restoration commenced after the war and was completed in several stages, the last in 1994.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre During WWII, Munich was hit by 71 air raids over six years and was heavily damaged. Munich was completely rebuilt following a meticulous plan that preserved its pre-war street grid. Repairs can be seen at the top floor, far end, of the Rathaus.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre Easter is only two weeks away and these brave souls defy the cold and rain to transport a Marian effigy to the Theatinerkirche visible in the distance.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The Mariensäule is topped by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary standing on a crescent moon as the Queen of Heaven. It was erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years War.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The four putti at the bottom of the column are each depicted fighting a different beast symbolizing the city's overcoming of adversities: war (the lion), pestilence (the cockatrice), hunger or famine (the dragon) and heresy (the serpent). A putto (poo-toe) is a small, winged, naked child. A cockatrice is a legendary monster, part snake and part cock, that could kill with a glance.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The Rathaus glockenspiel re-enacts two stories from the 16th century. The top half tells the story of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lothringen. In the bottom half there is a joust with knights on horseback representing Bavaria and Lothringen. The Bavarian knight wins every time.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre Our wet and bedraggled, but very happy, gang.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The Catholic Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan was built from 1663 to 1690 and is opposite the Feldherrnhalle. it was founded by Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife as a gesture of thanks for the birth of the heir to the Bavarian crown, Prince Max Emanuel, in 1662.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The church was designed by the Italian architect Agostino Barelli. His successor Enrico Zuccalli added two towers and then finished the 71 m dome in 1690. The facade in rococo style was completed much later in 1768 .
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre This is the famed Feldherrnhalle (Field Marshall's Hall). It was built between 1841 and 1844 at the southern end of Munich's Ludwigstrasse next to the Palais Preysing and east of the Hofgarten.
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 The famed Feldherrnhalle (Field Marshall's Hall) in Munich, site of the killings asociated with the Beerhall Putsch in 1923.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre Sixteen marchers were killed and a number were wounded, including Hermann Göring, but Hitler fled. As a result, Hitler was arrested and sentenced to a prison term. The beer hall, from which the march originated, the Bürgerbräukeller, was the site of an attempted coup by Hitler and his followers.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The incident became known as the Beerhall Putch (Putch is German for coup d'état). Hitler served less than one year of his five year sentence, but while at Landsberg prison, he dictated most of the first volume of Mein Kampf (My Struggle). For the full story, Click here.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre During his trial, Hitler was given unlimited time to speak and his popularity soared as he voiced nationalistic sentiments in his defence speech. A Munich personality became a nationally known figure and thus began Hitler's rise to power. The area in front of the Feldherrnhalle is where the shootings occurred . It was here that the Blutfahne (Blood Flag) came to be.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The Residenz is the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs and is the largest downtown palace in Germany.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The Hofgarten (Court Garden) in Munich is a garden in the center of the city between the Residenz and the Englischer Garten. The garden was built in 1613-1617 by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria as an Italian style Renaissance garden.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre In the centre of the garden is a pavilion for the goddess Diana, built in 1615. A path leads from each of the eight arches.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre The cold and rain finally get to us and we decide to go home. This pedestrian mall, Maffeistraße, takes us west back to the car.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Munich City Centre Once Munich's salt market, Promenadeplatz displays the statues of the Prince Elector Max Emanuel, the composers Christoph Willibald Gluck and Orlando di Lasso, and the Bavarian historian Lorenz von Westenrieder. The modern statue is of a German, not Napoleon.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    On the road to Wackersberg We collect the car and travel back to Wackersberg. It rains most of the way south.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    On the road to Wackersberg And then it starts snowing as we get closer to Wackersberg.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    On the road to Wackersberg Hermione led us straight home through the snow storm.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Our room in Wackersberg Back safe and sound in our room at Wackersberg. It is snowing quite heavily outside.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Our room in Wackersberg We loved it and would stay there even longer next time. Happily, the room had wireless internet.
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 Sunday 2009-03-29    Our room in Wackersberg From our bedroom window, the snow storm completely obliterates the mountains in the background.
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Sunday 2009-03-29    Our room in Wackersberg We even have a traditional Bavarian verandah attached to our room. That night Claus, Jenni and I ate at the closest restaurant, the Altes Zollhaus, 1.1 km away and had typical Bavarian fare.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    It snowed overnight in Wackersberg
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 Wednesday 23 June, 2010 . . . last year when it was none of those things. The wood pile is much higher and freshly sawn because the guest house uses wood for heating. Wood heating seems strange to us but wood is so freely available here, and it grows faster than it can be harvested, that it all makes sense.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    It snowed overnight in Wackersberg
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Monday 2009-03-30    It snowed overnight in Wackersberg
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald Today, we go to Mittenwald, about 2km from the Austrian border.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald The drive there was very beautiful.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald This is our first glimpse of the Walchensee.
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Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald The steps to the water's edge are covered in snow so we take it easy.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald How beautiful is this - right opposite the lake, buried in the forest. That's a European No Parking to the left sign
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald The sun is trying to break through the mist and it gives the scene an erie look. It's incredible how various shades of grey, the only colours visible here, can look so beautiful.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald Claus and me.
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Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald House on the water's edge, snow, trees shrouded in mist - beautiful. Look at the water marks on the boat shed indicating where the water comes to during the summer months. In winter, water is released to generate hydro-elecricity.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald Walchensee is nearly frozen in parts.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald
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 Monday 2009-03-30    On the B11 to Mittenwald We stop in Walchensee village.
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Sunday 20 June, 2010 It was not so inviting last year in late winter though. Footnote: for dinner tonight we went to McDonald's in Bad Tölz and got a big surprise: the toilets were spotless, the floors were clean, paper towel was available and there were even candles on the spotlessly clean sinks. However, for the money we could have had a proper meal in a pub. Next stop: The bad news
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald We drive to Mittenwald and park in the railway parking lot.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald The train station.
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 Sunday 20 June, 2010 . . . last year when we were here in late winter.
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Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald We came here today for two reasons: to see the Violin Museum and to ride the cable car to the top of the Austrian Alps. Mittenwald is world famous for the making and manufacture of violins, violas and cellos.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald The village has the colourful Lüftlmalerei (frescoes) common through Upper Bavaria and Tyrol.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald We stop for a round of macchiattos in this Italian restaurant. It even had a picture of Valentino Rossi on the wall.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald We did not take the cable car ride for a couple of reasons: The cost was €24 each (nearly $100 of our money) and there was too much mist around to be sure of seeing the views.
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Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald As for the Violin Museum, all Museums are closed on Mondays in Germany. It didn't matter because the town was fascinating to wander through. German villages are so different to Australian and US small towns but much the better for it.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald The most significant landmark in the village is the pink colored Roman Catholic church of Saints Peter and Paul. The statue in front is of Mathias Kloz who established Mittenwald's violin-making craft in 1715. The museum is down the small alley to the right.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald The five of us went into this restaurant for lunch. We and the Percies ordered soup because we weren't all that hungry while Claus ordered a full meal. We finished our soups but Claus ate very, very slowly. It turned out that he was going slow waiting for our main meals to come out not knowing that we hadn't ordered main meals. For Claus lunch is the main meal of the day whereas for us lunch is more of a snack. This was a fascinating look at two different cultures and a lesson in how easy it is to misunderstand each other.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald The tower of the Roman Catholic church of Saints Peter and Paul is visible in the background. The building to the left, with the dog waiting patiently, is highly decorated.
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Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald We're in another Bahnhofstraße - Railway street.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald The clouds lifted for a few brief moments. The ride to the top would have been quite spectacular.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Mittenwald As our two main reasons for coming here were at a dead-end, we decided to drive 19 km to the town of Garmish-Partenkirchen and then go a little further south to the gorge and the Eibsee.
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Monday 2009-03-30    Garmish Partenkirchen The first thing we discover is the ski slopes for the 1936 Winter Olympics. Australia competed but did not win a single medal. Norway won 16 medals and Germany 6.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Garmish Partenkirchen Claus talked with someone who told him that the gorge was closed because of snow and ice. So that put paid to that.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Garmish Partenkirchen The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games, were celebrated in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Germany also hosted the Summer Olympics the same year in Berlin.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    The river Isar We decide to travel back to Bad Tölz via a small private road that Claus knew about. The road was 13.5 kms from Wallgau to Vorderriß.
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Monday 2009-03-30    The river Isar
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 Monday 2009-03-30    The river Isar
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 Monday 2009-03-30    The river Isar
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 Monday 2009-03-30    The bridge at Vorderriß
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Monday 2009-03-30    The bridge at Vorderriß
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Vorderriß We're only 33 km from Bad Tölz. We follow the southern side of the Isar.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Sylvensteinsee The Isar opens up into the Sylvensteinsee.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Sylvensteinsee
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Monday 2009-03-30    Sylvensteinsee Sylvensteinsee is frozen in parts.
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 Monday 2009-03-30    Sylvensteinsee Behind the dam wall is mostly frozen except for a small channel near the edge.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    A8 Autobahn going to Ulm Today we followed Claus to his home city of ULM situated just over the Bavarian border in Baden-Württemberg state.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm Much of Ulm was bombed during WWII and reconstructed like this mall area in the centre of the city.
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Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm Ulm is primarily known for the tallest church in the world, the Gothic Ulmer Münster and as the birthplace of Albert Einstein. The concrete monstrosity at the right clashes badly with the church and is the information centre.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm An air raid hit Ulm on December 17, 1944, which destroyed most of the town west of the church to the train station and north of the church to the outskirts. The church itself was barely damaged. However, almost all the other buildings of the town square (Münsterplatz) were severely hit and some 80% of the medieval centre of Ulm was destroyed.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm The Ulmer Münster is a Lutheran church, has a steeple measuring 161.53 m and contains 768 steps. The church is not a cathedral in the ecclesiastical sense, as it has never been the seat of a bishopry.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm Part of the rebuilt centre of Ulm.
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Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm It was cold again today.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm I was gratified to see some graffiti - another sign of normaility. A kangaroo adorns the sign on the right.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm We wander into the older part of Ulm. The buildings are distinctively different to those we saw in Bavaria yesterday.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The guest house of the wild man.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Some parts are original but most has been rebuilt.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Timber framing (Fachwerk in German - requires careful pronunciation), or half-timbering, is the method of creating framed structures of heavy timber jointed together with pegged mortise and tenon joints. This construction style is very common in this part of the city.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Before we came to Germany, Claus spoke about taking us to his favourite restaurant in Ulm, the Zunfthaus der Schiffleute, the Seafarer's house. Even though the floors were crooked, it was perfectly normal inside.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm These buildings are opposite the restaurant and appear to be of recent construction.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Inside the restaurant is magical, with thick wooden beams, subdued lighting and sublime decor and fittings. In here they pay tribute to the Tailor of Ulm.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Claus relates the story. Albrecht Berblinger, the 'Tailor of Ulm' constructed a glider in 1810/11. On 31 May, 1811 he attempted to fly from the walls of the Eagle's Bastion (Adlerbastei) over the river Danube. The King of Württemberg was present that day but Berblinger failed in his attempt and plunged into the river.
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Notice the little badge Bonnie is wearing? Claus made one for each of us and it's a koala in the middle of a map of Australia with our name at the bottom.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Our meal was Swabian. Swabia is both a historic and linguistic region in Germany. Swabia consists of much of the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg as well as the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The Danua (or Danube) into which the Tailor of Ulm sank.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Parts of the old city wall survive.
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The wall is a mixture of ancient and modern.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The old building is named the Metzger's (Butcher's) tower and it dates from the 14th Centrury. It is 36m high.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Looking up through the Metzgerterm to the Rathaus.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm These buildings look to be a mixture of somewhat old and somewhat new.
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The area we're wandering through is the old Fischerviertel (fishermen's quarter) on the River Blau, with half-timbered houses, cobblestone streets, and picturesque footbridges.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The Rathaus was built in 1370 and features some brilliantly-coloured murals dating from the mid-16th century. Around the corner, on the gable, is an astronomical clock dating from 1520. The building was restored after serious damage in 1944.
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The Rathaus with the münster in the background. To the left is the corner of the Ulm Public Library which is pyramidal in shape and made of glass.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm Probably the most interesting building in Ulm, the crooked house.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm The Schiefes Haus (crooked house) is a 16th-century house that is now used as a hotel.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm You gotta love it!
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31     Ulm
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Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm I can dream can't I?
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm
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Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Ulm There has to some advantages to owning a car like this that has a motor bike engine, no space and costs the same as a normal car. Maybe if there was one for each foot?
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Langenau-Albeck Claus invited us to his home and showed us his fleet of aeroplanes. Ulm is a short distance away and that is where Claus spent the last decades of his working life.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Langenau-Albeck Claus has a eye for design that no other builder can match.
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Tuesday 2009-03-31    Langenau-Albeck Claus poses in his backyard. Claus is one of my very favourite people.
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Langenau-Albeck
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 Tuesday 2009-03-31    Langenau-Albeck This was our last day with Claus. His parting words were that he didn't trust Hermione, our GPS navigator. She got us out of his estate with perfect ease and when we got to the main road, told us to turn left instead of right.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Sylvensteinsee
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     Sylvensteinsee
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 Wednesday 2009-04&-01     On Hwy 181 between the Alps on our way to Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    On Hwy 181 between the Alps on our way to Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Achensee
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    on Hwy 181 driving past Achensee
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    on Hwy 181 driving past Achensee
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    on Hwy 181 driving past Achensee
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    on Hwy 181 driving past Achensee
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     on Hwy 181 driving past Achensee
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Pertisau This little village has ski lifts.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     on the A12 Autobahn in Austria We got our money out ready to pay the toll but there was no toll booth. Apparently, you're supposed to stop somewhere and buy a ticket.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     on the A12 Autobahn in Austria We took the first Innsbruck exit and drove to the Hauptbahnhof where we parked the car.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     Innsbruck Austria In 1938 Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. Between 1943 and April 1945, Innsbruck experienced 21 bomb attacks and suffered heavy damage.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Innsbruck Austria Superb public transport is available. The Triumphal Arch is behind the tram.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Maria-Theresien Straße, Innsbruck Austria The Triumphal Arch was erected in 1765 on the betrothal of Emperor Leopold II of Tuscany to Maria Ludovica of Spain.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Maria-Theresien Straße, Innsbruck Austria
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria I'm damned if I know how they stand so still for so long without the need to scratch.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria Herzog Friedrich Straße is the main street of the Altstadt district.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria Frey Wille jewellery is exquisite and expensive - it's among Jenni's favourites.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria The city tower provides 360º views of Innsbruck and the mountains that surround the city.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria Jenni and Bonnie spent considerable time in this Swarovski outlet. There is also a Swarovski Crystal Worlds at the eastern end of the city where you can "Immerse yourself in a glittering cosmos of crystalline dreams."
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria The Helblinhaus is named after Sebastian Helbling or Hölbling who owned it from 1800-1827.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria In about 1730 the the facade was decorated with late baroque stuccos by artists of the Weßobrunn School. It is now a residential and commercial building.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria We had lunch here and it was the first and only inedible meal I've had in Europe - a goulash soup. I bought a schnitzel sandwich and brought it back to the table.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Herzog Friedrich Straße Innsbruck Austria Herzog is a German title of nobility, the equivalent of Duke in English. Frederick IV was the Habsburg duke of Further Austria from 1402 and the Count of Tyrol from 1406. He was also known as Frederick of the Empty Pockets.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Hoffgaße Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria The City Tower was built between 1442 and 1450 and has a 16th century bulbous cupola. In former times the tower housed a prison cell. We climb the 148 steps to the viewing platform and get some magnificent views of the city.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria St James' Cathedral was rebuilt between 1717 and 1724 on the site of an earlier Gothic church. It is roofed with domes and has a lavish baroque interior. The most recent renovation works date from 1992 and 1993.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria Patscherkofel (with the building on its peak) is a mountain and ski area; elevation 7639 feet above sea level. During the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, the mountain was the venue of the men's downhill race.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria The Bergisel ski jump in the distance was built of concrete for the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. A new ramp was opened in 2003 as the old one no longer conformed to contemporary requirements.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria The Olympic Winter Games were held in Innsbruck twice, first in 1964 and again in 1976. The 1976 Winter Olympics were the last games held in the German-speaking Alps (Austria, Germany, or Switzerland).
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     City Tower Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    City Tower Innsbruck Austria
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    City Tower Innsbruck Austria The Golden Roof is a landmark in Innsbruck, built in 1500. It was decorated with 2657 fire-gilded copper tiles for Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. The reliefs on the balcony show coats of arms, symbols and other figures in his life
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Hofgaße Innsbruck Austria This is the SE corner of the Hofburg Palace
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Hofgaße Innsbruck Austria In the archway is a Cafe Sacher - from the company that gave us the famous instant mix cake, the Sacher Torte.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Rennweg Innsbruck Austria We go through the archway and head for the Hofgarten. The Hofburg Palace is on our left.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Rennweg Innsbruck Austria The congress was built in 1629-32 by Archduke Leopold V and was the first free-standing opera house north of the Alps. It was destroyed in WWII but its remains were used to create a modern Congress and Events Centre in 1973.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Hofgarten (Court Garden) Innsbruck Austria The Imperial Gardens were laid out in the 16th Century by Archduke Ferdinand II as one of the most important formal gardens north of the Alps. It was converted to a landscape park in the first half of the 19th Century.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    The Inn River Innsbruck The word bruck comes from the German word Brücke meaning "bridge" which leads to "the bridge over the Inn" or Innsbruck.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    The Inn River Innsbruck We cross the bridge at the northern side of the Hofgarten to the NW side of the city. This view of the Inn River looks to the SW.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    The Inn River Innsbruck We walk along Innalee back towards the old town.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     The Inn River Innsbruck This is the the back side of the Congress Centre.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     The Inn River Innsbruck St James' Cathedral comes into view.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    On the NW Bank of The Inn River Innsbruck Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170 - c. 1230) is the most celebrated of the Middle High German lyric poets
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Alte Innbrücke, Innsbruck We cross the Alte Innbrücke (Old Inn Bridge) and return to old town. Hafelelar peak in the Karwendel Mountains towers in the background.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Hafelekar Innsbruck Austria Stage 1 of getting to the top is via a funicular railway nearly 100 years old. Then a cablecar takes you up to Seegrube (the second stage), and another cablecar takes you to the Hafelelar, one of the highest points of the Nordkette Range (the southernmost ridge of the Karwendel Mountains).
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Hafelekar Innsbruck Austria Two hang gliders soar over the Nordkette Range. There is a building visible near the peak.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Old Town Innsbruck Austria We find ourselves back in old town again.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     Old Town Innsbruck Austria How lovely. How lucky are we?
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Old Town Innsbruck Austria
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Old Town Innsbruck Austria It was so warm, we had to take our jackets off. The coffee was great too.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Old Town Innsbruck Austria Looking up the street from where we're sitiing having coffee.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     Near the Hauptbahnhof Innsbruck Austria We go back to the train station to get our car and start the return journey. Not sure how they get in and out of this car though.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Hwy 107 heading north in Austria We get stuck behind a truck going up the hill doing 15 kmh. He didn't pull over.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Hwy 107 heading north in Austria We're still behind the bloody truck but a BMW did a dangerous overtake to get past us, and then another to get past the car and the truck.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Hwy 107 heading north in Austria We finally get around and we now have a clear road. This looks very much like a castle.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     Hwy 107 heading north in Austria Just as we dropped down into the Inn Valley to get to Innsbruck, now we climb back up out of it. We're still in Austria.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Hwy 107 heading north in Austria Scharnitz was the intermediate point that Jenni programmed into Hermione. From here we cross back into Germany and head for Mittenwald where we'd been with Claus just two days ago. These mountains are the source of the Isar River.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Heading north on the B17 We go through Mittenwald and come to Walchensee again.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Heading north on the B17 This time through the weather is perfect.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Heading north on the B17 It's so good, that motorcycles were out in their hundreds. Proper motorcycles too, not putt-putt scooters (he sneered).
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Heading north on the B17 Austria As you'd expect, the cops were out as well and we saw lots of cars and bikes pulled over for speeding. I obeyed the speed limits and that reduced my chances of getting caught. So far, nothing's turned up in the mail.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Walchensee on the B17 The snow has completely gone from two days ago. Also, now we can see how low the water level is.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Walchensee on the B17 The same spot two days ago.
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Wednesday 2009-04-01     Walchensee on the B17 The Gasthof has lots of customers compared with . . .
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Walchensee on the B17 . . . two days ago.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Altes Zollhaus As this was our last night in Germany, we returned to our favourite restaurant for a farewell-to-Germany meal.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01     Altes Zollhaus
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Wednesday 2009-04-01    Gasthof Heissbauer Wackersberg
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Gasthof Heissbauer Wackersberg Now that I've had time to think about it and to let the emotions calm down, I enjoyed staying here more than any other place I've ever stayed. I can hardly wait to go back.
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 Wednesday 2009-04-01    Gasthof Heissbauer Wackersberg Maybe next time We'll come in summer.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Bad Tölz We've checked out from Gastof Heissbauer; cost only €215 each couple for five days. It's only 450km to Strasbourg, France so we decide to do a quick visit to Bad Tölz.
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Thursday 2009-04-02     Bad Tölz
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Bad Tölz
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Bad Tölz This lovely lady kindly posed for Jenni.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02    Kempten The route Hermione planned for us was via the A8 Autobahn to Stuttgart. We wanted to come in from the south through the Black forest so we turned on Hermione's Avoid main roads setting. We got to Kempten via the B roads, mainly the B12 that we'd used on the first day.
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Thursday 2009-04-02    Kempten For some reason we hadn't yet worked out, it took nearly three hours to do the 121 kms from Bad Tölz and we expected to be much closer to the Black Forest.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02    Kempten We were averaging much less than 60 kmh and were dismayed to learn that we still had over 400 kms to go; we wouldn't be arriving until late at night. It's nearly 1:00 pm so we stop for lunch in the museum on the next corner.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02    Black Forest We fought with Hermione the whole way and finished up using the road atlas that Jenni had fortuitously bought in Bad Tölz. We finally got to the Black Forest very late in the day- just after 6 pm in fact.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02    Black Forest The Black Forest is known for its clock making and it was very interesting. But still the time was running away.
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Thursday 2009-04-02    Black Forest The reason for our slow travel became clear at last. Wherever we went on the B Roads, we followed trucks and trucks have a 60 kmh limit on 100 kmh roads. So we followed these two for about 20-30 minutes.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02    Black Forest It was clear that taking the B Roads was an awful mistake. Instead of meeting Michele in Strasbourg in the early afternoon, Hermione was now projecting a 10 pm arrival time. However, the scenery was great and we forgot about the journey for a while.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02    Black Forest In this part of Bavaria, the houses were different yet again
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Black Forest The road eventually stopped going downhill and we ran beside a river for a while.
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Thursday 2009-04-02     Black Forest Timber is another industry found in the Black Forest.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Black Forest The long shadows show how late in the day it had become.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Black Forest Germany, Europe, still has a right-of-way rule. The yellow diamond means that this is a priority road.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Black Forest The scenery through the Black Forest is quite spectacular and we all wished that we weren't so far behind schedule. Our moving average was still less than 60 kmh and our overall average was just over 40 kmh.
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Thursday 2009-04-02     Black Forest However, as we get to the northern end of the Black Forest, we see a sign that says Strasbourg 35 kms. This is good news so we take the road and pull over to try to work out what's going on.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Bridge over the Rhine Dummies. We had Hermione set to avoid main roads but this included B roads as well. As soon as we gave her the all clear, our ETA was now 7:45; not good but not disastrous either. We happily cross the Rhine into France as the day draws to an end.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     Bridge over the Rhine From here Hermione accurately directs us through the French Autoroute system to Michele's village of Romansviller, to the west of Strasbourg.
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 Thursday 2009-04-02     On the Autoroute system Hermione even pointed out when we were going into areas where "safety cameras" were known to operate. She steered us through the very complex freeway system around Strasbourg and into the countryside again. All was forgiven.
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Thursday 2009-04-02     France Strasbourg was host to NATO's 60th anniversary which was to be attended by all NATO heads of government, including President Obama. This meant that security during our visit was extremely tight and there were even helicopters on patrol. Although Police stopped us at the border, they waved us through. This story continues in the France folder.
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