Thursday 21 June and we have
travelled to the end of the Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road) in Germany. We
are at the end because we are going from the end at Fussen in the south to the
start at Wurzburg in the north. We have stopped for the night at Hopfensee just
outside Fussen at an all singing all dancing campsite which cost 38€ a night.
This is the only campsite in the area and we had to use a washing machine for
the wet clothes and carpets etc.
Friday we visited the fairy tale castle of
Neuschwanstein and in true Griswald style the turrets are covered in
scaffolding so sorry no pictures of the beautiful castle. We took the tour of
the castle after walking a mile uphill to get there. The castle is actually
only around 140 years old and only four rooms were ever completed. The building work started in 1869 and King
Ludwig 11 moved into his completed rooms in 1884 and only lived in the castle
for 172 days when he was declared to be mad and sent to a mental hospital where
he died two days later. The building works stopped the day he died so the
castle was never completed. We stopped for the night at a stellplatz (freebie)
in Friedburg.
Saturday we headed for Munich and
on the way we went to Dachau Concentration Camp. Don’t know what to say here as
I still can’t get my head around it all. This was the first camp built and was
an SS training ground. The camp was built and in use from 1933 until 1945 and
there were 27 Britons held at the camp. In total the records show that more
than 200,000 people were held here but there were many more which were not
recorded and the total of deaths is unkown. We had an excellent guide who was born in the
town of Dachau and has met many camp survivors and was able to relay their
terrible experiences to us. The sheer horror of what went on here is felt
throughout the camp as you walk amongst the buildings and the crematoriums. The
purpose built killing place is hard to describe and is hard to believe that
somebody thought up all these punishments and means of killing people. I am
still quite upset writing this and still can’t believe what I had seen. We carried on to Munich city to
the campsite and I managed to programme the sat nav twice to the wrong place
but got it right the third time. Couldn’t think straight.
Sunday we headed for the city.
When we arrived at the centre there was a fun run on so a lot of the streets
were closed off. We watched the Glockenspiel clock strike at 12 noon on the
carillion tower in Marionplatz then we went to a Greek/Austrian festival and
then passing a few more sights we ended up at the Hofbrauhaus beer hall where
pork knuckles and dumplings were ordered along with some black beer, yummy. More
sightseeing and on to the English Gardens. There is a river runs through the
gardens and as it passes through a bridge the speed of the water is so great
that there are people surfing on the wave caused by the turbulance. More beer
at the Chinesisscher Turm beer garden whilst listening to the brass band
playing, then the day is over all too quickly and we head back to the campsite.
Monday we stopped at a
stellplatz at Sulzemoos which was right next to a huge motor home dealership.
We spent the afternoon looking round brand new Concord Motorhomes, which cost
around 200,000 €. Pity we haven’t won the lottery. Tuesday we head off to
Donauworth and again stop on a stellplatz and have a wonder around the town.
This was described as having the most beautiful road along the
Romantischstrasse, still looking for it! Wednesday we have arrived in
Rothenburg ob der Tauber now this is a place worth visiting, it is really
pretty. The buildings here are so oldie worldy and the whole town is enclosed
within medieval walls and ramparts which you can still access. Today we have only gone 13km to Geslau to a
campsite to do the washing and have a proper shower and tomorrow we are going
back to Rothenburg to a folk and beer festival.
TTFN
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