Thursday, 28 June 2012
28th June 2012
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
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Dooms Day
Monday 18 June and we are
travelling to Salzburg. The quickest way to Salzburg from Innsbruck is to cut
through Germany. We had a small panic because we kept seeing signs to get a vignette
for the motorways, which we thought meant the German motorways, so we stopped
at a big service station that was advertising them for sale. We then realised
that it was the same vignette that we had already bought and that you don’t
need them in Germany, they just fleece you at the toll booth instead. Arrived
at Camping Sam in Salzburg quite late in the afternoon, as we had had to sit in
a traffic jam for over an hour. First thing we did was book the Sound of Music
Tour for the next day. Kev had not seen the film the whole way through so we
borrowed a copy from the site owner to watch in the evening. After watching all
the extras Kev is now an expert on the Family Von Trapp. I’m going to put him
forward for Mastermind.
Tuesday we had a really good day,
in the morning we did the Sound of Music Tour and in the afternoon we went down
a salt mine.
Wednesday started out good, the
sun was shining and all was well with the world. I spotted a black squirrel
looking so cute and called Kev over to have a look, you can hear the soothing
music playing as we watched the little squirrel nibbling his nuts when out of
nowhere came a big ginger cat which killed the squirrel. That was the start of
the day of doom when I nearly died, that may be a slight exaggeration. Anyhoo
off we went for a nice cycle into Salzburg, only 4k along a lovely riverside
cycle path. Went to more Sound of Music sights and a wander round the old town
then onto the highlight of the day the Augustiner Bier gardens. The beer was
great and the selection of food available was from whole trout to pork hocks, rotisserie
chickens, prawns in batter 40 different salad accompaniments, various sausages
and so it goes on. After our second beer the thunder started and then the
heavens opened. Salzburg had the worst rainfall in an hour since records began. Most of the cellars in Salzberg were flooded and water was coming back up the toilets. Funnily enough I had asked at reception where we should go should we get lost “no
problem there just follow the cycle path” I was told. We waited an hour at the
beer garden with no sign of the rain stopping so we decided we would just have
to get wet on the cycle home. Off we set laughing to start with at how wet we
were and how funny it was cycling through huge puddles of warm water. We got so
far on the cycle path and then we came to a barrier blocking the path but
because we didn’t know any other way to get back we thought it couldn’t be that
bad so we started along the path. Now I know you’re all saying “that was a
stupid thing to do when the barrier was down”. Well yes I do agree with you in
hind sight it was really really stupid. When I had cycled up to my waist in
water and then couldn’t peddle anymore, and also couldn’t see the cycle track,
I decided that we might be in serious danger of being washed away, so I quickly
turned my bike round shouting to Kev not to come any further. Yes notice I had
to go into the water first. As I got off my bike to turn it round I lost my
flip flop but managed to catch it as it came to the surface and floated by.
Still lashing rain, thunder and lightning we continued onto a road but had no
idea where we were or how to get back to the campsite. Now remember I did ask
in case we got lost how to get back. We stopped at a hotel and dripped puddles
all over the reception and a really nice carpet, there were 3 people telling us
different ways which was not very helpful. So we carried on, in the rain,
thunder and lightning until we came to a service station where again we dripped
puddles everywhere. Again their directions seemed to be useless to two people
on bicycles. We made a decision to leave the bikes at the garage and get a taxi
but a very nice lady gave us a lift back, also the nice man at the garage gave
me a dry t-shirt as I looked like I had just won the wet t-shirt competition.
And no it doesn’t end there!!!!! I had left a roof window open when we left in
the morning as the temperature was 32 degrees but that was the least of our
worries because when we got back to the campsite where we were parked was
flooded. It was about 18 inches deep and almost into Blossom. So we unplugged
the electricity cable in all that water and moved Blossom to higher ground. I
have a basin which I keep my plants in and it was floating about the pitch. We
then had to mop up all the water inside put the soaking carpets outside and
eventually have a cuppa and off to bed. That was some day.
TTFN
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