Bavaria and Salzburg (Flooding and Sun)

We drove to Bamburg in the pouring rain and on arrival it took some mustering of courage and some lunch to get us out into the rain as we had about a 2km walk to the centre city.  In the end we were pleased we made the effort Bamburg was indeed a very pretty city with lots of interesting things to see and for some of the time the rain even let up.

 Bamburg

Rain pretty much all through the night and the next day! We went to the Nazi Rally Grounds in Nuremburg, where they have a museum.  They were trying to build a very grand and elaborate complex for the sole purpose of holding their annual or biannual conference.  We tried to walk around a bit (the whole site is 11km2) but were rather driven back but the cold and rain.  This evening I had a currywurst which is a German sausage with hot tomato sauce and curry powder.

More rain followed as we moved on to Regensburg, we arrived to find significant activity to fight the flooding, which by now was getting fairly significant.  Again a fairly attractive town which I'm sure shows itself off better on a nice day, but we were rather driven around by the rain.  The old town is a world heritage site and we visited the UNESCO centre for this.  Our second stop of the day was the site of the Dachau Concentration Camp, which was the first one and was used as a model for others.  It was Monday and the museum was closed and as we arrived at 5pm the visitor centre also closed, but we read the panels and walked around.  Just can't describe how cold and wet it was though especially for summer.

Regensburg

The water boiler in the van has been playing up pretty much since we got the van and recently it has been worse which isn't helpful because we need it.  So I went to one place and they were too busy and they mentioned that Truma (the manufacturer) were just outside Munich and another said because Truma was near no-one came to them so they don't have parts.  So we drove the nearly 60kms and the Truma people found that we had a faulty electrical board which meant the ignition for the gas wasn't going.  So we are all patched up again and on our way to Salzburg.

The sun finally arrived, but the best of the day, after a promising start, was ruined in a traffic jam on the autobhan. It took us 2.5 hours to go a 25min drive.  We couldn't get off because it took 2 hours to get to the exit.  We were pleased for the change in weather and the area was nice but we moved on to Salzburg, which we have discovered has very expensive parking and not that much of it (if your a high-sided vehicle), they tend to have parking buildings.  This aside during another superb day of sun we visited the Red Bull Hanger at Salzburg Airport and then we went into town so Nicky could visit The Sound of Music sites.

Traffic Jam

Red Bull Hanger

We did a second day in Salzburg before heading out on the Deutsche Alpenstrasse, a scenic route through the Bavaria Alps.  The scenery has been great and the weather very good until about 10 mins ago when a thunder storm came in with the biggest heaviest hail I've ever seen.  We are currently stopped at the base of Germanys highest peak the Zugspitze nearly 3000m.  We will continue on this Alpenstrasse route for a few more days, coming up is Neuschwanstein Castle (Disney Castle).

Czech Republic

So were in Saxon Switzerland and then we wandered our way North back toward the motorway and found a caravan sales and accessories store in a tiny village and stocked up on toilet chemicals. Since it was the weekend and that meant i couldn't get an oil change in Poland until Monday we decided to go back into Dresden (we initially weren't going to but we ended up only 40mins away again).  So we went to a Deutsche Democratic Republic museum, unfortunately there was no English so we didn't understand but there was lots to look at so took us 2 hours, would have been an all day job if there was English.  This experience though has made us vow to never pay for something if there is no English because we both felt thoroughly unsatisfied.  Then we went into Dresden centre and made a quick walking circuit around some of the main sites (mainly grand Baroque buildings). Mind they have been rebuilt as they were destroyed in the war.

Went to Luban a town of 25,000 in Poland, with a view to checking out to options for getting work done on the van.  We had seen that the town centre was supposed to have a free wifi zone but despite the signage and antenna looking things no joy (very frustrated) also tourist info was closed, so we did a bit of shopping and looked at a few mechanics from the outside.  Very wide range from just a sign on the garage of a private house to fully equipped 3 bay workshop.  So in the morning right on opening we visited the big place and fortunately the first  guy I saw was the only guy in the whole place to speak any English.  Luban as a place was thoroughly uninspiring.  So by this stage I had decided to just try an oil and filter change, which was desperately required, to test the waters with the Polish before thinking about anything more significant.  It was an interesting experience, there must have been about 4 guys in the bay (2 that knew what they were doing and 2 that seemed perhaps minimally trained) with nothing but my oil change to do, it still took as long as 1 person.  I was able to watch everything that happened which was good for my piece of mine and as the oil filler cap can be a bit tricky I actually had to get it off for them. Anyway it was a success in that it was much cheaper than England. Oil done we made for the Czech border immediately.  On the way through Czech Republic towards Prague we decided to stop at a random tourist location on the satnav (GPS) turned out to be super cool http://www.mesto-frydlant.cz/dr-en/1048-zakupy-chateau.html since there was no English we had no idea what was going on but I saw open gates and made Nicky follow me in.  It looked like the building was closed for good but turns out if it was open (which it is the other 6 days a week) we could have seen something really special.  As it was we were still very happy as you can stroll the gardens and grounds for free and in the moat there was an enclosure with a Bear in it, really unexpected. It was rather sad though as it paced rather repetitively which made us concerned for it's psychological state.

The roads in Poland were the strangest thing, they seem to be getting a lot of new seal done recently. In some places you have a really good road but a strangely low speed limit which the locals seem to ignore. Unfortunately in between these good areas you have a lot of roads that are just a mass of patch ups it looks like they haven't been resealed in decades. Not back roads these are the main roads from town to town, they are on my large scale Europe touring atlas, there isn't another way to go.  Also I have seen a lot of aggressive driving throughout Ireland and Europe but in Poland I nearly saw a head on crash as a car just completed a pass on a blind corner before the car that had just passed me arrived, they were both travelling fast and would have been nasty, Nicky and I were both thankful nothing came of it.

We had a very successful day in Prague which must be one of the most beautiful and clean cities in a Europe.  I hope we haven't peaked but that will be a highlight.  We travelled in and out 17 mins on the tram 1 euro each way per person and despite going within 30 mins of peak hour each time there was plenty of room.  It was a lot like Amsterdam, schlepping around looking at what there is to see but for 8 hours instead of 2. The Tram dropped us right outside a grand beautiful theatre building, which turned out to actually be the second most grand and beautiful theatre in Prague (get where this is going).  We then headed for our first destination Prague Castle and stumbled across Wallstein Palace and Gardens the home of the Czech Senate. This is something I knew but had forgotten and was found by our new strategy of if you see an open door or gate you have to go and find out what is on the other side.  Then we completed our journey to the Castle which was pretty cool, we saw their guard changing ceremony they do each hour.  It was pretty simple, the best bit was that since it was bright out the new guards came out in regulation sunglasses which weren't dissimilar to aviators.

Wallstein Palace

Prague Castle Guards

This was followed by much more walking in the Mala Strana (embassy district), the USA had a bunch of guards and cars were being inspected down the street.  Then across Charles Bridge and on to the Nove Mesto (New Town).  We sort of put the map away and walked by instinct generally in the New Town which was nice.  We checked out a couple of bookshops that included English language travel but didn't find anything we really wanted.
Then off the the Old town and the town square, again all very beautiful but we were getting weary.  Our next stop was the convent of St Agnes which is now a medieval art gallery.  For a change Nicky was much slower than me reading everything  being a right art geek. Finished off be seeing the Old-New Synagogue, which we initially walked right by and then had to double back.
Interesting Czech factoid, Beer is much cheaper than soft drink here. you can get 0.5L beer for just over 1 EURO and 0.25L coke 1.5 EURO so 3 times more.  Unfortunately Czech have a 0 limit for drink driving which makes it impossible to indulge really.

Following on the Beer theme our next destination we Plzen the home of Pilsner.  The main thing to do here is go to a Brewery Museum and visit the current brewery of Pilsner Urquell.  In maybe the 16th Century I think all the householders in Plzen (within the city walls) were granted the right to brew beer, a special privilege usually. This resulted in 290 Brewhouses, over time the beers produced in Plzen reduced in quality as raw material quality and skill diminished such that in the 19th Century the city officials declared a large amount unfit for consumption.  This caused a large number of the brewing families to club together to create essentially a brewing company and between about 1842 and 1912 4 such companies were created.  After 1912 they gradually merged until there was only one company left.
At the brewery we went on a tour and saw the bottling machines, the raw ingredients, the brewhouse both old and new, saw a video and visited the old cellars (9kms of tunnels) where they still ferment a small amount in the traditional way.  Here we got to try some unpasteurised unfiltered beer.

From Plzen we have headed North West further into West Bohemia, in Plzen we bought a map which has significant buildings of West Bohemia on it, so we are trying to see lots of them.  Unfortunately the weather has really turned again and it has been cold and rainy (when will i be ever able to pack away my jacket!!!).  The new day dawned to even heavier persistent rain than yesterday :-(! We are just into Germany now in Bavaria, we were following a scenic route but since visibility has been so poor that was a bit useless.  Quick walk around a Bischofsgrun and then a stop at the Bayreuth Theatre and on to Bamburg (apparently the jewel of Franconia).

Various West Bohemia Sites

The race to Marks wedding and recent goings on.

In Derry we visited the Free Derry Museum and the Bloody Sunday Memorial.  Then in the afternoon we visited the Ulster American Folk Park which is an open air museum with many relocated buildings from the 19th Century from both Ireland and America to show the lives of people during the time.  They also have a reasonable area of information panels and displays which unfortunately we run out of time to get around.

The next morning we visited Glencarr waterfall and lake and then had a quick look at Sligo Abbey and town as it was reputed to have historic looking shop fronts.  We had a wander around Tuam and I had my mandatory pint of Guinness in Ireland at the Thatch Bar, one of the oldest pubs in Ireland.

The variable weather continued when we visited Clonmacnoise, an ancient Christian religious centre in the heart of Ireland on the River Shannon.  One minute we would be in the sun the next a downpour.  I have some film of one such downpour i'll try and get on my youtube.  Anyway the main attraction of Clonmacnoise were the 9th Century stone high crosses, and pretty flash they were too although quite worn.  3 are now indoors for protection.

Then the little marathon runner ran the Kildare Marathon, again the weather was pretty poor, (I hid out in the van) 4.40 was her time another great effort. We had a hotel booked in Cork for after the marathon, so we had a bit of driving to do, got a couple of photos of the Rock of Cashel on the way.
You may remember that our fridge hasn't been working on the Gas since we set off, so we finally got a chance to organise to see someone about it.  We had organised to see a guy John Cronin way down in the South West and it was with some trepidation that we set off to see him.  He turned out to be a very nice guy and somewhat of the local mechanical expert.  It turned out to be simply a blockage in the gas jet thing, so we were quickly sorted, but not without looking at a few panels he had that might have been of use for the van.
After leaving John we made an unfortunately hasty trip around an area called the Ring of Kerry right out in the South West, then start the long drive across the South to get to our Ferry right in the South East corner.  Nicky had a drive, because she is legal on her NZ licence in Europe and i felt on the quiet uncomplicated and left hand drive roads it would be good start for her.  It was a bit of a stressful experience for me being in the passenger seat for the first time, but Nicky did well and managed to relieve me for about 45 minutes.
Last stop before the Ferry was Waterford where we checked out the amazing Waterford Crystal store, one piece was retailing for Euro 40,000.  We got a photo taken with the Irish open Golf trophy which they made.  We also visited the Waterford Medieval Museum and then went to get the ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg.

The ferry ride was 18.25 hours and the sea got a little rough as we were due to sleep and we both felt quite unwell.  However by the morning the sea we flatter again and we felt much better.
So now it was time to drive on the Right side of the road, Nicky has been helping me a lot to make sure we stay in the right place on the road, so only managed one mistake so far, but I blame the sat nav for telling me to keep left.

Our only stop for the day was Bayeux to see the Bayeux Tapestry which was really cool and we visited their Cathedral.  Also really cliché was that we kept seeing locals carrying around a baguette or two.  We finally managed to get laundry done here which was great.

We then visited several WWI memorials and cemeteries in the Somme and Ypres areas. We need to get to Amsterdam so have been trying to drive through Belgium today but the roads are busy and many in poor condition. We hit a particularly large jam so have stopped to eat and hope the roads will clear.  After an hour we returned and the road hadn't cleared so more time in the traffic, we finally got free and there was no sign of a cause in the end.

Our first stop in Holland was Kinderwijk which is a world heritage site as it shows the old way of de-watering with windmills, there is a total of 19 the area.  You can pay to go in one and go in the visitor centre.  Unfortunately as I have already seen wind and water mills in the UK the bit we paid for was somewhat of a let down (no interpretation, no attendant), i have paid a lot less and got a lot more in the past.  In the evening we found a supermarket and stocked up, we didn't know at the time but turned out we were in the Dutch equivalent of Marks and Spencers (oops).

Then it was a short drive in to Amsterdam where we used the park and ride (TRAM) which was not far out.  We spent about 2 hours schlepping around just having a look, before heading over to Java Island for the Back in the House music festival, where we saw Safri Duo, DJ Sash, Darude and a couple of others.  We were very tired when we got back to the van a big day on our feet.

Now we had to make the big drive across to Dresden for my brother Marks' wedding.  The first day we drove many hours on the autobahns with only a short stop at Magdeburg.  It was a public holiday so everything was closed except street stalls for special celebrations with music.
As we had made it most of the way the first day we arrived early in Moritzberg (just outside Dresden) where the wedding was being held the next day.  We were staying at the Reception venue Bad Sonnenland.  It was a lovely day and Nicky and I enjoyed sitting out and feeling hot for the first time in 9 months and the second time in 2 years.  We drove into the heart of Dresden (right in front of the Frauenkirche) to meet Mark and his good friend from NZ Gabrielle whom we know from our time in Timaru.  We had dinner in an Australian themed restaurant called Ayers Rock.
Unfortunately the weather turned overnight and the day of the wedding was cloudy and it built into rain which during the ceremony at noon was quite heavy at times.  Fortunately the ceremony was indoors in the Rathaus (Town Hall).  There was around 30 family and friends and a translator so those of us needing English could understand.  The reception was at Sola Lodge in the grounds of Bad Sonnenland.  We had some German cakes/slices which were very nice.  They did a couple of traditional German things, for reasons unknown they cut a log of wood together.  This was fraught with danger as the log stand moved and the blade flexed and jarred worryingly   However the task was completed with the log the only casualty.  The cake cutting differed in that the couple cut slices up for everyone rather than a ceremonial cut.  The meal was very tasty I wish I could have eaten more, it was our first Bratwurst.  They had food in German, Mediterranean, Jamaican styles.  It was very nice to be there with Mark and Dana as they got married.

We took more time to have a walk around the Moritzberg castle as the weather had improved again the next day.  The area known as Saxon Switzerland was our next stop, we had a wander around Konigstein where they have a marker to show the height of floods as they are on the Elbe River which is huge.  In 2002 they had one of the biggest in recorded history and they had pictures around.  You could still see signs of the effects in some buildings.  Some the water was more the 1 story high.  The next day we checked out a couple for towns in the area and headed North out of Saxon Switzerland and back towards the Motorway.  I must say the scenery has been very impressive I hope Switzerland matches up.

Well good to get this out to you all, internet access has been very minimal.  Thanks Everyone

Ireland

So we crammed our van full of all our things and saw to final jobs like, going to DVLA at Borehamwood to pay for tax disc, filling tyres to fully loaded pressure, and filling the van with water.

Our first stop was a filming of the tv show QI in London.  We had planned to go to Virginia Water and catch the train to Waterloo however we couldn't get a park anywhere (station or town) so we went to Egham, again no parks at the station but we found one on the street.  We queued for 1.75 hrs to get in.  It was very enjoyable if a little hot.  Steven Fry brought in the wrong cue cards which was funny and held up things for a bit.  The shows theme was 'the silent K'.

After the show we made a start on the drive to the ferry terminal at Pembroke.  We had an unusual annoying encounter when I tried to turn in the street in Egham.  The street was narrow so I thought I would nose into a nearby driveway to get round.  No sooner had I crossed the threshold than a middleaged white lady came flying out the door yelling 'what the hell do you think your doing on my driveway'.  You'd think i'd just shat on her doorstep.  This left me trying to turn without the aid of the space of her drive.  All the time being stared down by the the housewife from hell and despite Nicky giving directions I couldn't get turned and had to admit defeat.  It is an interesting illustration of the psyche of Londoners.

The next day we made it to our ferry to Ireland, all went smoothly and the sea was very flat.  We made some progress towards Dublin that evening and we finished off the drive into Dublin the next morning and managed to find a good free park.  Walked alongside the River Liffey which unfortunately is a blight on the city. It is very messy lots of rubbish, the water ran clear but this only served to display that the riverbed was full trash and debris.  The central city was vibrant and bustling and we visited the National Museum, the highlight being the bronze age gold artefacts in particular the collars.  After closing we watched a bit of cricket at Trinity College Dublin before going to our prebooked Food, Folklore and Fairies evening.  This was enjoyable, the food was basic but done okay and the stories and music generally held your attention.  We were with some Lithuanians and Americans, got some good tips about Lithuania.

Gold Collars in National Museum

Next morning we visited Knowth and Newgrange (Neolithic passage tombs the biggest remaining in Ireland), they were very impressive and interesting structures. You get a brief guided tour at each one and there is an exhibition, well worth it and something not seen in the UK.  After this we headed to Vantastival, unfortunately the weather had turned and this day was a little unpleasant and we didn't get around as much as we would have liked but we did enjoy a bit of music.  Day 2 at the festival went smoothly, after some initial trouble with the boiler Nicky and I managed to get the water heated and showered so it was good to get that sorted.  Unfortunately our fridge has not been working, so we'll have to get that checked out ASAP.

Passage tombs at Knowth

 Passage tomb at Newgrange

We were a little tired on Day 3 so didn't see quite as much music but we did see Altan whom sung all their songs in Gaelic.  We have both enjoyed our time at the festival.  However although everyone we've dealt with has been thoroughly pleasant the festival lead us to some concerning conclusions.  1. The Irish national pastimes appear to be drinking and smoking, 2. Natural selection may be acting on the Irish to make one hand better for holding a  drink and the other a cigarette, 3. There seems to be a distinct lack of physical athleticism and they may be held back by the fact most sports can't be undertaken while holding a drink and cigarette.

After the festival we visited the towns of Monaghan and Armagh, then the 3rd largest lake in Europe Lough Neagh.  Of particular note in Monaghan werethe towns info boards and community spaces had a recent revamp and presented a good impression.  However as it was Bank Holiday most things were closed.  Armagh has a very grand Roman Catholic Cathedral completed in 1904 and a much older church or Ireland cathedral located on the site were St Patrick is suppose to have had a church built in 445AD.

Roman Catholic

Church of Ireland

Made a brief stop in Antrim on our way to Belfast where after a tour of the town hall it was all things Titanic. A walking tour and the new titanic exhibition.  I highly recommend the walking tour and the exhibition is okay (very new hi-tech but lacking in actual artefacts relating to white star line or titanic).  While doing the walking tour we also saw Titanic Studios where they film Game of Thrones (GofT) YAY. Anyway this inspired visits to a few set locations throughout County Antrim the next day.

Dry Dock used by Titanic

So after Belfast we had the first experience of filling the new LPG tank, all went well.  Then we used our first aire de service for disposing of toilet waste and power connection.  It appears Northern Ireland is the one place in the British Isles to embrace this concept.

We drove a route called the Causeway Coastal Route. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious.

• We tried to see Glenarm (one of the County Antrim Glens) but we ended up in the clouds and couldn't see anything until we got back to the coast.  
• We went to Cushendun where there were coastal caves that they used in GofT (YAY, the scene when Melisandre gives birth to the shadow baby).  
  
• We went to Carrick-a-rede to see a rope bridge out to an island previously used by fisherman.  It has been rebuilt and modified to include metal cables but the impression is maintained.  Unfortunately the winds were too high and you couldn't go on the bridge. 
  
• We popped across to the next bay which has Ballintoy Harbour which is used as the harbour of Lordsport (Iron Islands) on GofT.  
• We also poked our heads into White Park Bay before heading inland to see a place called the Dark Hedges, this was used in GofT as the setting for when Arya Stark was fleeing Kings Landing. 
  
• Then the Giants Causeway, a formation of basalt in vertical hexagonal blocks, pretty funky and a world heritage site since 1986.
  
• Then we visited Downhill beach which they used in GofT for the scene where the effigies of the seven were burnt.
  

 That has us all up to date we'll be visiting Derry and the Ulster-American Folk Park tomorrow weather permitting.