Regensburg Flooding

The Romantic Road and Berlin

Hello Guys.  Right to carry on the story we joined a German tourist route called the Romantic Road (North through Bavaria).   We spent the next 3 days visiting various significant sights and towns in just the most sweltering and oppressive heat we have experienced in a very long time. First stop was Schongau the first of several beautiful towns with substantial medieval buildings and walls.  By mid afternoon we were desperate to cool down and drove to the nearest body of water on the map (a lake) and had a short swim (water was freezing).  Suitably refreshed we continued to Augsburg where we walked the inner city.  The heat in the evening was incredible and the next day dawned (in Donauworth) hot and sunny. We quickly walked around before it got too hot then got going to Nordlingen (we were almost using driving as a method to keep cool at this stage as stopping was too hot).  In Nordlingen you can walk on their town walls, we went 3/4 of the way around before venturing into the centre and going in the cathedral.  Medieval town number 3 was Dinkelsbuhl, although small there were many special buildings to see here so we got a pamphlet from the tourist office and did our best in the searing heat.  We had a beware the guide book moment, as it said one of Dinkelsbuhls main products was gingerbread, but when i asked at the tourist office they said no not really that is Nuremberg and we never saw any sign of gingerbread :-(.  Last stop for the day was medieval town 4 Rothenburg ob de tauber, where previously the towns had been quiet to deserted Rothenburg was bustling with tourists even after 7pm when we went in. We saw that they have a tour at 8pm each night in English (9.30pm in German) called the Night Watchmans tour for 7 Euro.  Well we thought we'd see what this was all about and it turned out so did everyone else as there were probably 120-140 people at the start.  It was an amazing sight and since you paid at the end (ostensibly because more people have joined by the end) we hung with it for a stop or two before heading back to the van.  It was quite a spectacle and we were not the only people commenting that they had never seen anything like it.

Augsburg

Dinkelsbuhl

Nordlingen

Rothenburg

The next day we drove into Wurzburg where we went into the Prince-Bishops Residenz built in the 18th Century.  The we walked the town and residenz grounds (free) first to avoid the worst of the heat and from seeing the outside guessed the entry price for inside and were pleasantly surprised when we found out it was half our guesses and this included a 45 minute guided tour.  We spent about 2 hours in total and it was an amazing place, a real credit to both the original artists and restorers in cases of WWII damage.  We were trying to get to Buchenwald Concentration Camp by Weimar in the afternoon but it was too far and the heat was very bad i had to have a siesta to keep driving.  Anyway we had to save it for the next day, good thing to as it took near on 6 hours all told and we didn't watch the 30min video. Just as we were getting near the end of the day we got caught in a terrible thunderstorm (you know the heat induced kind).  The rain was like a monsoon and there was hail like 3cm across we got stopped but I was a bit worried for the van and it turns out i was right the hail broke a hole in the plastic pop top.  The rain was so heavy that water was finding many new ways into the van so it was tea towels all over trying to keep it at bay.  The lightning was pretty scary and sometimes the thunder was very loud but by the time we went to sleep the worst seemed to have passed.  The next day dawned sunny but yay a comfortable pleasant temperature for our 6 hour visit to Buchenwald Concentration Camp.  We had to drive over 2 hours through mainly back roads to our next stop another Medieval town, whose counting, number 5 Quedlinburg which is reputed to have nearly 1,600 half timbered houses and it certainly seemed to have a lot everywhere you looked there was streets lined with them.  Many of them were so close to being knocked down by the communist regime, so it is lucky they are still there.  It has been a common theme that during the communist period little of no attention was paid to preservation of historical buildings and accurate reflection on the past was uncommon (everything was geared to glorify the communists and demonsise the West).  Luckily that all fell to bits and the reunification now seems to have had a very positive affect on all these areas (mainly through tourism investment). There was some music on in one of the towns squares, they were singing in English including Bruce Springsteen. The cathedral there is a world heritage site because of a collection of ancient religious artefacts known as 'the treasures'.  12 items were stolen by an American Lieutenant in WWII, 10 resurfaced when the family in Texas tried to sell them and the Germans had to pay 3 million Euros to get them back.

Wurzburg

Quedlinburg

Buchenwald Concentration Camp

From Quedlinburg we went to Potsdam which was quite a drive and we didn't get there till late afternoon.  We only had time and energy to stroll around Sanssouci Park which has several sites (palaces, gardens, parkland, etc).  The next day we were in Berlin seeing the Reichstag, Brandenberg Gate, some Berlin Wall and the Willy Brandt Museum.  In the afternoon we went to Gatow Airfield because there was an event relating to the JFK Speech/Visit anniversary.  Unfortunately this was a little duff really, about a dozen guys pitched a couple of old looking tents, had about 3 old jeeps and sat round having a ciggy.  We had a picnic lunch as that had been suggested and checked out the National Airforce Museum which was free, the other reason we were there. We spent the next 5 days at Mark and Danas.  Mark suggested we could paint some of the black parts of the van, so over a couple of days we spruced up the side windows and some of the front grill. Because it is almost my birthday Mark and Dana took us to the TV tower (like Sky Tower) in the evening where we could see out over Berlin.  Their lifts were very fast but as a result were small and cramped.  There was information panels about all the different areas of Berlin.  We spent 2 further days in the centre of Berlin, dominated by wall related activities.  First the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernaurstasse.  The weather was again atrocious and this was outside making it very difficult.  In the adjacent train station they have panels about the situation with the underground during the Wall Era (escapes, GDR defenses etc).  From there we went to the former GDR visitor processing centre at Friedrichstrasse Station known as The Palace of Tears (now a museum).  Quick look at Checkpoint Charlie, suitably forewarned that it is underwhelming, we were only slightly underwhelmed and tried to take in the significance of the location despite the hoards of tourists and wall to wall tacky souvenirs. Then we visited a series of display panels outside the former Stasi headquarters which documented the type of activities/terror that the Nazi SA and Secret Police inflicted particularly during their 'seizure of power'.  We saw Postzdamer Platz which is sort of ultra modern as it was within the wall cordon until reunification when they planned and embarked on a major infill development.  We walked Tiergarten which is a great big park/forest area in the middle of town.  It was sort of different than anything I have seen in other cities leaving me unable to compare it to anything.  Also walked the grounds of the Charlottenberg Palace and visited the Olympic Stadium.  In the evening we met up with Mark and Dana at a Street festival with music stages and lots of stalls (mainly food).

Berlin

Potsdam

Phew there you go another week or so of our trip, unfortunately some bad news to come :-(.

Bodensee and Switzerland

Hi Guys, Sorry another quick brief note to try and keep up.  Bare in mind when reading this that I write as we go but post when I can. So some of the future events mentioned have now happened and I have more to come but won't post a huge blog you'll never manage to read.

Our next significant destination was Lindau on the Bodensee (Lake Constance).  There is an old town area there that is out on an island (walk over a bridge).  It was very pretty and scorching hot.  It has been extremes with the weather as after that nice day it rained most of the night.  We had an interesting encounter a young guy was walking down the road saw us in the van and came over to see what the score was which was nice, turned out he was Bavarian and was heading to Switzerland to do a lot of walking (it was just him and his backpack) and he would be away a few months.  I tell you about this positive encounter for balance as I'm going to get a bit negative and philosophical.

On our way to visit my friend Ines in Switzerland we had an encounter of a nature becoming all too familiar on out trip (one that left you despairing for the sanity/mentality of humanity).  Our first 6 weeks on the road have provided us plenty of time of people watching, interactions and such, several of which have given us pause for thought.  In fact so many that we may perhaps catalogue such if they continue with such frequency as an incite into the modern psyche.  Anyway you want the story. So we stopped for lunch in a small town in Austria it turned out we were next to the training fields for the local team (minor stadium next door maybe 2-3,000 capacity). There were several portable goals around and i spotted that, in one, a ball had been left behind. So I went and had a kick about for about 5 minutes, as i was returning the ball to the goal I noticed a bunch of teenagers a little down the cycle trail.  Well no sooner had i returned the ball and got back in the van did they ride up and steal the ball.

We spent the weekend with Ines and her boyfriend Marcel.  Ines was such a lovely host and put us up on an air mattress and had several things for us to do.  Ines now lives in the area she grew up which it turns out is Heidiland.  She was able to show us the house she grew up in and the land they used to farm.  We visited the Heidi house and Vaduz (Leichtenstein) where Ines works.  The weather was getting quite hot and we went higher up into the alps to a lake which was very pretty and took a stroll around (higher up and in the trees the temperature was just right).  Ines put on a special Swiss style indoor BBQ for dinner.  The next day the Tour de Suisse cycling final leg 9 was happening in the area.  They were doing a 26km time trial. Through Marcel we got entry to a little brunch drinks and nibbles which was a nice bonus.  Also to get up to the finish line we could go on a gondola free of charge which was cool.  It was really hot, so it was good that we were a bit higher up.  It was very hard for the cyclists and the times were a little slower than expected.  We saw the Kiwis Sam Bewley and Hayden Roulston.  While up there we also got to go and see a real proper Alp milking shed and cheese makers. We checked out the local castle ruins in the early evening, pretty funky with some great views.  Unfortunately we couldn't stay longer as I'm to see my brother next weekend when he has time off and we had a very long way to go.

Palace in Liechtenstein

Cycling finish line

Heidi House

Ines and I at the Cycling

 Hayden Roulston on the left

From Ines's we travelled through Austria including the Tirol region where we went over  an Alpine Pass to the head of the Lech River.  Again the heat was getting up there, when  we got to the top of the pass the views were great and the temperature ideal so we stayed for about 45 mins sitting out taking it in.  Down the other side we passed Austrian ski resort towns and beautiful countryside before we hiked up to an Austrian castle called Ehrenberg by Reutte (in the woodland by the castle we saw a red squirrel YAY).

Austrian Alps

 Ehrenberg Castle

So that gets you to about a fortnight ago. Oh and I'm posting this on the 30th my 31st Birthday, what an old man.