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Guten tag from Deutschland. Since I last blogged, we have travelled from the Italian lakes, dropped Toni and Chris off in Venice, stayed overnight in the northern Italian ski resort of Cortina de Amprezzo, travelled through the Dolomites, crossed Austria and are here in Schwangau in the Bavarian Alps.
The stay at Lake Maggiore was great with excellent hosts (B&B) - good find Toni, and a wonderful location right on the lake. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and it rained all of our 1 full day in the area. Nevertheless,we fit out and about and saw the sites that could be seen in the circumstances. Not a total loss as Robyn brought home a recipe from Marcia our host for a flan that she cooked us for breakfast.
The run to Venice was uneventfull where we waved goodbye to Chris and Toni, Robyn's sister and better half who have been our travelling companions for the past 4 weeks. Funny to have an empty car and no one to wander and talk to when the shops and markets appear.
From Venice it was a 2 hour drive into the mountains and the last half hour was spectacular with 2500 metre peaks with snow all around. Cortina is set in the middle of the Dolomites with peaks of dolomite, a carbonate rock (impressed Brendon?) surrounding the town. And what a pretty town if is. I remembered that it featured in a
James Bond film with Sean Connery but b*****ed if I could find the shop that the bad guys on skis went through the front windows when confronted by James. Very trendy with all of the top label shops in the main square. Dinner at the restaurant was a mix of Italian and Austrian but very nice.
Tuesday morning we headed off on the drive across the Dolomites that I found in a SMH article time ago, and what a spectacular drive it was. We went through passes at 2200 metres with mountain tops another 1000 metres above us covered on snow. Bare rcky peaks that appeared above the cloud tops. Very spectacular. Lots and lots of bikes, and Bob you are right, every second bike a bloody 1200 BMW. Must get awful boring for the riders sitting around comparing bikes at the pub at night. Was perhaps the most scenic drive I have ever done and compares with the drive through the parks in Utah or the mountains of Vietnam for its wow factor.
After hitting the freeway again at Bressannone, we headed over the Brenner pass, the lowest pass across the Alps into Austria for all of about 1 hour before crossing into Germany and Schwangau. This is the home to 2 of the most famous castles in Bavaria and possibly Germany, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwanstein Castles. The former, built by mad King Ludwig the II is the castle that Walt Disney modelled the Disney Castle on and it is an amazing site sitting on the mountain with the alps in the background. We visited both today and they were packed, and according to our lovely host Sonya, are all year. Mad King Ludwig had the castle built in the 1880's but was sending the region broke in the process. He was declared mentally unstable and had the crown taken away from him by his uncle. He was found drowned with his psychiatrist several days later in a mystery that is still unsolved. His unfinished castle has been a museum since 18 months after his death and is today in the hands of the region government. The photos do not do the castle justice, especially today where it topped 8 degrees with fog most of the day.
German beer. A kind from a Mark Knofler song goes, "German beer is chemical free, Germany's alright with me". Not a truer word has been said. So far I have tried about 5 types and they have all been great. You know you are in a German supermarket when the specials on the way in the door are all beer, and there are 2 whole aisles dedicated to beer. Mmmmmmm.
Tomorrow to Augsburg along the so called Romantic road. Nothing booked after there so we will see where we end up.
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