Hi everyone!
We've been on Our Birthday Holiday this year to Northumbria. I can't recommend Barter Books in Alnwick enough, if you love bookshops you'll adore that one! :)
I'll add the photos soon.....enjoy the journal!
Siobhan xxx
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Monday 12th October
The morning began with Mathew opening some of his Birthday presents before Breakfast. We left in very unpleasant weather - lots of drizzle, dull clouds and so much spray on the road! Traffic was heavy at first but soon sped up to a normal pace. On the radio they said there had been an overturned vehicle but we saw no evidence of this whatsoever...!
We finally arrived at Wetherby Services at midday when we had some lunch. When we continued it seemed to be brightening up but when we arrived in Middleham the drizzle had come down again. Surprisingly we were not the only people deciding to visit Middleham Castle in this weather...! I took some candid shots of Mathew with Richard III before we continued onward.
We soon arrived at our cottage in Alnmouth which was down some really windy and narrow streets, but the owner was there waiting for us and greeted us as we got out of the car. He showed us around the place before leaving us to it. It was a very small cottage, with a nautical theme running throughout. The kitchen was narrow but had lots of storage space - Mathew felt it was rather like a galley kitchen! Up the stairs there were two bedrooms which we had the choice of - one was blue and white and had lots of angles and panels in the ceiling. The doors were quite fun too - probably meant for children but it was a really nice room! The other one was also quite cosy but the decor more normal. The bed in the latter of the two was more comfortable, so we chose this one - it also had a wardrobe in whereas the other one had drawers only.
Back in the kitchen, the kettle was put on and we had tea with a slice of cake after we unpacked and Mathew opened the rest of his presents. We went outside for a little wander around the town centre to have a look at the menus in various places when we wanted to eat out later in the week, before returning to the cottage and settling down to watch Strictly!
We finally arrived at Wetherby Services at midday when we had some lunch. When we continued it seemed to be brightening up but when we arrived in Middleham the drizzle had come down again. Surprisingly we were not the only people deciding to visit Middleham Castle in this weather...! I took some candid shots of Mathew with Richard III before we continued onward.
We soon arrived at our cottage in Alnmouth which was down some really windy and narrow streets, but the owner was there waiting for us and greeted us as we got out of the car. He showed us around the place before leaving us to it. It was a very small cottage, with a nautical theme running throughout. The kitchen was narrow but had lots of storage space - Mathew felt it was rather like a galley kitchen! Up the stairs there were two bedrooms which we had the choice of - one was blue and white and had lots of angles and panels in the ceiling. The doors were quite fun too - probably meant for children but it was a really nice room! The other one was also quite cosy but the decor more normal. The bed in the latter of the two was more comfortable, so we chose this one - it also had a wardrobe in whereas the other one had drawers only.
Back in the kitchen, the kettle was put on and we had tea with a slice of cake after we unpacked and Mathew opened the rest of his presents. We went outside for a little wander around the town centre to have a look at the menus in various places when we wanted to eat out later in the week, before returning to the cottage and settling down to watch Strictly!
Sunday 13th October
We were up at 8am and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before deciding what to do today. The weather forecast had it overcast in the morning and raining in the afternoon. Stepping outside, it was fresh!! We made our way to Craster where we walked to Dunstanburgh Castle along the coast. It was cold and windy but it was actually quite nice as the sky was rather dramatic and the sea was really choppy. So much so in fact we saw lots of sea foam and were entertained by the way it wibbled when a wave crashed in! It was so windy, some of it was blown free and tumbled onto the grass.Once at Dunstanburgh Castle it was drizzling in the air on and off but we still explored the Castle ruins. We decided to have lunch here too, I'm sure we looked very British sitting on a bench outside in the drizzle eating our sandwiches...! We made our way back to Craster using the same route we had arrived by, and popped into the information office where I bought some interesting chocolate - Geranium and Orange. Then we stopped by the van outside to have a hot drink - I had a hot chocolate whilst Mathew had a tea. We sat in the car to drink it as the seats outside were wet through. Finished, we went on to Warkworth Castle which we had been to before for our Birthdays but I couldn't remember it until we were inside. We decided to go with an audio guide which we don't usually do, but it was free so we thought 'why not?'. Turns out that the narrator sounded just like Michael Palin - I'm convinced it was! Eric Idle may have been in there too maybe but Michael Palin was an almost definite.
We enjoyed exploring the keep with its many passages, although I remember last time I went in and out of every doorway and stair case without really thinking about it - our route was much more structured this time! Still fun!
At the end of the audio guide we stepped out into the sunlight - we couldn't believe how sunny it was now, there must have been so much wind it blew the rain away and left us with a clear sky. This wasn't forecast...! Still a cold breeze though. We returned the audio guides asking if it was Michael Palin and she didn't know - although apparently they get asked this question rather a lot.....so it must be! :)I bought a pair of gloves as I had decided, foolishly, to bring a white pair with me on holiday (they matched my hat and scarf, okay?). Back at the cottage, I washed my white gloves and kept the black ones in the car. We walked around to investigate the menus again before Mathew decided that we would eat in tonight - he would have a belated Birthday meal next week. It was still useful to have another look to refresh our memories.
We returns to the cottage to chill out and have tea and cake :)
Monday 14th October
We walked around the Gardens a bit, although it was more like an arboretum with a bit of landscaping. To be fair, we didn't explore the eastern side so perhaps this is where it was more picturesque. Feet aching, we made our way back home, stopping off at Sainsburys to get some chicken for tonight's stir fry.
Tuesday 15th October
My Birthday! Yeeeeeeey!
I started by opening my presents of course, before having Breakfast. We went to Barter Books in Alnwick which is the most awesome 2nd hand bookshop in the old train station, and we spent 2 hours there! Mathew came away with 2 books and I left with 4. Half way through we had a hot drink and shared a slice of Cranberry and Pistacio Tiffin. After this, we went into Alnwick itself and had a look around the shops. As nice as Alnwick is, there aren't many interesting gift shops there really. We stopped off to have lunch in a cafe before moving on to Alnwick Garden.
The weather today was cloudy but no rain was really forecast, just a few showers. It was cool but not freezing and the sun was out every now and then. I rather liked the idea of having dinner in the Treehouse Restaurant, but unfortunately it wasn't open onTuesday nights! I remember having difficulty last time, finding a restaurant which was open on Sunday nights. BUT - as Mathew was going to have his Birthday meal later in the week, I decided to do the same. I figured it would be better to go out to a place you really want NEAR your Birthday rather than go to your second or third choice ON your Birthday. So it was decided - Mathew would have his Birthday meal tonight and I would have mine on Friday night. We booked a table for two at 7pm on October 18th.
The Garden was as fun as we remembered it, with the addition of a Cherry Orchard and pond which weren't there last time. The Bamboo Labyrinth was much more overgrown and fun than last time! This time we did the Poison Garden which was also great fun - the guide we had was a great storyteller :)
After exploring everything, we made our way to the shop which wasn't quite as good as I remember, but I managed to find some biscuits for work colleagues and family. We made our way to the treehouse once more just to go along the suspended bridges (in a drunken sort of way) before heading back to the car. Back at home, I skipped cake but still had a cup of tea and tried one of each of the chocolates I had been given for my Birthday :). We then left at 7 and went to The Sun Inn which was just a couple of minutes' walk away where we had dinner.
There was an open fire which we sat near, and the whole place was quite cosy - lots of drift wood art. I chose the home made burger whilst Mathew had the Steak and Ale Pie. I was too full to have a dessert afterward, but we left with full bellies and enjoyed Puss In Boots which was one of the DVDs I had for my Birthday.
I started by opening my presents of course, before having Breakfast. We went to Barter Books in Alnwick which is the most awesome 2nd hand bookshop in the old train station, and we spent 2 hours there! Mathew came away with 2 books and I left with 4. Half way through we had a hot drink and shared a slice of Cranberry and Pistacio Tiffin. After this, we went into Alnwick itself and had a look around the shops. As nice as Alnwick is, there aren't many interesting gift shops there really. We stopped off to have lunch in a cafe before moving on to Alnwick Garden. 
The Garden was as fun as we remembered it, with the addition of a Cherry Orchard and pond which weren't there last time. The Bamboo Labyrinth was much more overgrown and fun than last time! This time we did the Poison Garden which was also great fun - the guide we had was a great storyteller :)
After exploring everything, we made our way to the shop which wasn't quite as good as I remember, but I managed to find some biscuits for work colleagues and family. We made our way to the treehouse once more just to go along the suspended bridges (in a drunken sort of way) before heading back to the car. Back at home, I skipped cake but still had a cup of tea and tried one of each of the chocolates I had been given for my Birthday :). We then left at 7 and went to The Sun Inn which was just a couple of minutes' walk away where we had dinner.There was an open fire which we sat near, and the whole place was quite cosy - lots of drift wood art. I chose the home made burger whilst Mathew had the Steak and Ale Pie. I was too full to have a dessert afterward, but we left with full bellies and enjoyed Puss In Boots which was one of the DVDs I had for my Birthday.
Wednesday 16th October
Today we made our way to Durham. It was much smaller than we had anticipated, and most of the shops were typical of nanny towns high street really. Inside the Cathedral we were unable to take any photos, which is a shame as it was really nice inside! We climbed the tower which was over 300 steps and when we returned we were rewarded with a sticker saying we'd climbed the tower! On our way to the gift shop, we came across the Cathedral being built in LEGO which looked rather fun - especially the stained glass windows! We were told that they were raising money by asking people to pay £1 for a brick in order to build it, which we did - and promptly received another sticker saying we helped build Durham Cathedral in LEGO. I wonder how much they see it grow in a day? They have already raised £35,000 - the idea is to create an exhibit of all the things which are currently locked away never to be seen by visitors.In the shop I bought a Christmas Present, before we left and decided to have some lunch on the cafe not far from the Cathedral instead of the one IN the Cathedral. We went to the "Cafe on the Green" which had a very nice menu, so it seemed we had chosen well despite not even seeing a menu beforehand. We both had toasties - mine was Northumberland Cheddar and sun dried tomato, whilst Mathew had roast pork with apple sauce and stuffing. It came with a side salad and those vegetable crisps which were very nice! Afterward, we decided on some cake. I had rich chocolate fudge cake with another decaf cappuccino and Mathew had spiced apple cake with another pot of tea. DELISH!! Finished, we left the cafe and headed straight to the car as there was nothing really for us to do in Durham - we were thinking it would have lots of handmade craft shops but it didn't. We had a quick look in the Market which was very eclectic - I said that three quarters of it was basically like Leicester market selling the usual things markets do, whilst one quarter of it was how I wanted it to be, for example there was an art stall and a place selling Moroccan lamps.
Back to the car we had a slight incident with the pay and display machine as it ate our ticket and announced it was out of order, Mathew went to find someone in the office which turned out to be empty and closed, but he found a number to call which I dialled but had no response. in the meantime, someone had come out to see the machine on our floor and we just ended up paying him instead as he couldn't fix the machine. Panic over, we headed back to our cottage for a nice cup of tea after a quick visit to Sainsburys for a few bits. The rain had set in by this time, and we had heard on the radio that there were lots of delays and everything seemed to be going pear shaped with the trainlines and even Heathrow. Back in the cottage we had our tea and relaxed in the warm dry cosy cottage for the rest of the day.
Thursday 17th October
Today the weather was being kind, the forecast was to be cloudy and mostly dry. So this is when we decided that today we would go to Beamish. Mathew had never been before but I had - we were both looking forward to having Beamish fish and chips and I was hoping there would be some of my favourite sherbet with boiled sweet lollies to dip into it!
We made our way there and the weather got brighter and brighter, the sun coming through and blue sky emerging. The traffic was a little heavier than expected, but we made reasonably good time and headed straight in. The first stop was the Pit Village and Colliery where we had a tour of the mine, followed by a demonstration up top in the Colliery itself. We then had a little look in the Cottages, Chapel and School before we realised that it was lunchtime - and we had already decided we were having fish and chips which have quite the reputation! We went to Davy's Fish and Chip shop - Mathew had a fish and chips whist I had a dab and chips (a dab being half a fish). They had been fried in beef dripping and oh....my....goodness it was so incredibly tasty! Lovely. Topped off by Mr.Fenwicks Lemonade. Yum!
We made our way to Home Farm and said hello to the piglets before hopping on a tram to make our way into the Town which is comprised of real buildings which have been taken down brick by brick and rebuilt onto a brick paved street. Everyone who works here is dressed in period costume, and we also noticed that some of the school groups had also dressed up!
Our first visit was to the sweet shop, or rather Confectioners where I bought my favourite sherbet (one orange and one raspberry/cherry) and some ABC letters which are an old favourite of mine. I was given extra lollipops with the sherbet - bonus! We continued along the street looking at the houses which were used for businesses such as the Dentist and Solicitor before making our way to the Railway Station which had a fairground next to it. On our way back into the town we stopped off for an ice cream with raspberry drizzle which was rather nice. It was still sunny with blue skies - why not have ice cream outside in October while the weather was good?
We continued having a look at the other shops - tha haberdashery, grocers, and hat shop which had a print shop upstairs - in which the guide was a very good storyteller! We also popped in to the Masonic Hall, Barclays Bank and the Bakery which I don't remember from last time I visited. I later learned the Bakers only opened earlier this year so that explains that!
We continued on our way to the Georgian Landscape where we explored a house and made our way to the Waggonway where we went on a small and bumpy ride on a steam train which was actually meant more for freight - and we discovered why as it wasn't the most comfortable!
After deciding we had finished exploring the place quite thoroughly, we headed back on foot to the entrance where we had a look in the gift shop before leaving. Back in Alnmouth the day turned grey and drizzly again, and we weren't sure if it had actually been bright at all while we had been gone. All in all a good day out with a the best weather of the week! Back in the cottage we relaxed and had some sausages for dinner which Mathew had bought in Alnwick.
We made our way there and the weather got brighter and brighter, the sun coming through and blue sky emerging. The traffic was a little heavier than expected, but we made reasonably good time and headed straight in. The first stop was the Pit Village and Colliery where we had a tour of the mine, followed by a demonstration up top in the Colliery itself. We then had a little look in the Cottages, Chapel and School before we realised that it was lunchtime - and we had already decided we were having fish and chips which have quite the reputation! We went to Davy's Fish and Chip shop - Mathew had a fish and chips whist I had a dab and chips (a dab being half a fish). They had been fried in beef dripping and oh....my....goodness it was so incredibly tasty! Lovely. Topped off by Mr.Fenwicks Lemonade. Yum!
We made our way to Home Farm and said hello to the piglets before hopping on a tram to make our way into the Town which is comprised of real buildings which have been taken down brick by brick and rebuilt onto a brick paved street. Everyone who works here is dressed in period costume, and we also noticed that some of the school groups had also dressed up!
Our first visit was to the sweet shop, or rather Confectioners where I bought my favourite sherbet (one orange and one raspberry/cherry) and some ABC letters which are an old favourite of mine. I was given extra lollipops with the sherbet - bonus! We continued along the street looking at the houses which were used for businesses such as the Dentist and Solicitor before making our way to the Railway Station which had a fairground next to it. On our way back into the town we stopped off for an ice cream with raspberry drizzle which was rather nice. It was still sunny with blue skies - why not have ice cream outside in October while the weather was good?We continued having a look at the other shops - tha haberdashery, grocers, and hat shop which had a print shop upstairs - in which the guide was a very good storyteller! We also popped in to the Masonic Hall, Barclays Bank and the Bakery which I don't remember from last time I visited. I later learned the Bakers only opened earlier this year so that explains that!
After deciding we had finished exploring the place quite thoroughly, we headed back on foot to the entrance where we had a look in the gift shop before leaving. Back in Alnmouth the day turned grey and drizzly again, and we weren't sure if it had actually been bright at all while we had been gone. All in all a good day out with a the best weather of the week! Back in the cottage we relaxed and had some sausages for dinner which Mathew had bought in Alnwick.
Friday 18th October
Today we started out at Tynemouth Priory and Castle which was more a ruin but had quite large grounds. It was overcast and windy today but rain was expected later so we thought there was enough time for us to fit in a couple of things today. We walked along the north pier before returning to the car with empty bellies, ready for lunch. We made our way to Seaton Delaval Hall, which we later learner was only acquired by theNational Trust in 2010.
We went into the west wing of the building which has only recently been opened to the public in full, with new flooring and carpets. We had to don some plastic covers onto our shoes, not the first time we've had to do it in this sort of place. The west wing was more like a home, and the decor was dated to the 1990s so fairly modern and not very exciting. But the history of the place was really interesting and the whole thing made up for the unenjoyable Panini I had earlier...!We learned that there had been a fire at Seaton Delaval Hall which burnt the place really quite severely in 1822 and has since never been occupied. The National Trust opened it to the public pretty much as soon as they acquired it, in order for visitors to see the transition it will be making through its restoration, so it will be really interesting to find out what it might be looking like in 5 years time. I really hope they don't do it up like the west wing.....
After this, we went outside and explored the gardens which were still just about in flower and we imagined they would probably be even better in the summer or at least on a sunny day. We visited a little church which was in the grounds - it had two rather nice Norman arches and two stone effigies which were also rather nice, one of which was a crusader (his legs were crossed).
Sunday, 23 June 2013
South Germany: Bavaria & The Black Forest
Hello!
I've just finished uploading my journal for our latest holiday - South Germany and the Black Forest. We rented a car and flew into Munich, travelling to the south and following the border before going up through teh Black forest and zig-zagging our way up to Frankfurt where we flew home. It was great fun and the weather was kind to us for most of the time :)
Photo link: https://picasaweb.google.com/brocklehurst79/Germany2013
Okay, so I've uploaded everything as I usually do.....please excuse any mistakes, I wrote this on my iPad and it has a habit of correcting a few words here and there. So hopefully 99% of it will make sense.....
Enjoy!
Siobhan xx
I've just finished uploading my journal for our latest holiday - South Germany and the Black Forest. We rented a car and flew into Munich, travelling to the south and following the border before going up through teh Black forest and zig-zagging our way up to Frankfurt where we flew home. It was great fun and the weather was kind to us for most of the time :)
Photo link: https://picasaweb.google.com/brocklehurst79/Germany2013
Okay, so I've uploaded everything as I usually do.....please excuse any mistakes, I wrote this on my iPad and it has a habit of correcting a few words here and there. So hopefully 99% of it will make sense.....
Enjoy!
Siobhan xx
Saturday June 1st
Ugh. The earliest start I think we have ever had......we didn't think this through properly, did we? Morning flight to arrive in the after own sounded fine until we realised that we hadn't really accounted for the time it would take to get to Heathrow.....!
So we had a little breakfast but at 3:30 my stomach at least wasn't sure about having any food in it, but Mathew felt fine. Our taxi arrived slightly earlier than we had anticipated, but it got us to the bus station in no time.
The bus was fairly empty, the traffic light and the weather sunny. We arrived at Heathrow Terminal 1 on time at 7:30 and headed straight in to drop off our bags. The queue was long but it moved fast, looking back a few times we realised we got there just in time! We stopped off to buy a bottle of water and some mini cheddars (which I had to scan my boarding pass for!??) before sitting down for a moment whilst waiting to find out what gate we had to go to. Fortunately gate 17 wasn't too far away and we were there and on the plane in no time.
On the plane we had a Croquet Monsiuer which filled our stomachs nicely, I tried to read a little but a headache had started so I closed my eyes. Suddenly we were descending into Munich Airport and we were off the plane, the flight having been fairly uneventful with the exception of the steward taking a shine to Mathew. He kept telling him to smile, although I didn't think he looked particularly grumpy..!
Off the plane and into the Airport. We breezed through Passport control (Go EU!), had nothing to declare and went straight on to collect our hire car. Even though the Airport and the car hire "hub" were in seperate buildings, the outside area in between was covered with a giant canopy which was pretty impressive, and fortunate for us as it was tipping it down outside. We were in the queue for the car for a little while, but when we did get seen to it seemed ours was much more straightforward than everyone else before us. So our economy car turned out to be a SKODA Yeti. Economical, yes. Absolutely massive!! #weaskedforasmallcar
Our first experience on German roads was....interesting...! First of all Mathew had to get used to a diesel car; he was less concerned about driving on the other side of the road as he had done it before in Canada. Although these roads seemed rather narrow......it felt a bit hairy in places but it was just a case of getting used to the width of the car. We managed to get ourselves from the Airport to the ring road around Munich, but we ended up turning off too soon resulting in a driving close to the city centre. But we got through it and out onto the other side, after having sussed out German road signs somewhat #somanysigns. Into the countryside where the roads were nowhere near as congested, we found Obendorf pretty easily and the hotel even easier. Obendorf seemed like a fairly small place with plenty of traditional style Bavarian buildings, especially the hotel which had a really cosy atmosphere inside! I rang the bell at reception and this is when we discovered that we had inadvertently landed ourselves in the heart of traditional Baravia where little English is known, or so it seemed. Not that we minded, even though our German isn't particularly good, we managed to understand each other, especially as I recognise a good handful of words. I thought she spoke quickly but not as fast as I've heard French, Italian and Spanish - I was actually able to isolate the words I am familiar with, which I somehow can't with other languages. I knew I should have worked harder at learning German before we got here! #lazybones Our room was on the top floor with a shared balcony looking out over the car park and some fields beyond it. We went back down to get our luggage and stopped off to have a look at the menu for the restaurant. There was no English translation (as we expected) so we thought we may have an interesting dinner.....! We thought it a good idea to take my German phrase book with us. It's a pretty old one (Deutschmarks still in use!) but I doubt the language has changed! Back in the room, we had a doze until about 18:00 when we went downstairs to investigate and translate dinner.
In the restaurant we were greeted by a waitress wearing traditional Bavarian costume - in fact, the entire hotel was Baravian style inside and out. We were seated and menus given, and we safely managed to order a large coke and a small sprite. We read the menu with the phrase book, not understanding everything but enough to be able to choose something which we knew most of! I chose a fish called perch which came with parsley potatoes and a salad. Mathew ordered Schnitzel (escalope) which actually turned out to be veal which he didn't realise until later. Even though I was really hungry, I couldn't finish the meal entirely, possibly because lack of sleep seems to disturb my appetite/digestion somewhat, but Mathew finished his and we were both stuffed. During the meal we both managed to nod appreciation when guessing if we were being asked if we were enjoying it. We came to the conclusion that they do the same thing everywhere - it must be a thing waiting staff are trained to do: wait until the customer puts a forkful of food in their mouth and THEN ask if they're enjoying it! #tacticalquestioning
I managed to ask for the bill and I paid in cash, rounding it up which added 2 euros after I couldn't find the German words for "Service Included" on the receipt which I was given (I had just looked it up in the phrase book). The waitress seemed rather pleased with this, and then wished us a pleasant evening (I think).
Back in the room we chilled out some more, and had a look through the TV channels to see if we could find a weather report. We found three different reports but none went into great detail, all gave us generic World weather. However, we did discover that there was some serious flooding going on in Dresden, and there was yet more rain forecast for south Germany. The map looked like rain covered the entire country, but Mathews weather app which had downloaded the most recent info last night stated that the rain would blow itself out of Germany by the beginning of next week, getting brighter and sunnier. We hoped this would be the case! A good night's sleep was needed, and we had no trouble getting it.
So we had a little breakfast but at 3:30 my stomach at least wasn't sure about having any food in it, but Mathew felt fine. Our taxi arrived slightly earlier than we had anticipated, but it got us to the bus station in no time.
The bus was fairly empty, the traffic light and the weather sunny. We arrived at Heathrow Terminal 1 on time at 7:30 and headed straight in to drop off our bags. The queue was long but it moved fast, looking back a few times we realised we got there just in time! We stopped off to buy a bottle of water and some mini cheddars (which I had to scan my boarding pass for!??) before sitting down for a moment whilst waiting to find out what gate we had to go to. Fortunately gate 17 wasn't too far away and we were there and on the plane in no time.
On the plane we had a Croquet Monsiuer which filled our stomachs nicely, I tried to read a little but a headache had started so I closed my eyes. Suddenly we were descending into Munich Airport and we were off the plane, the flight having been fairly uneventful with the exception of the steward taking a shine to Mathew. He kept telling him to smile, although I didn't think he looked particularly grumpy..!
Off the plane and into the Airport. We breezed through Passport control (Go EU!), had nothing to declare and went straight on to collect our hire car. Even though the Airport and the car hire "hub" were in seperate buildings, the outside area in between was covered with a giant canopy which was pretty impressive, and fortunate for us as it was tipping it down outside. We were in the queue for the car for a little while, but when we did get seen to it seemed ours was much more straightforward than everyone else before us. So our economy car turned out to be a SKODA Yeti. Economical, yes. Absolutely massive!! #weaskedforasmallcar
In the restaurant we were greeted by a waitress wearing traditional Bavarian costume - in fact, the entire hotel was Baravian style inside and out. We were seated and menus given, and we safely managed to order a large coke and a small sprite. We read the menu with the phrase book, not understanding everything but enough to be able to choose something which we knew most of! I chose a fish called perch which came with parsley potatoes and a salad. Mathew ordered Schnitzel (escalope) which actually turned out to be veal which he didn't realise until later. Even though I was really hungry, I couldn't finish the meal entirely, possibly because lack of sleep seems to disturb my appetite/digestion somewhat, but Mathew finished his and we were both stuffed. During the meal we both managed to nod appreciation when guessing if we were being asked if we were enjoying it. We came to the conclusion that they do the same thing everywhere - it must be a thing waiting staff are trained to do: wait until the customer puts a forkful of food in their mouth and THEN ask if they're enjoying it! #tacticalquestioningI managed to ask for the bill and I paid in cash, rounding it up which added 2 euros after I couldn't find the German words for "Service Included" on the receipt which I was given (I had just looked it up in the phrase book). The waitress seemed rather pleased with this, and then wished us a pleasant evening (I think).
Back in the room we chilled out some more, and had a look through the TV channels to see if we could find a weather report. We found three different reports but none went into great detail, all gave us generic World weather. However, we did discover that there was some serious flooding going on in Dresden, and there was yet more rain forecast for south Germany. The map looked like rain covered the entire country, but Mathews weather app which had downloaded the most recent info last night stated that the rain would blow itself out of Germany by the beginning of next week, getting brighter and sunnier. We hoped this would be the case! A good night's sleep was needed, and we had no trouble getting it.
Sunday June 2nd
Why was Mathew surprised that I know the German word for Breakfast? #Itsallaboutthefood. It was served between 7 - 10am and we thought it a good idea to have an early start as we had a couple of things on our itinerary today - a day in Munich visiting the Deutsches Museum and Schloss Nymphenburg.
Before we made any decisions, we put the TV on to find a more detailed weather report for Germany. Still no luck. When we looked out of the window it looked even wetter than it did yesterday! Yuck. Downstairs we headed to the breakfast room which turned out to be in a different place to the restaurant. We bumped into one of the waitresses at the bottom of the stairs and she showed us through. It was a large room, but there were only two people in it when we arrived. We sat down and asked for a cup of tea for Mathew at which point she showed us where the hot water, tea bags and pots were. After that we were sorted - the buffet had everything you could have asked for, juices, cereals, different types of bread, honey, jam, chocolate spread (yes, Nutella!), crackers, cheese, ham, salad, fruit salad.....
I think my stomach was still settling so I just went for cereal, although I had some bread with Nutella after which I thought I may have chosen the wrong bread perhaps...? #interesting Outside we could see a number of people arriving by car, parking outside the hotel and the church opposite - and the church was their destination. Some were dressed in traditional Bavarian costume, others dressed smartly for the Sunday service. We realised that the more rural communities, especially of south Germany, are more religious than they are in the north, or at least more catholic, almost certainly in Bavaria. Outside the church there was an incredibly tall flag pole covered in blue and white stripes and shield shaped paintings. As the waitress had been speaking to us in English, I thought I would ask her what she could tell me about the flag pole. She said that each painting represents an important part of the village and its community, such as churches, schools and local trades such as carpentry, blacksmithing, hunting, baking. She told us that every 5 years they get a new flag pole, and also every village in Bavaria has one of these.
At breakfast I took advantage of the fact that we were the only two people in the room, and I swiped some crackers and Nutellas. Also took a giant pretzel which was as big as my hand, and popped it in my bag for later. #nibbles Back in our room, we prepared our bags as well as we could, as we knew the rain wasn't going to be letting up any time soon. We decided on the Museum first, followed by the Schloss.
In the car, we travelled to a place called Vaterstetten where we got the train. Even though we arrived in Vaterstetten in about half an hour, it took us another 20 minutes to find where the station was - and the car park which was next to it! Not the best sign posted thing I have to say, Mathew said that if he hadn't looked this up online before we came here, he wouldn't have actually known it was there at all. We got to the station pretty quickly, at which point it was coming up to 10am. We then decided that it might be a good idea to head straight to the Schloss. It was the furthest from us, and it was the one thing out of the two on our list which we really wanted to visit, so that's where we headed.
It was a 15 minute walk away from the station after we arrived, and we walked around to Schloss Nymphenburg and had a good look at the multiple options of tickets which we could buy, deciding on the Palace and the garden. I asked for the tickets in German, which the guy at the till was happy to continue speaking with me even though he knew I wasn't a native German speaker (his smile was saying "you can do it!"). Mathew put his rucksack in a locker (the guy explained all of this to us in German and we surprised ourselves by understanding him straight away) and we continued on to the palace rooms. The palace itself is huge of course, but obviously they only open up part of it to the public.
The palace was the summer residence and seat of Bavaria's electors and kings - and also the birthplace of King Ludwig II. We soon realised that we were going to be seeing King Ludwig II quite a bit on our holiday - purely coincidental! The first room, The Great Hall........well.....very impressive indeed! That alone was worth going there to see. That alone was more impressive than the entire palace of Versailles. I thought it slightly odd though, that the great hall was incredibly sumptuous and way over the top with all the paintings and gold leaf and chandeliers, whilst the side rooms were pretty basic and quite plain in comparison. Admittedly there was very little in the way of furniture, but the walls which displayed a number of paintings were either covered in a simple silk "wall paper" like covering, or nothing at all. A stark contract to The Great Hall which had practically everything ornate you could think of. The Gallery of Beauties illustrated King Ludwig I's ideal of beauty rather than the social rank of the women in the portraits. These paintings were in unbelievably good condition, as if they had been painted just yesterday. I have no idea if they have been restored or not, but the colours were so bright, vivid and the detail was incredibly clear.
Outside, the park had a number of palaces or rather, pavilions. There were four in total, but before we began our tour of these, we went outside and foud the cafe which was en route. We were quickly seated and we chose to have some soup - Mathew had cream of asparagus, while I went with the beef broth. As it turns out, mine at least was incredibly salty! I started worrying about the amount of salt I might be consuming on this holiday.....! And I'm sure we were supposed to have bread with the soup. I wasn't convinced about my semolina dumplings though.....
Our waitress wished us a "nice day" before bursting out with laughter as we joined in, as it was still raining heavily outside. I had only just started to feel it seeping into my shoes as we had arrived at the cafe. We went outside and walked around, under the cover of the trees but the ground was sodden and full of puddles which we tried our best to avoid but really it would have been advisable to wear Wellies at this point. We managed to visit the Magdalenenklause which encompassed a chapel and part of a grotto with the majority of the walls and ceilings in the Hall and the chapel decorated with shells.
We then made our way around to the Pagodenburg which was octagonal in plan, and had a Hall on the ground floor which was almost entirely covered in blue and white - not just paintings but porcelain tiles as well. The upper floor had a couple of small rooms, which were very ornately painted in Chinese style, including a lot of lacquer work. On the way down the stairs I noticed that the stair case was also completed covered (with the exception of the floor) in blue and white Chinese style decoration, including porcelain tiles on the majority of the walls, and painting on the ceiling.
After this, I discovered my feet were completely wet - not something I like to experience for a long period of time, I guess it like one of the most annoying things EVER for me. Instead of continuing to the other two pavilions straight away, we made our way back to the Schloss and I changed into my crocs, taking my drenched socks off. I was then I realised that my feet were aching quite a lot too, and although we had intended to look at the other two more ornate pavilions in the park (a similar style to that of The Great Hall in the Scloss going on the pictures) we thought it best to give up now and head to the Museum. However, when we arrived at the train station, we thought it best to return to the hotel, especially at it was 15:00 by the time we left the Schloss and the Museum closed at 17:00. Not a great deal of time for a museum of the size. So we headed off back to the car and travelled back to the hotel following a diversion due to (we assumed) some local flooding, fortunately not in Obendorf though. We returned to the hotel in one piece and cranked the radiator up to the highest level to dry our socks and shoes, and I used the hair dryer on them too.
Dinner was pretty straight forward as we had managed to translate the menu somewhat the night before. This time I had pasta with parmesan, pesto and white asparagus, whilst. Mathew had roast pork. Finally I had managed to choose something which was NOT salty!
After paying, we chilled out in the room, and thought about our journey onwards tomorrow.
Before we made any decisions, we put the TV on to find a more detailed weather report for Germany. Still no luck. When we looked out of the window it looked even wetter than it did yesterday! Yuck. Downstairs we headed to the breakfast room which turned out to be in a different place to the restaurant. We bumped into one of the waitresses at the bottom of the stairs and she showed us through. It was a large room, but there were only two people in it when we arrived. We sat down and asked for a cup of tea for Mathew at which point she showed us where the hot water, tea bags and pots were. After that we were sorted - the buffet had everything you could have asked for, juices, cereals, different types of bread, honey, jam, chocolate spread (yes, Nutella!), crackers, cheese, ham, salad, fruit salad.....
At breakfast I took advantage of the fact that we were the only two people in the room, and I swiped some crackers and Nutellas. Also took a giant pretzel which was as big as my hand, and popped it in my bag for later. #nibbles Back in our room, we prepared our bags as well as we could, as we knew the rain wasn't going to be letting up any time soon. We decided on the Museum first, followed by the Schloss.
In the car, we travelled to a place called Vaterstetten where we got the train. Even though we arrived in Vaterstetten in about half an hour, it took us another 20 minutes to find where the station was - and the car park which was next to it! Not the best sign posted thing I have to say, Mathew said that if he hadn't looked this up online before we came here, he wouldn't have actually known it was there at all. We got to the station pretty quickly, at which point it was coming up to 10am. We then decided that it might be a good idea to head straight to the Schloss. It was the furthest from us, and it was the one thing out of the two on our list which we really wanted to visit, so that's where we headed.
It was a 15 minute walk away from the station after we arrived, and we walked around to Schloss Nymphenburg and had a good look at the multiple options of tickets which we could buy, deciding on the Palace and the garden. I asked for the tickets in German, which the guy at the till was happy to continue speaking with me even though he knew I wasn't a native German speaker (his smile was saying "you can do it!"). Mathew put his rucksack in a locker (the guy explained all of this to us in German and we surprised ourselves by understanding him straight away) and we continued on to the palace rooms. The palace itself is huge of course, but obviously they only open up part of it to the public.
The palace was the summer residence and seat of Bavaria's electors and kings - and also the birthplace of King Ludwig II. We soon realised that we were going to be seeing King Ludwig II quite a bit on our holiday - purely coincidental! The first room, The Great Hall........well.....very impressive indeed! That alone was worth going there to see. That alone was more impressive than the entire palace of Versailles. I thought it slightly odd though, that the great hall was incredibly sumptuous and way over the top with all the paintings and gold leaf and chandeliers, whilst the side rooms were pretty basic and quite plain in comparison. Admittedly there was very little in the way of furniture, but the walls which displayed a number of paintings were either covered in a simple silk "wall paper" like covering, or nothing at all. A stark contract to The Great Hall which had practically everything ornate you could think of. The Gallery of Beauties illustrated King Ludwig I's ideal of beauty rather than the social rank of the women in the portraits. These paintings were in unbelievably good condition, as if they had been painted just yesterday. I have no idea if they have been restored or not, but the colours were so bright, vivid and the detail was incredibly clear.
Outside, the park had a number of palaces or rather, pavilions. There were four in total, but before we began our tour of these, we went outside and foud the cafe which was en route. We were quickly seated and we chose to have some soup - Mathew had cream of asparagus, while I went with the beef broth. As it turns out, mine at least was incredibly salty! I started worrying about the amount of salt I might be consuming on this holiday.....! And I'm sure we were supposed to have bread with the soup. I wasn't convinced about my semolina dumplings though.....
Our waitress wished us a "nice day" before bursting out with laughter as we joined in, as it was still raining heavily outside. I had only just started to feel it seeping into my shoes as we had arrived at the cafe. We went outside and walked around, under the cover of the trees but the ground was sodden and full of puddles which we tried our best to avoid but really it would have been advisable to wear Wellies at this point. We managed to visit the Magdalenenklause which encompassed a chapel and part of a grotto with the majority of the walls and ceilings in the Hall and the chapel decorated with shells.We then made our way around to the Pagodenburg which was octagonal in plan, and had a Hall on the ground floor which was almost entirely covered in blue and white - not just paintings but porcelain tiles as well. The upper floor had a couple of small rooms, which were very ornately painted in Chinese style, including a lot of lacquer work. On the way down the stairs I noticed that the stair case was also completed covered (with the exception of the floor) in blue and white Chinese style decoration, including porcelain tiles on the majority of the walls, and painting on the ceiling.
After this, I discovered my feet were completely wet - not something I like to experience for a long period of time, I guess it like one of the most annoying things EVER for me. Instead of continuing to the other two pavilions straight away, we made our way back to the Schloss and I changed into my crocs, taking my drenched socks off. I was then I realised that my feet were aching quite a lot too, and although we had intended to look at the other two more ornate pavilions in the park (a similar style to that of The Great Hall in the Scloss going on the pictures) we thought it best to give up now and head to the Museum. However, when we arrived at the train station, we thought it best to return to the hotel, especially at it was 15:00 by the time we left the Schloss and the Museum closed at 17:00. Not a great deal of time for a museum of the size. So we headed off back to the car and travelled back to the hotel following a diversion due to (we assumed) some local flooding, fortunately not in Obendorf though. We returned to the hotel in one piece and cranked the radiator up to the highest level to dry our socks and shoes, and I used the hair dryer on them too.Dinner was pretty straight forward as we had managed to translate the menu somewhat the night before. This time I had pasta with parmesan, pesto and white asparagus, whilst. Mathew had roast pork. Finally I had managed to choose something which was NOT salty!
After paying, we chilled out in the room, and thought about our journey onwards tomorrow.
Monday June 3rd
This morning we woke up to....well, it looked pretty much the same outside, except this time it WASN'T raining finally! Yes it was drizzling but it was nowhere near as bad as it was yesterday. So we had breakfast as usual, although it was in a different room which was slightly confusing. Again, I managed to swipe a giant pretzel and pop it into my bag for later, after scrubbing the salt off it.
Packed and ready to go, we filled the car and checked out. The woman at reception spoke English and gave us a local map, showing us the way to Stock where we were going to get the ferry Herrenchiemsee. She said that the village on the south side of the river was almost totally flooded - it had even made the news. She said she wasn't sure the boats were going or if Herrenchiemsee was flooded, but we hoped not. We left and made our way to Prien and then Stock, and we were at the harbour at 10:15.
I know it was more or less a sign from the beginning that everywhere here was closed. But as we passed the ticket office, there was a sign stating that we could get the tickets ON the boat. So we wandered up and saw a number of boats in, and even one arriving. Not only this, but a number of people were wandering around looking just as puzzled and lost as we were. We looked at the pathways to the boats and sme were flooded, although we noticed a couple we could have easy got through without getting too wet. But then a woman came along with some tape and some signs, taking photos of the flooding on her phone, presumably she worked there. One of the other people who was wandering around and had previously asked us if we knew if the boats were running, decided to ask the woman with the tape. She shook her head and said "No, no boats today or tomorrow.". So our day trip to Herrenchiemsee was cancelled.
We left feeling very unhappy and disappointed, as Herrenchiemsee was one of the grand palaces which we had really wanted to see. But then again we didn't know that we were about to enter the part of Europe which was experiencing mass flooding on the first few days of our trip. Looking at the map, we went to Rosenheim and stopped for a walk about and some lunch. We found the tourist information office and walked through a sculpture park before wandering through the town enjoying the colourful and clean buildings and plazas. After having lunch, we heded to an exhibition gallery but baulked at the price for an exhibition on Alexander the Great which we had no idea whether or not would have English translations included (audio guide 5 euros extra each), so we left disheartened and made our way back to the car, stopping off for a pastry on the way to eat later. We were enticed by the sign for "Butterkuchen" but we actually bought a large parcel of pastry covered in icing sugar....
Back in the car, we passed some police who were directing traffic, and more traffic diversions, although we were able to continue with our journey. We stopped off in an area which was on the map as a marshy area but was actually a nature reserve with a number of walks. We probably would have gone to investigate it it hadn't been so cloudy and wet. We had been driving past some mountains, or so we thought....we had the feeling of being near something large looming overhead but we didn't actually see any mountains at all, just dense forest everywhere. We ate the pastry which we had bought earlier, it was nice but we couldn't quite decide whether or not it actually had something in it or not. Mathew was convinced he could taste something fruity, whilst I could tell there was something soft on the base but no flavour as such. Perhaps next time we'll go for the Butterkuchen.....!
Continuing onward, we shortly arrived at an area of the road which was indeed, flooded. To be honest if it had flooded any more than it already was, that road may well have been cut off. Who knows, maybe it was cut off after we had passed though it. The water was very deep, or so it seemed, as the traffic took it in turns to drive on the less flooded side of the road to get through. The road basically went through the marsh land which had a number of channels flowing through that had burst their banks. It must have been at least a good 30cm deep at least, but this was nothing compared to what they were experiencing in Passau. That was all over the news - south Germany, Czech Republic and Austria were all experiencing major flooding although our route had actually taken us around and away from it, the only casualty being that we were unable to visit Herenchiemsee.
Continuing on, it was still raining but it was more of a steady drizzle rather than a downpour which was what it was like yesterday. We finally arrived in Ettal and got out to have a walk around a little, especially as I had spotted THREE wood carving shops on our way in. They seemed far away but didn't actually take that long to get to on foot. Going into the furthest one first, I found a bear shaped magnet and a cute tree, and Mathew bought a different tree. Everything was wooden, not a single thing for sale in the shop was made of anything else. The second shop seemed more expensive and I'm not entirely sure it was open or not, but it had a number of religious figures inside it alongside other things. Outside there was a large wooden sculpted bear which I had to have my photo taken next to, of course! Further along, the third shop was selling anything you could think of with a particularly distinctive face on it. Again, I'm not sure if it was open when we walked by, but we weren't sure we wanted to buy a random object with a random moustachioed rosy cheeked face on it.
On our way back to the car, we stopped off for a look at the Monastery which is still in use and looks really rather epic from the outside. Back in the car, we climbed the hill to the hotel which we could see from the car park. It had a very similar facade to that of the previous Hotel-Gasthof which we had stayed in. We checked in and found our room easily - we were sharing a balcony again, but this one was much wetter than the previous one which was more sheltered. Our room looked out over the front of the hotel and up into the.....um.....mountains.....which I am sure were there but we still had not seen them. Cloud covered us and the place was wet through. We were now higher up, right on the edge of the Alps. In fact Austria was only over the other side of the mountain which we were (apparently) facing.
Dinner was straightforward - we had spent lots of time trying to translate it from the photos which I had taken from outside, and then we discovered they had an English translation! The layout of the rooms was a little odd though - we walked through the Breakfast room and into a corridor which took us into the actual kitchen, not the restaurant. it turned out that the restaurant was actually on the side. Initially we had walked into it but the waitress had just disappeared so we weren't sure if we were supposed to just sit ourselves down or wait to be seated. I'm sure we must have amused the local customers by walking in and out different doors each time, but still....even though it was a nice little restaurant room the layout was not the best...!
That evening we turned on the TV and saw the extent of the flooding everywhere. Even though we had been through a few areas which were a little flooded, and had to follow diversions her and there, we quickly realised just how very lucky we had been to miss the worst areas.
Packed and ready to go, we filled the car and checked out. The woman at reception spoke English and gave us a local map, showing us the way to Stock where we were going to get the ferry Herrenchiemsee. She said that the village on the south side of the river was almost totally flooded - it had even made the news. She said she wasn't sure the boats were going or if Herrenchiemsee was flooded, but we hoped not. We left and made our way to Prien and then Stock, and we were at the harbour at 10:15.
I know it was more or less a sign from the beginning that everywhere here was closed. But as we passed the ticket office, there was a sign stating that we could get the tickets ON the boat. So we wandered up and saw a number of boats in, and even one arriving. Not only this, but a number of people were wandering around looking just as puzzled and lost as we were. We looked at the pathways to the boats and sme were flooded, although we noticed a couple we could have easy got through without getting too wet. But then a woman came along with some tape and some signs, taking photos of the flooding on her phone, presumably she worked there. One of the other people who was wandering around and had previously asked us if we knew if the boats were running, decided to ask the woman with the tape. She shook her head and said "No, no boats today or tomorrow.". So our day trip to Herrenchiemsee was cancelled.
We left feeling very unhappy and disappointed, as Herrenchiemsee was one of the grand palaces which we had really wanted to see. But then again we didn't know that we were about to enter the part of Europe which was experiencing mass flooding on the first few days of our trip. Looking at the map, we went to Rosenheim and stopped for a walk about and some lunch. We found the tourist information office and walked through a sculpture park before wandering through the town enjoying the colourful and clean buildings and plazas. After having lunch, we heded to an exhibition gallery but baulked at the price for an exhibition on Alexander the Great which we had no idea whether or not would have English translations included (audio guide 5 euros extra each), so we left disheartened and made our way back to the car, stopping off for a pastry on the way to eat later. We were enticed by the sign for "Butterkuchen" but we actually bought a large parcel of pastry covered in icing sugar....Back in the car, we passed some police who were directing traffic, and more traffic diversions, although we were able to continue with our journey. We stopped off in an area which was on the map as a marshy area but was actually a nature reserve with a number of walks. We probably would have gone to investigate it it hadn't been so cloudy and wet. We had been driving past some mountains, or so we thought....we had the feeling of being near something large looming overhead but we didn't actually see any mountains at all, just dense forest everywhere. We ate the pastry which we had bought earlier, it was nice but we couldn't quite decide whether or not it actually had something in it or not. Mathew was convinced he could taste something fruity, whilst I could tell there was something soft on the base but no flavour as such. Perhaps next time we'll go for the Butterkuchen.....!
Continuing onward, we shortly arrived at an area of the road which was indeed, flooded. To be honest if it had flooded any more than it already was, that road may well have been cut off. Who knows, maybe it was cut off after we had passed though it. The water was very deep, or so it seemed, as the traffic took it in turns to drive on the less flooded side of the road to get through. The road basically went through the marsh land which had a number of channels flowing through that had burst their banks. It must have been at least a good 30cm deep at least, but this was nothing compared to what they were experiencing in Passau. That was all over the news - south Germany, Czech Republic and Austria were all experiencing major flooding although our route had actually taken us around and away from it, the only casualty being that we were unable to visit Herenchiemsee.Continuing on, it was still raining but it was more of a steady drizzle rather than a downpour which was what it was like yesterday. We finally arrived in Ettal and got out to have a walk around a little, especially as I had spotted THREE wood carving shops on our way in. They seemed far away but didn't actually take that long to get to on foot. Going into the furthest one first, I found a bear shaped magnet and a cute tree, and Mathew bought a different tree. Everything was wooden, not a single thing for sale in the shop was made of anything else. The second shop seemed more expensive and I'm not entirely sure it was open or not, but it had a number of religious figures inside it alongside other things. Outside there was a large wooden sculpted bear which I had to have my photo taken next to, of course! Further along, the third shop was selling anything you could think of with a particularly distinctive face on it. Again, I'm not sure if it was open when we walked by, but we weren't sure we wanted to buy a random object with a random moustachioed rosy cheeked face on it.
Dinner was straightforward - we had spent lots of time trying to translate it from the photos which I had taken from outside, and then we discovered they had an English translation! The layout of the rooms was a little odd though - we walked through the Breakfast room and into a corridor which took us into the actual kitchen, not the restaurant. it turned out that the restaurant was actually on the side. Initially we had walked into it but the waitress had just disappeared so we weren't sure if we were supposed to just sit ourselves down or wait to be seated. I'm sure we must have amused the local customers by walking in and out different doors each time, but still....even though it was a nice little restaurant room the layout was not the best...!
That evening we turned on the TV and saw the extent of the flooding everywhere. Even though we had been through a few areas which were a little flooded, and had to follow diversions her and there, we quickly realised just how very lucky we had been to miss the worst areas.
Tuesday June 4th
We arrived at Linderhoff pretty much as it opened at 9am, and made our way in. We bought tickets and made our way to the Schloss, awaiting the guided tour around it. The grounds were large but the house itself was quite small. Kind Ludwig II had modelled it on Versailles in France, and I have to say it was more Versailles than Versailles!! Even though it was small, it looked incredibly sumptuous, lots of woodcarving covered in gold leaf. Apparently there are only 5 kilos of gold leaf in the house because everything is so thin and brushed on. Still, it was full of floral fussy decoration, lots of rococo style artistry, ceilings and walls completely covered with things, there was no bare wall to be seen. It was pretty much....well....ridiculous I guess you could say, it was so over the top with everything. Large mirrors were used to make the rooms look much much bigger than they actually were, and there were lots of vases which he liked to collect, there were plenty of little plinths for them to be displayed on. I think our guide said there were about 250 in the house overall.
After our tour of the house, we went along the park path to the Grotto which was pretty epic to say the least. It was very impressive, although we had to remind ourselves that King Ludwig II used it alone. He wasn't a socialiser and preferred to be alone....losing grip of reality resulting in him being declared clinically insane. Although whether he was or not we don't know, it may have been an excuse to remove him from the throne.
We continued round the garden and had a look at the pavilions in the grounds; a Moorish Kiosk and a Moroccan House, all completely decorated inside and very colourful indeed. After this, we wandered to the shop and bought some post cards. We're still intrigued by the gift shops being so limited with the merchandise...who buys napkins as a gift? Who needs yet another porcelain mug? I may be on the lookout for more quirky gift shops...!
So before we left Linderhoff, I was feeling rather hungry so I went into the shop which sold "snacks". I came away with a Nusschecken or something like that - basically a cinnamon swirl but with a sweet nut paste instead. Yum!
Onward we went to Nauschwanstein. Yes, we could well have cut through Austria to get there, but Mathew wasn't sure about it with regards to the nsurance on the car, so we went the long way around. It gave us a chance to take in the mountains and approach the castle from a rather dramatic viewpoint! The ground we were travelling on was so incredibly flat compared to the looming mountains! Mathew said it was pretty much the same in the Canadian Rockies, but I guess I didn't really notice it as much there because it was much more built up. Here, it was flat fields of grass with the odd shed here and there, it was much more of a contrast I think.
Schloss Neuschwanstein was also over the top with the decor, but in a very different way. Pretty much all the walls and ceilings were painted, although the majority of it was pretty flat - not a great deal in the way of wood carving with the exception of the bedroom. The wall and ceiling paintings depicted mythological and legendary stories, and in between bright vivid colours in patterns and swirls, no surface being left blank at all. Impressive and really quite spacious. At the end of the tour, we descended a spiral staircase and saw the kitchens which had been completed, and the shop was in part of the castle which was unfinished - and it really was - brick walls, wooden floors, timber beams and no paint.
Outside, we walked around the castle to a view point on a bridge which again was very steep but definitely worth it! On our way back towards the castle I spotted a local artist selling his work so I stopped and bought something from him. We continued on and down the slope which we had walked up to get to the castle, and stopped off for a rather late lunch. Mathew got us each a "Pizza Snack" (just a mini pizza) which we had there before continuing down to the car and making our way to the hotel.
The hotel was Gasthauf Rossle, in a small quaint village and this time it appeared that the lady who checked us in did not speak a word of English. But we seemed to check in just fine and we understood most of what she said. Yet again, we thought that dinner might be somewhat interesting as we didn't think that the menu would have an English translation.
The restaurant was easy to find, and I had previously taken a photograph of the menus outside and had taken time to translate the majority of the words. Fortunatly our in depth investigation of the previous nights menu was fairly fresh in my mind with some new words so it didn't take me long to figure out a few things. However, there were quite a few words which I was not familiar with and could not identify with my German phrase book (the dictionary at the back was only English - German, not the other way around!). Played it safe with a rump steak in pepper and garlic sauce, whilst Mathew went with the beef goulash. We both enjoyed our meals and were yet again full without space for dessert, so we paid as left, having spoken everything in German! Hooray!
The evening was spent chilling out, especially as we had a long drive the following day, heading towards the Black Forest. Now I will have to find a space in my stomach for some gateaux whilst we're there!!
Wednesday June 5th
This morning after Breakfast we had a little walk around the tiny village Reiden am Forgensee before our long drive to the Black Forest. We waved Goodbye to the mountains, although we followed them, a little further because we were pretty much right on the border with Austria. Actually there was one moment when we DID go into Austria, although we turned around and went back into Germany as soon as we could. We just weren't sure if the car was insured for going into another country or not...! Anyway, we found our way, eventually to a place called Lindau on the edge of Bodensee, a large inland lake. It was then that we realised just how many roads had been closed - for reasons we were totally unaware of except one where it indicated there had been a car accident - as we kept having to find alternate routes on the map! not that we were any good at it though, as the road map we had didn't show the best detail (i.e. not all the villages were on this one..!).
However, we arrived at Lindau and made our way to the edge so we could walk onto the Insel or Island. I have to say that coming into Lindau wasn't very exciting at all, and we weren't convinced. But as we left the car park we were given a map of the island for free (!) and when we walked across the bridge, suddenly we were in the old town, the original part of the town with colourful buildings with balconies, carved wood and paintings all over the walls. A typical tourist destination yes, but it was a really nice little place to be. We agreed that the guide book didn't give it enough credit. We stopped off for a moment and thought about lunch, although we weren't particularly hungry. But today it was really very warm indeed, and you know that that means? ICE CREAM! I wasn't particularly hungry either, but I rather fancied an ice cream. So I had three scoops (yes, three), one each of hazelnut, vanilla and one which turned out to be chocolate chip. I know, not too adventurous, but not all of the names were obvious! Anyway, the hazelnut ice cream......delicious!! I'll have to have some of that again sometime.
Moving on, we managed to get ourselves through many closed roads with diversions which were partially signposted, and eventually found our way to Alpirsbach. We had left Bavaria in the south east and were now in Baden-Wurtenburg; south west Germany. We were welcomed in person by someone at Hotel Rossle who had emailed me to let me know the restaurant was closed tonight. I knew this, but at the same time I had not checked my emails before we set out in the morning. She showed us up to our room, have us a map of the town and the other places where we could eat, and told us when breakfast would be ready in the morning.
Our room was spacious enough, with a balcony outside just like all the other hotels we had been in so far, although this was the first private one and the first one we actually used as it was nice outside in the evenings. We went out to get some food and ordered something called Alpirsbachen Leckeler. We knew what was in it but we still have no idea what the "Lekeler" part referred to! We had pork covered in molten cheese with a "kind of gnocci" which was REALLY nice. After wards, we strolled around the town and admired the old buildings, finding the chocolate shop (appropriate!) and the monastery, which had a garden. Apparently there was going to be a free music concert on Friday evening so we thought we might stroll around to investigate. Mathew said that "If it's yodelling the we can go back to the hotel!".
Back at the hotel, we chilled out on the balcony before going to bed, closing the shutters down over the outside of the windows. Our curtains were just flimsy net curtains, we have no idea why there were no actual curtains in the room..! Well it was a good job I brought my new eye mask with me then!
However, we arrived at Lindau and made our way to the edge so we could walk onto the Insel or Island. I have to say that coming into Lindau wasn't very exciting at all, and we weren't convinced. But as we left the car park we were given a map of the island for free (!) and when we walked across the bridge, suddenly we were in the old town, the original part of the town with colourful buildings with balconies, carved wood and paintings all over the walls. A typical tourist destination yes, but it was a really nice little place to be. We agreed that the guide book didn't give it enough credit. We stopped off for a moment and thought about lunch, although we weren't particularly hungry. But today it was really very warm indeed, and you know that that means? ICE CREAM! I wasn't particularly hungry either, but I rather fancied an ice cream. So I had three scoops (yes, three), one each of hazelnut, vanilla and one which turned out to be chocolate chip. I know, not too adventurous, but not all of the names were obvious! Anyway, the hazelnut ice cream......delicious!! I'll have to have some of that again sometime.
Moving on, we managed to get ourselves through many closed roads with diversions which were partially signposted, and eventually found our way to Alpirsbach. We had left Bavaria in the south east and were now in Baden-Wurtenburg; south west Germany. We were welcomed in person by someone at Hotel Rossle who had emailed me to let me know the restaurant was closed tonight. I knew this, but at the same time I had not checked my emails before we set out in the morning. She showed us up to our room, have us a map of the town and the other places where we could eat, and told us when breakfast would be ready in the morning.
Our room was spacious enough, with a balcony outside just like all the other hotels we had been in so far, although this was the first private one and the first one we actually used as it was nice outside in the evenings. We went out to get some food and ordered something called Alpirsbachen Leckeler. We knew what was in it but we still have no idea what the "Lekeler" part referred to! We had pork covered in molten cheese with a "kind of gnocci" which was REALLY nice. After wards, we strolled around the town and admired the old buildings, finding the chocolate shop (appropriate!) and the monastery, which had a garden. Apparently there was going to be a free music concert on Friday evening so we thought we might stroll around to investigate. Mathew said that "If it's yodelling the we can go back to the hotel!".Back at the hotel, we chilled out on the balcony before going to bed, closing the shutters down over the outside of the windows. Our curtains were just flimsy net curtains, we have no idea why there were no actual curtains in the room..! Well it was a good job I brought my new eye mask with me then!
Thursday June 6th
After a good nights sleep, we awoke to another sunny day. Downstairs we had the usual breakfast selection and I filled out the usual form which I had been doing since we have been staying at hotels in Germany. This one however, gave us a ticket in return - discount or free travel throughout the Black Forest area and some discounts on some attractions where we see the symbols.
When the breakfast room was quiet, I swiped a couple of bread rolls and Nutella for later! Afterwards, we went back to our room and prepared for the day ahead. We went on our way to the Black Forest Open Air Museum, which was quite fun, if a little on the hot side! There were a number of old buildings here, and everything was made with wood. So much so in fact, you could smell the wood in the air. It must be affected by the sun warming it up which must release the natural resins. The buildings were really quite cool, which we were thankful for on a day like today! It was incredibly warm, we thought in the mid - high 20s (Centigrade).
This Museum was based on a traditional farmstead, and is comprised of a number of buildings which are a combination of original, restored and moved from other areas into one place - much like the livings Museums we have in the UK like Beamish and the Black Country Museum. The Black Forest Museum was steeped in tradition, where we leant that the unmarked ladies wore hats with giant red pompoms on them, whilst the married women wore hats with black ones. We also discovered that none of these buildings had a hole in the roof as a chimney of sorts - the kitchens would have filled with soot, and it would have billowed out of the building. But they did hang up their meat and sausages which were smoked in the process. Some of these building was absolutely huge, with the cellar being built first to keep it damp and cool, and the house basically being built on the top entirely (most of the time) in wood. e loft space in these things was monumental, and the gable ends almost touching the ground. And plenty of balconies...!
After doing half the buildings, we sat down for lunch. I was a little peckish so I thought I would order a salad.......but it turned out to be quite monstrous and almost completely covered in vinegar! I like vinegar but this was ridiculous. I might as well have been eating straight out of 2 pickle jars. Pickled cucumber, pickled cabbage, pickled turnip, pickled carrot, pickled French beans. The only thing which wasn't pickled were the potatoes, tomato and ham. The lettuce was also smothered in dressing.....so much for the light bite and healthy food! Mathew ordered a bread covered bratwurst but didn't realise it until it came, by which time he had already tucked in to what he thought he had ordered, which was a diced sausage chutney with bread which came with compliments from the Chef, as we later discovered!
Needless to say I didn't finish my gigantic salad! We continued on with the rest of the Museum, but we were both flagging because it was so hot in the sun, but nice and breezy in the shade. Eventually we had finished, and we went into the shop before leaving, still baffled by the lack of actual souvenirs anyone would really want to buy. I was surprised that there wasn't much in the way of chocolate and biscuits actually...or perhaps that's just because I'm used to seeing those at National Trust and English Heritage places in the UK.
After we left the Museum, we decided to go for it - we had some Black Forest Gateaux! There was a little area just outside the Museum, of eateries and tacky souvenirs. We sat down in one of the eateries which was playing dodgy music, bad versions of songs released in the 80s is what it sounded like! The cake came and went, it didn't last long! It was very, light and the sponge cake was more cinnamon flavoured rather than chocolate. I imagine there are probably a number of recipes for this cake.
After this, we went for a scenic drive to a few "viewpoints" where we took photos and returned back to the hotel. As I was online again, we took a look at the websites for the places to eat in Alpirsbach, and found two in English which saved us a lot of trouble translating! The others we weren't so lucky with. We went to the same place as we had done the night before to lay it safe, and investigate the others tomorrow. I decided to buy app which is supposed to translate anything you put before the iPad, but when we tried it on the menu which we already had a translation for, we ended up with numerous homemade spatulas, cathedral baskets and refractive powder. Hmmmm....not very appetising...!
This evening also, thanks to the translation, I found a very useful fact - the restaurants said they can do smaller portions for a 2 euro discount. So now I know this is possible, I shall be asking for small portions everywhere we go! Tonight I had Zander (Perch) again, and it was very nice indeed, even though it was swimming in the herb butter. Mathew had a pork steak with very nice potatoes. I have to say that this evenings meals have been rather tasty, manly because we've been able to taste the actual food rather than finding it smothered in something which overpowers everything. It was like I had rediscovered cucumbers, red peppers and cherry tomatoes!
Back at the hotel we chilled out again, and thought that after breakfast tomorrow morning, we could take a stroll around the town ad take a photo of the two restaurants which we don't have English translations for. One reason was because one of them had the menu on a box just above one of the tables. We could look at these tomorrow and translate them ourselves with the phrase book.
When the breakfast room was quiet, I swiped a couple of bread rolls and Nutella for later! Afterwards, we went back to our room and prepared for the day ahead. We went on our way to the Black Forest Open Air Museum, which was quite fun, if a little on the hot side! There were a number of old buildings here, and everything was made with wood. So much so in fact, you could smell the wood in the air. It must be affected by the sun warming it up which must release the natural resins. The buildings were really quite cool, which we were thankful for on a day like today! It was incredibly warm, we thought in the mid - high 20s (Centigrade).
This Museum was based on a traditional farmstead, and is comprised of a number of buildings which are a combination of original, restored and moved from other areas into one place - much like the livings Museums we have in the UK like Beamish and the Black Country Museum. The Black Forest Museum was steeped in tradition, where we leant that the unmarked ladies wore hats with giant red pompoms on them, whilst the married women wore hats with black ones. We also discovered that none of these buildings had a hole in the roof as a chimney of sorts - the kitchens would have filled with soot, and it would have billowed out of the building. But they did hang up their meat and sausages which were smoked in the process. Some of these building was absolutely huge, with the cellar being built first to keep it damp and cool, and the house basically being built on the top entirely (most of the time) in wood. e loft space in these things was monumental, and the gable ends almost touching the ground. And plenty of balconies...!After doing half the buildings, we sat down for lunch. I was a little peckish so I thought I would order a salad.......but it turned out to be quite monstrous and almost completely covered in vinegar! I like vinegar but this was ridiculous. I might as well have been eating straight out of 2 pickle jars. Pickled cucumber, pickled cabbage, pickled turnip, pickled carrot, pickled French beans. The only thing which wasn't pickled were the potatoes, tomato and ham. The lettuce was also smothered in dressing.....so much for the light bite and healthy food! Mathew ordered a bread covered bratwurst but didn't realise it until it came, by which time he had already tucked in to what he thought he had ordered, which was a diced sausage chutney with bread which came with compliments from the Chef, as we later discovered!
Needless to say I didn't finish my gigantic salad! We continued on with the rest of the Museum, but we were both flagging because it was so hot in the sun, but nice and breezy in the shade. Eventually we had finished, and we went into the shop before leaving, still baffled by the lack of actual souvenirs anyone would really want to buy. I was surprised that there wasn't much in the way of chocolate and biscuits actually...or perhaps that's just because I'm used to seeing those at National Trust and English Heritage places in the UK.
After we left the Museum, we decided to go for it - we had some Black Forest Gateaux! There was a little area just outside the Museum, of eateries and tacky souvenirs. We sat down in one of the eateries which was playing dodgy music, bad versions of songs released in the 80s is what it sounded like! The cake came and went, it didn't last long! It was very, light and the sponge cake was more cinnamon flavoured rather than chocolate. I imagine there are probably a number of recipes for this cake.After this, we went for a scenic drive to a few "viewpoints" where we took photos and returned back to the hotel. As I was online again, we took a look at the websites for the places to eat in Alpirsbach, and found two in English which saved us a lot of trouble translating! The others we weren't so lucky with. We went to the same place as we had done the night before to lay it safe, and investigate the others tomorrow. I decided to buy app which is supposed to translate anything you put before the iPad, but when we tried it on the menu which we already had a translation for, we ended up with numerous homemade spatulas, cathedral baskets and refractive powder. Hmmmm....not very appetising...!
This evening also, thanks to the translation, I found a very useful fact - the restaurants said they can do smaller portions for a 2 euro discount. So now I know this is possible, I shall be asking for small portions everywhere we go! Tonight I had Zander (Perch) again, and it was very nice indeed, even though it was swimming in the herb butter. Mathew had a pork steak with very nice potatoes. I have to say that this evenings meals have been rather tasty, manly because we've been able to taste the actual food rather than finding it smothered in something which overpowers everything. It was like I had rediscovered cucumbers, red peppers and cherry tomatoes!
Back at the hotel we chilled out again, and thought that after breakfast tomorrow morning, we could take a stroll around the town ad take a photo of the two restaurants which we don't have English translations for. One reason was because one of them had the menu on a box just above one of the tables. We could look at these tomorrow and translate them ourselves with the phrase book.
Friday June 7th
This morning at breakfast I managed to swipe a couple of rolls and some Nutella yet again! Today we went to Schloss Liechtenstein first, a very small cute castle. We could only get into the castle on a guided tour, and although we were given an English tour guide book, we were only in a group of 3 people so the guide didn't mind speaking to us in English for parts of the tour! The rooms, like the castle were small and cute, and the decoration paintd on the walls yet again - we have noticed here, at least in this region of Germany that paintings seem to be preferred to sculpture or plaster work.After Schloss Liechtenstein, we went on to Burg Hohenzollern which we had passed on the way. it looks very impressive from a distance, on the top of a large hill, very much the fairy tale style castle with conical roofs on corner towers. Of course, it was a bit of a slog to get up there, but nowhere near as much as Schloss Neuschwanstein! This one didn't take anywhere near as long to get to. Up into the courtyard, we were looking for something to eat, and we decided ona drink with a slice of cake. So I asked what cake there was, and I was told Black Forest Gateaux, Creamy Cheesecake, Chocolate Cake and Apple Strudel. Mathew ordered the Apple Strudel straight away despite telling me he wasn't going to have anything to eat! I decided on the Cheesecake, but what I received was very different to what I was expecting - basically it was a large sponge cake cut in half with some cream about the same depth as the cake inbetween. It was surprisingly light for such a large cake!
Onward to the castle, and yet again we could only go inside if we were on a guided tour. This seems to be the trend in German castles, or at least it is here - no getting inside unless you're in a guided tour, and while you're in there, no photos allowed (which is why I have none). Again these rooms inside Burg Hohenzollern had painted walls and ceilings, not having much in the way of plasterwork. The main thing we noticed about this one was the temperature - it was a very cold castle! I dread to think what it's like there in winter!
Afterwards, we went into the shop which was selling more in the way of souvenirs than in previous shops attached to the castles which we have visited so far, but still nothing stood out as such! Afterward, we went on our way back to the hotel where we showered and I washed some of our clothes for the following week, leaving them out on the balcony to dry. My hair dried super fast, so I hoped my socks would too!
Saturday June 8th
Today we went to Baden Baden, and we had a very scenic drive through the Black Forest. When we parked and wandered around the town however, it didn't really grip us. It would have been a great place to stop off and have some lunch but apart from that, I think it was more a town for going on a serious shopping trip for designer clothes. Which we don't do. I was wondering why the waiter assumed we would be "spending some money" when we told him where we were heading today!
We didn't spend that long in the town before returning to the car, but fortunately Mathew had consulted the map before hand and had spotted a couple of castles which we visited, after having bought some lunch from a bakery in the town.
Just outside Baden-Baden, was "Altes Schloss Hohenbaden" which was the first castle RUIN we had visited so far. We were free to explore the place ourselves which was a refreshing change from the others which we had been to so far. I have to say that this castle was pretty impressive with the number of levels there were to explore. Just when we thought we had reached the top of a set of stairs, there were more in the corner leading elsewhere. Needless to say, we got some pretty cool photos from up there!
Next, we went on to another one called Burg Alt-Eberstein, originally the residence of the Counts of Eberstein (in 1100), but became abandoned and the building material re-used elsewhere. Again, this was a ruin, although we could only climb the tower, which we did. It was kind of undersandable though, as when we approached and left the place we could see the walls at the side were practically being held up by themselves. Not a good idea to have too many people roaming around in potentially structurally unstable areas..! In the distance we saw a number of people hang-gliding and I tried to take a few photos - there must have been about 7 or 8 of them. It was a good day to be out doing that I thought, as it was absolutely sweltering on the ground, and probably nice and breezy up there. When we moved to the other side of the tower, the landscape was very flat but we figured out we could just about see the border of France.
After this, we drive back the scenic way and stopped of at what looked like a very touristy place called Mummelsee. It was VERY touristy. There was a random lake which was quite small and took us about 15 - 20 minutes to walk around, although it was quite fun as the path was rather higgledy-piggledy. Se had a look in the shop as well which was HUGE but sold pretty much every since typical tack German souvenir you could think of. One thing's for sure, they really like those mini bottles of alcohol, and there's plenty of jars of oil to choose from too!
After this, we made our way back to the hotel. A fairly uneventful day really, but it was incredibly hot so it was probably a good thing that we didn't do too much today!
We didn't spend that long in the town before returning to the car, but fortunately Mathew had consulted the map before hand and had spotted a couple of castles which we visited, after having bought some lunch from a bakery in the town.Just outside Baden-Baden, was "Altes Schloss Hohenbaden" which was the first castle RUIN we had visited so far. We were free to explore the place ourselves which was a refreshing change from the others which we had been to so far. I have to say that this castle was pretty impressive with the number of levels there were to explore. Just when we thought we had reached the top of a set of stairs, there were more in the corner leading elsewhere. Needless to say, we got some pretty cool photos from up there!
After this, we drive back the scenic way and stopped of at what looked like a very touristy place called Mummelsee. It was VERY touristy. There was a random lake which was quite small and took us about 15 - 20 minutes to walk around, although it was quite fun as the path was rather higgledy-piggledy. Se had a look in the shop as well which was HUGE but sold pretty much every since typical tack German souvenir you could think of. One thing's for sure, they really like those mini bottles of alcohol, and there's plenty of jars of oil to choose from too!After this, we made our way back to the hotel. A fairly uneventful day really, but it was incredibly hot so it was probably a good thing that we didn't do too much today!
Sunday June 9th
I had written down a particular car park which the website had advised, and it took us half an hour to find it and park. It seemed that the town of Ludwigsburg is an urban sprawl, and although designed in grid formation, it wasn't very easy to figure put which way to turn around to get back to where you wanted to be. Still, we managed to find the car park eventually, and in we went.
We have learnt something about some German tourist attractions - there is no end of ticket choices. Visit the main residence for 7 Euros, visit the museums for 5 Euros, visit the gardens for 8 Euros, Visit everything except the gardens for 13 Euros, visit everything including the gardens for 16 Euros....take your pick! We managed to buy some tickets, although I had said "Including the garden," Mathew had pointed to the one which was without. We realised after we had visited the Baroque Gallery and went back to change our tickets, but because the Baroque Gallery seemed to be the ONLY place in the complex which clipped the tickets, we weren't allowed to change. Which meant that we had paid 26 for everything except the garden, and had to pay 16 for the garden. Yes there was a communication issue going on here but still, a lesson to learn from I think!! It was very annoying. If we had visited anything else and gone back to the ticket office, we would have been able to get an upgrade.Anyway, back to the residence complex....it was all a little odd to be honest. Yes, it was nice like all the palaces we have been to so far, and perhaps it was because it was a Sunday, I have no idea...but there weren't many officials or attendants although that wasn't an issue, but the whole place seemed rather disjointed to me. Why were there so many ticket options? Why weren't we given a map of the complex, given the fact that it was absolutely huge? Why was there a lack of maps within the complex? Where were the lockers? Why weren't there any signs telling us that certain things were on the SECOND floor? I was all very unhelpful and it was pretty much a case of buying your tickets and the rest was up to you to discover what was where. The whole atmosphere of the place I found rather sterile, with the exception of the cafe and the gardens.
We visited a couple of the museums which seemed to house rather random collections of things such as Baroque paintings, ceramics (historical and modern) and some stone sculptures combined with children's period fashion designs(!). We then went into the cafe for something to eat, Mathew was still feeling a little nauseous so he just had a cold drink, whilst I managed to get myself a decaf Cappucino (the smallest I have ever had) and a pear cheesecake which was more like a frangipani tart but without the almond flavour. I don't think they do cheesecake here quite like they do in the UK....but it was still very nice though! Something I've noticed about desserts, although I haven't had many here, is that they are sweet, but they look much sweeter than they taste. Or so it seems. Perhaps I've just managed to choose the ones that aren't sickly sweet...! We had some time to kill before our tour at 1:30 so we popped into the shop thinking that would do it. We were out in less than 5 minutes. Another thing we have noticed here is the German gift shops at tourist attractions such as palaces and castles - not only are they so sparsely filled they look like art exhibits, but they seem to sell a lot of items which have absolutely no relevance to the attraction in question. There's definitely an obsession with porcelain (understandably), candles and the oddest one - paper napkins. They come in three different sizes and with a number of different designs. Even the German equivalent of Paperchase sells them....LOTS of them. I don't think I have ever seen so many paper napkins in my life!!Next, we had a guided tour around the residence which took 90 minutes - this gives you a sense of the scale of the place, walking from one room to the next from one end of the place to the other. The tour was very good and very detailed, although I had no idea our tour guide would be our tour guide as he wasn t wearing a uniform or a badge, it was just as if some randon guy and popped in to do it. I also have no idea what his name was as he said it so quickly it sounded like "My name is asdfghjkl," but other than that he was very informative. It did feel like he was rushing through a few things and it all ended rather abruptly however, he left us in an odd place at the top of the stairs and it was a case of "Ok thanks bye," as he made off into a dark corridor to somewhere we will never know.
After a long stroll around the garden (and free toilets, I should think so too with an entry fee of 8 Euros a piece), we made our way back to the car and attempted to find a parking space closer to the hotel which we had passed earlier. About 20 minutes later we found a spot and checked in to our rather modern and colourful (lime green accented) hotel room. Very spacious and comfortable, if a little warm. This hotel was one of the most expensive, after having a limited choice in the area, none of which had breakfast included in the price advertised on the website, so this one will be extra.
We had dinner at yet another Italian restaurant and ate outside for the first time we have been in Germany. After filling our bellies with Ravioli and Spaghetti, we headed back to the hotel room as the weather became quite close and we were expecting a little rain at some point. Tonight we had a DVD player so we could watch the discs we brought with us to watch (Mathew brought the wrong power cable with him so we haven't been able to watch anything since we arrived here!). Our choice? Castle :)
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