Germany and Austria

I think the last post was just as we were leaving Brussels for Cologne - so due to my previous laziness, this is quite a long post.

We had a pleasant drive from Brussels and got to Cologne about 3 pm. We had not booked anywhere to stay and rocked up to the Hyatt Regency to ask about availability. We were lucky to meet the Hotel Concierge who knew that the hotel had many empty rooms and made sure we got a really good deal for two rooms (including breakfast). Well. . .weren’t we in heaven???? The kids couldn’t believe their luck, there was a swimming pool and all the mod cons. We felt very spoilt.
Unfortunately, Cologne was very, very hot the day we arrived (apparently experiencing a very unusual heat wave) and it was nearly impossible to walk around town. We managed a short walk and a visit to the famous Cologne Cathedral before we had to go back to the hotel to cool off. Not long after we returned to the hotel, the storm that had been threatening unleashed itself on the city. We were happy though. . .cooling off in the indoor pool as the rain and wind raged outside!

I learned something new on our short visit to Cologne. . .the “eau de Cologne” or “4711” cologne (does anyone actually remember this??) originated in Cologne! I guess this seems obvious. . .but I’ve never really thought about it before. They do sell bottles of this around town as an authentic souvenir! Apparently, the “4711” is the number of the house belonging to the person who started making this product.

After a very pleasant stay in the Hyatt Cologne, we packed up and headed out of the city towards Bonn. We planned on driving from Bonn to Mainz (a southerly drive) so we could go through the Rhine Valley. This is predominantly a wine-making region – famous for its white wines (or reislings) and most of the towns of interest are located on the Rhine River. Apparently, the best way to experience the Rhine Valley is by boat on the Rhine itself, but as that was not possible for us, we decided to drive as far as we could get without going beyond our identified target – Heidelberg. We stopped in a couple of lovely towns – one of which was Bacharach. This was one of those picturesque and quaint towns that have cobble-stoned streets and old-style wooden buildings. After getting some information, we walked through the town – stopping at the local “Weinstuber” to sample the local wines. We headed to the lookout for a magnificent view of the river and vineyards which cover the mountains running alongside the river.

Onto Mainz for lunch and then to Heidelberg – our pit-stop for the night. Heidelberg seemed crowded and after a little searching managed to find accommodation for the night. After refreshing ourselves, we headed out for a walk in this pretty town which is dominated by a mountainous landscape and a castle which overlooks the town. Despite being small, the town was teeming with people in the beer gardens, wine bars and cafes and we had a lovely walk around town before turning in for the night.

Friday morning (15th July), we packed the car and headed out for a wander around the castle and gardens and then drove out of Heidelberg to Munich. This was a long and frustrating drive (for Steven) as the autobahns were very crowded and often became a slow crawl as three-lanes merged into two at a number of places. We finally arrived in Munich around 7 pm and checked into our hotel. We were all pretty tired – but needed some dinner so we headed out into town and were quite surprised by how seedy and dirty the area was. Munich is incredibly crowded and there seemed to be a number of events scheduled here this weekend (evidenced for us by the difficulty in securing decent accommodation). To top it all off, it was soooo hot.

The thing that has struck us most about Munich is the obsession with beer and meat! Everywhere you go there is beer, beer and more beer! Of course, Germany IS famous for its beers. Steven had a huge glass of beer with his HUGE dinner!! It also seems traditional to have a small glass of beer with breakfast!! With some trepidation we had a traditional Bavarian breakfast the next morning which consisted of fried sausages with sauerkrawt, white sausage (which comes hot to the table in a boiling bath of water) and metwurst (slab of devon-like flat sausage). I was proud of everyone for giving it a go. . .of course, the giant pretzels helped!

We toured as much of Munich as we could manage in the day and turned in for the night just before a huge thunderstorm hit the city (we seemed to be plagued with such storms at present). We woke early the next morning, checking out of our hotel and headed for the town of Schwangau - 2 hours south of Munich and the location of the fairy-tale Bavarian castle of Neuschwanstein. We had a great day walking up to the castle and then enjoying a well-deserved relaxing horse and carriage ride down the mountain!

After Neuschwanstein, we said goodbye to Germany and drove to Salzburg in Austria. We enjoyed a lovely Indian meal at a local restaurant on our first night before turning in after a long day. The next day was a beautiful sparkling sunny day and after a much-needed stop at the local laundromat, we headed out for some sight-seeing. We liked our horse and carraiage ride so much from the day before, we took another ride by way of a short tour of the main sights of Salzburg. The popularity of these horse and carriage rides is evident by the sight and smell of horse manure just about everywhere around town. . .this of course was hilarious to the children (who naturally had to comment on each steaming pile we came across!!!). Of course, Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and you see images of him everywhere. . .After the horse and carriage ride, we took the cable car up to the castle which sits above the town and offered panoramic views of the alpine landscape which brought to the forefront of our minds those famous words "the hills are alive. . ."!! I'm fairly certain everyone around us was silently singing to themselves the very same song!!!

After an authentic Austrian lunch in a beer garden (schnitzel of course!), on July 20th, we headed to Vienna. . .there's lots of media attention on Vienna a present as the city is hosting the World Aids Conference at the Hofburg Palace (in the city centre). The likes of Bill Clinton and Bill Gates are here attending the conference and accounts for the motorcade of black vehicles followed by police cars along the streets of Vienna in the morning. . .

We had a terrific day in Vienna, visiting most of the cities main attractions on foot and even managing to sit down for a Viennese morning tea with proper hot chocolates for the children and a slice of sacher torte for mum and dad. We purchased some tickets for a Mozart and Strauss concert evening. . .which I thought would be impossible (given that the Vienna opera season is on hiatus for the summer). As it turned out, it was a slightly amateurish production - but the children enjoyed their first taste of Mozart and Strauss (even Zoe was clapping and toe-tapping in all the right places!) and we even managed to meet a lovely Australian family from Clovelly - who were sitting behind us! Isn't the world a small place sometimes?

On the 21st, after a fantastic visit to the Imperial Schonbrunn Palace just outside Vienna, we made our way to Graz, 2 hours south, for a much-needed pit-stop on our way down to Venice in Italy. We are really looking forward to our visit to Italy and some decent pasta after all the pork and sausages we've consumed on Germany and Austria!