So! Where was I up to?
There’s not that much to be said about Neuschwanstein that can’t be expressed (far better) in pictures. But unfortunately macca's internet is too slow for pictures at the moment. sooo, you'll see soon. Basically, its very, VERY pretty, and we went there. yay!
Its also a rather lovely place to run your battery out, if that’s your thing. It is our thing, apparently. Michael had his tour booked so he ran off all stress-y while I went up to complete strangers and asked if they spoke English and could they pretty please jumpstart our car. Two different lovely families tried but we couldn’t manage it til Michael got back, apparently there’s an art to connecting wires to things and turning the ignition (at least when your jump leads are dodgy, and smoke a bit, and terrify the nice Japanese people who are helping you out…)
Anyway we got on and continued into Austria – very briefly, before driving along the border towards Berchtesgarten, seeing some very pretty mountains and lakes on the way (clearly the best type of scenery.)
Berchtesgarten was awesome! We had amazing weather, so we drove the Rossfeld Panoramastrasse, and saw intense alps scenery, so so beautiful, and then went for an (electric) boat ride on Konigsee (which was partially iced over). It reminded me of milford! Such a deep, long, narrow lake with a pretty little chapel at the other end, unfortunately couldn't get all the way there because of the ice. Oh and afterwards Michael ate sausages, a pretzel, a large amount of beer and some schnapps at a place on the lake. AND then some more beer and a hamburger at maccas. and then he ran around in the snow like a 3 year old, fun!
After that it was on to Salzkammergut, which was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful lakes surrounded by gorgeous mountains and picturesque villages perched in between. The carpark we stayed in at Hallstadt was pretty excellent – part way along the tunnel above the town, it had a waterfall flowing almost through it and an incredible view over the town and lake.
We drove through the lakes up into Czech Republic, wandering around lovely Cesky Krumlov as the sun went down.
After stocking up on Czech beer, wandering around Telc’s gorgeous square (or rectangle?) and checking out Olomouc, it was on to Krakow! We booked an apartment on wotif and found it right in the middle of the Royal Route in the old town. It was pretty exciting considering we would have been psyched for it just to have a shower. Krakow was gorgeous, it was lovely to spend the day wandering around the town and sitting in the square people-watching. Michael had a far more confronting yet informative day at Auschwitz.
The next day we explored Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter and a couple of the churches before heading off to Zakopane – the doorstep of the Tatras! The drive through the High and Bela Tatras to Slovakia was quiet spectacular, although unfortunately too windy for any cable car action! Next up we arrived at pretty Levoca in Slovakia at exactly 4.01. Apparently everything shut at 4. Still nice to have a look around before driving on to the incredibly impressive Spisski Hrad – a 4 hectare castle on top of a hill. Even more amazing at sunset!!
The next day we drove through the centre of Slovakia, checking out the history of the Slovak National Uprising at mining town Banska Bystrica, before the car had a little panic attack and decided not to turn on. Michael managed to fix it and we set off for the Danube Bend – a scenic section of the river in northern Hungary.
Although we couldn’t convince the GPS to take us to the other side of the river, we saw some pretty towns and citadels on the way to Esztergom, of the incredible Basilica! It was ENORMOUS! Had fun exploring and then setting off along the Danube towards Vienna!
The next morning we woke up to the sound of the rain on the van’s roof and promptly went back to sleep. After a lovely lie-in we went in to explore the lovely city. Wandered through the pretty castle gardens, past the museums, through the main shopping strip, trying desperately to find a second hand shop from which to buy some clothes that WOULDN’T get us thrown out of the opera that night. We were looking just a touch ratty. Eventually found one, Michael bought a sweet Austrian jacket, and sprinted back through the city to the State Opera, where we managed to get standing tickets but JUST missed out on the super fancy tickets being re-sold to students. Still, saw Verdi’s Aida in the Vienna State Opera! Hellyeah! Finished off the night with a drive around the RING, all the buildings lit up beautifully, and hopped on the motorway towards Klagenfurt, with a brief visit to pretty Graz on the way.
The next day was an intense and awesome drive through alps. Woke up super early for an incredible view of sunrise over the mountains. One by one the peaks were lit up as we drove along the Karnische-Dolomiten hochalpenstrasse, a twisty, tiny road that Michael loved and had me clinging to my seat. After Tessenberg we switched back to Lienz and drove through the middle of the Hohe Tauern national park. Unfortunately the very famous (and therefore very expensive) Grossglockner hochalpenstrasse (panoramic high alps road) wasn’t open yet, but we still got osme pretty spectacular views of the alps. At the top of the park we turned west toward Innsbruck, mainly because our atlas said it was scenic, and happened across another panoramic road, the Gerlos alpenstrasse, which took us past the Krimmler Wasserfall, which is, according to Michelin ‘worth the trip’ J. More lovely passes, mountains, valleys and frozen waterfalls along the way! Sped on after that to Feldkirch, a lovely little town with a hilltop castle and some impressive mountain views. Unfortunately the ice hockey game we were hoping to catch was back in Innsbruck, but we made up for it with our own trip to Italy – a wonderful dinner at a little restaurant where we took a chance on the german menus, and learnt that ‘knoblauch’ definitely, DEFINITELY means garlic. Mmm.
Started off the next day lazily with an awesome CONFERENCE CALL (no pigeons were hurt) with aussie folks! After discovering our original route through Switzerland wasn’t possible due to that whole pesky ‘buckets of snow on the passes’ thing, we realised we were going to get to go to Italy – if very briefly. Headed south, past famous St. Moritz, on some excellent passes – especially the Julierpass. Its intense amount of snow gave me a headache, but it was incredibly beautiful. The Majolapass too gave us some great views of beautiful valleys. We hopped into Italy and ate pasta and pizza in little terraced Chiavenna, before heading back into Switzerland for lovely Lugano and Lorcano. Man I love lakes and mountains!
aaaand jumping forward just a little, we're now in beautiful, sunny provence, and we have to go because its a perfect day for exploring the roman ruins in Nimes. Will post pictures soon when we get a better internet connection!
love
xx
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