Sep 18, 2017 - A visit to the Eagle's Nest

Today was a day of history where we visited the Eagle's Nest at Kehlstein Mountain. The long journey alone was worth it for the spectacular views we were awarded with at the top. It was so clear we could see as far as Salzburg. To make the most of the Eagle's nest we splashed out and took a tour for €5 each. The tour began by explaining how this was not Hitler's house but just a place he visited 14 times to drink tea and meet with dignatories. We then made our way through the long tunnel with original doors that still held the markings of...

Sep 15, 2017 - Fussen and the castles in the sky

Our last stop in Germany took us to Fussen to visit the castles in the sky. Whilst at senior school I saw a poster of these castles every language class and always hoped one day I may get the chance to visit, so this stop was extra special for me. We got up early to visit the Castles as we heard it can get very busy, and the nine bed dorm we had spent the night was not that quiet so were awake early. The first Castle we visited was Hohenschwangau. This was the official summer and hunting residence of King Maximilian and his wife Marie of...

Sep 15, 2017 - Tiefensee Country Camping

Day 5 - Friday 15th September Decided to head up to a camp site to the North East of Berlin. Not particularly interested in going into Berlin itself as we did see a few of the main sights when we were here before in 2013. We did get to see more of Berlin especially the loads of red traffic lights we got stopped at as we crept through the suburbs. Very slow going but we did eventually get through to the camp for another late lunch. A pretty camp site in a lovely forest setting beside a series of lakes. We had a lovely afternoon walk around...

Sep 14, 2017 - Wolfsburg

Day 4 - Thursday 14th September I had an early morning walk round the camp grounds, so peaceful now. Then we set off on the road again heading to Wolfsburg where Volkswagen have their headquarters. As we passed through the mainly forested countryside we started to notice the number of little camper vans parked beside the tracks into the forests, most of which looked as if they hadn't moved for months. We eventually twigged that these were in fact mobile brothels, especially when we saw one with fancy lights in the windscreen & a lady...

Sep 14, 2017 - Magdeburg

We carried on to our next overnight stopover on the banks of the river Elbe at Magdeburg. A special parking area for motorhomes & only €8. After parking up & having a late lunch we headed into the city centre for a look around. We add our way to the cathedral picking up a couple of geocaches along the way. We also passed by a couple of most unusual & weird buildings. Mileage Today - 118 Mileage To Date - 532

Sep 14, 2017 - Weekend on Spiekeroog Island

Imagine finding the perfect holiday place? A tiny (17 sq km) island surrounded on one side by white sandy beaches and on the other side mud flats covered with birds and heather covered sand dunes in between. And no cars! They even discourage you from bringing your bicycle as the roads are so narrow. That would be tiny Spiekeroog, one of the East Frisian Islands off the North coast of Germany. You take a 40-minute ferry (for those complaining about BC Ferries prices, the cost for the two of us, as walk ons, return, was $120). Unfortunately...

Sep 14, 2017 - Observations and Stuff around home

Things we notice while hanging around home: 1. Chimney sweeping is mandatory; a designated chimney sweep in your community will come to clean your chimney, sometimes after making an appointment, or will show up on the doorstep when he is in your area doing the neighbours’ chimneys. Then you get a bill! 2. Germany grows a LOT of corn! 5 Million Tonnes of it every year. Everywhere we have gone there are hundreds of acres of corn, but it is not something that people generally eat. We thought it was for cow feed (there are also a lot of cattle)...

Sep 13, 2017 - Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

After lunch we headed up to the site of the infamous Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp, again about 70 miles away. We got there about 4.30pm after a bit of fun negotiating our way around Hanover. Just time to get round the museum building & see the various displays. I hadn't appreciated that the camp had also been a prisoner of war camp as well as a concentration camp. We have visited Auschwitz on two occasions but in some ways this camp was more gruesome. Auschwitz was a death camp & set up to exterminate, mainly the Jews. Bergen-Belsen...

Sep 13, 2017 - Berlin, Germany

Several people told me how much I'd like Berlin and I came with no real expectations. What a great city! Wow I could spend some time here. Wonderful huge tree lined streets with outdoor cafes, little boutiques, huge expensive stores, museums, history, architecture, so much green area for such a big city. My first night I got some groceries and then took the bus down to Kurfürstendamm street which is like a rodeo drive in parts. I walked for a long way but didn't find an appealing dinner choice so I took the bus back and went to my...

Sep 13, 2017 - Augsburg

As part of our route down to visit the famous castles in the sky we decided to stop for a night in Augsburg as it was on the way. The city is quite small although bigger than most on the romantic road. Our first impressions were of a pleasant city as we walked to our Airbnb. Unfortunately for us the bad weather had finally caught up with us and seeing as it was raining all afternoon we decided to make the most of the washing facilities and wash basically all our clothes. It had been a while and we were at the point of debating whether or...

Sep 13, 2017 - Osnabruck to Hamelin

Day 3 - Wednesday 13th September Heavy rain overnight. Windy all day. Set up Ethel, our SatNav to avoid motorways so the driving is a lot more interesting, albeit slower. I had decided to head about 70 miles down to Hamelin to see the town where the Pied Piper story comes from. The old part of the town is very pretty with lovely old buildings. We visited the Tourist Office & picked up some info before wandering around. The highlight turned out to be the musical clock in the main square. At 1.05pm the bells started sounding & then a couple...

Sep 12, 2017 - Romantic Rothenburg

Following the romantic road south our next stop was the town of Rothenburg. We have seen many amazing things on our travels including mountains, temples and beaches but Rothenburg will go down as the most beautiful town we have been to. It can trace it's history back many hundreds of years but what is remarkable about it and unlike so many other places is that the old town where 2,500 people still live looks like it would have done some 500 years ago. Our hotel was situated just inside the old city walls and thus we had a great base to...