Jun 23, 2019 - Day 40 - Wurzburg

Day 40 - Sunday 23 June 19 - Wurzburg It is Sunday and we are in no great rush to get under way as we plan to drive the 140km W to Wurzburg to be at our accomodation by 1500hrs. The plan is to drive the first 65 km on regional roads before joining the autobahn for the final leg. We elected not to have breakfast but our entrepreneurial host provided a lovely snack lunch with a small bottle of Australian Chardonnay. Very pleased with our remote location accomodation for the night we were away at 0950 hrs. The first leg of the drive was as...

Jun 23, 2019 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Füssen

Stage 10 GaPa - Füssen As has become usual, the morning dawned dry but lightly clouded. The hot temperatures of the first week seem to have gone so Bruce and I usually start with wind jackets on until we get to a hill. Breakfast was a magnificent repast with so much choice it was hard to know where to start. I had filled a bowl with muesli and fruit only to find that behind me was some Bircher muesli. Oh well, I should have looked more closely. My alimentary canal appears to be working better now which is great. Today’s ride is quite short...

Jun 22, 2019 - Day 39 - Bayreuth& Rosenhof

Day 39 - Saturday 22 June 19 - Rosenhof (25km S from Bayreuth) We had several objectives for the day which required an 0830hrs departure from Regensburg. Our first point of call was Amberg 68 km N. The town was initially quiet as we finally decided upon a car park near the Basilica St Martin. We toured the church noting it’s distinctive silver stations of the cross. The basilica dominates the town and the Markt Platz which sits alongside. There was a small Saturday market in progress of fresh produce. The market square was well served by...

Jun 21, 2019 - Day 38 - Regensburg

Day 38 - Friday 21 June 19 - Regensburg While at breakfast we met a very friendly English speaking German couple who we had a very pleasant 15 minute discussion. They recommended a visit to the National Monument at Walhalla. Our first task for the day was to walk the city which initially included the Schlosspark St Emmeram which at the time we did not realise was a private park. It was by coincidence that we made our way around but not through the park to the Palace Museum with St Emmeram Cloisters at 1045hrs; 15 minutes before a guided...

Jun 21, 2019 - Innsbruck to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

After a damp night the equinox dawned with overcast sky but no rain, for now. After breakfast we retraced our wheel tracks towards Innsbruck then continued for another 30 kilometres along the R3 cycleway. Once again we were able to ride on separated paths for most of the way with only occasional sections needing to be shared with the odd farmer’s or tradie’s vehicle. The valleys here are a veritable food bowl with even more fruit and vegetable production evident. The radish and strawberry pickets were out, perhaps not in force, but there...

Jun 20, 2019 - The Black Forest

Thursday, June 20 Today is our last full day aboard ship. This morning we slept in, then did some work on the journal, and began packing. Tonight we need to finish packing. We must put our luggage out by 8 am tomorrow and vacate our cabin by 9. Larry was going crazy with the random non-functionality of the ship's internet. :-( We are docked at Breisach, Germany. In the afternoon we took a bus tour into the Black Forest. Apparently the Romans named it 2000 years ago. When they advanced past the Rhine River, they encountered the Aleman people...

Jun 20, 2019 - Day 37 - Regensburg from Austria

Day 37 - Thursday 20 June 19 - Depart Austria for Regensburg, Germany. We awoke this morning at 0700 hrs to a cacophony of brass instruments from directly outside our second story window. It is Corpus Christi day, a public holiday in both Austria and Germany and the band that played so beautifully is back again. Having completed their music piece, we watched our hotel owner hand out a shot of schnapps to each of the musicians. In doubt of the effect of road closures for 0900 hrs Corpus Christi parade we departed St Wolfgang at 0830 hrs for...

Jun 18, 2019 - Heidelberg and Speyer

This morning we visited Heidelberg, in very warm and sunny weather. On the hill above town is a mostly destroyed castle. We only went inside to the wine cellar to see an enormous wine barrel. Apparently everyone brought their wine to the castle and it was all mixed together and doled out as needed. This may have been for safety in case of siege. At any rate, everyone drank wine, because water was not safe. But it was not very good wine, or so we were told. Our guide told us about the rest of the castle, but we did not enter any other parts....

Jun 17, 2019 - Marksburg Castle and the Rhine Gorge

This morning we visited Marksburg Castle. We were a little concerned because the tour was listed as demanding, but we were fine. The castle was begun in the 1200s. It was built overlooking the Rhine, but it was not built to extract tolls from river traffic, rather it was built to defend a lead and silver mine. A bus took us part way up, then we walked -- up. Going through the castle, the floors and ramps were very uneven stone. We saw the kitchen, with a fireplace big enough for an ox. The lord’s bedroom had a stove that could be stoked...

Jun 16, 2019 - Cologne

Today we visited Cologne. We were bussed into town for a guided tour. Because it was Sunday there were services in the cathedral, so we could not tour inside until afternoon. But our guide showed us around the outside, and took us around other parts of town. The cathedral is the only part of the city that was not bombed during WWII. It did have some damage -- WWII bombs were not laser-guided, supposedly precision, bombs -- but the cathedral was not seriously damaged. Apparently the Allied bomber pilots used the cathedral as a landmark. The...

Jun 12, 2019 - On our way

Tuesday-Wednesday, June 11-12 Our flight from JFK was on a BIG plane. We were in row 93 out of 94, the plane was a double decker, and the seating was VERY TIGHT. :-( The flight was listed as 8 hours. Dinner was served a while after takeoff. After dinner, I took a little nap, but then they started serving breakfast before landing. We landed at Frankfurt at 6 am local time (midnight EDT). Larry had spent the whole flight reading -- and trying out his new noise-cancelling headphones. Now he was getting sleepy. Deplaning took a long time,...

May 31, 2019 - Day 9 = Nuremberg

Capital of the Roman Empire from 1356 onward! crossroads of major trade routes - made it important and wealthy in medieval Germany Hitler made it the seat of Nazi conventions an rallies. Massive war-time devastation by bombing, etc. Nazi war crime trials were held here. Too much Hitler stuff - we all felt a bit of depression. We could stay in town for the day or go back and forth to have lunch on the boat. I chose to visit the German National Museum and go back on a later shuttle. I was alone in this visit to see the oldest globe of the...