Schwarzwald

What do I say about 3 nights in the Schwarzwald (black forest)? It was a fantastic stay and I could happily spend our final 2 weeks there.

Staying in Bad Rippoldsau we were right in the heart of the northern black forest. We had endless wanderweges at our doorstep (we spent an entire day walking from breakfast until dinner), a waterfall across the road, picturesque small towns a short drive away and when feeling too isolated, the French city of Strasbourg was just over an hour to get to.

Our only downfall ... The fabulous Zum Letzten G'Stehr with it's warm hospitality and delicious food. Ben's highlight is the biggest and freshest slice of black forest cake and mine would have to be the locally caught trout baked with almonds and butter mmm. It would be so easy to stay put and get fat.

Zum Letzten G'Stehr

Wolfach, Black Forest

Gengenbach, Black Forest

Strasbourg, France

Black Forest

Black Forest,

looking down into the valley we were staying in

Schiltach, Black Forest

German Castles on the Romantic Road

Our last stop on the Romantic trail was the castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau . These fairy tale castles (which were obviously the inspiration for Disney) stand impressively at the foot of the mountains near to the border between Germany and Switzerland and are actually 19th century Romanesque revivals.

We took the compulsory tour of the interior of the Neuschwanstein which to our surprise was quite unique and interesting. For example - the bedroom features wood carvings which took 14 woodcarvers 4 years to complete! To which one of the ladies on our tour replied "Good heavens imagine the dusting!" No photos allowed sorry to say.

Overall we were not so impressed by these castles due in part to the HORDES of tourists here making it somewhat of a circus. We have another castle visit planned for later in our trip so will see how that compares.

We stayed overnight near Fussen and then moved on to the Black forest.

Schloss Hohenschwangau

Schloss Neuschwanstein

Schloss Neuschwanstein

View from Schloss Neuschwanstein down to the lake and Schloss Hohenschwangau

Schloss Neuschwanstein entry

oooh its a fairy tale!

On our trip in this area we noticed a few road speed signs which actually stipulate the speeds appropriate for different vehicles. Its 100km for cars, 80km/hr of trucks over 6 tonne and max 60km for TANKS! Thought it was a joke until we had to overtake this tank!

Nördlingen and Augsburg

Nördlingen, another town on the romantic road, was our lunch stop for today. Approaching the town we saw a prominent tower on the horizon that turned out to be the church. We climbed the 90 meters for impressive views of the old town and the old city walls, circling the city perfectly. Nördlingen was actually built in the centre of a crater, formed by a meteorite that struck 15 million years ago!

Arriving in Augsburg I was dubious about our need to be here in this big city and wanted to continue to the southern most stop on the romantic road. Having no accommodation and being lead astray by the tourist office (sending us to a place that took us 30 minutes to find, which ended up being booked out) didn't help my enthusiasm. Ben convinced me otherwise and once walking around the cobbled stone streets and running through a torrential down poor to the other side of town for dinner, I was actually glad we stopped.

Dinkelsbuhl on the Romantic Road

It was a bit of serendipity that we chose to visit this town on the day they celebrate their annual festival of “kinderzeche”. The town celebrates the date on which it is said the local children pleaded with an invading army to leave them unharmed. All the locals dress in medieval costume and re- enact the event. They also set up a medieval village just outside the town wall as part of the festivities.

We had perfect weather and a great day enjoying the community spirit and this wonderful town.

Medieval Day!

Picturesque town streets

The children reenact history

Some of the city wall

Another street view

More street views ( Michelle made me add these last two even though I thought there was enough already - I hope you appreciate them and tell her how right she was...)

Regensburg & Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Behind the wheel of a VW Passat, an upgrade from the golf we wanted, we navigate our way out of Munich to the autobarn and Ben speeds all the way to Regensburg. When I say speed I mean within the limits ... but they are unlimited, so for that I'm thankful we're in a tank of a car.

Regensburg has a very nice medieval city centre with an old church and bridge, but was merely a lunch stop on our way to the romantic road.

Cathedral of St Peter

Cafes on Residenzstrasse

The weather has become quite miserable but we still enjoy the drive over green rolling hills and through numerous small towns as we approach Steinsfeld, our stop for the night, just out side Rothenburg. When the rain stops and with the assumption all tourists should have left by now, we head into Rothenburg for dinner and a look around.

Deserted Rothenburg by night

Deserted Rothenburg by night

Deserted Rothenburg by night

As touristy as it is, we love this medieval town so decide to stay another 2 nights, this time in the 300 year old Schwarzes Lamm Gasthof. From here it's short stroll along a stream into town.

Schwarzes Lamm Gasthof

The view from our room.

Yes, the church bells rang loudly every hour on the hour.

The rain has cleared up, the sun is out but it's still cold - around 18 degrees. It's hard to believe 2 days ago we were complaining about the heat.

Marktplatz

Looking down on the Marktplatz from the Rathaus Tower

Streets in Rothenburg

Munich

I am not sure how it happened, but upon entering the Deutsches Museum at 11:00am some kind of unexplainable time shift occurred whereby 4 hours slipped by without my knowledge. I believe this was largely due to the 100,000 gadgets, inventions and machines laid out in this fascinating place. To be honest I could spend a week in this museum, but Michelle would go mad with boredom so we move on and make sure we see some other parts of Munich. We go next to the Modern art museum (Pinakothek der moderne) where we are at least both equally interested.

The town hall and nearby Frauen church dominate the skyline of this Bavarian city and the best view is from the "Old Peter" tower. It’s a lively place with crowds lining the main streets and plenty of drinks being enjoyed in the central beer gardens near Viktualien markets. We are able to walk from our hotel through all the main attractions of the city centre with ease and find the reputable Augustiner for a genuine bit of german dinner in traditional setting.

I’m looking forward to leaving Munich – but mostly because this is the end of our inter city train rides and the start of the driving excursion.

Munich Theatiner Kirch

Inside the Augustina

Views from Old Peter

At the Deutches Museum, looking at cool stuff

Munich Landmarks

Another Beergarden!

Salzburg

We made the very hard decision to skip Budapest and make our way back to Germany via Salzburg. Budapest will have to wait until we can give it the time it deserves.

The 2-3 hour train ride through the pretty Austrian countryside flew by and we arrived in time for lunch before heading over the river into the old town. This is by far the busiest town we been to for a while, so we shuffled our way through the lane ways to various sites and then made our way up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress for views of the town below. At this point in our travels we no longer feel the need to visit every site so we skipped the fortress, headed back down to town and then up to the museum of modern art. But when we saw the view of the city with the fortress and mountains in the background we decided to skip the gallery and take in the view some more.

In the evening we dine in a beer garden and stumble upon the sound of Mozart resonating through a courtyard in the Mirabell Palace, so we enjoy our private concert.

Mirabell Palace

On of the main streets

Square

Sculpture in one of the squares

View from Museum of Modern Art

Salzburg by night

Salzburg by night

The window that provided our free concert

Vienna

Vienna offers a final relief from the heat with cloudy rainy weather. We stay in a hotel out of town (15 minutes by train) but it’s a little less touristy than the centre. We find a local restaurant that serves delicious Austrian meals for great value and make it our regular for the three nights we stay here and are never disappointed. However, all the good German/Austrian food is starting to take its toll on our waistlines.

We spend our first afternoon in the Museum of applied arts (as its free on Sundays) and enjoy a temporary North Korean exhibit (flowers for Kim Il Sung). Our second day we visit the centre of town and the impressive St Stephan cathedral, and wander back to the applied arts museum just to visit the design shop. We also head to the Art history museum and the Albertina in Hofburg Palace Complex. Our third day we explore a little further and find the Votiv Church , the town hall, University, Museum quarter, the unique St Charles Church and another impressive palace - the Belvedere.

I am feeling a little glad we are not pushing on to Budapest as these cities are all starting to blend together.

Cool creeper vine near the palace

Vienna Town Hall

Lost in another Museum ( Museum of applied arts)

That's as close as you will ever get Michelle!

Vienna Train - complete with weird people

Egyptian artifact at the Art history museum

Eating at our Local - that was the best Zweibelrostbraten!

Beer

St Stephan Vienna

Town hall (again... sorry)

Belvedere Palace

Too much Austrian food?

St Charles Church

Votiv Church