Europe 2016 - Search Results

Results tagged “Weather”:

Day 36 - Saturday 28 May - Trondheim to Geiranger

Slept mostly ok I think. Woke up a bit before 6am. Average breakfast. Clear blue skies when we left at 8am. But it started to cloud over.

18th century building in Trondheim near our hotel
Photo by Mum

Had a morning pitstop at Kongsvold, a little guesthouse in the middle of nowhere. Then into the Dovrefjell National Park, but we didn't see any of the Greenland native oxen.

Building at Kongsvold Fjeldstue

We did see another moose, a huge bird which I don't know if it was a large crane or a small ostrich, and another moose.

The Majestik Møøse

Dombås kirke

Huge bird I saw in a farm next to Vågåvatnet. Edit: probably a common crane

Otta river valley near Fossbergi (taken leaning over people)

The Majestik Møøse

Stopped in Lom for a lunch stop. There was a vintage car parade going through town so the whole town was packed out and all these classic cars were coming and going so that was a lot of fun. Also had a look at one of the oldest stave churches in Norway.

Lom stavkyrkje

Interior of Lom stavkyrkje

Lom stavkyrkje

Vintage bus crossing the Bovra River

Trebo bridge over the Bovra River and Lom stavkyrkje

Vintage cars in Lom

The afternoon scenery was spectacular, especially the drive down into Geiranger. Absolutely wonderful.

Framruste River in Reinheimen National Park

Snowy peaks near Grotli

Frozen Djupvatnet lake

Peaks above Geiranger near the beginning of the descent

Peaks above Geiranger on the descent

Traditional summer pasture farm houses south of Geiranger

View of Geiranger from Geiranger Skywalk

Me and Mum at Geiranger Skywalk

In Geiranger we hopped on a cruise boat to see the fjord. Another fantastic experience.

Geiranger from the cruise boat

MS Albatros in Geirangerfjord

Geirangerfjord

Waterfall along Geirangerfjord

View along Geirangerfjord to the Seven Sisters Waterfall

Bringefossen waterfall

Geirangerfjord

Seven Sisters Waterfall

Seven Sisters Waterfall
Photo by Mum

Brudesløret (Bridal Veil) waterfall

Waterfall along Geirangerfjord

Geirangerfjord

Peaks along Geirangerfjord

Geirangerfjord

Heading back to Geiranger - Brudesløret (Bridal Veil) waterfall on right

Another tour boat under the Seven Sisters waterfall

Geirangerfjord

Rock formation that looks like a face

Geirangerfjord

MS Albatros and Geiranger from the boat

MS Albatros in Geirangerfjord

Geiranger from the cruise boat

All in all a great day.

Sadly our hotel room doesn't give us a view of the fjord, but I don't think anyone on the tour gets a fjord view, we all seem to be on the mountain side - probably you need to pay a lot more for a fjord view.

Dinner was in the hotel buffet. Pretty huge buffet. The drinks waiter was a bit hopeless though. Had to wait ages to get out of there and even then didn't sign for the drink I had. Oh well...

This room is *super* hot :( Can't open the windows more than a crack and the thermostats appear to not work at all. Sad times.

Day 35 - Friday 27 May - Mosjøen to Trondheim

Woke up to a nice view this morning. Well really I woke up to all the light coming in the sides of the blinds. At 4am. Think I got a little more sleep after that. *Then* we opened the blinds and saw the view. I was too tired to really appreciate it though.

Reflections in the Vefsna river as seen from our hotel room

The hotel we had last night had completely retarded door locks, that sometimes you had to lock manually by swiping your card on the reader. Or worse, they simply didn't close properly at all, so you could just pull the door open. Dumb dumb dumb.

Pretty average breakfast (in the meh kind of way), and out the door at 8am.

Reflections in Storbjørnvatnet (taken leaning over people)

Had a photo stop at Laksforsen to see a set of raging rapids, that also has a salmon ladder (which we couldn't actually see).

Rapids downstream of Laksforsen waterfall

Laksforsen waterfall

Then followed the river valley allll the way upstream, then allll the way downstream the next valley. The scenery was pretty enough, but mostly just forest, the river and some low mountains. Nothing super spectacular, although a few pretty parts in places.

Reflections in Storsvenningvatnet (taken leaning over people)

Dunabrua, crossing the Sanddøla river in Grong

Stopped for lunch in Steinkjer (Stinker!! ok not really). Shared some maccas fries with Mum because we really didn't need much for lunch.

Beitstadfjorden at Steinkjer

Tulips in a small park in Steinkjer

Steinkjer train station

As we got further south there was a lot more gentle rolling hills and greenery and farmland.

Norwegian countryside north of Skatval
Photo by Mum

Steinvikholm castle in the eastern end of Trondheim Fjord

Air traffic control tower at Trondheim Airport

Train crossing Hell jernbanebru bridge over Størjdalselva river

Just before Trondheim we went to Hell! No really!

Hell train station

Me and Mum in Hell

Then onto Trondheim. Checked in, then went out for a wander up and down the canal and looked for somewhere to have dinner. Bob and Joanne ran into us, so we had dinner with them and it was all very lovely. Finally got to check in a beer in Norway! Beer Traveller Level 5! W00t! The Norwegians, like the Germans, appear to revel in the sunny weather, and they were out in droves tonight.

Statue of Leiv Eiriksson in Trondheim

Munkholmen monastery

Nidaros Cathedral

Trondheim City Hall

Nidaros Cathedral

Western facade of Nidaros Cathedral

Steeple of Nidaros Cathedral

Waterfront buildings along Kjøpmannsgata

White wagtail in the park along Kjøpmannsgata

View north along the Nidelva river to Bakke bru

Waterfront buildings along the Nidelva river

Gamle bybro

View south from Gamle bybro towards the Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Bakklandet bydelshus (Bakke district house), previously a church but now commercial space

Dude bicycling home with a portfolio and a mixed six pack :)

View north along the Nidelva river from Bakke bru

Old sea mine outside Trondheim Maritime Museum

Mum with flowers on Verftsbrua

Locks on an inlet of the Nidelva river

Marina on an inlet of the Nidelva river

Hoping the fantastic weather hangs around for another couple of days.

Day 34 - Thursday 26 May - Narvik to Mosjøen

Last night Mum stayed up late (11pm) reading and I had super restless itchy legs, so didn't get to sleep for ages :(:(:( Consequently woke up tired and grumpy. Then I was looking at the maps again and got depressed all over again at the really bad seat rotation scheme that doesn't alternate sides of the coach. Pissed off with the world and didn't want to be sociable at breakfast. In fact I was so upset I sat down looking at my food wondering if I'd even be able to stomach it.

*sigh*

Left a bit after 8am.

View back towards Narvik

Once again, people with the awesome window seats on the right side of the coach slept most of the morning. Seriously why would you even bother coming on a trip like this if you're just going to sleep the whole way through it??? The only advantage of them sleeping was that they didn't take up half the window trying to take their own photos. There was one point where there was an awesome view to the left, and some other points later in the day I was able to lean across people to get some nice photos on the right.

A lovely shot of Astafjorden I got from the left side of the coach

Norwegian countryside along Astafjorden

Vårsetholment island and Astafjorden

Mølnosholmen island and Astafjorden

Reflections in Astafjorden

Kjerringstraumen bridge

Astafjorden spam

Rocky peaks in Ballangen municipality

We also took a ferry ride across one of the fjords because there's no road.

The vehicle ferry we took approaching Skarberget

Crossing Tysfjorden on a vehicle ferry

Tysfjorden

Peaks beyond Korsnes

Peaks of Lundøya island over Sagfjorden

Reflections in Sagfjorden

Reflections in Rotvatnet (taken leaning over people out the right side of the coach)

Military jet flying over

Rocky peaks east of Sandnesvatnet lake

Reflections in Sandnesvatnet (taken leaning over people)

Frozen Tjierregjávrre lake

Reflections in Mørsvikfjorden (taken leaning over people)

Peaks behind Njuorjojávri lake

View across Sørfolda fjord (leaning over people)

Trengsel bridge (taken leaning over people)

Lunch was at the lovely fjord-side town of Fauske. We had leftover chicken from last night's meal, and an icecream. The sun had also well and truly come out, so was feeling a lot better.

Marble pillar in Fauske

Sea gull in Fauske

Me in Fauske
Photo by Mum

After lunch we left the fjords for a bit and headed into the hills, and I think most of the coach snoozed, including me.

View across Saltdalsfjorden (taken leaning over people)

On the way back south over the Arctic circle we stopped at the visitor's centre there for a break and we saw the little movie they had which was quite informative. Of course the Arctic circle isn't there anymore, it's wandered north (at 14 metres per year) so is now a ways north of the current visitor's centre. But it was still cool anyway.

Arctic Circle Centre

Arctic Circle Marker (1937)

Me at the Arctic Circle Marker (1990)
Photo by Mum

Arctic Circle markers

Monument commemorating fallen soldiers during World War II in the Arctic Circle

Me in the snow at the Arctic Circle. In a t-shirt. Because Europe overheats everywhere indoors

Continued down and past more fjords and mountains, although not as spectacular. Watched a short film with Joanna Lumley about her trip to the Arctic to see the northern lights.

Little train next to the road

Peaks near Dunderland

Bridges over the Renaelva river near Eiteråga

View back along the Renaelva river near Røssvoll

Revelforsen Waterfall and iron ore carrying bridge in Mo i Rana
Photo by Mum

Norwegian rural countryside north of Olderneset
Photo by Mum

Village of Korgen

Followed a truck over a long detour which slowed us down quite a bit - didn't get to the hotel til nearly 7pm. The room is nice enough and has a lovely view of the mountain next door, but it's *hot* :( Thermostat is as low as it will go but the heat from the minibar fridge is winning out. Not going to be using the doona again tonight :(

Peaks seen along the Korgfjellveien detour we took over the mountains

View over lake Litle Luktvatnet

Peaks over Mjåvatnet

Peaks over Fustvatnet

I was in a tshirt all day today. I did put my coat on for the ferry ride. But even in the snow at the arctic circle I was just in my tshirt. Silly really.

Dinner was in the hotel - buffet style. Pretty average meal really, but dessert was nice enough. A bunch of them were going to go for a walk after dinner, and I'd have loved to have gone, especially as we've done literally no exercise all day, but that would add another hour to going to bed time and I'm exhausted.

Day 32 - Tuesday 24 May - Alta

After the last two nights I decided I really needed an easy day today, so skipped the morning optional activity.

Bit of hurty in the morning so awake earlier than I wanted. Had a fairly leisurely breakfast with some nice choices.

After breakfast I came up to do computer stuff. And given that it rained all morning I'm not regretting my choice.

Some rock carvings that Mum saw on her optional tour
Photo by Mum

I used the time to various *stuff*. I checked the downloads of my photos, and I'm super glad I did as there was a day on the Reformation tour where I'd downloaded my photos before dinner, but had taken a whole heap at dinner, but hadn't downloaded them. I was super lucky I checked and that I hadn't already cycled that memory card, otherwise I would have lost all the people photos I took on the last night of the reformation tour. Backed everything to memory stick and external hard drive. Also completely repacked my suitcase which made me feel a lot better. I paid my phone bill (excess usage from being overseas). Blogged some stuff on my main blog. And just looked through photos.

Interior of Nordlyskatedralen Alta kirke (Cathedral of the Northern Lights)

Cathedral of the Northern Lights

Cathedral of the Northern Lights
Photo by Mum

The afternoon optional activity was a wilderness river "cruise". It's really not very well described so I had no idea what to expect. What it actually was was these motorised canoes that held between four and seven people in single file, and we motored up the river and back (20 km/h upstream, 35 km/h downstream). Unfortunately didn't get to see any wildlife except for a few birds. But it was somewhat exhilarating in the cool arctic air (not cold mind you!).

Me, Mum, Terri and Bob on the motorised canoe

Me on the canoe heading upstream
Photo by Mum

Detsika Sætra camping cabin

Mum on the canoe

Gammelbollo River

Heading back downstream, about to pass under the Detsikaveien Road bridge

Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge

After the ride we got out and had some waffles by the fire sitting on reindeer skins (which are surprisingly warm, who knew) and got to see the remains of the ice hotel they build every year but has since melted. We got to see a bit of a promo video of it too which was pretty cool. Would be an awesome experience to stay the night!

The campfire at Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge

Riverside at the Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge

Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge

Eating waffles around the campfire
Photo by Mum

Interior of the restaurant building of Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge

Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge
Photo by Mum

Crossing the Eibyelva river on the way back to Alta

The evening's activity was to a husky breeder's house for a dinner of bbqed salmon and veggies. After dinner was some stories from the owner who breeds and races her Alaskan huskies. She was a great story teller, it was really interesting. Then we got to go and play with the dogs and even got to hold some four week old puppies. Sooo cute!

Meal area at Northern Lights Husky Farm

Northern Lights Husky Farm

Most of our tour group at Northern Lights Husky Farm

Husky and sled ready to race

The owner of the husky farm telling us about husky racing

Racing husky ready to race

Racing huskies at Northern Lights Husky Farm

Husky at Northern Lights Husky Farm

Mum with Crepp (her favourite)

Mum with a husky puppy (they encourage lots of people to play with the puppies to help socialise them)

Me with a husky puppy
Photo by Mum

Husky puppies

Mum with a husky puppy

Husky at Northern Lights Husky Farm

Then back to the hotel.

Day 20 - Thursday 12 May - Salzburg to Munich

Woke up 5am. But I was stressing about getting washing done and having breakfast before getting into town by 9:15am. So I wasn't getting back to sleep.

So we got up and headed down to the laundromat. Except they must have forgotten to turn the alarm off because this siren kept going off. I was super tired and hungry and the loud noise made my brain explode. We don't think we managed to get any detergent into the machine. Sigh.

Took the dried washing back to the hotel, had breakfast, but I was still super tired and grumpy. Finished getting ready and checked out, leaving the bags and the car at the hotel.

View over the Salzach, with Kirche Maria Himmelfahrt and Untersberg

Sound of Music tour bus outside Mirabell Palace

Locks on Marko-Feingold-Steg

Salzburg

The Monchsberg Lift

View north along the Salzach from Marko-Feingold-Steg

Mozarts Geburtshaus (Mozart's birthplace)

Then walked into town. We got to the Festspielhaus at 9:30, which does indeed tour the Felsenreitschule.

Except.

They don't allow photos. At least at the moment because they're setup for some festival which starts tomorrow. Well I wasn't going to pay 7 Euro to not be able to take photos, especially when it would have taken up an hour of perfectly good sunlight. Maybe next time.

Back entrance of the Felsenreitschule
Photo by Mum

Photo of the interior of the Felsenreitschule, still the closest I've gotten to seeing the inside

And that's another thing. The damned weather forecasts are completely useless. They predicted rain for today, but it didn't come until much later in the day, and even then not much while we were still there.

So we walked up behind the festspielhaus and over the ridge to the other side. Walked along Nonnberger Hauptstrasse to find where they all had the carriage ride. Then all the way up to Nonnberg abbey. Went into the church this time which I didn't do last time.

Franziskanerkirche from the terrace behind Salzburg

Kollegienkirche from the terrace behind Salzburg

Arch on the south side of Salzburg

View across Seniorenwohnhaus Nonntal (the building is currently a retirement village)

View across Seniorenwohnhaus Nonntal to Untersberg

Festung Hohensalzburg from the southeast

Nonnberg Abbey

Streetscape on Nonntaler Hauptstraße (where Maria and the Von Trapp children rode along in a horse and carriage)

St. Erhard's church

Entrance to Nonnberg Abbey

Me at the entrance to Nonnberg Abbey
Photo by Mum

View across St. Erhard's church to Untersberg from Nonnberg Abbey

Entrance to the church in Nonnberg Abbey

Courtyard in Nonnberg Abbey

Interior of the church in Nonnberg Abbey

Entrance to Nonnberg Abbey

Me outside Nonnberg Abbey
Photo by Mum

View across Salzburg from near Nonnberg Abbey

Salzburg Cathedral from near Nonnberg Abbey

Kaputzinerkloster from near Nonnberg Abbey

Then back down into the old town to all the platzes where various bits of the movie were filmed, and the Mozartsteg.

Kajetanerkirche as seen in the market scene in The Sound of Music
Photo by Mum

Kapitelschwemme in Kapitelplatz and Festung Hohensalzburg

Sphaera by Stephan Balkenhol in Kapitelplatz

Salzburg Cathedral

Mariensäule sculpture in Domplatz

Interior of Salzburg Cathedral

Roof of Salzburg Cathedral

Me under the arches north of Salzburg Cathedral, where Maria walks through in The Sound of Music
Photo by Mum

Residenzbrunnen in Residenzplatz

View of Residenzplatz and Salzburger Glochenspiel from DomQuartier (as seen in the credits of The Sound of Music)

Salzburg Cathedral

Statue of Mozart in Mozartsplatz

Mozartsteg

Mozartsteg, Festung Hohensalzburg and old Salzburg

Finally walked up to Kaputziner Closter to check out the view back to the old town.

Salzburg from near Kaputzinerkloster
Photo by Mum

Nonnberg Abbey from near Kaputzinerkloster

Salzburg from near Kaputzinerkloster

Festung Hohensalzburg and Salzburg Cathedral

The Festung Hohensalzburg funicular

Came back down and went to a place where I'd noticed earlier they sold Salzburger Nockerl, which Mum had never heard of. So that was lunch (along with some cream of asparagus soup).

Went back to the hotel to pick up our bags, then headed back to Munich.

But with all the roadworks and just general traffic, the trip took about four hours :(:(:(

By the time we'd checked into the hotel, gotten petrol for the car, returned the car, saw about checking into our flight tomorrow and finding something to eat it was after 9pm :(:( So much for an early night :(:(:( Fortunately I didn't manage to bingle the car, so that was a huge relief. Driving on the wrong side of the road is super stressful! Who knew!

The checkin process was super painful. Terminal 2 at Munich airport only has checkin counters for Lufthansa. And its partner airlines in the fine print. So that was a little confusing. So we went to try checking in with the machines, but it brought both of our names up incorrectly, then refused to let us checkin. None of the human-operated counters showed general checkins, it was all just "bag drop" stuff. We asked the local Lufthansa help and she just said we just had to get in line with the bag drop queue. Really not a very user-friendly process.

By the time we got everything sorted and caught a bus back to the hotel, it was 9:20pm :(

Day 19 - Wednesday 11 May - Salzburg

So for once we got a hotel with a reverse cycle air conditioner that actually works!! Hot food options for breakfast pretty limited though.

We were going to go into the old town this morning but the weather forecast was for better weather today than tomorrow, so we decided to go out to the lakes district and the other local Salzburg area sights today instead.

But of course everything was still cloudy (low clouds covering mountains) and when it wasn't cloudy it was super hazy. So pretty much everything sucked.

We went to St Gilgan first to do a quick photo stop from the lookout.

View over St Gilgen from Wolfgangseeblick

I wanted to go to the spot in the movie where the little train goes up the hill, and I knew where it was and there's even a road to it, but of course the road is closed at the bottom of the hill isn't it. So that was a fail. (We could have tried to go up on the railway itself, but it would have taken up half the day and we didn't have that much time. Maybe next time. Sigh.)

Next over to Mondsee. Drove along the south side of the lake on the east end where the kids are hanging out of the trees (not really sure which bit exactly though - trees change and clouds covered the mountains). Then along the north side at the east end where they're all on bicycles singing do-re-mi. Again, everything was in cloud.

View across Mondsee to Schafberg

View across Mondsee towards Pichl Auhof

Continued onto Mondsee town. Went into the Basilica where the wedding scene was filmed (I'd been in there before last time we were here, but got some different photos that I didn't get last time). Then up the hill to the Maria Hilf church - one of the stills in the opening credits.

Basilika St. Michael in Mondsee

Interior of Basilika St. Michael

Roof of Basilika St. Michael

Kirche zur Mariahilf in Mondsee, seen in the opening credits and intermission of The Sound of Music

View across Mondsee

Basilika St. Michael in Mondsee

Buildings in Mondsee

Next over to Sankt Lorenz. They claim a particular church was used for the opening credits, but the church that's there is different (different steeple). Of course it's possible the steeple has changed - certainly one in Salzburg town has changed. The position looked right so who knows. I was trying to find some other spots there whey they drive along in the car with Max and the Baroness but it was too cloudy and hazy and Mum was getting bored so gave up on that idea :(

Filialkirche St. Lorenz and the Drachenwald

Finally over to Eugendorf to find another church used in the opening credits. But instead of being on a little grassy hill, it's now blocked by a little forest of trees.

Filialkirche zum heiligen Georg in Kirchberg

And then back into Salzburg for locations closer to town.

First was the Maria Plain church. It gets about a second of screen time right at the end of the wedding.

Maria Plain church near Salzburg, seen after the wedding in The Sound of Music

Then to places Mum was more interested in.

Firstly Leopoldskron for the view to Untersberg. You need to be a hotel guest to get into the gardens though :( Maybe one day we'll be able to stay there.

Festung Hohensalzburg from Schloss Leopoldskron

View across Leopoldskroner Weiher towards Untersberg

Schloss Leopoldskron

Then over to Frohnburg. That was pretty cool. And we had a nice view of Untersberg from there as well.

Schloss Frohnburg

Untersberg from Hellbrunner Allee

Entrance to Schloss Frohnburg and Hellbrunner Allee

Schloss Frohnburg

Then to Hellbrunn to see the gazebo. Mum was pretty happy about that.

Me and Mum and the Sound of Music gazebo at Schloss Hellbrunn

The Sound of Music gazebo at Schloss Hellbrunn

Schloss Hellbrunn

Tried to go to see Anif Palace but you can't get anywhere near it because it's a private road. So that was a fail.

Brief stop at Elsbethan for a church still from the credits.

Pfarrkirche zur Heiligen Elisabeth, seen in the opening credits and intermission of The Sound of Music

And finally to the actual villa the Von Trapps lived in. Again, you can't really go in and see it because it's a hotel now.

The Von Trapp family home in Salzburg

So we got back to the hotel around 5pm. The pedometer claimed we'd done 11700 steps so far today ?! I was happy at that point to call it a day, but because the weather forecast for tomorrow was for rain Mum wanted to go into the old town while it wasn't raining (just super hazy).

So walked down to find the local laundromat first (at least a fifteen minute walk away :( )

Then down into the old town. Walked along the river for a bit. Then into Mirabell palace. Tried to find the lift up Monchsberg but had trouble finding it. Ended up finding the horse bath first. Eventually found it. Last time we had Salzburg cards so could just go up. This time we had to pay the 2.30. Walked along the terrace and across the top of the hill, which we didn't do last time. Then down next to the theatres. Got photos of the entrance area to the theatres used in the movie, but to see inside you need to go on a tour. Their website says the only tour for the Felsenreitschule is at 9:30am. An advertising board we saw said 2pm. So who knows which is right.

Train crossing Eisenbahnbrücke over the Salzach, with Kirche Maria Himmelfahrt and Untersberg

Mum posing on the Do Re Mi steps at Mirabell Palace

Me at Pegasus Brunnen in Mirabell Palace
Photo by Mum

Pegasus Brunnen in Mirabell Palace

Gardens in Mirabell Palace

Me dancing up the path in Mirabell Palace
Photo by Mum

Mirabell Palace gardens and Festung Hohensalzburg

Mirabell Palace

Me posing at the gates of Marabell Palace
Photo by Mum

Marko-Feingold-Steg

Salzburg

Locks on Marko-Feingold-Steg

Gstättentor

Pferdeschwemme (Hofmarstallschwemme) horse bath fountain

View over Salzburg from Mönchsberg

Old city walls behind Salzburg

View across the Felsenreitschule and Kollegienkirche

Me on the terrace behind Salzburg
Photo by Mum

Back entrance of the Felsenreitschule

By now it was like 8pm and we hadn't really eaten since breakfast. We thought we'd see if we could find some pork knuckle but of course that's easier said than done when you're tired and hungry. In the end I hacked into a random hotel's wifi and found a place that sold it on the way back to the hotel. But to be honest, it wasn't as good as Zierholz. The meat was ok but there wasn't any crackling (well there was, but it was rubber not crackling). Sad times.

Finally back to the hotel around 9pm. Ridiculous. So fricken tired.

Day 18 - Tuesday 10 April - Munich to Salzburg

Slept ok with open window. Had breakfast (turns out they do actually have bread rolls) and got ready and checked out. Went with the group to the airport (got a new coach and a new driver but he was running a bit late). Got dropped off and terminal 1, and walked under to terminal 2 to pick up the keys for our car. Fortunately we were able to get a car with a GPS! Went to the garages to pick up the car (of course it was down the far back corner wasn't it?). But couldn't figure out how to change the language of the GPS to English, or how to even take the parking brake off, so had to walk wayyyy back to try and find someone, which took even more time out of the day. Turns out the parking break is a little switch in the middle. How bizarre! We also couldn't get the GPS to talk to us, but of course by that time we were out on the autobahns so I couldn't stop and fiddle.

Historical aircraft outside Munich Airport

Stopped for a pitstop at a rest house, and bought an Austrian toll sticker (8.80 for ten days). Also got the GPS talking to us.

Our first real stop was the closter at Hoglworth. It was also our first trip off the major roads onto teeny tiny roads which was, er, interesting. Of course I couldn't document any of it :(

Kloster Höglwörth, seen in the opening credits of The Sound of Music

View south from Kloster Höglwörth towards Wengkapelle and Germany/Austria border mountains

Drove onto the hotel, negotiating Salzburg streets which was pretty stressful. At least there's free parking. And free internet! But it was quite late by the time we go there, on account of roadworks all up and down the autobahns. I'd been hoping to get here a lot earlier, and the weather was closing in (proving again to me that it's *always* cloudy and rainy in Salzburg). The forecast was for rain the rest of our stay, so I thought we should get up the mountains first. But the mountains were mostly clouded over which was pretty sad making.

Anyway, so headed out again. Headed up Mehlweg first, but overshot where I'd been aiming for, so didn't find *the* hill I wanted to see. But I suppose we were close. Except it was so cloudy and rainy you really couldn't see anything :(

Countryside along Mehlweg, near where the opening shots of The Sound of Music were filmed

Hill along Mehlweg, near where the opening shots of The Sound of Music were filmed

Then along the Rossfeld Panoramastrasse. This road is 8EUR and the top of it goes along the Austria-Germany border. But it was all clouded over so couldn't see anything. But luckily the clouds parted a little bit here and there and could at least see the view. Got to pretty close to the ridge the family walks along at the end of the movie, but couldn't find the exact spot (I think it's all covered by trees now anyway).

Clouded over path on Rossfeld Panoramastraße

View south from Rossfeld Panoramastraße (peaks form Germany/Austria border

Me at Rossfeld Panoramastraße
Photo by Mum

Rossfeld ski lift (Skilifte Rossfeld GmbH & Co.KG)
Photo by Mum

View towards Kuchl from Rossfeld Panoramastraße

Meadow at the western end of Rossfeld Panoramastraße (the shots I was looking for would have been up the hill off to the left out of shot)

Meadow at the western end of Rossfeld Panoramastraße

View north towards Salzburg

View north towards Salzburg. The Untersberg massif on the left is seen in the final shots of The Sound of Music

View north towards Salzburg from Rossfeld Panoramastraße

View towards Golling an der Salzag

Untersberg massif from Rossfeld Panoramastraße

View towards Salzburg from Rossfeld Panoramastraße

Bridge on Rossfeld Panoramastraße

Then back down and south. Found two of the churches used in the opening shots of the movie (and the intermission) in Kuchl and Golling.

Kuchl's Pfarrkirche, seen in the opening credits and intermission of The Sound of Music

Wallfahrtskirche St. Nikolaus near Golling an der Salzag, seen in the opening credits and intermission of The Sound of Music

Then continued south to Werfen. It was getting too late to attempt the Sound of Music walk from the town up to the meadow, so we drove up. I think the actual meadow is on private property, so we just stood at the top of it. It was pretty cloudy and getting dark, so didn't get the best shots, but at least go the idea.

Burg Hohenwerfen (Hohenwerfen Castle) and mountains seen in the picnic scene during The Sound of Music

Burg Hohenwerfen (Hohenwerfen Castle)

Meadow near Werfen used to film the picnic scene in The Sound of Music

Finally drove back to Salzburg. Went across to the station and just got some sandwiches for dinner which we ate back at the hotel.

Day 11 - Tuesday 3 May - Strasbourg to Basel

The hotel in Strasbourg was too damned hot. There was no air-conditioning, only a heater (that was on when we arrived). Left the window open all night which helped a little. But also in the bathroom there was a hot water pipe heater that kept the bathroom super hot (we kept the door closed to contain the heat - which of course meant my washing all dried overnight which was a bonus!). Woke up at 6:15, which was a sleepin!

Breakfast in the hotel was also complete chaos and there wasn't enough seats for everyone. We eventually found a table for six, but noone else from our group joined us.

We had a different coach driver today - our previous one (Dorrell sp??) had to have a mandatory break day, and then was going to pick up another tour. The new one had the radio on which was a bit annoying (talk shows and advertising in foreign languages made for just noise. Someone eventually asked them to turn it off which was good.

View southwest along the Ill River from Pont de la Dordogne

Had a pitstop north of Basel, then crossed the border into Switzerland. Had to wait about ten minutes at the border crossing.

In Basel we picked up another local guide and went for a bit of a walking tour. Didn't really see that much, just walked past the Fish market, the Rathaus and up into Barfüsserplatz and then it was lunch time and we had an hour off. But we had no idea what there even was to see. So we asked where the tourist information was, and also toilets. But the guide just said go to a café to go to the toilet (not much use if you weren't going to any cafés) and pointed at the wrong place for the tourist information. Not a terribly useful guide. Anyway, I saw a big i so we headed for that, and got ourselves a map. Walked past the Münster and down to one of the bridges to look along the Rhine, then headed back. Found a free toilet next to the tram ticket office.

Fischmarkt-Brunnen (Fish market fountain)

Basel Rathaus

Statue of Lucius Munatius Plancus in the Rathaus

Ornate doorway in the Rathaus

Fountain in the Rathaus

Interior courtyard in Basel Rathaus

Tower of Basel Rathaus

Then the tour carried on. But all it did was take us to the Münster (which we went inside) and the cloisters next door. And then it was raining. Quite heavily. So we tramped down the hill to where we could take a tram up the hill to our hotel, and that was the end of the tour. And at that stage it would have been the end of the day and it was only around 3pm. So it would have been a complete dud of a day.

Basler Münster (Basel Minster)

The Bishop's House off Rittergasse

Basler Münster

Basel from Wettsteinbrücke (Wettstein Bridge)

Basilisk sculpture
Photo by Mum

Interior of Basel Minster

Stained glass windows in Basel Minster

Interior of Basel Minster

Stained glass windows in Basel Minster

Basler Münster (Basel Minster)

Cloisters of Basel Minster

Basler Münster (Basel Minster)

Bronze model of Basel Minster

Except.

The sun came out.

So we headed out again to take advantage of the sunlight.

Took a tram all the way down to the other side of the Rhine over Mittlere Rheinbrücke, then walked all the way back, stopping at many of the things that were in bad lighting earlier, and seeing a couple of extra things too. Added another five thousand steps to the day.

Basel from Mittlere Brücke

The Rhine River from Mittlere Brücke

Martinskirche and Basel from Mittlere Brücke

Tram crossing Wettsteinbrücke

Mittlere Brücke (Middle Bridge)

The Amazon sculpture by Carl Burckhardt

Mittlere Brücke (Middle Bridge)

kHaus Cultural Centre

Basel Rathaus

One of the buildings of Basel Minster

Cloisters of Basel Minster

Tethered ferry service across the Rhine

Cargo ship passing under Wettsteinbrücke

Cargo ship and tram crossing Mittlere Brücke

Basel from Basler Pfalz

Wettsteinbrücke

Basler Münster (Basel Minster)

St George and the dragon on Basel Minster

Basel Historical Museum - Barfüsserkirche

Offene Kirche Elisabethen (Open Church Elisabethen)

Offene Kirche Elisabethen (Open Church Elisabethen)
Photo by Mum

Offene Kirche Elisabethen (Open Church Elisabethen)

Interior of Open Church Elisabethen

The hotel is fairly nice, with a double-sinked bathroom and toilet with separate door. Although we have a courtyard-facing room so the view is nothing special.

Dinner in the hotel restaurant was quite nice. But even though I hadn't eaten anything more substantial than an apple since breakfast, I still couldn't finish it.

Day 5 - Wednesday 27 April - Berlin to Leipzig

Breakfast as usual this morning, then checked out.

Our first stop was in Potsdam. I'd been here with the sweetie eight years ago. Last time we hired bikes and got around *heaps* of the palaces and things to see. We also had a brilliant day for it. Today it was grey. :(

Our first stop was the Glienicker Brücke - "Bridge of Spies" - for a quick photo stop.

Glienicker Brücke

Colonnade at Glienicker Brücke

Then onto Sans Souci palace. The vines hadn't come out yet so it was all a little grey. But still quite pretty and there were bulbs already flowering in the gardens at the bottom.

Schloss Sanssouci - Sanssouci Palace

Terraces at Sanssouci Palace

Statue and terraces at Sanssouci Palace

Ducks next to the creek at the bottom of Sanssouci Palace

Flowers at Sanssouci Palace

Me at one of the gazebos at Sanssouci Palace
Photo by Mum

Colonnaded courtyard on the north side of Sanssouci Palace

Historic wind mill

Then they took us into town and dropped us off for some free time. We went into the Nikolai church because that was just there. Then Mum and I went off for a walk. Got up to the Brandenburg Tor, then back up Brandenburger strasse to Nauener Tor, back through the Dutch village, and back to the coach.

Church of St Peter and Paul

Obelisk outside St Nikolai Church

Altes Rathaus - the Old Town Hall

St Nikolai Church

Interior of St Nikolai Church

Domed roof of St Nikolai Church

Fortuna Gate of the Stadtschloss (City Palace). Everything was reconstructed from scratch from 2007

The stables were the only remains of the Stadtschloss that survived WWII and the communist regime, now a film museum

Pretty cherry blossoms on Lindenstraße

Brandenburger Tor - the Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam

Fountain in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam

View towards Church of St Peter and Paul

Nauener Tor

Buildings in the Dutch Quarter

Bassinplatz and buildings in the Dutch Quarter

Most people slept on the coach ride south to Leipzig. I stayed awake and talked to the sweetie for a bit. Had a brief toilet stop (by now this is the third toilet I've had to pay for today :(:( ) and continued on, getting here at nearly 3:30pm.

Wind turbine blade on a truck at Köckern West Rest Stop

In Leipzig we met a local guide for a walking tour of the old town. Highlights included the Thomas Church, the oldest coffee house in Germany, the market square and the Nikolai Church.

Western facade of Thomaskirche (St Thomas Church)

Bach-Archiv (Bach-Museum) - museum for J.S. Bach

Southern side of Thomaskirche

Statue of Johann Sebastian Bach outside Thomaskirche

Interior of Thomaskirche

Tomb for J.S. Bach (since 1950)

Roof of Thomaskirche

Interior of Thomaskirche

Stained glass window of J.S. Bach in Thomaskirche

Thomaskirche (St Thomas Church)

Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum (The Arabian Coffee Tree) - the oldest coffee house in Germany

Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum

Altes Rathaus - the Old Town Hall

Alte Börse - formerly home to the Leipzig Stock Exchange

Naschmarkt and the rear of the Altes Rathaus (right)

Pretty trees and park next to Thomaskirche

Thomaskirche

Then to the hotel. Not a bad room, although the view is a little boring - the roof of the atrium!

Went out for dinner tonight to a restaurant in the old town. Had some mushroom soup, some sausage and potato, and this weird (but nice) cake thing with apple sauce.

Day 4 - Tuesday 26 April - Berlin

Sadly, yet again, I couldn't be with the sweetie on our anniversary today :(

Slept well for the first half of the night, but woke up to pee and had pretty broken sleep after that.

Breakfast was much the same today as yesterday (but they had bacon today!)

We were given the morning off to do what we liked. Except it was raining.

We decided to go to the Checkpoint Charlie museum first, since it opened at 9am and it was raining. I wish I'd done a bit more research, because if I had, I probably wouldn't have gone. I was expecting a lot more about the history of the wall and the escape attempts, and there was a little bit of that. But most of the museum is just a rabbit warren of rooms *covered* in text and some photos. And most of it has nothing to do with the wall. There was an awful lot about world politics. There was stuff on Ronald Reagan. There was stuff on prisoners in North Korea. There was even some stuff on Picasso and art.

It was the most confusing and disorganised museum I've ever been to. Really didn't enjoy much of it at all. As we came out we found maps which *may* have helped cut down the confusion.

Modified Volkswagen Beetle used to smuggle people out of East Germany

Wall of photographs in Checkpoint Charlie Museum

Model of Air Force One

Isetta car used to smuggle people out of East Germany

The Fraternal Kiss, between Brezhnev and Honecker

Pieces of the Berlin Wall

So we'd gotten to the museum by an M29 bus. We bought all day tickets (7EUR) so we could hop on and off without having to stress about tickets. The bus stop where we got on sold tickets, although they only worked with coins and credit cards, although it wouldn't take Mum's credit card so she had to buy hers on the bus (I didn't have enough coinage for both tickets). After the museum, we decided to take trains to Alexanderplatz. Getting to Friedrichstrasse was easy enough, but Friedrichstrasse is a huge, confusing, and very badly signed station. We got quite confused about where to go to get a train to Alexanderplatz and ended up asking someone.

At Alexanderplatz we walked out of the station and looked up. Good news! We could see the tower. Which meant we'd be able to see out of it. So went and lined up at the first security checkpoint to get into the building. Because it had been raining the queue was very short - only a few people in front of us. Inside we took one look at the queue to buy tickets, and went over to the vending machines to get them. Went straight in :) (after passing another security check). It was mostly cloudy, but quite clear, and the sun started to peek through. Took photos out of every window to make a panorama. It'll be interesting to compare photos from this trip to the ones I took last time to see what sort of construction has happened in the past eight years. We also ran into several groups of people from the tour who had the same idea as us. They couldn't get into the Reichstag dome because there were no available tickets til 6pm!

Berliner Dom from the Fernsehturm

View southwest from the Fernsehturm

Potsdamer Platz from the Fernsehturm

Train crossing the Spree

View to the Pergamon Museum from the Fernsehturm

View to the Tiergarten and Reichstag from the Fernsehturm

Alexanderplatz from the Fernsehturm

View southeast from the Fernsehturm

The Rotes Rathaus from the Fernsehturm

The Brandenburger Tor from the Fernsehturm

Next we headed back down to find the chocolate shop Robert and Winsome had told us about. And continued to get frustrated with the public transport system here. Specifically signage for people that need to figure out where to go. Or, as the case may be, the complete lack of it. Some stations had at least a board that had the stations on the line it was on. But others didn't. And very few of them have an overall network map so you can figure out which line you have to be on and which direction to go. *Eventually* found the right train at Alexanderplatz and went to Statdmitte, where we found the chocolate shop right outside the train station entrance.

Me and one of the Bears of Berlin at Alexanderplatz station (#1326 - BVG)
Photo by Mum

The chocolate shop is pretty amazing. It's got all these huge models made out of chocolate, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Fernsehturm, and even the Titanic and an A380! I bought myself a small sample of chockies to try.

Rausch Schokoladenhaus

The Quadriga statue on the Brandenburg Gate made out of chocolate at Rausch Schokoladenhaus

The Reichstag made out of chocolate at Rausch Schokoladenhaus
Photo by Mum

Me in Rausch Schokoladenhaus
Photo by Mum

The Titanic made out of chocolate at Rausch Schokoladenhaus

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church made out of chocolate at Rausch Schokoladenhaus

Then back to the hotel. Train from Stadtmitte to Halesches Tor to change trains (and a long walk rivalling the Paris metro to change trains) for a train to Uhlandstrasse.

Only had a very brief stop at the hotel, then we were on the coach, heading out to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. It was only a small camp in the scheme of things, and not a lot is left, but it was quite interesting, and pretty sad.