Friday 24th January 2025 Strasbourg to
Neuf Birsach
We have decided to go “off script” again and do something
that was not in the original itinerary. Instead of a day trip to Metz, which
would be more churches and old buildings, we are doing a trip to Neuf-Brisach
which looks like an interesting village that has been fortified by having walls
and trenches built around it in the shape of a star – it is a planned village.
We headed to the station just before 9:00 and needed to buy
some tickets. We had trouble with the machines so had to go and find an actual
living and breathing human at the service desk to help us. Managed to get some
train tickets to get us to and from Colmar. The human at Strasbourg told us to
ask when we got to Colmar how and from where to get to Neuf-Brisach as it would
involve catching a bus. The bus is 4 euros each but the ticket is good for 4
hours so provided we came back within 4 hours we could still use the original
tickets. Found this info from the Tourist Information Office in Colmar after
which we went for morning tea in Colmar.
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Stairwell at Cafe in Colmar.
Upstairs Cafe, this level shop, downstairs toilets. |
Next was to find the bus stop near the
theatre to save us walking all the way back to the railway station bus stop. Based
on Google Maps we would have been on the wrong side of the street but we went
by what the lady at the Tourist Info Centre had told us. Tourist Info Centre 1,
Google Maps 0!
The bus took about 40 minutes to get to Neuf Brisach and we
headed to the Tourist info Centre for a map of the town with the suggested
walking path. The Tourist Info centre is opposite the main square and the
fellow there remembered Les from the emails he had sent him asking about
walking tours (only in French so of no use to us). In the Main Square they were
cutting down the Christmas Tree. All the branches had already been cut down and
they were cutting sections of the main trunk at about 1 metre each go. The
fellow at the Tourist info Centre said it was the 2nd biggest tree
in Alsace with Strasbourg’s being the biggest and was also the 2nd
tallest the town had ever had. This was 28 metres and the record is 30 metres.
They trim the tree down to about 3 or 4 metres and then they carve the rest
into a sculpture and it stays in the square until November when they put up the
new tree for Christmas.
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| Cutting down the Christmas Tree, metre by metre. |
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| Neuf-Brisach layout |
We headed off on the walking tour shown in the brochure we
got from the tourist info. This involves part of the town itself and the
fortifications around the town. The town is based on a grid pattern built
within an octagon, which with the bastion towers looks like a star. For more
info check it out at Neuf-Brisach
- Wikipedia.
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| Fortress Walls, Neuf-Brisach |
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| One of the 4 gates, Neuf-Brisach |
After an hour or so we decided it was time to have some lunch.
The town only has about 2,000 population and we weren’t sure what our options
would be, especially in winter. But we found a café near the centre of town and
the menu board outside said the café had soup and Quiche Lorraine so headed in.
The lady could not speak any English and could not handle Google translate very
well but found out that ‘No there was no menu’ but ‘Yes could serve us Soup and
Quiche Lorraine’. So Joy had soup and Les had Quiche Lorraine made by authentic
French lady from the Lorraine area! Both meals were very nice. While we were in
the café other people were coming and going, and listening to them talk, we
could tell it wasn’t French and it wasn’t German, so did a bit of research, and
yes, there is a local language Alsacien, but sadly it is in decline.
Paid with cash as we shuddered to think what paying with
card would be like. Joy had also ordered a cappuccino but the lady forget to
make it!! She realised as we were paying and was extremely apologetic and
called herself stupid (we think). Anyway, by not having to wait for the coffee
that meant we could make the bus stop for the 1:49 bus otherwise it was over an
hour and a half before the next bus. Back to Colmar and train to Strasbourg
which was quite crowded. Home by 3:30.
Have to update you and say we finally managed to get the
upgrade on our flight from Munich to Doha when we head home. Took a bit of
doing but we will be flying this leg in Business Class. A first for Les and
first for International flight for Joy, she had done a Sydney to Melbourne on
Business once before.
Saturday 25th January 2025 Donaueschingen
We had planned another day wandering around Strasbourg but
as there was nothing more we wanted to see we decided to go for a train trip
through the Black Forest to a town called Donaueschingen. The trip is about 2
hours but it involved a change of train in Offenburg with only 7 minutes to
change platforms, but anyway we set off to the train station. The trip involved
going from France to Germany and Strasbourg is only about 5 km from the border.
When we reached the 1st station in Germany a group of heavily armed
German police entered the train and started asking for passports/ID. We did not
have our passports as it hadn’t even occurred to us that we might need them –
it’s all the EU, and travelling between countries is so easy. We did have our
NSW Driver’s Licenses, which the policeman wasn’t too impressed with, but on
thinking about it, he said it would be Ok this time, but we needed to have our passports
next time. What this checking of passports of everyone on the train meant was
the train was now about 7 minutes late!! We arrived in Offenburg and made it to
the other platform just as the train doors closed. This meant we had to wait an
hour for the next train. So we wandered downtown to the centre of Offenburg and
passed several farmers markets type stalls and had a bit of a look at the town
itself. We eventually found a café that had seats indoors (happy to sit
outdoors but this is where smokers sit so not going to happen for us). Had
morning tea and wandered back to the train station. Made the station with 15
minutes to spare and jumped on the train to head through the Black Forest. We originally
sat on the side that ended up having the most sun and that was annoying as we
couldn’t see properly and it’s no good for taking photos. So we decided to move
to the shady side, but had to move to 2nd class to do that! As is
the case we now have the better scenery on the side we started on but didn’t
move back because of the sun.
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| Black Forest scenery on the way to Donaueschingen |
We arrived in Donaueschingen at about 12:15 and wandered
around the town and found a water feature (not running in winter) that has
about 6 musicians and you can move their arms and instruments so that made Joy
happy as she had something to play with.
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| Statue in Donaueschingen with no water. |
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| Joy rearranging the models. |
We then used Google to find a café
that was open for lunch (Sundays are VERY quiet) and headed off, but after 5
minutes worked out we were going the wrong way. So turned around and headed
back and finally found the café. It was the one with lots of people sitting in
the sun. We had an indoor table and Joy had cheese and tomato croissant and Les
had potato and bacon soup. After lunch we did some more wandering including a
St John the Baptist church (complete with sculpture of a severed head outside),
the Source of the Danube, the Fürstenberg palace and the gardens.
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The source of the Danube.
Not sure why as it flows into another river which is 100 times bigger! |
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| Johann Church Nativity Scene. Probably the biggest we have seen. |
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Fountain in palace grounds.
Yes, that is ice next to waterspout and on the pond. |
There was an
exhibition of sculptures along the walk to the gardens, and they
were…interesting. One of them was in the middle of the river and it looked like
some plastic that had been caught on a branch. We also saw where the trickle of
water that came from the source of the Danube joined into the river, and that
got us wondering how they decided that the river would be called the Danube
from there all the way onwards, instead of being called by the name of the
river it joined in to (Brigach) that was already more than 30km long. Caught
the train back to Offenburg and we were able to make the 7 minute transfer
between platforms and back to Strasbourg.
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| More Black Forest scenery. |
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| No tennis here as the courts covered in ice!! |
Overall it was a pleasant day’s trip but have to admit the
train trip and the Black Forest, which were the main reasons for the trip, were
a bit of a disappointment as it was not as scenic as we were hoping for. Part
of the reason for this was there were so many tunnels, but then maybe for some
people that would be interesting. For us, it was a bit like “Where is the
forest?”, but still worth doing we suppose. Just have to research more next
time to see if there is a more scenic trip anywhere.
Sunday 26th January 2025 Obernai
Another train trip to a local town but this time we only had
a 30 minute train trip. Again off to the station and a quick trip to Obernai.
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In the countries we visited in Europe you walk on the right-hand side except France!
Mind you very few people keep to the correct side. |
Obernai is an old town which is surrounded by ramparts. The town is very
distinctly separated into the old part in the centre and the new part outside.
There is a very substantial path around the top of the ramparts which we walked
along almost the entire way around. It appears this path is used quite a lot by
joggers, cyclists and mothers taking their kids for a stroll, as well as
tourists.
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Joy and her twin, Obernai
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The centre of town is very old and has narrow alleys and
those wonderful buildings with the wooden frames and rendered walls. We found a
cathedral however as it was Sunday there was a service in progress, so we did
not go inside. Spent a few hours wandering before we decided it was time for
lunch and stopped at Patisserie Schaeffer where we both had quiche for lunch.
Les had a standard quiche Lorraine (when in Lorraine) and Joy had a broccoli
and cheese quiche. After lunch we wandered through part of the new town as we
had an hour to kill before our train back to Strasbourg.
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| Obernai |
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| Obernai |
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| Obernai Town Hall |
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| Obernai Rampart |
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| Obernai narrow alley |
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| Obernai. Imagine how old this vine is. |
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| Obernai. In some French towns the power lines run between houses rather than poles. |
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| Obernai, Nice Roof Tiling |
Arrived home about 2:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon
packing and doing the diary and blog.
Monday 27th January 2025 Strasbourg to Munich
Well today is the last time we move between towns (other
than moving from Munich to Munich Airport) and we have a reasonably early start
as our train leaves at 9:08. We were packed and apartment cleaned, etc with
plenty of time but we decided to head to the station at about 8:00 as it is
sprinkling rain and due to get heavier.
When we got to the station we could hear music (as we have a
few times) so Joy went for a wander and found they have a piano that people can
play. We had seen public pianos in a few airports and railway stations when we
were in Europe back in 2023/24. Joy did not have a go as the fellow playing was
so much better than her (Joy’s words, not Les’!!), and she didn’t want to kick
him off just so she could play chopsticks.
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| Strasbourg Railway Station |
Boarded our train for a short trip of 1 hr 10 minutes to
Mannheim before we change to head towards Munich. This was one train where we had
to reserve seats but could not reserve specific seats. As it happened, we were
lucky as we had forward facing seats. Arrived in Mannheim and since we only had
an hour between trains, it wasn’t long enough to store our luggage and go
looking around. We eventually found a suitable place for morning tea where we
could sit with space for our bags. It’s a chain café called ‘Le Crobag’, but
Les’ lemon/lime drink and apple turnover and Joy’s large cappuccino and vanilla
and chocolate pastry were just fine.
Boarded our next train for Mannheim to Munich and as usual
we boarded at one end of the carriage and our seats were the other end!! At
least this time there was space for our luggage in the luggage area which was
just behind where we were sitting (a sliding glass door separated us from our
luggage). The trip to Munich goes via Stuttgart and when the train arrives
there it leaves going back the opposite way so those facing forward are now
facing backwards. This is one of the European fast trains and it peaked at 250
kph. We had thought that this would be scenic train trip but unfortunately
there were quite a few tunnels and lots of areas where there was an earth mound
on each side of the tracks and when going through towns there were the normal
noise barriers. So all in all we did not see much scenery even though it was a
3 hour trip. And the scenery we did see what fairly bland – flat, fields,
industry. We had bought lunch when we were in Mannheim to have on the train
with Les having a cheese pretzel (soft and fresh) and Joy had yoghurt with
fruit and muesli.
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| Storm Trooper from Star Wars?? |
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The Kids got out of the backpack and
were obviously after something from Les! |
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| Maybe this was what they wanted!! |
Arrived in Munich on time (even though at one stage we were
11 minutes behind schedule) at 2:30. We headed to the accommodation which seems
further than it did 2 years ago. Must be old age catching up with us. It was a
bit like coming home as we spent just over a week here in 2023 and we have 8
nights here this time. Unpacked what needed to be done and did the shopping
list. Headed out to do the shopping for a few nights and actually did better
than we thought we would. Back to the accommodation for afternoon tea and
relaxing for the rest of the afternoon.
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| Munich Accommodation still with Christmas Feeling. |
Tuesday 28th January 2025 Munich
Plan was for a rest day with a walk to Kuchentratsch which
is a café/bakery place where the food (cakes, biscuits, slices, etc) is made by
grandmothers and grandfathers. The description is “a social start-up known
as Kuchentratsch (cake
and gossip) has been providing local cafes with sweet treats made by the best
in the baking business: grandmothers. The idea was developed by business
management graduate Katharina Mayer after she realised she couldn’t buy cakes
as good as those made by her own ‘Oma’. She wanted a taste of home, something
so delicious and comforting that calories simply didn’t matter. “.
The weather is showery and the possibility of some snow but
not holding out much hope.
Joy had a Whatsapp video call this morning with some friends
to catch up on what’s happening and Les worked on the diary. Had a very quiet
day pottering, etc and watching it rain and snow. It actually snowed a
reasonable amount for a couple of hours, but it melted as soon as it hit the
ground ☹.
After lunch we saw a squirrel playing in the garden and
eating from the bird feeders that are scattered around the gardens at the
apartment block we are staying at. Joy has identified it as a red squirrel and
not because it is reddish coloured but because it has tuffs of hair on it ears.
Apparently other squirrels can also be reddish and not be red squirrels, and
red squirrels can be colours other than red – got that?
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| Squirrel eating from bird feeder. |
When it was time for afternoon tea the rain
had stopped (and so had the snow) so we set off for the walk to Kuchentratsch
which was just over 1 km flat walk. We crossed a large open space which has
roads and gravel areas and is called the Theresienwiese. This is the location
for Octoberfest plus Spring Festival and Winter Tollwood (held in Nov/Dec). At
the moment, though, it's just this huge expanse of nothing.
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Theresienwiese where Octoberfest is held.
Also notice all the cranes in the background. |
When we arrived at the café we were surprised at how big,
commercial and busy it was. We got some seats and had a very nice afternoon
tea. Not sure what we ate but Les had a cake with creamy/blueberry centre and
Joy had a chocolate/nut type cake. The main part of the kitchen is surrounded
by glass so you can watch the grandmas and grandpas working as you eat the food
they have cooked. Wonder if they feel like goldfish in a bowl?
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| Kuchentratsch |
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| Kuchentratsch |
After we
finished we walked home via supermarket to get some milk. It was about a 2 km
walk so helped walk off the calories from afternoon tea. Home by about 5:00 and
the washing is done so put that on the airer.
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| Heading back to accommodation. |
Wednesday 29th January 2025 Day Tour to Rothenburg and Nördlinger Ries by Bus
Today is a group tour and is the first group tour we have done since before Christmas when we were in Prague. We have done
more DIY tours this trip compared to last Europe holiday in 2022/23. We were
actually a bit worried as Joy checked a few days ago what was in the tour by
connecting to the app for the company we booked the tour through, and it had
shown that the tour did not exist anymore. The web site for the company
supplying the tour still listed the tour. Tried to call and no response so sent
an email and got the message that they would respond within 72 hours however it
was only 36 hours until the tour began. Anyway they got back to us and it was
an IT issue and all was good.
We had an early start as the
tour departed at 8:20 and we had to be there 20 minutes early to check in. We
set off and walked the 1 km to the bus pickup point and arrived in plenty of
time. The tour is on a modern double storey coach (as compared to double storey
bus). Everyone opted for upstairs as that was recommend by the tour guide. We
only had about 20 to 25 on the tour and we were the only Aussies as far as we
know. We headed north west out of Munich firstly by busy inner city roads
before getting onto the autobahn. The autobahns in Germany have no speed limit
for cars and it was obvious. The coach was limited to 100 kph so was being
overtaken a lot but it also overtook lots of semitrailers who were limited to
90 kph. The weather is variable with some showers and then some blue sky, then
showers and so on. Our first stop was Harburg Castle, in Harburg. The castle is
perched high on a hill which is normal however the motorway goes directly under
the castle via a tunnel. We had a short steep walk to the castle and them we
were taken on a guided tour of the castle including many of the rooms and
almost the entire castle wall. The guide was very good being informative but
also entertaining. He also had a beard and moustache, and the moustache could
have been waxed and turned up into loops at the end. We had good weather at
this time and so there was good light on the castle.
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Harbourg Castle on the top of the hill.
You can see the entrance to the tunnel where the road goes. |
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| Harburg Castle from courtyard. |
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Harburg Castle.
The walk took us along the wall above the archways. |
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Harburg Castle. Defense on the wall.
You shot through the hole then roll the ball around so that the hole is gone to protect yourself.
When ready to fire again roll the ball until the hole appears. |
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| Harburg Castle wall walk. The holes on the left are for firing through. |
The castle is unusual
because it is still 90% in medieval style. This is mainly because the people
who owned it didn’t use it as their main castle much so didn’t bother updating
it as the years went on. It is also because the owners didn’t bother defending
it when it was attacked – again, because it wasn’t their main castle – and so
wasn’t damaged much. They still have the portcullis over the entry gate to the
castle! It’s not the original, of course, but it’s still there. The only part
of the castle that has been updated is one staircase and the hall at the top of
that staircase. These were done in the 18th century when the castle
was used as a base for hunting and the owners needed somewhere to come back to
celebrate in at the end of the day.
Next stop was Rothenburg
which was reached by driving through “Nördlinger Ries” which is an impact
crater and large circular depression area. We arrived in Rothenburg and the
tour guide took us for a short (quick) tour up the main road to the town
square. It was now lunch time and she showed us the “preferred” restaurant for
lunch. We decided to stay there for lunch as many other places were closed and
we could have walked around and not found anything. So we had lunch at Baumeisterhaus
Inn Dieter Neupert. Joy had cheese spätzle with crunchy fried onions and
Les had turkey and potato croquettes. The food was OK but nothing to rave
about. After lunch we headed out to check out the town. We were in the main
square at 2pm when the clock did its thing of the windows to the side opening
and a couple of figures in them moving – one swigging a huge mug of wine. This
was telling the story of how one of the mayors of the town saved it by winning
a bet with a conquering general, who said if he could drink this enormous
amount of wine (3.25 litres), he would spare the town from being burnt to the ground.
We still had a few hours of free time so we walked around parts of the old town,
into the castle garden and did parts of the wall walk which involved several
sets of steep narrow stairs. Also at one point on the wall walk Les had to take
his backpack off as he could not fit through the gap with it on.
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| Rothenberg |
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| Rothenberg |
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| Rothenberg |
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| Rothenberg. A road runs under the church. |
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| Rothenberg. Town Wall. We climbed stairs on left. |
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| Rothenberg Town Wall |
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| Rothenberg Town Wall climbing stairs back down. |
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| Iconic shot location in Rothenberg |
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| Rothenberg Clock where he drinks wine every hour. |
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| Rothenberg Market Square |
At about 4:00
pm we headed back to Munich and got about ½ way back before it got dark which
meant no scenery but as we came home the same way we went, we had seen it all
before.
On the autobahn on the way
back (in the dark) there was an accident on the other side of the road and 2 of
the 3 lanes were blocked. The traffic was backed up for probably 10 km or more.
When we arrived back in Munich we had grid lock. At the 2nd last set
of traffic lights before we got to the bus stop we came to a halt. The traffic
turning across the front of us would do the “drive through and end up stopped
so the vehicles coming across cannot move even when the lights turn green”.
Finally made it to the bus stop and walked the 1 km home.
Thursday 30th January 2025 Day trip to Augsburg
Today was another day that we went off itinerary. Originally
we were planning to visit Landshut and the castle but the castle only does
German language tours and the only day you can do self-guided is Sunday so we
decided to rearrange some of our days but also dropped that trip and visit Augsburg
after hearing so much about it on our tour yesterday.
We had a reasonably lazy start as we had to be at the
station by 9:58 for the train to Augsburg which arrived there at about 10:45.
Started to the Tourist Info Centre but along the way we stopped for morning
tea. Joy had a cappuccino and Les had a hot milk. This time the milk came with
chocolate on top so Joy ate that – she’s such a hero. Also probably 2/3 of the
cup was froth which has not been the case most of the time. Also had some
apricot slice. Next was the Tourist Info centre where we got a map of the town
and set off wandering the sights. The main reason for visiting Augsburg was to
see the Fuggerei which is a 500 year old social housing complex. It had (has) 3
main rules to be accepted – you had to be Catholic (and had to pray 3 times a day
at the church), be from Augsburg and had to have no money! Very interesting place however you sometimes
felt like you were in someone’s home (which essentially you were) and invading
their privacy. Some people live there for only a short time until they get back
on their feet, some people live there for decades, even the rest of their
lives. There are single people, couples, families. It is very well kept, and it
seems the people living there are very proud of their community. I think
another part of why it is so successful and has continued for so many years is
the dedication of the family of the man who set it up (Jakob Fugger). They
still run it and have adapted over time to the changes in the way the world
works, while at the same time staying true to the original charter.
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| Fuggerei, Augsburg. |
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| Fuggerei, Augsburg. |
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| Fuggerei Church, Augsburg. |
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| Fuggerei, Augsburg. |
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| Fuggerei, Augsburg. |
After we wandered a bit more we headed back to the station
and bought some cheese pretzels for lunch. They were very fresh and very nice.
Caught the train back to Munich and then back to the
accommodation for afternoon tea before heading out to do the grocery shopping.
Went to a new supermarket to see if they had a better range. Not really and
about 10 min wait to get to the checkout. Back home in the dark.
Friday 31st January 2025 Day trip to Mittenwald
We wanted to visit a Breitach Gorge at Oberstdorf however it
is closed for safety reasons. We then decided to go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen
and Parnach Gorge but it is also closed as the ice has been falling due to the
warm weather and therefore not safe. So after doing some research we decided to
visit Mittenwald and hopefully walk in the snow.
This trip means the train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen followed
7 minutes later by a train to Mittenwald. We were due to leave Munich at 8:34
but we left approx. 5 minutes late which meant we would struggle with the 7
minute transfer. By the time we arrived in Garmisch we were about 20 minutes
late and the other train was well gone. We had less than an hour until the next
train so headed to a café next to the station for morning tea. The drinks and
food were nice but the service was fairly poor – slow and difficult to get the
attention of the waitress. We had 40 minutes before the next train to
Mittenwald and at one stage we were worried we would miss that one. We later
found out that the train from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen then went on to
Innsbruck and would have stopped at Mittenwald even though we were told that
Garmisch was the final stop! Not happy about losing an hour of time in
Mittenwald.
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| Between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald. |
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Between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald.
Biathlon shotting station. |
Anyway, we did the normal thing and headed to the Tourist
Information Centre and got a map and some local knowledge. Les thought they had
a cog railway but the info centre said no. But they do have a waterfall. We
asked at the info centre about walks in the forest, including to the waterfall.
They had a very good brochure about walking in the area as it’s one of the
things they are known for. The lady who was helping us was a bit concerned
about us wandering around on those walks, though, when she saw what shoes Les
was wearing. Little did she know that those Dunlop KTXs (he’s updated from KT26s)
can go anywhere, and have done so many time! We found the walk we wanted, which
took us through the town to look at the decorated buildings (another thing the
town is known for), the Big Violin (the town is also known for the violins made
there) and then to the waterfall. We continued through the snow to the lake
where we sat on a bench under a shelter and had our cheese sandwiches for
lunch. Then headed back along the road which consisted of muddy track, snowy
track, tar road, steep tar road, very steep tar road, and cobblestone streets before
we arrived back at the station.
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| One of the many ornate buildings in Mittenwald. |
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| Lainbach Falls, Mittenwald |
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| Wandering the snowy tracks, Mittenwald, |
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| Track following the river, Mittenwald |
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Lunch stop Lainbach, Mittenwald
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| View from lunch stop. |
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Chapel of Mary Queen
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| Les' Dunlop KTX's handling the snow!! |
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| Joy had a snow ball fight with the Kids |
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| ....and I think she won... |
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| .. and so does Flat Top!! |
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| The easy part of the road back to Mittenwald. |
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| They know how to stack firewood in Europe! |
We ran out of time to visit the violin museum, but we wanted
to head back reasonably early for 2 reasons. 1 – if we missed our 7 minute
transfer at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the way back we would have to wait
another hour for the next train and 2 – the next train from
Garmisch-Partenkirchen would have more people on it as the skiers would be
catching the later train back to Munich. Anyway we made it fine and settled in
for the 1.5 hour trip back to Munich. Along the way we got talking to a young
fellow who is in the German Armed Forces. His father is an MP in the US Armed
Forces and he was an interesting fellow to talk to.
Saturday 1st February 2025 Day trip to Regensburg
Some of Regensburg’s claims to fame are:
- 1 Almost 2,000 years old
- 2 largest medieval old town north of the Alps with
nearly 1,500 listed buildings
- 3 UNESCO World Heritage listing.
- 4 The largest town left almost completely undamaged
during World War 2
We had a reasonably early start again today as we have an
8:44 train to Regensburg. The app did not say how busy it would be like it does
for other train departures. We figured it would be fairly quiet. How wrong we
were. The train goes from Munich to Prague where it arrives at about 2:30 (if
on time) and is run by Czech Railways. The train was almost full when we left
and we saw quite a few people with 6 packs of beer getting on the train.
Figured they might get thirsty on the trip to Prague. The section to Regensburg
is about 1.5 hours arriving about 10:07. When we sat down the “Seat Reserved”
sign was not lit up so we thought we would be right. When we got to the first
stop a couple got on and they had reserved the seats opposite us and so those
other people had to move. At this time the “Seat Reserved” signs were now lit
up for the seats we were sitting in and they were not our reservations as we
had not booked any seats. We had 2 more stops with our stop being the 3rd one
from here. Luckily no one claimed our seats. Between the last stop and our stop
5 fellows walked down the aisle with the first dressed in a tutu and the others
carrying crates of beer (not just 6 packs). We are thinking Buck’s Party?
When we arrived at Regensburg station there were about 20 or
more police vehicles and lots of policemen waiting. Turns out that there was a
soccer game between Berlin and Regensburg. The train almost emptied at
Regensburg, and all those people with beer on the train were probably off to
the soccer. It must be a rough crowd to need all those police.
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| Police presence at Regensburg Railway Station. |
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One of the Police Vehicles in Regensburg town.
Yes, I did ask if I could take the photo, and the office agreed but was not very friendly.
Note: Teddy has dog tags and roses! |
We again headed to the Tourist Info Centre but got waylaid
and had morning tea along the way. Stopped at a coffee shop but it works like
the big coffee shop chains. The lady behind the counter was not very nice –
didn’t want to be there maybe – and they give you the food to take to a table
and you also have to collect your drinks from the counter ie not table service.
Anyway at least it was nice.
We found the info centre and got some brochures and planned
our walk and headed off through many old streets and laneways connecting
squares or platz. Quite a few old churches but we only went inside 2 of them.
One was the Scottish Church and was fairly simple compared to the other one –
the Cathedral. The cathedral was impressive, huge, ornate, amazing stained
glass, but strangely the ceiling was not covered in paintings. Next was a walk
over the Danube River via the Stone Bridge and back over the newer bridges.
There were some people juggling and walking on wires near the newer bridge, and
as we walked across the bridge itself we saw that there were wires strung
across the water (not the main part of the river, but a side bit around an
island) and there was a woman walking on the wires. She was amazing!
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| Regensburg. View while having morning tea. |
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| Regensburg street scene |
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| Regensburg street scene |
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| St Peters Cathedral, Regensburg |
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| St Peters Cathedral, Regensburg |
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| St Peters Cathedral, Regensburg |
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| Stone Bridge, Regensburg |
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| Regensburg scene from Stone Bridge |
Once we’d finished our walk, it was about 1:00 so we thought
about lunch. But the old town was now actually quite busy so we got cheese
pretzels and an apple pastry thing and ate them at the station waiting for the
train that leaves BEFORE the soccer finishes!!
We boarded the train and took our seats only to find out the
train comes into the station from the east and leaves towards the east as well
so we were facing backwards. Les doesn’t handle travelling backwards for so
long so moved and managed to find the only other double seats facing the right
way. We arrived in Munich just after 3:00 and Les headed back to the
accommodation as Joy headed to a craft shop.
Joy had done a bit of research to see if there were any
craft supply shops easily reached from where we would be – all for research, of
course! This one seemed to be quite big based on its website, but Joy was
disappointed, both with the variety and range of things available. And the
setup was weird – although it was all the one company, all the art supplies
were in one shopfront, the yarns and accessories in another shopfront, the
fabric and haberdashery in another shopfront, paper crafting supplies in another
shopfront, etc, etc. And if you bought in one shopfront, you had to pay there
before going to another shopfront. Weird. Joy didn’t see anything interesting,
and only bought some yarn for knitting socks, as it’s a reasonable bit cheaper
than in Australia.
Spent the rest of the afternoon doing diary and catching up
on renaming photos, etc
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