Monday 10th February 2020

Monday, 10th February, 2020

We leave Meilerhof, Zirl Austria and head off to Wolfach, Germany. This is a 360 kms trip or 4 and a half hours. But as always, it takes longer that estimated, given we all need food and fuel and comfort stops.
Before we leave Zirl, we have a box of items to send back, so we find the closet post office, and send then on their merry way back to Australia. We leave around 8.45 after taping down the box and posting and are on our way again.
We cross over to Germany with not much to do. We find a little place to stop and have a bite to eat, after finding a toilet. It is a very common practice for people to have to pay to use the toilets, at usually 50c a time. Even in the road side stop places there is a fee.
It is interesting to see the scenery change from the mountians to lower and more rolling hills. But not only that but the buiding designs of houses and farm sheds changes also. Austria was a lovely country from what I saw, and even though there was snow, it was still very beautiful.
Germany, seems to have less snow, but it is still lovely countryside, with brooks and rivers bubbling along.
The freeways are interesting to travel on, as for the most part, the speed limit is 120kms, but there are those who fly past, and they must be going at least 160kms on hour. So it always pays to look a couple of times in the revision mirror before you pull out to over take a vehicle in front of you. True to our navigational system, it takes us on the  road less travelled, and we go down some windy road, which we suspect might have been closed, but we saw another car ahead of us, so we proceed with caution. Deep in the middle of The Black Forest.
We find our next place for the night, and I spot on the way to it, a Charity bin, as I have some things I am not keeping and we need space in the car, and also, we ahve to start unloading things, as we can't take everything back with us on the planes.
Our room is nice, and the lady answers some questions we have about cuckoo clocks, as we are now in the middle of the Black Forest which is where the Cuckoo clocks originated. We have done some research, and the lady tells us where would be best. So after we ahve taken our things in that we need, and have a little rest, we are again in the car to check out the town of Triberg which is about 30 mins away.
 Triberg, has the highest water falls in Germany, that fall a163 meters and it is also the home of the largest Cuckoo clock. We find a Cuckoo clock shop to browse in, and there are some beautiful clocks on display. Bob wants to buy one as a momento of being here, so the decision is somewhat difficult.
Loooking about this shop, there is the worlds most exclusive Cuckoo clock, which has 617 Swarovski Stones, 2 Swarovski Panda bears, 24carat of beaten gold, and can be bought for the nice tidy sum of 22,900Eurom or $18,183.
A decision is made, and it is paid for, and they will ship it to Australia for a price, and that is the best way for us to get it back home.
We go outside and look about the town, and there are some absolutely beautiful buildings. We dicide to take a drive up to where the water fall is, only to find that the parking area and the walking track have been closed. So we head back down to where we came from, find the same parking place and walk up to where we can see the waterfall. The track to the fall appears as though it is closed but not enough to stop us going up. It is lovely to see the water cascading down the hill side, and there is a lot of water falling. The town ahs this as its back ground sound.
We now head back to Wolfach, but decide we better find something to have for dinner, as we have not eaten very well today, and we drive to a couple of little places on our way back, but nothing suits or is open. Eventually we find a resturant, and have a wonderful meal. The lady who serves and waits on us, appears to be of some age, and she speaks excellent english. We asked her how come, and she said that since the age of 10 she had to tell guests when it was meal time. She called the hotel her Golden prison. So one gathers she has spent her lifetime in it. She tells us that her father was a sailor on merchant  ships and he used to go to Sydney. She has a picture of the Harbour bridge in her reception area. She asked us if we were from America, and we told her Australia, and that is how it all started. We had a great meal, and a local soup dish, that had cut up pancakes in it, and it was really nice, I also had some sauerkraut with boiled meat as my main meal, again a German meal. We asked for Black forest cake, and she said they didn't have any, as the cherries are not in season. So we will have to find some Black forest cake elsewhere.
It has been an enjoyable day, and we make our way back to the hotel, via the charity bin, and I unload some clothing.
The day has turned into a very windy day, and it is very windy all through the night.     

Tuesday, 11th February, 2020

This morning we leave our hotel in Wolfach, and head of to Frankfurt with a waystop in Hanau, a trip of 3 hrs, or 270 kms. We share the driving, and Bob takes first league, and when we stop, I take over the driving duties.
Driving on the freeway is a bit unnerving, as cars are whistling past at a great rate of knots. I am comfortable driving at 110 kms but having the traffic whistle past makes me very cautious. There is an endless flow of trucks all limited to 90 kms, and when one pulls out to overtake another, one has to be somewhat alert of what is about behind or on the side.
Hanau is where  there is a statue of the Grimm Brothers who wrote a lot of fairy tales, and some of them were set in te Black Forest, like Hansel and Gretel, Rupunzel and Sleeping Beauty.
The day is a bit bleak, while travelling along  and when we get to Hanau, it is  still windy and bleak. We find the statue after I eventually park the car after 3 attempts. It's not easy parking reverse parking the opposite to what you are used to doing. So we take the pics  with the statue, and it is set on a large open town centre, which doesn't seem to be overly busy. As we walk back to the car, it starts to rain again, only there is bit of ice with it, so maybe it was the start of some sleet. 
We continue onto frankfurt, a distance of 28 mins or 28.6 kms. We find our hotel, and it appears to be in the industrial part of Frankfurt. We find a parking place, and check in.
After we settle, and a rest is had, we take a walk around the area where we are. There is a river on one side of us, and while we walk, we find some gorgeous old buildings, and also find the shopping hub of the area. After investigating some of them we find a place to have to dinner, and then head back to the room. It is windy and a bit cool out.

Wednesday, 12th February 2020

Today, we travel from Frankfurt to Wolfsburg.
This is a big day of driving, as it is a distance of 367.5 kms, or a driving time of almost 4 hours.
We leave Frankfurt close to 10 am, after we have had breakfast at the hotel. Bob does most of the driving, and it is slow going at times as the traffic get congested along the way.
We stop at a burger king on the way for some lunch, and spend a bit of time there, as we can't check into our next accommodation until 4pm. We arrived in Wolfsburg about 2.30 and a decision is make to take a drive into the main part of Wolfsburg to see what is there.
We find a nice shopping area, and wander about looking. we find a card shop, and I find a birthday card, and then we spend more time walking about.
We go back to where we are going to stay, after we stop at the Aldi store to get some meat for the next couple of nights.
We check with our host, and she shows us through the place. It has very low ceilings, and Bob has to hunch over most of the time he walks about here so as to not bump his head.
The day is done, we heat some pizza for dinner and retire for the night.   

Thursday, 13th February 2020

Today, we are going to the Volkswagon Autostadt, Wolfsburg, which is only 40 mins away from where we are staying.
We leave our accommodation at around 9.30, and get to Volkswagon  just after 10 am.. Proir to leaving I asked Bob how   long he thought we might be there for, and the consenus was around maybe 3hrs.
Well that was totally blown out of the water. We left the complex 4.45pm. What an amazing place it is. The sheer size of it is amazing, and the cost of it all is evident in what is available to see. We start the morning with a tour of the outside area, which takes us to all the exterior buildings. The Museum,  Audi, Seat, Lamborgini, Porsche, volkswagon, which was closed for the day, Skoda and Bentley which was at the Ritz Caltron. There was the Premium Clubhouse, which housed a a Bugatti Veyron with a mirrow finish in Silver. It was the fastest car, and the Dubai police use this car. After we have concluded this foot tour, with the very nice tour guide, we go inside the main building and then head over to the Museum as we have about 45 mins to fill in before the Factory tour leaves. There are some beautiful cars in this museum, dating back from 1897 to recent models of Volkswagon. There are all different models and makes of cars, as it is a history of motoring through time. From 3 wheels and 4 wheels and a morot bike and side car.
There are 8 resturants on site, and the whole complex is set out on 28 hectors of land. There are land mark towers, that house new cars for 24 hrs, and they hold up to 800 new cars, before they are handed over to their new owners. The cars are place in and taken out by a automative system, and it is great to watch how this is achieved. There are 550 new cars taken delivery per day, which is amazing.
After we have been through the Museum, we wait for the factory tour. This starts on a bus to the factory, and then we are taken on a little car train about the factory.  There is a maze of robots working on the process of building and completeing the cars. The tour takes about an hour, and although it is in German, we get the drift of what is going on. There was no English tour today, so we did the next best thing and go on the German tour.
As the tour comes to an end, it starts to rain, and while we are on the bus, the tour guide asks if we enjoyed the tour, considering we didn't understand German, and we said we did. She was very kind and managed to get a visitors book for us, with some of the details of how many cars are produced and how it all works.
After we have finished with the tour, we find some lunch, and enjoy the warmth of the building. It has become  a bit cold outside, as there is a breeze sneaking about. When we have finished eating, the rain has steadied a bit, so we venture to some of the car pavillions, then back into the main building to see the simulator ride. This is where you can sit in a seat and drive around a simulated track of your choice, in a choice of different types of car. Unfortunately, the car seats only cater for smaller folks. Once we are done there, we have pretty much finished here at the Autostadt. It has been very interesting, and we have spent six hours and forty-five mins here, and we have walked 14000 steps.
We get back to our accommodation, and chill out for the rest of the evening.   

Friday, 14th February 2020

Today we are catching the train into Berlin, so after some breakfast we get ourselves to the train station, and find a suitable place to park the car for the day.
We make our way to the ticket office, and purchase the required tickets. The trip to Berlin from Wolfsburg is an hour and twenty mins. By road it would take two hours and 16 mins. So needless to say we are booked onto a fast train. We only have to wait for 15 mins, and our train arrives. There are no preference of seating, it is just first in best dressed so to speak. The trip into Berlin is quiet. I eat my large pretzel that we have bought and it is the first time I have had a Pretzel like the german ones. They are a bread thing with salt on the top, and it was most enjoyable.
When we get to Berlin, we disembark the train, and head for the outside. It is a large station, with many floors of platforms. and a couple with shops and eating places. Our plan is to find the hop on hop off bus and tur around the city, but first we decide to have something to eat,  and we find a asian type place and enjoy what we have choosen.
We go outside, and as we exit the doors there are a number of people with the revelant hop on hop off, city touring company sales. So we purchase the tickets and and as the sale goes through the machie, the guy walks us down to where the bus is leaving. So we board our bus, and sit upstairs, but the top is coveredm as it is a bit cool and rainy looking. We listen to the tour audio guide about the buildings and the war  history. We see the Berllin Wall, and Chheckpoint Charlie, and the Brandonburg gate. The Berlin wall has ben painted with artworks and it is a reminder of the city that was cut in half through restless times. Although some of it was pulled down when the communists were defeated, there are still quite large portions of it still standing, of which surprised Bob, as he thought most of it was pulled down,  We change buses, and tour around parts of east Germany, whcih is where the less priveledged were when the wall was standing. And you casn still see that is not in the same class as the west side of the wall, although there aer new buildings and business, it just doesnt have the same air about it. But I do have to keep reminding myself that this place was heavily bombed during the war and then there was a lot of unrest after war.
When we are done with the hop on hop off buses, we go back to the train station, and see if we can get ealier tickets back toWolfsburg, and we do. We have around 40 mins to fill in, so a coffee is sort.
We board our train and head back to wolfsburg, and again the trip is the same time back, funnily enough.
We get back to the cara and drive back to our accommodation.  After I cook some tea a bit later, day is done.

Saturday, 15th February 2020

We leave Wolfsberg this morning, and are headed for a place called Litomerice in the Czechia republic with a detour to Meissen. This is a distance of  420 kms and at least just over 4 hours.
Meissen is the place where fine Porcelin is made. We see some very expensive peices, and they take my breath away at the prices, but as Bob says, it is all relative.
We continue onwards to Litomerice, which is not far out of Prague, the capital of the Czechia. From Meissen to Litomerice, it is about a 1 hrs and 23 mins, 121 kms. We find our hotel, and organize for some washing to be done. We didn't get time to do it at the  other place, so we have a bit of a rest, and then decide to go for a walk to find some tea. We go to one place, and they don't speak any English, and they don't serve meals. But the lady did direct us in the general direction of another resturant.
We find the resturant, and we have a wonderful meal, I had the best Pizza. The waitress spoke very good english, she came from Iran, and she answered some of the questions we had.
We walk back to the hotel, and call it a day. 

Sunday, 16th February 2020

We had a breakfast at the hotel, and after this, we are going to go into Prague. Prague is about 54 mins and a 71 km trip. We get into the city, and find somewhere to park the car.
We walk about the area, and there are many old buidings about. We look in some of the shops that sell Bohemian crystal, and I found some Babuska dolls. I don't buy any, but it is nice to see them. We find the area where the city tour buses are, and we get some tickets and and board the small bus. In no time it is filled up, and we eventually get under way. We pass by some amazing buidings, and the city is known for all of its spires. There are something like just under 500 spires. Prague also has the most castles in one city. Like so many cities in these countries, they were hit hard when the war was on, and much of hit has been rebuilt, and Hitler gained control of Prague, by using mind games on the Prince at the time, as he was an unwell man. So rather than say no to Hitler, the country was handed over to Hitler, and was so spared in many ways.
The audio guide tells us of much history of Prague, as they do in all cities that we have travelled in. It tells of the communists attitude towards sports, and the huge statium that was build for the athelets, and the complete control they had over the them.
The city has had such a stormy past, and one senerio was given that if a person had lilved to be 100 years of age, they would have known 6 different country names for the country of Austria.
While on the bus there were a couple of driver changesm, and I was glad that one of the drivers changed after a while. Bob happened to ask about gettting a bottle of water from the tour guide, not the driver, and the guide asked the driverif he had any water there with him, and he said no, but the guide checked in the bck of the bus and found two bottles of water, and Bob paid for them in Euro. There was a sign saying how much it was, but when the guide put the money into the box, the driver had a bit of an arguemen about this. He wouldn't drive the bus for a couple of minutes, and they both got out and discussed it further. The bus was stopped for almost 10 mins at this particular stop.  In Czechia, they have their own currency, the Koruna, CZK, and to me it seemed that he didn't want to be paid in Euro, but Bob understood it that the money was put in the wrong box. so who knows what it was all about. It was just a little uncomfortable for a moment. 
After we get off at a change over of buses stop, the next one comes along, and is full, and there is no space left, so we have to wait for the next one, but after consultation with the guide before it left, we decide to walk back to where we started, because the buses were full, and if we waited for the next one, there was no guarantee that there would be enough seating for us to get back. This was a walk of about 15 mins, but along the way we find a very nice resturant, and have some lunch. It would have been one of the places to dine in, in an era gone past. The food was great, and the service was excellent, of which our waitress spoke good english.
We continue along our way towards the old part of town and eventually find it, just in time to catch the tail end of the Astronomical clock chiming. The clock was installed in 1410, making it the third oldest astronomical clock in the world. It is such a captivating clock, and there are many people around the square to watch and photogragh it, as do I.
We find our car, and we head back to our motel, and retire for the day. It has been a great day.