Deutschland
Day 71
We leave the house just after 6.30 to drive my Mum to Salzburg airport. Slight panic when the road we want is closed and we have to turn around but the alternative is almost just as quick and we get there with plenty of time, phew! We enter the ‘kiss and fly’ drop off and my Mum does exactly that! Auf Wiedersehen Mama! Within 20 mins we have an unceremonious entrance into a soggy Deutschland. The weather really starts to batter it down and I find a Bakery we can sit in that feels like it’s in someone’s house! It’s absolutely adorable, smells beautiful and the steady stream of people coming and going for the sweet baked goods is remarkable given its ‘off the beat and track’ location. After a bit of sugar we drive on to ‘Chiemsee’. A stunning lake but it’s bad weather so we use it as toilet break and nothing more. We bypass Munich as you need a low emissions sticker displayed in your car to enter the centre but we stop at Dachau instead. By the time we get there the clouds are shifting and blue skies are poking out all over. We have a lovely look around the old town, see the church, the palace and have some lunch and then it’s off to Augsburg. We check into our hotel and as we have some fridge stuff we ask if they have a fridge we could possibly use somewhere and in a flash one is brought to our room. There’s a lovely roof terrace with swinging chairs where I rock back and forth whilst finishing my book until I realise an hours nap is essential! We then have a glorious walk through a nature reserve forest with sun shining through the tall pines to Hochablass. A weir and dam that has earned unesco world heritage status. We dine at ‘Schwarze Kiste am Hochablass’. A beer garden by the water, with hardly a cloud in the sky. A beautiful evening but we have an hours walk back so make sure we get back in the light. Then I have a snoop around the hotel and find a super advanced massage chair. I hop on and it has every function from healthcare, stretch and relax… I try them all! I return to tell Stu to get himself down there. Quite a while later I text to see if he’s ok and he says it seems I may have fallen asleep… that relax really works!
Deutschland
Day 72
We drive into Augsburg and quite easily find free on-street parking after having to abort a multi-storey garage situation where we don’t fit. We end up closer which is a result. We first pass a tower at the gates to the city, that someone on google maps reviewed as ‘Don't really know what it is as I just walked past it, but the small river next to it is really beautiful’… we look at the historic impressive tower and laugh at this review! On to Fuggerei. Considered the first public housing complex from the 16th century. Rent remains at about 0.88 cent a year to stay. It’s accommodation for people in need and provides help and support. Some live there for life, whilst others use it as a place to get back on their feet before moving on. Baring this in mind, one review on Google maps says ‘It's 8 euros to visit this establishment but I think it actually should have free entrance or maybe even less entrance charge...’ even less than free?!?!?! I think it’s a very agreeable €8’s which supports the upkeep. A WW2 bunker that Stu ‘accidentally’ went through the original entrance, which is now an emergency exit! With a soundscape fit for the destruction of war it immerses you into the very moments that must have been horrific for everybody that lived there. The whole place was flattened by allied bombing and rebuilt for the same purpose after the war. There is information about the people living there and a really positive supportive place for people in need. We go to the fuggerei restaurant and eat delicious food and buy a Fuggerei beer tankard, we need it! The old town has a quirky and slightly creepy puppet museum, a viaduct that runs along a bridge, a huge open air theatre and streams and rivers running through the city. We grab snacks for a light dinner back at the hotel and watch the top 25 football songs of all time on the tv! Oh and a quick pop down for another massage in the massage chair!
WW2 bunker at Fuggerei
Deutschland
Day 73
We are off to Schönwald im Schwarzwald aka the Black Forest. First stop is petrol. We arrive and it it says 1.78p/l (boring to talk petrol but wait!) then half way through the price flicks and it’s 1.82p/l! It has changed mid filling. The woman working there says it changes about every 20 mins but whatever it was when you started will be the price! There is no speed limit on the motorway, a recommendation of 130 but no actual limit, go ahead, google it! But it is an uneasy drive as they zoom pass at unknown speeds, makes you not wanna overtake as you have no idea how fast they will approach. We stop at Kirchheim unter Teck. An adorable old town that looks quintessentially German! (Weird that). Timber framed houses and a river running through. There’s only 1 hour for parking so it’s a quick whizz and back on the speedy roads. There’s a crash (can’t imagine why) so we are diverted. On the diverted road we hear mad honking of horns and there’s an air of ‘what now’ when round the corner come a bride and groom on a moped, the guests following in cars behind all hooting with joy. I wave out the window and they toot more! We finally get to our apartment after a pretty long drive and it’s wonderful. It only had 9 reviews so we were dubious but we will certainly add to it. Lovely apartment, little garden, a swimming pool to use and it’s very cheap, what’s not to like. Stu goes and uses the pool while I walk into the extremely cute town. Even their bus stops and fountains are beautifully decorated. We swap and I go to the pool that is through a big metal door and down into what feels like a bunker! It’s ace. We dine and watch the whacky world of German music videos!
Kirchheim unter Teck
Deutschland
Day 74
Walking in to the little town where we are staying, Schonwald, theres a traditional cuckoo-clock shop. You are first struck but the strong smell of varnish, then the sound of ticks and tocks and the occasional glorious ‘cuckoo!’ It’s a wondrous shop. The beauty of each little story told through wood and intricate mechanisms is mesmerising. You could just be a kid and get lost in there for ages. The makers are out the back carving, making and sanding in a workshop equally as big as shop front itself. While I’m looking Stu is outside with Wilson and a man passes with a big bag of pigs ears and gives the boy a whopper. He’s thrilled and rolls on it with joy and then tucks in. We walk round the town where we can see the ski lift for colder times, but when the snow clears the wildflower thrive and it is beautiful. We then drive to the totally excellent Triberg Wasserfall. We are supposed to have a guest card to get a discount but the lady loves dogs, gives Wilson some treats and says ‘nice people, nice dog I have seen your guest card’ with a little wink and gives us the discount! She is so nice and explains the walk she thinks is best for us. It’s a sensational walk with views of one of Germany’s highest waterfalls. Red squirrels, with their adorable pointy ears, dart around and jays fly through the trees. The views of the Black Forest are beautiful and we join the culture trail that leads us into the gorgeously quaint Triberg town. More cuckoo clocks with either ornate wooden shopfronts or huge mechanical abseiling bears, they take their clock shops seriously. We find a traditionally decorated hotel, sit outside in the sun and enjoy a huge piece of Black Forest Gateau, well, when in Rome! We then rejoin the trail and climb up through the forest. Seeing the waterfall again and views of the town over the pine trees. When home we utilise the swimming pool and sauna before dins and bed. Wilson’s paws are very red, angry and have puss in them (nice) so we treat and bandage them which makes him very sad! But he’ll be sadder if he has to go to the vet so operation paw patrol begins. Strictly no licking or walking for Wilson for a while.
Deutschland
Day 75
Well it’s a perfect Wilson rest day as it’s pretty grey and drizzly. So whilst he mopes around feeling sorry for himself we find the washing machine, harder than you think. It’s through the bunker like swimming pool and down a warren of steps. Turning the machine on is the next stumbling block until we notice a pay meter across the way and then opening the washing machine door seemed impossible!!! But success, clean clothes, tick! We then take it in turns swimming in the fantastic little pool and then go for a drive by sight seeing tour, where Wilson can carry on moping in the car! Starting with a Cuckoo clock and wood makers shop where as soon as we enter get told ‘we close in 15 minutes’ in a brusque or perhaps local manner! We nod in agreement and mosey round. Really we want one of everything but depart empty handed. Then it’s on to a Guiness book of records champion - The Worlds largest cuckoo clock! At first we don’t realise we are at the back of the clock and museum and pay a euro for the cuckoo to ‘cuckoo’ and watch large creepy figurines make a circle to the sounds of Edelweiss. We walk round the front and it’s a beautiful HUGE clock with giant mechanisms which is much more impressive!!
Jump back in the car to a viewpoint of the forest with an interestingly carved squirrel holding a very phallic nut! It must have been intentional!!! We make use of the car to enjoy the views and then it’s off to enjoy the start of the Euros. Germany v Scotland. We have booked a table at a pizzeria but the signal is so bad that it glitches and the match is slightly behind real time. Then you here a cheer from the pub one along from us, a cheer from the table behind us who have got frustrated and are watching it on their phone and then some while later we cheer that Germany have scored. A weird delayed response surround sound of celebration that amuses us all. We walk home and watch the second half there and it’s much better quality! We book our next destination. Then wrestle the dog to give his paws a salt bath and re-bandage with antiseptic.