Travel Log: Disneyland and Dinkelsbühl

It is with great relief that I begin to write this entry. It will the last post about our fantastic trip to Europe. About time! The trip was in May and here it is the 30th of October. I feel I've documented it pretty well. Thanks for the memories....

Several months before we began our adventure, the MAAWB swarmed in our living room. We set up a high tech command centre. Multiple laptops were humming. An overhead projector (borrowed from work) was attached to one laptop and beamed the desktop onto the wall so we could all see. We pulled the blinds and stayed sober. This was our planning day.

We discussed and debated our options; determined our route; and then compared, selected, and booked our hotels. Everything was pretty straight forward until we got to this last day. One last day. Where would it be?

Rootsey was the only member of the MAAWB who had traversed these parts before. He was bouncing back and forth from leg to leg (like an 8 year old who needs to pee) with his suggestion to see a castle. "Not just a castle," he said, "the castle to end all castles." So we looked at the map, found the castle, determined that we would be headed in the right direction (toward Frankfurt), and said, "Right-o."

But where would we spend the night?

We looked at the map and ran our eyes between the castle and Frankfurt. And that's when we found it: Dinkelsbühl.

According to the mayor of Dinkelsbühl, "[it] is simply enchanting! Every day of every year, guests from all over the world are overwhelmed by the charms of one of Germany’s most beautiful medieval towns.

So, because we liked the name, because it was so beautifully described, and, most importantly, because it was on the way, we booked our rooms and made that the last stop.

Between the castle that inspired Cindarella's castle at Disneyland - the reference makes sense now - (Neuschwanstein Castle, royal palace in the Bavarian Alps of Germany, the royal palace built for Mad King Ludwig) and Dinkelsbühl, I think we hit the motherload in beauty on the way out. The pictures will speak for themselves.

The Last Word

A few things I can think of to say before I let you go are these:

1. I love the Autobahn.
2. I actually looked forward to the 13 hour leg of our flight home because of the free foot massage machines at the Singapore Airport.
3. We all love the cans of 10% alcohol Jack & Cokes in Germany.
4. We enjoyed planning for this trip almost as much as going on it.
5. Alan is a great hotel selector.
6. Villa la Noce was AMAZING.
   
7. Two weeks was plenty of time.
8. Qantas in-flight entertainment made the 21 hours of flight time very bearable.
9. The 18 people who went on this trip are all fantastic!
10. I can't wait for the next big adventure!

Travel Log: The Hills Are Alive

Photos in this post by Ben and Michael.

We woke up to a beautiful day. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that breakfasts have been included in every hotel we've booked. And they are very good breakfasts. Just simple things like breads, meats, cheeses, yoghurts, fruit, and cereals, but it's all fresh and pretty tasty. And it was a great way to start each day. We usually met in the breakfast area at about 8:30 and then hit the road at about 9:30. Leaving our hotel outside of Venice was no different.

We drove out of Venice and went west first and then north. The trip today would take us to Austria. Our destination: Innsbruck - host of the 1964 and the 1976 Winter Olympics.

Even before we hit the border, scenically and architecturally, we could tell we were leaving Italy. The plains turned into hills which turned into mountains. We were back in the Alps and the views were breathtaking. This part of the Alps had more green than what we had experienced on our trip through Switzerland. It really looked like the scenery from The Sound of Music. As we moved north, architecturally, the buildings changed. I've not got the vocabulary to explain the difference, but as we went north, the buildings began to look different.

Once we made it to the border, we paid our Italian exit fee (road toll) and drove through Austria to Innsbruck.

Once again, our sat nav took us exactly where we wanted to go and as we arrived at the hotel, we were happy to find that we could actually park nearby. The drive was only a few hours, so when we arrived it was lunchtime. We were hungry and Alan wanted a beer - shoot we all wanted a drink. So we set out to find weiner schnitzel and lager - and we got exactly what we were looking for. I hope I can find the picture of Alan drinking a litre of beer - he was a happy man.

The lunch was spectacular. Veal schnitzel, chicken schnitzel, and the best salad I've had. It was 3-4 salads all in one bowl. The cucumber salad stands out for me and so does the potato salad. If you can remember salads 5 months later, you know they were good.

Cranberry Sauce - The schnitzel was served with a little tiny jar of cranberry sauce. I asked if I could buy a few jars (I wanted a case), but the waitress said that they didn't sell it (what a shame). She told me I could probably find some in the stores around town. Thank goodness, I did. I brought a big jar home and was very happy when AQIS let it into Australia. I plan to bring it to the US for Thanksgiving dinner.

We could see that there was a chairlift that goes to the top of the mountain and we inquired about that. It seemed like a great way to spend the afternoon. Besides, it was really warm (dare I say, hot?) in the city, so we wanted to get some elevation and cool down. Angela decided to give this part a miss so that she could rest her leg (which was pretty swollen and sore, I must say - she surely did the right thing by not going).

So Alan, Michael, Ben and I made our way to the train/gondola ride up. It was two stages. The new train was beautiful and well run. It took us up to a nice skiing village. Then we walked around to the gondola to go more than halfway up the mountain. Unfortunately, we were too late to do the third leg which gets you to the very top.

Snow and skiing. That's what we saw when we got to our highest point. Oh, and a bar. We found a bar, got a drink, and made our way outside to soak up the sun and the view. I'll let the pictures do the talking....

OK - We went back down and walked around a bit. After meeting up with Angela again, we decided to look for a place to eat. I don't think we asked anyone; we just walked around and explored. In the end, we had Japanese for dinner. It was relaxing and nice. We walked slowly in the warm evening and, of course, made our way back to the place where the gelato was being sold. :)

I do believe we were uncannily sober when we made our way back to the hotel that night.

Innsbruck was beautiful. It was clean, pretty, warm, relaxed, and we had a good time there.
We could hardly believe that we only had one stop left. We hoped that we hadn't made a mistake in selecting our next destination. It was the only real wild card in our itinerary.

Travel log: 8 hours in Venice

Pictures in this post by everyone.

My apologies for the break in writing. Life got in the way for a while. But never fear - I'm sure I'll be able to tell the tale. Here we go....

After a fantastic week in our Villa (definitely a separate post and perhaps a completely separate series), we began our trip back to Frankfurt. This part of our journey would take us north east across Italy to Venice and then north through Austria, into Germany, and then back home.

The MAAWB stuffed Nora, Miles, and Tex (with luggage) into the "Nazi-Hearse" (our new name for the big, black, VW van). The eight of us drove to Florence (Fiorenze - how that translates to Florence, I'll never know) and Nora, Miles, and Tex hopped out in the sunshine and began to follow their respective paths home.

Alone again, the MAAWB, with me at the wheel, headed out of Florence, onto another toll road, and still without any tunes.

The drive was flat and the scenery was pretty dull. Except for the beautiful wildflowers that filled the fields and the yards, and the shoulder of the freeway. I think they were poppies. The colour and brilliance reminded me of the first time I saw blue bonnets outside Austin. What an amazing sight. Coming from Arizona, you just don't see colour en masse like that.

Because there was little to look at, this part of the drive was the most boring of the whole trip. We could feel the difference between Tuscany and wherever we were now. It was different.

The sat nav did us proud until the very last exit. It didn't know about a freeway that had just opened. Unfortunately, we got stuck on this new, beautiful, and relatively deserted road for about 10 kilometres. It felt longer. But once we got off the freeway, the sat nav recalculated and we made our way to the hotel.

It was a very warm day. We had really pushed ourselves to get to Venice as quick as we could so that we would have all afternoon in the city. After checking into the hotel, we walked up the road to the bus stop, bought our tickets, and waited 5 minutes for the ride into town.

The best part about this whole trip for me was the unexpected. Some people research where they are going. They watch TV shows about what to do, where to go, and what to expect.

Not me.

I didn't even know that Venice was an island. I giggled about my lack of world knowledge as we crossed the bridge into the city.

Venice was beautiful. It is a walking city. You either push your way through the canals in a gondola or you walk. So we all had our walking shoes on for a big day. We were all hungry, so the first order of business was to find lunch.

On the way over the first bridge we looked out at the beauty of the pathways, the people, the shops, the sky, the water, and.... woops!

Ange was the unlucky one who didn't see the steps on the way down and she fell. Her ankle twisted. The steps were poorly marked, strangely spaced, in fact, well camouflaged into the bridge (see picture of Ben and me approaching the steps down). As I had walked up the bridge, I had noticed a man miss the first one, and I made a mental note about it.

OK - this is getting too detailed. You don't need a play by play. But what a bummer for Ange that, in the walking city, where we have limited time, this should happen.

Lunch was bad. Our first bad meal in days! Alan had good pizza, but the rest of us suffered through some pretty mediocre food.

Then we walked slowly through the nooks and crannies of Venice. We took Paul and Kat's advice (much to Rootsey's discomfort) and didn't use a map to get around. We simply followed the signs to the Piazza San Marco. We shopped. We gazed with amazement at the Murano glass jewelry, art, and sculpture. It was beautiful.

We looked for a pharmacy to buy an ankle bandage for Ange, but, unlike Siena, Florence, and Genoa, Venice was pharmacy poor. (The others were pharmacy rich.) Finally we found one and Ben helped Ange wrap up the swollen and bruised ankle.

OK - here's a tale worth telling. When we finally made it to the Piazza and as beautiful as it was, we really just wanted to find a bar where we could sit and drink. We had bribed Ange to keep going because we all wanted to go on a gondola ride. Close to the boats there were several outdoor cafes with hundreds of tables and chairs available. I walked to the one closest to the boats and asked the waiter (see picture) if they were open. They were, he seated me, I placed an order for 2 beers, one jack and coke, and one litre of red wine. He let me know that they didn't sell wine by the litre, so I asked him for a bottle of house wine. I then sat down and waited for the other four to make their way to me.

Ange was walking slowly, Ben was buying a sweater, I don't know what Alan was doing, and Rootsey was behind the camera lens taking pictures to prove he was there (I think he saw more of Venice through the camera than with his own eyes). But they all made their way to me and we sat like royalty looking at the water, the Piazza, the statues, and the people. We got a second round for the boys and relaxed. It was absolutely beautiful.

After about 45 minutes, or maybe an hour, we were rested, watered, and ready to go haggle for a gondola. So we asked for the bill.

4 beers + 2 Jack and Cokes + 1 bottle of house red = €170 = approximately A$340

OK - laugh at us now. Take your time.

The gondola ride was fantastic. We had it at sunset - the best time we were told, and I think we all agree. I would have loved to be on it for 2 hours, but we took our 30 minute ride and then made our way back into the streets of Venice for dinner. (We made sure to use the toilets at the bar we went to, since we figure that we had paid for one of them. I used lots of TP and soap.)

Dinner was fantastic. Fresh beautiful pizza. We had a couple of bottles of wine to drug up Ange for the walk back. But that didn't work. Her leg was getting worse, not better, and we decided to take the water taxi/ferry back to the bus depot. Rootsey decided to walk/run back with his camera attached to his eye. He wanted to get some amazing night shots. I'll go have a look and see if he did (yep - see image).

After a nice ride on the water, we missed the last bus back to the hotel by only minutes and Ange offered to pay for a cab. She really needed to get the leg elevated. We all felt bad for her. The cab driver was fun.

Overall, Venice was fantastic. We all want to go back so we can explore it more. Next time, I will bring water, wine and food and leave my credit cards at a safe distance, because there is too much I like and the whole place is expensive. Maybe next time I'll just have a special dinner or two.

The next day, we will drive into the Alps again. North Miss Tessmacher! North!