Hotel Post Lermoos

... it is covered with a chocolate ganache- it was delicious, much better than the day before.

The afternoon was Greg’s choice and we went to the Bergisel Stadium which is the new ski jump facility which was opened in 2001. This was on the site of the original ski jump facility which was used for the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. You went in a cable car, then a lift to the top ...

... you couldn’t be convicted unless you had confessed to the crime, so consequently torture was frequently used. There was a slide show with a description of Maximilian’s life and achievements. As was the custom of those times, his first marriage was one of political convenience but they also loved each other very much. He was devastated when she died, but again married for convenience, this time to a woman who had a large dowry ...

Walked to the train station and did an expedition to the supermarket to spend our last Swiss Francs as we are back to Euros in Austria. Had a stopover in Zurich for a while and then caught the train to Innsbruck. Again this was a scenic trip over the mountains and it started snowing and was very deep as we got higher- just beautiful scenery. Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains, all of which had snow on them.

We checked into our hotel where we ...

... struggled to find us, it looked like we were doing circles, travelling in rivers and going 902km at our "highest" speed...funny, felt more like 50km/hr..anyways.our GPS caught up to us when we were out of the ravines and on the tops of the mountains was the best.
We headed back to Mittersill and did the Gerlos pass..and 8.50 Euro toll at some stage and $12.50 for the pass..the tolls were starting to ...

... free camping ahead :) We drove towards Munich and parked once again on the street in a small town, which has by far been our most common theme for free camping but is usually the safest choice for us. The best part about Fred is that he is small enough to park on the street and does not look like a campervan, so anyone who sees him most likely would think it was a mail truck or something…at least that is what we tell ourselves :)

... up the mountain to get a better look at the ski jump. The GPS took us to a viewpoint instead of to the actual jump, which is why I got a good picture of it. We then followed the signs to the ski jump, but the parking lot was swarming with people going to and from their tour buses and we decided we weren't in the mood for that kind of sightseeing.

We got on the highway and headed to a suburb of Innsbruck called Wattens where the Swarovski Crystal Worlds museum is located.

This was a lovely little place we stopped at on the bus tour to the castles. Unfortunately, being Sunday, most everything was shut (except for the souvenir shops that is). They have a woodcarving school there that I plan to stop at for a weeklong course on the next trip. But of course it was shut that ...

... that we could get to Neuschwanstein Schloss before our time ran out. We made it, but Marie was not happy with Jeff. After Neuschwanstein Schloss we started to head back to Munich. We arrived at the bus stop only to find that we might not get back to the train station in time for the last easy train back to Munich. We teamed up with two Japanese girls for a cab to the train station. We enjoyed wonderful two hours talking with girls, who were in Munich for a week.

Another work conference for my parents brought us to Oberammergau for a week. We stayed in the cutest little wooden cottage - like the whole thing ceiling to floor and including flowering window boxes was made out of wood! Totally picturesque like you've read about in Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Aromatic town bakery. Absolutely enchanting.

Sadly, I dont remember much about Austria. Too bad because I have read so much about it lately as the music and art centre of Europe in the 1700s, I'd love to check that out.
I asked my dad recently if we had been there before. He said, 'oh yes, many times, we loved it'. Hmm, what a pity. I suppose it still counts because the images of scenery must be in my mind somewhere... curse this short memory of mine!