Quellenhof Grainau

Again it was snowing when we woke up but again it wasn't sticking although it was still on the trees at the Alpine Zoo which we went to in the morning. This was Tara’s choice as usual. Greg's favourite was the brown bear which was lying with its head on its paws on a log, probably contemplating whether it was time to hibernate. My favourite was the lynx which was high up in a tree. By the ...

Woke up to Greg saying that it was snowing- what I thought was rain on the forecast had eventuated as snow- to Tara's disappointment, it wasn’t sticking so she couldn’t play in it. After breakfast in the hotel we walked across the bridge to the old city to what is the biggest attraction in Innsbruck, the Golden Roof and the Golden Roof Museum. This building was built by Frederick IV in 1420 as the residence of the Tyrolean sovereigns ...

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 ...

... did a bathroom stop at Point 3 and then went up to Edelpasse to have a look and take some photos. The cloud was fast moving with thermals and one minute the mountains were visable, the next they weren't! The little car struggled up and down the hills..2nd gear it chugged up and smelly brakes coming down but it was all good! We then headed up to the Josesf Franz point and saw the Glacier that was there..it ...

... 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 :)

Last night we made it to Innsbruck in the early evening. This allowed for some time to walk find a hotel and walk into the centre of town to find some dinner. We came across a family restaurant, Weinerwald, where we had a family platter with more than enough food and a bottle of beverage, all for a very reasonable price. The food was really good too!

After dinner my parents ditched us and we walked around a bit more. The town looks really nice at night and we figured it ...

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 ...

May 20th I'm sure you asking, where in the heck is Fussen. A small Bavarian town in Germany that is the launching point for Mad King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein Castle (the model for Disneyworlds). The town was wonderfully small with nothing to do when we arrived, so we were able to relax a little instead of going from site to site. The next morning rise and shine to catch a bus to the Castle. There are actually two castles there, but no one seems to care ...

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!