Early autumn holiday, 8 October 2024

Landstuhl, Germany (no, I don't know where that is, either!)

Oh dear. It rained. And it rained. And it rained. Not always, but sometimes, so heavily that you could barely see the lorry in front of you. And there were contra-flows, and more contra-flows. I swear that in Central Europe, more of the motorway is contraflow than isn't - or if that's not the case, it certainly feels like it! At one stage, the inside lane was full of virtually stationary lorries, which we were able to pass in the middle or outside lane at a reasonable speed, but this must have gone on for 20 kilometres or more. I felt sorry for the lorry drivers - and all the rest areas were so full no more lorries could get in there.

However, we made steady, if slow progress, and lunchtime found us at Sindsheim, home of one of the twin museums at Sindsheim and Speyer. We went to Speyer last year, but haven't been to Sindsheim since about 2011. There is a lot more museum there now, and it is a lot more expensive! We spent a very happy 90 minutes or so wandering round - separately, as we are not good at visiting museums together. The Swan Whisperer did go up on the roof to look at the Concorde and Tupolev planes, but I stayed firmly at ground level enjoying exhibitions about the Nurburgring and the Tour de France, as well as lots of different cars and trains and steamrollers and so on. But it was very wet outside. I'm glad I brought my more waterproof trainers - I just wish I'd worn them! As it was, I had to take my shoes off as soon as we were back in the WoMo, and have been wearing my slippers ever since. 

Then we drove on and on, in the pouring rain, heavy traffic, at least one long tailback. But when we crossed the Rhine, the rain disappeared and so did most of the traffic, and the drive from then on wasn't too bad. Only, when we got to where we had planned to spend the night, there it wasn't! It was full of builders and their equipment, so maybe they are making it nicer. Then again, maybe they aren't! 

The only alternative seemed to be an aire that only got one or at most two stars from reviewers, but honestly, there is very little wrong with it. The services appear to be out of use, but we weren't expecting services anyway, and being able to park for free is always nice. But we were both exhausted when we finally parked up!

Early autumn holiday, 7 October 2024

Shillingsfürst, Germany

I have not had a very good day. My alarm clock woke me at the wrong part of my sleep cycle, and for some reason I couldn't shake it off. It was the sort of day where, at home, I would have had breakfast in my dressing--gown and probably gone back to bed for a couple of hours afterwards. Can't do that in the WoMo, though, as we don't have constant hot water, and it firmly goes off at 09:00, if not earlier. So I really haven't done anything much other than shop at a local REWE - lovely display of autumn produce! 

The Swan Whisperer said he wanted to visit the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, about 20 km north of here - we had to come back as I'd booked the campsite, and we do need services in the morning as I'm not sure if we'll have them again before Calais. Anyway, when we got there, we parked up in a recommended car park, and the Swan Whisperer went for a walk round. But he said it was terribly twee and self-conscious, although he had expected that. Many German towns totally aren't, of course. I'm quite glad I didn't look round.

I keep thinking today is Tuesday and that I must do a Last Shop in Germany tomorrow, but, in fact, it is only Monday, so I have 24 hours more than I thought I did! I hope tomorrow will be better. 

The weather is very mixed today - we have had glorious sunshine and heavy-ish rain. It's raining at the moment, but it's very much milder than it's been for some days. 

Early autumn holiday, 6 October 2024

Deggendorf, Germany

After the very wet last few days, the sun came out again! Of course, poor J had to go home this morning. We, however, still have the inside of this week left, although we are now on our way home. We had a lovely drive through Austria on minor roads - lovely Alpine scenery.

We joined the motorway just short of the border, and then, of course, were badly held up by roadworks.... Typical! And then when we got to the place we had planned to park up, it was horrible - it had sold itself as being on the Danube, and it was nowhere near! And the town wasn't really in walking distance either. So we ate lunch, emptied the loo and came away.

We ended up a few miles upstream, in a very small free aire in the town of Deggendorf. We had a lovely walk along the river and then back along the outskirts of the town. And then back to the WoMo for a cup of tea. 

Early autumn holiday, 5 October 2024

Fuschl-am-See, Austria

A friend of ours, J, is just finishing her holiday in Fuschl-am-See; in fact, she should have left today, but but the airline messed up her flight, and she is not, in fact, leaving until tomorrow morning. So we arranged to meet her for lunch. 

It was a normal 3.5 hour drive from Kritzendorf, but we decided to leave early so as to have plenty of time. So we got up at 06:00, had tea, showered, and used the services and were away by 07:30. Our first stop was at a McDonald's for breakfast - I do like a McDonald's breakfast once in awhile - and also diesel, which could be had in the same complex, and then I fell fast asleep while we drove on down the motorway - the A1 trunk road that crosses Austria from east to west. We stopped once, about half way along it, for the SW to have coffee and a break, and arrived in Fuschl-am-See, as we had hoped, just after 12:30.Our friend came to meet us and took us back to her hotel for lunch - a delicious open-faced toast with bacon, cheese and onion, and we were lucky enough to score the last two slices of Sachertorte! Well, after yesterday we had to, really! And very good it was, too - not too sweet, and very chocolatey and apricotty.

After lunch, the Swan Whisperer decided to walk all round the Fuschlsee, a distance of about 11 km. J and I, meanwhile, contented ourselves with a potter round the town and then a cup of tea in the WoMo, where the Swan Whisperer joined us about an hour later. He had really enjoyed his walk! Now he is getting supper at the close of our last full day in Austria, and the last "featured" day of our holiday. We will not be home for a few more days yet, but will be heading that way. 

Early autumn holiday, 4 October 2024

Kritzendorf, Klosterneuburg, Austria

It was raining on and off all night and well into the morning. Rather nice to wake up to trains out of the (rather wet) bedroom window.

The Swan Whisperer couldn't decide whether we should give Vienna a miss and move on towards somewhere like Gmunden - we are due in Fuschl-am-See at lunchtime tomorrow - or what.

But the rain stopped, so we decided to revert to Plan A and caught an S-Bahn into Vienna, to the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, which I hadn't heard of before, but seems to be one of the termini.

It was quite a way into central Vienna, but a couple of trams took care of that - it need only have been one tram, but we weren't quite sure where we were going. The first tram seems to have broken down or something shortly before the stop we wished to change at, and people were queueing up to get off; eventually the driver said if people wanted to get off there, he was opening the front doors. So we did, and were intrigued to see a policeman coming to speak to him - I don't know if the tram had broken down, or what!

Anyway, we got off by the Danube, and walked down through that part of the city enclosed by the Ring, seeing the Stefansdom, and a great many other places, including parts of the Hofburg and - to my utter joy - the stables for the Lippizaner horses of the Spanish Riding School and even a couple of horses peering out of their stalls at us!

Which has totally been on my bucket list for years - I doubt I shall ever see a live performance, but even to see their stalls was something!

We were getting hungry by then, so decided to get a sausage from a stall - the Swan Whisperer had Currywurst and I had an ordinary sausage, both in a roll - and then try to find somewhere to have Kaffee und Kuchen. We had just gone past the Hotel Sacher, so decided to go back there and have some of the eponymous Torte, but, alas, half a million other people had had the same idea and the queue stretched round the block!

We found a chocolate place that said it had Sachertorte but, alas, it had sold out. So the Swan Whisperer had Apfelstrudel with his coffee, and I had three little dark chocolate truffles, which were delicious!

Sadly, sitting down was a mistake, and I found I was tired and stiff when we got up, so we walked to where we could catch a tram directly to the station, and then back to the WoMo, which is parked right at the end of the platform!

The Swan Whisperer would have liked to have gone into Klosterneuburg to look at the church there, but something has obviously gone wrong with the trains as the last two were sat at the platform for over 30 minutes each. So he has flopped on the bed with a book, and I am going to post this, and photos, on Facebook and then get supper. 

Early autumn holiday, 3 October 2024

Kritzendorf, Klosterneuburg, Austria

The rain had stopped by this morning, so after breakfast we got everything organised and headed into Graz. 

I had thought yesterday that I wasn't feeling very well, but then thought I must have imagined things, as I was hungry for breakfast. But on the bus on the way into Graz, I realised I hadn't been imagining things. On arrival at the city centre, I had to park the Swan Whisperer in a café with a cup of coffee while I used the facilities, and then our next port of call was the next-door chemist, where I acquired some Immodium Instants, which appear to have done the trick. 

Nevertheless, we had a very pleasant walk around Graz.

The Swan Whisperer had picked up a guidebook from somewhere which showed us where to walk and what to see while we were doing so. We could probably have spent longer than we actually did, but time was getting on, and we would have to be out of the Reisemobilstellplatz by noon if we were not to pay an extra €7.00. We just made it!

Whereupon we headed on towards Vienna, and very, very, very slowly through it until we reached Klosterneuburg, and then hither and yon and who knows what the Satnav was thinking of until we got here.

"Here" is, of all places, Kritzendorf station car park, which has its own, free, motorhome aire, with free services! Brilliant. Okay, it's not the nicest of places, and trains go roaring past every few minutes, but we can easily get a train into Vienna in the morning, and we are seldom bothered by noises at night (being old and deaf does have its advantages!). And think how lovely to be lying in bed watching trains go past the window!