Go Berlin!

Such an amazing city.. art works, jazz, bars...stunning memorials, rap dancers and of course BEER! Loved the beer cycles. Not sure how some people would have coped after a few of those VERY large beers!

Walking the Wall

Did an incredible 4hr walk around Berlin with a great guide. Really brought the whole place alive.......so different to hearing about it on the news. Incomprehensible really... especially when you stand astride the path that was the wall that separated families.

Remember you can click on pictures to see them more clearly.

Flying bed.

Oh ho ho! Found this amazing hotel...About 37 rooms all with a different theme. We nearly booked the upside down room but ended up in the Flying Bed room!

Loved it... Great people. Breakfast in the 'rainforest' was fantastic. Gave everone the once over and tried to work out which room they had chosen!

Check it out. We had number 11. Wonder which one you would choose!

Reichstag moments

Had no idea how wonderful this building was. Incredible to walk up the sides of the building seeing the views outside and the incredible reflected images inside. Did I say that I LOVE Berlin!

Berlin

Loved the quirkiness and artworks of Berlin. Strange juxtoposition of communist and capitalist have led to an individualism... really LOVE this city.

Walked into an artists commune, full of graffiti, stoned people, beautiful architecture reduced to paint and pee!

Happy Birthday Roger!

Two days in Augsburg and then off to celebrate Roger's birthday ... What a hoot!

The quest was on... I had had an amazing birthday and so what was I going to do for Roger. BERLIN of course.

First stop Charlottenburg Palace for food and music. Suprisingly good music and food!

Augsburg tunnel

Back to Augsburg on the wonderful DBahn train. Finally worked out how to book seats!

Off the train and through my favourite tunnel. Love the graffiti and the music... especially when it is Mozart's requiem....can't help but sing along!

Moonlit trip home...

After the extravaganza. What an amazing trip back....Germans huddled drinking beer and chatting with us... fab! The lake was just beautiful... the lights of Lindau welcoming us home.

Back to the Medusa hotel, past Mozart up the stairs and back to a blissful night's sleep!

OMG! Spectacular Opera!

Couldn't believe the stage which was immense. Everchanging with the lighting and SPECTACULAR with acrobats tumbling from the top of the head, sword fights and explosions with figures toppling into the water. The grim reaper, quietly rowing through the dark waters.

What an experience and yes the music was fabulous.... enhanced and amplified by the still waters of the lake.

Can you see the singer in the eye of the face.......gives you an idea of the size of the set.

Andre Chenier ...Opera in four acts, sung in Italian, based on the French Revolution. Music by Umberto Giordano. Libretto by Luigi Illica.

What a sunset

With much excitement we caught the ferry, headed out of the harbour and into a beautiful sunset. The ferry was packed with locals, who immediately got into the beers and chattering and expectant tourists!

WOW! Bregenz!

What a wonderful place Lindau is. Set on the huge Lake Constance. It is a perfect location to visit Austria and Switzerland. So close to Austria in fact that we cycled there.. 20km each way ...phew! But really no sweat as it is so flat.

The pathway skirts the lake the whole way. I don't know what they are called but there were really lovely "bathing" huts, where you can stretch out on the verandah, taking a dip when a little too hot or snacking on a delicacy or two!

Bregenz was a total shock. So pretty with lovely gardens, lots of ferries and tourist boats and traditional architecture of clock towers, churches, restaurants and wine bars. But the most amazing thing was the floating stage. Wow! I have never seen anything like it.  Every year a new stage & Opera is designed and performed.

The best news was that we had booked tickets and we were off to the opera that night!

Love those menus

Found some great menus in Germany... Loved the Lusty Opener!

We decided not to choose the saucepan of lard with baked farmers bread!

Many of the restaurants were linked to local wineries and would serve wines in a small jug... yummy!

Lindau

No time to shop... we were off to Lindau to meet up with our homestay "daughter" Karin who has beautiful new daughter Enya. Katy and Mike are off to explore Europe for another 3 months before heading back to UK.

Love travelling on the trains, so smooth and comfortable. Beats driving. Lindau is such a pretty town, steeped in history, with lots of quaint alleyways and a glorious harbour.

Unfortunately couldn't meet up with Karin and family as she was taken sick. Luckily all seems to be well now. Will have to catch up with her in France next year.

The cupboard was bare

We arrived in Augsburg on Saturday, bought a few basics for dinner and planned to do a big shop the next day ready for when Katy and Mike arrived.

There were three important facts though that we didn't know. All supermarkets are closed on Sunday. Monday was a public holiday with no banks or supermarkets open and amazingly supermarkets generally only take cash!

So there we were with some cheese and ham and not much else! Luckily there was some chicken and brocolli in the freezer and a bottle of wine.

Still managed to have a good time, sharing what we had and lots of travel stories with Katy & Mike.

Cheers!

Set off with Katy & Mike to explore Augsburg! We only got as far as the main square and it was time to cool down with a fine German beer. Two minutes later the heavens opened and it was FREEZING!

Fantastic old Roman town, with incredible architecture. Impossible to see much with Katy & Mike as it was SO wet.