Follow

You need a small child to enjoy days like this. Fortunately we have Philip.

Follow

Bavaria has a good regional rail system, and this morning we get a train to an alpine town close to the Austrian border. It’s called Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and it’s very attractive.

We get a gondola up to one of the local peaks and have lunch. Great views from up here.

Olympic stadium just outside town.

The stadium looks worth a visit, so we jump on a bus. On arrival it’s better than we could possibly have expected. The stadium is just as it was in 1936, concrete terraces, ticket offices, everything.

Better still, you can walk straight in and go anywhere. No charges at all.

History bit: The Germans wanted to host the 1936 winter games, but didn’t have a resort big enough. So you-know-who had the bright idea of simply joining 2 villages together to make one that was big enough. Garmisch and Partenkirchen have been a single town ever since. The 1936 games were a huge success, and Germany was actually awarded the winter games again for 1940, though obviously that one never happened.

Of course the ski jumps are new. This has to be the single most imbecilic sport ever devised.

Despite the obvious likelihood of severe injury or death, the kids are keen to learn.

There’s a great slalom course here too. Here’s Val planning her run.

Follow

It’s a bit cooler today, so we head for the English Garden. Although it doesn’t sound like much, this facility is a huge park stretching from the city centre right out into the suburbs.

All the usual stuff goes on here; cycling, jogging & surfing.

Surfing? Yes. The designers of the park included a big lake and a lot of other water features, so it stands to reason that they needed a lot of water. This comes from the nearby river – the Isar. It flows at quite a rate.

You might remember Ludwig, the nutcase who built the shrine at Regensburg. He claims the credit for the park too, and never one to miss an opportunity for a little self – publicity, here he is at nearby Odeonsplatz. Must have been such a modest guy.

I should perhaps add in Ludwig’s defence that he wasn’t the one known as Mad King Ludwig. That was his son, Ludwig II. Any wonder the Germans did away with their monarchy?

Follow

We had a super dinner of seafood last night in an Italian around the corner from our hotel, and this morning it’s time to move on again.

It’s about 100 kilometres from Regensburg to Munich, in a southerly direction. We buy 3 day tickets for the public transport system, and wander into town. Munich is a major tourist destination, and it’s packed. I spent a lot of time here in the 80s on work trips, but I don’t remember a thing to be honest. Anyhow, here are a couple of the major landmarks.

Karlsplatz.

Marienplatz.

It’s another blazing hot afternoon and we soon repair to a bar for a few beers.

Follow

Yesterday’s boat trip was very good, so we decided to do another one. This one goes about 7 miles downstream to a memorial called Valhalla.
The scale and grandeur of this boat has to be seen to be believed.

So here is Valhalla. It’s basically a monument to German national insecurity. What happened was that Napoléon beat the Germans by turning one half of the country against the other half.

The country was divided and basically ruined, so Crown Prince Ludwig decided that a shrine to remind the Germanic people of their common heritage would be a good idea. Valhalla was therefore built, and it houses busts of Germanic notables – writers, painters and the like. You didn’t actually have to be German to be included – our own Alfred the Great is in there for instance.
Anyhow it’s a lovely day, so we stayed on the boat (very good drinks service) rather than climbing the 350 steps up to the absurd German folly.

There are some lovely villages along the river.

Here’s a houseboat made from a railway carriage.

Back at Regensburg, I have another bash at getting a picture of the cathedral.

Not a great photo really. This photogenic church building was easier and just next door.

Follow

Lovely sunny day, so it’s off to the river.

Shame that the old bridge is being renovated, but if you’ve just read the Heidelberg bits you’re probably fed up with bridges anyway. Here’s the famous sausage place.

There are little marinas along the banks. Boating is very popular, but with the strong currents and complicated rules of the road you really need to get some tuition.

Boat school.

Nice views of the Dom from the river.

It really is a hot day!

The Rhine – Main – Danube canal joins the river here. It links the Occidental (North Sea / Atlantic) with the Orientale (Black Sea). People have been talking about creating this trade route for over 1200 years, and it was completed quite recently.

Entrance to the old bridge from the medieval town.

Follow

Biggest journey of our holiday today, we get an early train to Stuttgart. This is followed by another to Nurnberg, and finally an hour due south to Regensburg. It takes about 5 hours all told.

We’ve stayed in all sorts of hotels on this trip, but this one is a bit different. All the rooms are themed, and ours is called the Pope’s room. To be honest, it’s a bit weird.

I last came to Regensburg on a work trip about 20 years ago. It’s a nice town on the Danube, famous for its sausages.

This is the Ratskeller – basically the town hall pub. There’s one of these in every German town I’ve ever been to.

We stop for a beer. Very nice too.