Bavaria, Lake Como, Madrid, Nthn Spain & Barcelona

[RB]

We were late in making plans for a holiday in 2015. By Feb our LifeMiles options to Europe were a bit restricted but options were still there. We booked our flights in & out of Munich (a long time since we had flown there) & then started to plan a holiday around that. We are keen walkers who rely on public transport. Most of our accommodation was apartments booked through Airbnb, HouseTrip or Booking.com. The train tickets and a few of the bus tickets were bought online before we left Aust.

PQQ-BNE VA 1763
A bit of an ordinary start with our flight eventually delayed a bit over an hour & a half – when a fellow passenger who is a FIFO worker (missed his connection out of BNE) insisted his boss would require a reason for the delay it eventually transpired a passenger had a major problem in the toilet while the plane was in Canberra earlier in the day! A very smooth flight & clear enough from the Gold Coast up for us to get a good view of the coast. Bags were very quickly on the carousel

Brisbane

Only a 1 night stop to get our connection to the international flights. We had booked return Airtrain tickets online & made a rapid walk with our bags to the station. Typical of the day the train pulled out as our tickets were scanned! We were staying at the Meriton Herschel St so it was only a couple of minutes walk from Roma St Station to the apartment. We had a very late lunch & a couple of drinks at the Guilty Rogue pub just down the road - good food, atmosphere & drinks. We also had a walk around the area & checked out the riverside.

First 3 photos are general scenes of Brisbane taken from the Herschel St apartment-I have posted a review of the apartment here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....on-serviced-apartments-herschel-st-69137.html





This fibreglass, hand painted koala is at PQQ. It is one of the collection of 50 that are scattered around the Greater Port Macquarie region. They have proven to be a hit with kids.

 

[love_the_life]

Looking forward to reading the TR as you travel. Although we have been to some of the places, others are on the 'possible' list so will be reading with interest.

 

[RB]

BNE-BKK TG 474 in J 777-200
The Airtrain was a comfortable option from Brisbane CBD with a short walk to the International Terminal that seemed almost deserted. Our bags were checked all the way through & security & passport control were very quick & painless. The Singapore lounge was insistent that unless we had a Star Alliance gold card we were not welcome. The NZ lounge, although small & with no tarmac view did the job. Soon after we arrived 2 other flights were called & it left only about 20 people for the duration of our wait. There was a good soup, a great hot curry & the internet worked well.
Priority boarding worked well & our flight loaded very quickly. Although not the best option with sloping seats & a full cabin it was a very comfortable flight (economy was lightly loaded). We had selected a centre pair of seats (poor storage options), so that we had aisle access for both of us. Pushback was early & the flight was smooth. Porche amenity bags were distributed & the young, happy & enthusiastic crew made for a very comfortable flight. The food seemed much superior to our experience with Thai business 12 months ago & the beer & sparkling were nice & cold. The toilets are more spacious than the 747 & one had a nice window view. We both dozed for a while knowing we had over 4hrs as a layover in BKK.


BKK- we had plenty of time to kill. We went through the security screening that seemed more stringent than BNE. We first opted for our 30 minute massage - a very thorough head & neck routine followed by a relaxing cup of herbal tea. Then it was off to a different lounge for a shower - no waiting & comfortable enough facilities although the lounge was very full - why sit in there when there is much more room in the bigger lounge?



BKK-MUN TG 924 in J 747 All Series

Delayed 40 minutes from the original departure time. We had managed to get allocated exit row seats at BNE but there were only 12 passengers upstairs so we both sat by ourselves in window seats with a shadow. This gave us good storage options & the recline was more comfortable than the previous flight - plenty of spare blankets & pillows to make things as comfortable as possible. Amenity bags this time were Samsonite. Again the food was much improved on 12 months ago. I guess the light load meant there was not a lot happening and most passengers slept as soon as the meal had finished but the crew were pretty lacklustre - myself & another passenger ended up downstairs at the first class cabin looking for crew when we woke up looking for water during the night. Despite the late departure we arrived at the advertised arrival time. We seemed to be the only flight around at the time so arrival procedures had no delays - it is a fair hike from the gate to the passport control though. Our bags were in the first dozen or so off- about 20 boxes were the first to appear on the carousel.
Although cold there was plenty to see between Terminal 1 & 2. Mrs RB decided to forgo a Maccas coffee when it was going to be around 7 Aussie dollars.

Photos are from BNE-BKK flight

 

[RB]

Bangkok to Munich Flight-great garlic bread again





Between Terminals 1 & 2 at Munich

 

[ellen10]

Looking forward to more of your trip report.

 

[LadyC]

Definitely looking forward to reading more

 

[Major]

Great photos. Keep them coming.

 

[RB]

Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen
The S1 took us from the airport to the city. There was no extra storage space so it was a matter on keeping your bag out of the aisle but the 50 minute trip was comfortable & there was plenty of green countryside to watch. We had around 30 minutes before the next train but we had seen plenty of Munich rail station previously so we went straight to the waiting train. This regional service had newish comfortable carriages & was lightly loaded. The 90 minute ride was soon into beautiful countryside - always great to see the German farmland the natural vegetation. We passed some Lakeland & also saw a lone deer grazing. Extensive use of solar panels is again on display.

I have posted a review of our apartment here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ces-and-reviews/parahotel-garmisch-69147.html

Around Garmisch-Partenkirchen
We selected Garmisch with the thought of pursuing our love of walking. We also realised we were visiting very early in the summer. Unfortunately the weather was not co-operating with widespread rain and a couple of days with a max of 6c (a couple degrees less when considering wind chill) but we were determined to make the most of our fortune in being able to visit Germany again.
We ended day 1 with a walk around town, shopped for breakfast supplies and found a good pub (Irish but plenty of local drinkers). The barman was a NZér who gave us a few tips, organised for a pizza from nearby Darenzo Pizza to be delivered to the bar for our consumption and generally convinced us we were in a good spot. Interestingly the locals have noted a big build-up of police in preparation for the upcoming G7 meeting to be held nearby in early June.
[FONT=&amp]Day 2- max 6c & general rain so we hopped on the bus & visited nearby Oberammergau - we had read of the wood carving & the trip crossed beautiful flat farmland, cloud shrouded hills and gave us the chance to walk the streets of wonderfully adorned buildings

Photo 1-countryside on way to Garmisch, Photos2-4-typically adorned buildings Photo 5-view from our loungeroom





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[RB]

Day 3- again cold but the forecast was for the morning to be relatively rain free so we were off to the Partnach Gorge. Checked at the tourist office and they were a bit excited about us seeing the Gorge after a lot of rain (always a positive somewhere). We caught the bus to the Olympic Ski Stadium (actually hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics) and then did the 20 odd minute walk to the gorge entrance. The walk through the gorge itself is about 700 metres of limestone walls with protected dark tunnels, galleries & low clearances (we had wet weather gear & torches) & you find yourself right over the roaring stream & under various waterfalls - certainly topped up by the recent rain. At the top of the gorge we crossed the stream, made a steep climb & then wandered back downstream & again bridged across the stream and rejoined the main track at the point where we had paid to go into the actual gorge. We decided to hike all the way back to town & enjoyed a good look around the historic Ludwigstrasse section where there are some fantastic old buildings adorned by murals and there was a produce market being conducted on the day. As predicted the rain set back in during the afternoon.

Photos 1& 2 show ski jumps-certainly would not find me on there

 

[RB]

 

[RB]

Day 4- more rain but reaching 7c. We wandered various different streets with Fruhlingstrasse a highlight-tightly placed houses with their overlapping gables and distinctive gazebos. Feeling the need for more walking we headed towards Kramer & took several great all-weather paths through the forests above Garmisch. Despite the weather we encountered plenty of locals with many ladies exercising the family dogs. Lunch was a hot roast pork roll from a butchery. We wound out the day with a banquet at Restaurant Asia World- a left field choice but a great variety of freshly cooked food with the option to have salmon & a variety of other fresh seafood done on the spot. Mrs RB thought the wine was the best sampled so far!








A few random observations of Garmisch-only saw 1 motorbike (maybe too bloody cold yet), cyclists don’t wear helmets, as with the Black Forest salt & pepper do not adorn dining tables, it is interesting to see Seinfeld in German, the pub still uses bottles for mixed drinks (no mixer machine apparently too slow during busy times) & ice is not part of soft drink consumption. Despite the early threat of a train strike & the coughpy weather (nothing over 7c) we greatly enjoyed visiting here! The lowest ever max temp for this time of year is 2c & it once reached 30c in a corresponding week.

This is one of the most beautiful towns we have visited in Germany with, luckily, enough to keep us busy without our planned excursions using the cable cars.

Next Oberstdorf

 

[love_the_life]

It looks beautiful even with the rain. What's the average max temperature for this time of the year there?

 

[Renato1]

Very interesting thanks. You are getting me excited as we'll be driving to Munich from Italy in two months time.

Just be wary when you get to Madrid - it's a mirror image of Rome: heaps of Police everywhere, coupled with hundreds of easy to spot pickpockets targeting their marks along the streets. Which makes them the most useless police forces I've ever seen. There's plenty to see in Madrid, but if you are there for five or six days, you may want to give consideration to spending a day in Toledo. You just catch a very fast train to its station and then a bus into the city. Worth it just to see the gold in the golden alter in the main church (which is behind iron bars, for obvious reasons).
Cheers,
Renato

 

[RB]

Just to clarify, this is not a live report-we left Aust in mid May & returned home at the end of June. There were certainly plenty of police in Madrid but both in Madrid & barcelona we saw none of the pickpockets we had read so much about.
Sorry about the delay in posting, we have been enjoying the hospitality at the thoroughbred races at the Grafton Carnival-no winnings to celebrate though

Garmisch to Oberstdorf
This was an easy 2 train transfer. We backtracked as far as Munich Pasing ( a very busy station) & then travelled to Oberstdorf. Both legs were on regional trains & for the majority of the time we had plenty of spare seats around us-this was despite a German long weekend being celebrated. Again beautiful countryside that was very wet in spots-great farmlands and pine forest hillsides. The mountains of the Algau gradually appeared as we approached Oberstdorf.
On arrival we walked 5 minutes or so to pick up our key & then another 10 minutes down to our apartment that lies on the edge of the village.

I have posted a review of our Oberstdorf apartment here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....eviews/landhaus-gerlach-oberstdorf-69260.html

Photos show a few views of Oberstdorf & final photo is a small section of the bike racks at Munich Pasing station

 

[RB]

Around Oberstdorf

This is Germany’s southernmost village and there are around 200km of walking trails in summer. The village is 815 m above sea level and the many peaks reach up to 2,600m.

Day 1-We catch a 10 minute bus ride out to the Söllereckbahn cable car. It is a slow moving ride uphill & then we opt to hike towards Hochleite – Freibergsee. This takes us on a great surface through pine forests, partly around Lake Freibergsee & then back to Oberstdorf through the wild flowers. With the weather forecast not brilliant we decide to push on and also use the Neblehorn cable car system to check out the hike options for later in the week. Things are easy on the accent & the lower altitudes offer great views. There are 2 transfer stations and by the time we reach the 2,224m peak, paths are blocked by snow & the anticipated breathtaking views are shrouded in low cloud. There are plenty of bus trip tourists out and about here having their buffet lunch & then descending en masse so there are bits of lines involved for the decent- looks like some nice hike options for later in the week though. During the afternoon back in the village we saw the sun for the first time since we had left home!

 

[RB]

Photos from the Neblehorn part of our day-pretty happy with the timing of the 2nd photo

 

[RB]

Day 2- No sun but not too bad a day. Monday is the last day of a German long weekend & the crowds have dropped a bit. We walk to the Nebelhorn station & get off at Seealpe (1,280m) & take a steadily rising track towards Kofatsblick (1936m). This is an open walk through a lush valley. Once we got near the current snow line we turned back & hiked all the way back to town. At one of the beer stops at Seealpe we lucked upon a lady transferring a falcon to a roosting spot-also an owl & another hunting bird in the private collection. The path down is part well formed track , part road & there are plenty of walkers. We pass the Erdinger Arena-highest ski jump of 125m (not for me) that hosts the 4 Hills Tournament every year. The predicted showers set in later in the day-bit of French Open viewing on the tv & some catch up washing.

 

[RB]

Day 3- Another coughpy day weatherwise with perhaps the wettest weather so far. BUT we are here so let’s do something. We did a double check with the tourist office & then jumped on a bus to Breitachlamm- Oberstdorf’s answer to the gorge at Garmisch. It is about a 10 minute bus ride & then a walk across the carpark to the entrance. Again it is a relatively flat walk between rugged high rock faces-rushing water rumbling over large trees that are trapped in the twists & turns. At various points the carved out rock overhangs the walkways & kept us dry. This walk seems to be more elevated from the actual water level & the roaring water noise was diminished but this gorge seemed deeper & narrower. At the top end we opted to cross the stream & follow the path beside a very peaceful flowing stream. We eventually doubled back & from the top of the gorge & took a short uphill slog to Walserschanz in Austria. Here we had a short wait for a comfortable bus ride back to Obertsdorf via Söllereckbahn. Back in town we joined the masses doing a lot of window shopping

 

[RB]

Last Day- no rain but low cloud early in the day. We caught the bus out to Fellornbahn & then the cable car up 2 stages. Only -2 c at the top so just enough time to snap some photos & then back down. A bit more pleasant at the middle stage but few walks open so back to ground level. At the middle level we noticed a huge cable car that is obviously used in peak winter season. We enjoyed goulash & then caught the bus back to town. By now it had warmed up a little so we dumped excess clothes & took a 1hr walk along the river-plenty of well made paths to pick from and heaps of tourists & locals out walking. Enjoyed drinks & counter tea at O’Reillys Pub.Actually got a few photos of sunset against the peaks.






Next we are off to Lake Como

 

[RB]

Oberstdorf-Lake Como
By far our biggest travel day-1[SUP]st[/SUP] class was only marginally more expensive at the time we booked so we took advantage of that & reaped the rewards. Train left Oberstdorf at 7.30am on a beautiful clear day & we saw our 1[SUP]st[/SUP] jet trails of the trip-they are a sure sign you are in Europe! Second train at Kempton was 15 minutes late but we had enough buffer. The trip across to Zurich had some magic countryside- Lakes (including Constance) vast farm lands & farmers out cutting hay. Arrived in Zurich with 10 minutes to spare & jumped on the observation car for the transfer to Bellinzona- disappointed in the Swiss with this train leaving 4 minutes late! More great scenery with another 3 lakes and the steep valleys to keep us occupied. We saw a massive traffic jam (apparently a 2.5hr wait) of traffic waiting to get through the tunnels but were told later this is a regular occurrence if you travel on a holiday weekend! Things were easy for the last train change- we were on the same platform so it was just a hop off/hop on. Again some great farmland as the land flattened out. We had a quick yarn to a couple of visiting Scottish businessmen and then got off at Maroggia-Melano where we met our friend. Then it was a short car ride back to the familiar territory of Pigra 800 metres above Lake Como. The days transfer covers some of the nicest scenery you will see but it was difficult to get good photos from the train with all the glare and the speed of the train