Pork Knuckle and Wiener Schnitzel

Pork Knuckle and Wiener Schnitzel are the traditional meals in Germany and there is no getting away from them.  Don't be fooled by the vegetables in the picture we had to beg to get them normally they come with Pomme Frits (potato chips or dumplings) not a green in sight.  We tried to resist we really did - and failed!

King Ludwigs folly

The whole reason for being in this part of the world was to visit Neuschwanstein Castle.  
We had been to Europe twice before but always seemed to have missed it.  We had heard all of the stories and seen the travel shows that explained how it was the basis for Disney’s castle emblem.  We just had to see it.

It is really important to realize that without a pre-booked ticket it is unlikely that you are going to see it.  We arrived early like 2 hours early and it was still just enough time to get organized.

We saw the two castles Hohenschwangau (Ludwig's dad's castle) and Neuschwanstein.  Both were breathtaking - almost in mint condition having never been taken by force.  

Ludwig only had his castle for a couple of hundred days before they declared him mad and he died in mysterious circumstances.
His castle remains unfinished today but still the best thing you will ever see regarding the folly of men - apparently he had an even more difficult one planned.

Maybe he was crazy but Bavaria is making a lot of money from them today!

Fussen is lovely

Travelling north on the autobahns speed limits were a bit negotiable.  But we had decided to make Fussen our base for 4 nights and explore the surrounds from there.  

It was a good decision.  Fussen was lovely, the hotel was friendly and very homely – I’d say a folksy Heidi meets Bamby sort of style.  

We even found a local doctor to tend to us and she was great, having worked in Melbourne for a year – she understood us.

From Fussen we could easily do all the castles, travel into Munich and even visit some of the ski villages which all appeared to be packed with tourist even in the off season.

We had some great experiences just going to the neighboring town to do our washing and visiting the shopping center.  We drove to Linderhof (a castle) and enjoyed spectacular views in the mirrored lake as we drove along its edge.

A romantic night at the hospital in Bolzano - NOT

Soon after arriving in Venice Jo-Ann became sick with the flu my time was to come later.  By Bolzano (just below the Austrian boarder), Jo-Ann was not well so we went off to the regional hospital to see a doctor.  We figured they would listen to her chest, take her temp and send her off with antibiotics. 

We waited an hour to see the doctor – fair enough.  Then they wanted a chest x-ray as she was coughing heavily – fair enough another 2 hours.  Then they wanted to do a CAT scan as they just wanted to be sure it wasn’t a blood clot that spread to her lung – WHAT?

Italian doctors clearly aren’t used to being questioned by their patients.  They were most perplexed when I said that we were not having the CAT scan.  In the end they figured I was too much for them and sent us up stairs to see a lung specialist.  He was a nice fellow who decided in very quick time it was a flu and gave us some antibiotics and a puffer.

We left the hospital 4 and a half hours later but only 15 euro lighter.

The first cafe in the world

One of the 'must dos' on this trip was to have a coffee in the original Florian Cafe - attributed to be the first cafe in the world.
It is very old school with the original decor of the 18th century and silver service with waiters dressed in white with gloves.
Each afternoon and evening a band plays out the front (all in tuxedos) and the scene is set for possibly the most romantic cup of coffee you can ever have.
Of course this all comes at a cost and a coffee and biscuits can cost you up to $40.  But hey how many times do you drink coffee in Venice?

Whole in the wall eating

Eating in Venice is a treat.  Space is always a consideration so you can find yourself standing at a table, perched on a fountain's edge or sitting next to a canal on a very narrow walkway or balcony. 

Most eating is done on the run with little pizzerias serving slices out through a hole in the wall.  Even so it is like eating a little slice of heaven.  How do the italians cook the most delicious spaghetti on the planet and yet it seems not to have anything in it but a drizzle of oil and some herbs? 

It's common to see school children, tourists and even well dressed men and women munching on a Panini as they walk.

Waiters are well dressed and always have the white / black apron.  They beseech you for business and then fluff over you while you are in the restaurant like long lost family, always trying to upsell you extra bread, wine, desert etc. 

A small few are bossy, we did encounter a couple – normally elderly men who run their restaurant like a well oiled machine. You can only sit where the waiter places you – no bags in the walkway.  It was too much for one gay couple who walked out thinking, I’m sure, it was because they were gay – no we all got the same treatment.

Garbage truck in Venice

Yes even in Venice the trash must go out once a week.

The trolley being lifted is pushed through the streets, over bridges and down narrow lanes by the guy on the dock.

Not a job I'd want no wonder he's fit!

Burano trumps Murano

Before we left Australia we had booked a tour of the three islands Murano, Burano and Torcello .  Apparently the original Venetians came from a village on the mainland whose two big gates were called Murano and Burano.  After being harassed by barbarians for years the inhabitants moved to the island of Torcelleo to escape.  They thus called the two neighboring Islands after their gates. 

Torcello grew to 20 thousand people but they didn’t build far enough out and so they moved on to where Venice is today building on 117 islands with incredible difficulty.  Torcello today has only 15 inhabitants but a very nice byzantine church.

Burano is famed for its lace work passed down through generations of women while the men were fishermen.  To better make out their homes from a distance they painted their houses bright colours a tradition still followed today.

The Venetians became renowned for their glasswork and in particular for the creation of chandeliers.  But fire is the enemy in Venice and so it wasn’t long till all the glaziers were banned to Murano where today there are many factories.  There are not as many chandeliers nowadays so there are all manner of glass pieces produced including glass beads for jewelry, traditional gold coated glass, vases and modern art designs.  It all looks nice with a light behind it.

The tour took 4 hours and was a typical guided tour except with a boat.  We had 40 mins on each island, which was barely enough time to find the toilet.  On Murano we saw the inside of a glass factory and a glazier doing his work.  This was very cool – he made a vase and a horse figurine in seconds.  But then came to showroom and the hard sell.  We didn’t see anything of the island or its inhabitants.

Burano was much better –same time but it was a walk to the village center – like into the spiders web, we dodged a whole lot of little stores clamoring to get you to buy their lace.  I would have liked a coffee but back to the boat and on to Torcello.

Torcello was a ghost town (island), the only thing left of its past inhabitants is the old byzantine church and a few scattered buildings.  These now sell souvenirs or have been converted to restaurants, I assume for those with boats.

When we arrived back to Venice we were a little disappointed with the tour as it really didn’t give us a feel for the islands.  But then 4 hours had passed and really to spend even an extra hour on each island would have meant a 7 hour day so we figured in the end that the tour was really the best you can do in a day.

If I had it over I would catch the Vaporetto out to Burano and spend a couple of hours and come home.