2000 Schwangau
- Sat 2000-09-02 {16945}
- Off to Schwangau. Taxi arr 09h, Peugeot 806. To LHR T2 in
1h. Pint at Wetherspoons before Lufthansa LH4955 to Munich (Airbus
A320-200, full). \theta's back OK with pills and care. Hire car (National
Alamo) is a Ford Ka (1339km), a cute little black thing. Have
to fold the rear seats to get the luggage in, & seats right back
for leg room, but otherwise OK, & it has A/C but radio is VHF
only. About 2h to get to Schwangau, a mixture of autobahn and other
roads [A92-A99-A8-471-A96-17]. GPS fine on external antenna, and
my est of Schwangau was about 2.4km out for actual hotel position
(which is N47d34.41m E10d43.34m, about 800m alt, on WGS84). Hotel
Rübezahl is as expected, alpine, flowery. Can see Schloss
Hohenschwangau from the balcony, and might, if lean out, see Neuschwanstein
as well. Arr at hotel 18h(+2), quick wash and change & to dinner
(which is 18h->20h for included 1/2 board). Huge and rich meal.
Reserved table with our name on. On same table another couple from
Edinburgh, who have driven over (there's a GB N-reg
Omega V6 in the car park). Short walk after dinner in the gathering
dark, looking at the castles lit up against the mountains. Sort of
one-sided, mountains on one side, but Schwangau seems to be flat,
& flat away to the other side. \theta drove today. Orange
delivering reports of the test match OK. Room nice, shower only, but
all other facilities & hotel seems friendly. Briefly to bar
after the walk; only us there. Bright sunny day for the drive, rain later.
Others also found the hotel on the web, though they booked by phone and
fax rather than e-mail. A bus on the M1 with numberplate W31.COM.
- Sun 2000-09-03 {16946}
- Rain most of the day. Start with a drive around Forggensee (which
is artificial), clockwise, with stops for pix at various points, then
for a walk by the See, by the road just N of Schwangau (Brunnen).
On from there back anti-clockwise, with more stops for pix of
scenery and at a hydro-electric plant at the N end of the lake. Lunch
in a small family cafe in Roßhaupten, mine an "Asia" chicken
stir-fry with rice. A little sunshine during lunch. Then more
exploring in the rain by car, & failed to stop in Füssen,
as still wet. Back to hotel. Later it stopped, & \phi for walk
to far end of Schwangau & back. Found after this that I'd mislaid
the car keys, so out for most of the way again looking for them
till \theta found them in the car door. Eve another excellent too-large
dinner. Salad - leek soup with dumpling - guinea-hen - vanilla
parfait with advocaat sauce & cake.
- Mon 2000-09-04 {16947}
- Eng won the final test, & the series 3-1, winning a series
against WI for the first time since 1969 (E 281 & 217, WI 125
& 215 - so margin 158 runs). Orange inform me of this. Rain
most of the day. First, to the Spar supermarket in
Schwangau, for beer, water, fruit, cheese &c, + 2 umbrellas.
Petrol here as well (wrong stuff, put in 91 octane ("unleaded")
instead of 95 ("super" = our lowest grade)). 21.55l = 43.94DEM =
22.47eur (2.03DEM/l, approx 68p/l). Credit cards seem reasonably
widely accepted for fuel. Then drive around in the car, around the
hydro 2 lakes up (nr Urspring) and several times through Bernbeuren
to get to Auerberg (1055m), a steep road up to a small mountain
with a church, a cafe & a good view (of clouds with the odd
bright patch flitting over the landscape). Very alpine in style
of houses and country, but smaller mountains here. Then to
Füssen & a walk round, partly in rain. Parked in
underground multi-layer park for 1DEM. \theta bought a warm
jacket in Woolworths (Visa) & \phi bought a map (1:50000,
but not Gov't). Then back to hotel. Rain lessened a bit, then
\phi walk back to Füssen on paths, over the dam that feeds
water into Forggensee, which was a busy route despite the rain,
with locals shopping as well as tourists. Bought an analogue
DCF-77 clock in Woolworth's (only 30DEM, ~10L) & walk back.
Later \theta & \phi walk to lake from hotel & back via
paths. With a light lunch and lots of walking, dinner was easier
tonight. Even plastic bottles of mineral water have a deposit on
them over here. More UK regs tonight: a Fiesta with Cymru stickers
and a T-reg Merc. An American voice heard in the restaurant as
well. The bar seems always to be deserted, though you can get
served there, so a supermarket beer in the room after dinner
& reading. It's raining again this eve. Cows clanging out
to pasture from the farm next door at 8h, clanging back at 17h30.
- Tue 2000-09-05 {16948}
- Hotel is at ~800m. Only intermittent rain today, with
very occasional sunshine. To the Schlosses. To see Neuschwanstein
you have to at least pay for both. Q for ticket (26DEM ea) then
short wait for horse carriage up to Hohenschwangau (6DEM ea). Wait
here for our tour number to appear on the LEDs, then go and Q in
the lane for our tour (140, 11h20). This is an English tour, also
with some French people & Japanese as well as the usual run of
Americans. Eventually shown around some of the rooms by a
smartly-dressed \mars guide (German with good English and
idiomatic jokes). About 40min tour. Very small rooms, & a bit
basic, but this one used mainly as a summer hunting residence.
Then walk down from here & Q for a bus up to Neu- (5DEM return).
Very tight and windy road that the small buses just negotiate,
rather faster than I would have gone. At the top, still a walk
to the entrance, & to Q for our tour to be called (465, 13h25),
& Q again in the appropriate lane. This is a much more impressive
place, though only 1/3 finished before Ludwig died or was murdered.
Big rooms, very elaborately decorated with paintings, mosaics,
carvings. The guide here a young \venus in jeans (no complaint
about that) but she thought she was to do a German language tour
and one got the impression that her English was not as polished
as the guide at Hohen-. The walk back to the bus stop was steeply
up (~130 steps, up and down, in the schloss as well), which \theta's
legs just managed. All in all about 5 hours from car-park to
car-park (7DEM here as well) for about 1+1/2h looking at the
insides of the buildings. But a trip well worth it. Then drive to
a scenic spot for lunch, then \phi driving the Ka for the first time
around villages to W of Forggensee. It's a 1.3, decently lively,
but it's bigger than it seems when you get near a kerb. What do
[DIAGRAM] [yellow circular disk, split up the middle, left side with
up and down arrows and a lower number, eg 50, right side with up
arrow only and a higher number, eg 100] these signs mean? (They're
usually at bridges, even tiny ones, and sometimes have extra symbols
such as lorries or tanks at the top.) Meal in hotel a little less
grand than ave, I thought, though probably that was just my choice.
- Wed 2000-09-06 {16949}
- Sunshine at breakfast, & still sunny as we go into Austria
& along by Plansee and the scenic route thro' the mountains
to Linderhof. Stopped here to look at another of Ludwig's castles,
this one more modest than Neuschwanstein, easier to get to, and
finished. Again very ornate, though this one lived in for long
periods. He was so eccentric that he had a device to send his food
up on an elevating table so that the servants didn't have to see
him. Guide here another young \venus, quite good. Same programmed
times, but much less waiting. Also saw the Venus grotto, an
artificial cave constructed within a pit and covering building,
build for Ludwig to imagine himself in one of Wagner's operas.
Then on the rest of the circular tour, past Oberammergau. Stop
for a while by the N end of Forggensee watching the weather,
which by then was dull and sometimes wet. The sun lasted long
enough for the spectacular scenery in Austria & the gilded
fountains in the grounds of Linderhof, but no longer. Aft a
walk (both) most of the way to Füssen, then back to watch
the cows come in, & eve to the "candlelit dinner", much
the same as other nights except the oil lamp became a candle,
no choice on the menu, & 35DEM extra. This because the
normal restaurant is closed on Wed. By late eve - it's still
raining.
- Thu 2000-09-07 {16950}
- Lots of rain & high wind during the night. Dull this morning
as well, & so all day except for one or two short bright
intervals. Little rain though. First to see Lechfalls, on road
out towards Austria, & then a drive in a loop partly through
Austria via Pfronten. Walk on the shore of Weißensee, then
\theta dropped me to explore the full path from Füssen centre
to hotel. Unfortunately, I had the hotel key, so \theta waited
in the car until I got there. Later a walk thro' Schwangau
to post cards. As so dull, rest of aft in reading.
- Fri 2000-09-08 {16951}
- [Hotel UTM 32T 0629532e 5270328n, pretty spot by stream 0646092e
5269761n, both on WGS84] Clear, sunny and hot all day. First to the
cable-car (Tegelbergbahn) in Schwangau, but cars so crowded that we
decided not to go up. On to Schongau, where spend a couple of
hours looking around the old, walled town. Can't walk all round on
the walls, but can round outside, & followed a trail recommended
by the tourist info, around the town and walls. Then on to Rottenbuch
& the amazingly ornate church, probably more breathtaking than
the castles. Then a drive. Then back via the scenic route past
Linderhof & through Austria & Plansee, stopping at several
places to enjoy the scenery (e-mail sent from above co-ordinates).
Then on to Füssen, looked inside the ornate church there,
& enjoyed some peace in the Baumgarten beyond. Then back to
the hotel, a last ample dinner, and pack. Still clear & warm,
which has brought out lots of flies (what to expect, living next
to a cowshed?). Bought another 1:50000 map, this one with UTM grid
on WGS84 datum for use with GPS - agrees well with the Garmin
(co-ords above). (Ass WGS84 = ETRS 89, as I believe it does - check.)
A good day, dispelling the gloom of the last few. [Petrol 20.87l of
the right stuff ("super", 95 octane), 44.43DEM (22.72eur) = 2.13DEM/l
~ 71p/l]
- Sat 2000-09-09 {16952}
- Up at 07h(+2), and it's another clear day, with a hint of early mist
around the mountains. Into breakfast as it starts (08h(+2)), and just
cross with the others, who are staying another week. Bill paid
(~1400DEM on top of the 300DEM dep, my Visa) and tip stuffed into the
green piggy bank. \theta drove the Ka back to Munich airport, in the
reverse to the way out, in about 2h20m, in, by then, hot sunshine. Apart
from being stuck behind a tanker at 75km/h for about half of the 17,
a good trip. Hire car just dropped off in the car park (at 2285km,
total 946km). Estimate we used about 65l, so 6.9l/100km or 41mi/UKgall.
Then the problems started. Flights seemed to be getting later taking
off, and sure enough ours was moved from gate to gate, and delayed
in stages, until we finally got off about 90min late, at 14h30(+2).
This got us to LHR at about 15h(+1), and through quickly, and the
taxi driver was there, but then jams on the M25, and worse on the M1
from J11 to J12 where we came off to go via A5 (the reports said the
jams went up to J13). Home at about 17h30, when \theta shot off to
get the cats, just before the cattery closed at 18h, and \phi to
Safeway for enough food for breakfast tomorrow. Dropped a bottle of
Hobgoblin onto the floor at the checkout, it didn't break, but fizzed
up and leaked out through the cap. They gave me another bottle. Chinese
for tea. Last night of the Proms. Flight was LH4564, a Boeing 737, full.
Flight delays were attributed to failure of German air traffic control
radar. The DCF analogue clock works OK in UK. Taxi cost 50L each way.
Taxi had no traffic info system. 1740 (RAC trafficmaster) on Orange
gave good info.