Back from ED today!! (Continued)

Continuing ....

November 8th - Walked around a bit in Munich and than drove to Dachau to visit the concentration camp. A moving experience when you think of what went on overe there. Remember to visit the old town uphill which is centuries old. Dachau was a walled market town on a low hill with three entrance gates. I happened to stop to ask for direction from a distinguished looking genetleman, who pointed out the directions to the concentration camp but in the same breath requested me to visit the town to see the positive side of Dachau. From Dachau, we started to drive to Austria planning to reach Unterpinswang in the evening. The King Ludwig castle visits (Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau ) were planned the next day. We stayed at the Gutshof zum Schluxen in Unterpinswang. I would recommend it to anybody. Climb up a small hill and look down at the farm and one can see how beautiful it looks surrounded by the Austrian Alps. I have attached a picture. The owner is into livestock trading and raising horses. Very nice people, Austrians.

Nov 9th - Woke up in the morning and started our trip to the castle. We had made advanced reservations and our first tour was at 11.45 starting in Hohenschwangau and later on at 1.45 at Neuschwanstein. Now a warning for people with kids. Try to get the morning tours and be done by lunch time. My kids were hungry by the time the first tour was over and we could not make it to Neuschwanstein on time for our allocated time. We were accommodated with another group though. But the climb even after taking the bus with a 2 and a 6 yr old was a challenge. Allow plenty of time.
Started to drive to Montreux, Switzerland that evening. Wish we had stayed that night after the castle visit, because we were all tired. Anyway, reached Montreux at 10.45 pm and crashed. Now, driving in Switzerland was a whole different ball game. Speed limit of 100 mph most of the way. Do not ever overtake from the right. Big trouble. But as with anyother place, there were always people who were going quite fast. I tended to tail them for a while before dropping off when it got too uncomfortable. Went and crashed that night.

Nov 10th- Woke up to beautiful view of the lake and the Swiss Alps from the Balcony of our Hotel room. We stayed at the Hotel Eden Palace right next to the Casino. An interesting story of the Casino is that it caught fire and was rebuilt. on December 7, 1971, Deep Purple had set up camp in Montreux, Switzerland to record an album using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as "the gambling house" in the song lyric). On the eve of the recording session a concert featuring Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention was held in the casino's theater; during the concert a fire broke out (said to be caused by a Swiss fan shooting a flare gun in the ceiling) that eventually destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers' equipment. The "smoke on the water" that became the title of the song referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel across the lake. Also in town was a statue of Freddie Mercury of "Queen" since he lived there. Took a walk along the Promenade Fleuri along the lakeside. Beautiful!!

More later....

Reply » Back from ED today!! (Continued)

I remember you!

Reply » Back from ED today!! (Continued)

Hawk, nice pictures! Where exactly were those lake pics taken from the Swiss Alps?

Reply » Back from ED today!! (Continued)

The pictures are getting better and better - we need more !! Congrats on the car.

Reply » Back from ED today!! (Continued)

Nov 11th: Woke up and decided to walk around Montreux, visit the old town and see the Chateau de chillon, the medevial fort, that stands out on the lake. Started with taking a walk along the lake to the Chateau, which was around 20 min from where we were living. Passed vineyards on the way, and gardners sculpting trees and bushes into animal shapes. It was fascinating watching them. The Chateau is apparently in existence since the 11th Century!!. The castle is carefully restored and can be visited from the basement (dungeons) to the tower. In the prison, Bonivard, a Genevese patriot and historian was chained to the pillar between 1530 an1536. His destiny inspired Lord Byron to write the famous poem «The Prisoner of Chillon» (1816). Took the No 1 bus back to town and had lunch. Walked around the old town a bit, did some shopping and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Good food, but paid twice what I would normally paid in the US.

Nov 12th: Woke up to the fact that we could not go to Strasbourg as planned due to the rioting and curfew that was imposed in Strasbourg among other places. Anyway, we decided to worry about it later, called the place in Strasbourg, cancelled my reservations and proceeded to the train station to take the cog rail to Rochers-de-Naye, 2,045 meters above sea level, the most breathtaking panoramas you ever saw! It takes a good one hour to get up there. It is a Trekkers dream, because you can get down and meander and explore various mountains along the way. Any way, it was worth the trip. Returned to Montreux, started to hunt for accomodations and have a plan for the next day since we the original Strasbourg plan was off. Decided to explore the Black Forest region, so set out and stopped at Freiburg to stay the night.

Nov 13th: Had breakfast, piled into the car and started to drive. The intention was to visit Furtwangen, the center of the clock making industry in Germany. Since I had the Frommers suggested driving tours with me, followed it to get to Furwangen, and saw some of the most beautiful sights. Anyway, did not realize that being Sunday, all stores would be closed and our plan to buy a cuckoo clock might fail. We parked, walked to a bakery, had some pastries and coffee and was told of the clock museum that was in town. Facinating museum on clocks! The museum official directed us to Triberg to the largest cuckoo clock that was entered in the guiness book in 1997. Bought a cuckoo clock from the gift store and some more to give away as gifts. Had reservations at the Sheraton at Frankfurt airport, so headed over there since our flight back was at 10.20 the next day. Reached Frankfurt, dropped of family, headed to the drop off location, completed the required paperwork, and Mr. Wolfgang, who did my paperwork, drove me back to the airport. The car had 841 miles at the end of my trip.

The car was great, and the drives I took in Europe were enhanced with the car's handling on all those uphill, downhill and curvy roads that I drove on. I am ready for another trip in a couple of years.

Reply » Back from ED today!! (Continued)

Some more pics in Montreux

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