Hyde Park: Steve, Larissa, Josh, Mayan, Janaki
When we came home from Austria and saw the sunshine we decided to enjoy it. The weekend before we went to Austria, I also brought a bike, but had not gone out for a ride in it. In the afternoon we rode to Hyde Park, meeting Larissa and Steve on the way and joined Mayank and Janaki in the park for a lovely afternoon picnic! The sun was amazing, in fact the sun lasted today also – although we where all at work – it got to 32 degrees!
Augustine Brewery
Views of the Fortress that sit at the top of the old town.
Old Town on the left of the river, new on the right.
Mozarts Birthplace
Getreidegasse - shopping street
Residenplatz - square
Residenzplatz Fountain
Views from the top of the Eagles Nest
Eagles Nest
Lift
Cementar that was used in film that the family escaped through.
Fountain the children sang around
Beer stop at the end of the Sound of Music Tour
Lake area in Salzburg
Apple Strudel for breakfast - before I pulled the filling out
Mirabell Gardens
Arch from the gardens also used in the musical, the children run down here.
Church they got married in.
Lake and garden area/back of the house that was used for their home.
Gazebo - "I am 16 going on 17...."
Josh and I took a couple of days off from work and flew out to Salzburg for a long weekend and despite it raining – the ENTIRE time, it was one of the most beautiful cities that we have ever been to. Not to mention the amazing food – I love the sausage. We arrived on the Thursday mid afternoon and since it was pouring we stayed inside, planned the trip and went out to dinner at a great restaurant frequented by many Austrian’s and the food was really amazing (this is a theme of the trip)! We tried schnapps after dinner – the Austrian way – well this was not so amazing, in fact it tasted like drinking petrol and my gag reflex was so strong I could not drink it! On Friday we had booked a tour into the Bavarian mountains and up to Hitler’s Eagles nest – really fascinating and the views where amazing! Hitler had a lift made out of bronze because he was claustrophobic so it made the lift look bigger and he would only go up with 6 people in there at a time and it was huge – needless to say the guy had issues! That night we went out to the Augustine brewery and sat and had steins and ate – sausages and rotisserie chicken (my absolute favorite food – actually I ate a hole half a chicken to myself)! The brewery is run by the monastery and has been run since 1621! We made friends with two groups of people and sat there for about 6 hours before heading home to bed – really good fun. We went out for breakfast – I had apple strudel - well I pulled the middle out! Then we did some more sightseeing in the old town before going in the afternoon on the Sound of Music tour – we saw the gazebo, the house where the garden was used and the lake area – the front of the house is a different castle that we couldn’t see! We saw the church where they got married, the fountain and steps the children sang around – very interesting and we had a beer and a sing-along on the way home. That night we went out again to another local restaurant and again had great food – sausage for me and Josh had goulash – and was disappointed – should have got the sausage! Sunday was time to leave as we had an 11am flight and arrived back into London at midday to lovely sunny weather!
Little village we had lunch in.
Castle by the Rhine.
The paddle boats.
Student Prison,
The Boys!
A lovers stroll in Heidleburg!!!
A break in the afternoon for beer!
Heidleburg Castle
The amazing dinner on the first night.
Stream we had lunch next to.
Castle in the Black Forest
On the long weekend Josh and I went with Mike, Dave, Corney, Louise and Steph to Germany. We got a really early flight out from London to Kahn-Baden. We picked up cars at the airport - Dave, Josh, Corny and I in one and Mike, Lou and Steph in the other. We visited first the black forest, which was really pretty. We saw a castle and went for a walk and sat by a stream in one of the villages and had lunch - so pretty. We then drove on to Heidleburg where we are staying for the next two nights. We went out the first night and had the most amazing food, but everybody was quite tired so quite an early night. Josh and I took a littles sleep in then we went sightseeing around the castle and town. Heidleburg is a student town and it had a student prison there where they used to lock people up when they misbehaved, but they let them out for classes! In the afternoon we took some paddle boats out, Mike, Steph and I in one boat and Josh, Dave and Corney in the other. We went for a race and my boat won! So they wanted a re-match and guess what - we won again! So good! The following day we took the cars and left Heidleburg and drove up the Rhine River, we stopped at a beautiful castle along the way then we went to this gorgeous little village where we did some sightseeing and had lunch before heading back to the airport. Well it wasn't quite that straight forward as we lost Mike (he was the only car with a sat nav) an we did go hurtling along in the wrong direction before we released they weren't in front of us and we tried to phone them, but couldn't as they where phoning us. We finally go through and turned around and went hurtling back in the right direction. It must be said Dave (driving) was a little stressed as we raced along to the airport! It was fun the driving in Germany and we made it to 185km on the autobarn! The car wouldn't go much faster unfortunately! But a good weekend.
