In search of Sunshine!!



Bad Reichenhall from the cable car

 We left Munich around 11am in glorious sunshine with temperatures starting to climb into the mid-twenties. We travelled fairly steadily along the busy A roads, stopping off here and there for a “bum” break to enjoy the warm temperatures and admire the scenery, or for a coffee break. With the able assistance of the satnav, we eventually arrived around 3 ish into the German Bavarian town of Bad Reichenhall, which nestles at the bottom of the valley,and surrounded by the high Chiemgauer Alps (including Mount Staufen (1,771 m) and Mount Zwiesel). We were greeted and made very welcome by the lady hotelier who gave us the key to our room - No 11, we quickly unloaded our kit and made our way to the room.


The picturesque old Tyrolean buildings

 We were well pleased when we opened the door, we had ourselves a lovely big room with a balcony, and a small fully equipped kitchen. We packed our kit away and changed into something a bit cooler and more sweet smelling (I’m not suggesting that our motorbike kit was smelly, but you can’t wear this stuff inside out on the motorbike hehehehe) We made ourselves a nice cup of tea before setting out to get some supplies from the local supermarket, as the kitchen offered us the opportunity to cook for ourselves. By the time we’d gotten back to the room the clouds had gathered and sadly that was the last we saw of the sunshine till next morning, we had quite a thunderstorm and alot of heavy overnight rain. Ann made us a lovely steak & kidney pie that evening, with apple sponge and cream for afters, followed by a beautiful gaelic coffee. Oh boy, I really enjoyed making that one up, (I dream of a real steak n Kidney pie for dinner!!), but we did have a lovely meal, (spaghretti bollocknese), washed down with a bottle of vino, and spent the rest of the evening catching up on things and planning an itinerary for the following day.




The blackthorn hedge inside the 'Gradierhaus'

On Wed 3rd we woke to bird song and blue skies, so I got the air rifle shot the birds and pulled the blinds closed, 5 o’clock in the morning was too chuffin early. At a more sensible time we got up, had a good breakfast and left to see what went on in Bad Reichenhall. Well it didn’t take us long to realise this was a town more suited to the older, more mature persons who were more interested in the benefits of the brine and thermal waters for their ailments. We on the other hand were fascinated by an incredible man made salt spa structure (Gradierhaus), consisting of a very tall blackthorn hedge probably standing 10m high and 160m in length with 400,000 litres of saline brine trickling down through it every day. The wind and air blow through the hedge and inhailing the moist air apparently stimulates the blood circulation to the nose and mouth, and also helps to cleanse the respiratory tracts – so now you understand what I mean when I suggest it’s more for the infirm than the firm!!.



Looking Cool, On our way up to the summit

 Ann was very keen to travel up to the top of the nearby Predigtstuhl mountain, approx 1600m to the summit, in a cable car, which is reputedly the oldest original cabin cable car system in the world, operating since July 1928. I on the other hand was not so keen, however, the macho side of me won over the more sensible and responsible side. It was quite scary looking down as we ascended, getting higher by the minute, I have to say how glad I was there was no strong winds blowing, other than my own every time we went over a steel supporting stanchion. I was somewhat relieved to step out of that cabin onto terra firma (even though it was 1600 m high).



Mad or what? the parascender in mid-air

 We spent about an hour and a half walking around the top of this piece of rock taking some wonderful pictures, and looking through the binoculars, we could see for miles. We even watched a number of lunatics, lunging off the summit attached to large rectangular parachutes, they rose to ridiculous heights, just watching them made me dizzy, I couldn’t do it for love nor money. The term rectal (derived from RECTAngular) sprang to mind, and I knew I had to find a toilet before my balance went completely!!!!! I was pleased when Ann suggested that we should make our way back, but I wasn’t looking forward to the roller coaster of a ride going down. We waited ten minutes or so before the lift was finally cranked back up to the summit ready for another descent and another twenty minutes or more for the journey down, along with thirty other pilgrims – I was very relieved (as were my bowels shortly after) to reach ground level in one piece. We spent a little time after that, meandering through the streets admiring some of the old historical Tyrolean buildings, then returned back to our hotel for a quick sandwich (Home made) and a drink, before heading out to Salzburg on the bike about 15 or 20km away. Alas the best laid plans... the next thing we knew it was pouring rain and another storm broke out. We spent the rest of the day and evening in our room, we had ourselves a lovely dinner, (sweet and sour chicken) and retired to bed early.

The following morning started wet and cloudy, with little hope of sunshine. We spent some time searching for suitable accommodation within Salzburg and eventually found a hotel (The Adeo), in the small hamlet of Puch bei Hallein, 15 miles due west of Bad Reichenhall and just over 4 miles south of Salzburg. It was midday by the time we packed the kit onto the bike, the rain had ceased, so we took the opportunity and left for Puch. We located our hotel and settled in till the rain (which had started shortly after our arrival), had stopped and a couple of hours later we were on the bike heading into the city.



The fountain outside Salzburg Cathederal

 Salzburg (Austria) is on the banks of the Salzach River, at the northern boundary of the Alps, it has a population of 148,000 residents and is probably more famous as the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was the setting for parts of the American musical and film The Sound of Music which also featured famous landmarks in Austria. We parked the bike and set about exploring the city. It was extremely busy, there seemed to be thousands of people wandering around, but this was due to the rain and accentuated by the very narrow streets. We also arrived into the Salzburg Festival period, a prominent festival of classical music and theatre established since 1920 and held annually each summer (for five weeks – from the last week in July to the end of August). We got to see some of the important and historical buildings including:- The Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom),






The Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg)



Catacombs in the rock by St Peters Abbey

 The Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg) on a hill dominating the old town, is one of the largest castles in Europe, with views over Salzburg. The Franziskanerchurch, The St Peter's Abbey with it magnificent graveyard -the Petersfriedhof, The Residenz Palace (the magnificent former Prince-Archbishop's residence), Mozart's Birthplace and his Residence. The weather turned against us yet again and we finally gave up the sight seeing and went for something a little more sustaining by way of food. Ironically we found a smashing Italian restaurant where we had a pasta dinner and light refreshments (The good ole Vitamin B), before leaving to find our way back to Puch in the dark!!!!!


How about riding these roads?? Awesome!!

 The following morning, Friday 5th August, we decided we were going to tour around the local area on the bike. The roads we chose, were recommended and identified in various books and flyers as ideal for motorbikes, and I can only confirm how right they were. We had an absolutely fantastic day, the weather had improved and the temperature rose to just over 24 degrees.






We rode up to lake Konigsee in Berchtesgaden National Park, through some wonderful countryside and magical scenery and over some exhilarating tarmac to a place called Ober Salzberg which sits below the Kehlstein mountain (1835 m) with its Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), which offers spectacular views to its visitors, and quite a tourist attraction for a completely different reason.


A" break "in the clouds at 1835m



Above the cloud, The Eagles Nest perched
up on the mountain top

 The Kehlsteinhaus, also known as "Hitler's Tea House" or the Eagle's Nest, was built as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler. The Eagle's Nest was meant to be a retreat for Hitler and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries (which he almost never did. It is claimed by some historians that Hitler had a fear of heights, which probably explained why he didn’t visit). It was commissioned by Martin Bormann, with construction proceeding over a 13-month period prior to its formal presentation to Hitler in 1939. It is situated on a ridge at the top of the Kehlstein mountain (1835 m), reached by a spectacular 6.5 km (3.9 mile) winding road which cost 30 million Reichsmark to build (circa. 150 million euros). The last 124 metres up to the Kehlsteinhaus are served by an elevator bored inside the mountain, reached via a granite tunnel; the elevator itself is surfaced with polished brass. We spent the best part of two hours up on the eagles nest, discovering all about this hideaway and how they built it along with the road. It was fascinating, and though a little extravagant, it was well worth the visit. We left Ober Salzberg and took a magnificent route back through the mountains on twisting tarmac with hairpin bends, to make you weep, it was a real adrenalin rush. And if you stopped and took photos (as we did), it was really quite scary when you realised just how high you were.


A parade of Vespa scooters at the Italian Market

 On the way back we stopped off at a small town called Hallein, and discovered an “Italian Market” and festival, (Hey Georgio Attardo eat your heart out). Well, needless to say, we parked the bike and spent another couple of hours mooching around, enjoying the ambience, eating different cheeses (parmeasan), fruits and olives, thoroughly enjoying ourselves, even listening to a group of Italian singers and musicians, who, as it turned out (Next morning), were staying at our hotel. We rode back to the hotel and retired to our room, still buzzing from the day’s events - awesome.

Although the weather had not been great since our arrival into Germany, we decided to persist with our plans and continue to explore the region of Bavaria, the Southern part of Germany. What we had seen and experienced in Germany, for us has been nothing short of a revelation, and so it was an easy choice to make. Much has been said and written about the German people, alot of it, in my opinion, unjustified, perhaps it’s fear or maybe just plain ignorance. OK,Yes, 72 years ago a German egocentric megalomaniac, bullied and brutalised his way into power intent on ruling the world, and in the process, attempted genocide on the Jewish race – a complete and utter freak and like so many freaks before him, (and after), completely immersed in their own fantasy world. Well, that was over 65 years ago, I know there is still alot of pain and suffering out there and some deep scars that will probably never fully heal, The German people have preserved the Hitler/Nazi party legacy, clearly they have no intention of forgetting their history, but it’s entirely for the right reasons, ‘they will not allow history to repeat itself’ We personally feel the German people deserve the opportunity to be allowed to rise above their history, we have found them to be incredibly helpful, very genuine, and exceedingly hospitable. And for sure, those parts of the country we have seen and travelled through, have been quite beautiful. For us it’s been a golden opportunity to extend our hand of friendship to people of great quality.
We discovered more by accident, that it was more economical to cross the border into Austria, and book a hotel, than to stay in Bavaria, and yet still very accessible for the areas we wanted to visit in Bavaria. So our next destination was the small Austrian town of Reutte, 140 miles due west. Two thirds of the journey on a major highway was slow and very hot in our kit, in temperatures just above 28 degrees. It was slow due to the sheer volume of holiday traffic (like the M25 on a Fri afternoon), and as we turned off the highway the speedometer told us we had completed 10,000 miles since we began our journey.



Loadsa Bikes - ready to burn some rubber.

 The last third, from Miesbach to Reutte was cool, we followed the floor of the valley, through the mountains swooping up and down and weaving around the bends as we made our way towards Reutte. We stopped off for a drink at lake Plansee, incredibly there must have been at least 50 other motorbikes parked up, all out enjoying the wonderful ride through the mountains. They too must have stopped to enjoy a drink and absorb the sheer magnificence of the lake and mountain scenery, it was one of those occasions when you wish you could stop time – and it’s at these moments when we recognise, how incredibly blessed we are to be doing what we’re doing.

The water in the lake was crystal clear, a gorgeous delicate blue and so inviting, but we resisted the temptation and after about an hour or so we headed off to continue the exhilarating ride into Reutte. We arrived around 4pm at the hotel Maximillion, about 1.5 km outside the town centre (which we’d booked for two nights). It was typically Tyrolean, in fact, just like many of the ski hotels we’ve stayed in whilst skiing and from the bedroom we could even see the ski lifts up on the mountain. We were told that we had arrived on the day of the annual town carnival, a day when the streets are closed off, for entertainment and live music, with plenty of food and beer, which kicked off at 6pm, We didn’t need reminding.



celebrations are fully underway!!
We snapped this just before the woman lost her head, hehehe



Ere we are 'rockin in Reutte'

 We unloaded our kit, showered and changed, rented a couple of bicycles and rode the 1.5km into town. The carnival was just about warming up with people like us starting to roll up , it looked like we were in for a good night. There were three different stage areas, one for the traditional Tyrolean music and laiderhoisen garb, one for a rock band and the other for the Boyzone type, I have to say the entertainment was cracking. We had ourselves a roast chicken meal and spent the entire evening wondering up and down the streets drinking, watching and enjoying what was unfolding before us. Sadly about two hours into the evening, the heavens opened and for about three parts of an hour it sheeted down, fortunately such was the heat, within an hour of the rain stopping, the streets were dry again and shortly after that, we and the streets were rockin. I don’t remember with any degree of clarity how we got home, but I was pleased to see the pedal bikes below our bedroom window the following morning!!

Over breakfast the weather had closed in again and it was pouring with rain, there was little we could do other than read and do some catching up. I guess it was probably at this point we made the decision to leave Germany the next day. The long term weather forecast was not great for Germany so we decided it was time to chase the sun, which according to the news reports, was shining in Italy.




Neuschwanstein castle

An awesome picture of the same Neuschwanstein castle



Schloss Hohenschwangau

 By about 2pm the rain had ceased, we took the opportunity and hopped on the bike to visit the two castles close by (in Germany), that had drawn us this far south – The Neuschwanstein (The white castle that can be seen on the Disney Logo), and Schloss Hohenschwangau, the ‘Yellow Castle.’ Maybe it was just the wet weather, cos it started to pour again just as we arrived, or more likely, it was the size of the castles, both of them were disappointingly small and looked so much better in the books and pictures, in addition the tours only lasted for half an hour - short tours or what? I’m not sure which king Ludwig I,II or but he certainly had a fetish for castles . We walked around and visited both castles taking pictures and getting soaked in the process. Our resolve started to wane and so we left around 6 pm. We made it back safely to the hotel, and with their permission we hung our wet gear to dry by a fire in the lounge area. We spent the rest of the evening in the hotel; we enjoyed a lovely meal and spent a couple of hours talking to a Dutch couple and a German couple, before retiring after midnight to our bed.

On Monday the 8th August we packed our kit onto the bike, although it had rained all night, there was some beautiful early morning sunshine and so we remained optimistic about our long ride through the Alps to our next destination (back in Italy), the city of Milan. Before we left for Milan we had one more Ludwiggian castle to see.


Linderhoff castle

This one was called Linderhof and like the previous castles, it too was small and compact, a bit like a miniature palace, and modelled in many instances on the French Louis XIV Sun Palace, in fact during the tour it became clear that our Ludwig II was heavily influenced by the French monarch?? We spent over three hours touring the gardens and the castle and just as we were about to leave, the heavens opened once again and the rain set in for the day. We left Linderhof in the pouring rain at 1.30 pm to travel the 280 miles, through the Alps south to Milan. We actually travelled through four countries before arriving into the fifth, Italy – They were; Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. The ride was absolutely incredible, even in the pouring rain, it was so exhilarating travelling up through the mountains into the ski area that we have ski’d in winter and seeing them for the first time, without the usual cover of snow and ice, just meadow green grass in summer condition and beautiful scenery,(if you could see it thru the rain) and an occasional glimpse of snow at higher altitude. Oh my goodness!! It was awesome, looking down the gorge and valleys below us, was intoxicating, I was really getting my fix of adrenalin.
 

Lech in the torrential rain,  the ski slope in the background


Amazingly we arrived into the mountain town of Lech and Zurs, with St Anton only a few kilometres up the road. OMG, happy memories flooded back, skiing with the gang from Netherseal, Nigel & Julie, Graham & Sarah, Ian & Rosin, Dave & Sarah Alistair & Michelle and Duncan & Amanda, we had some great ski holidays together – happy days. It was so incredible we had to stop and take some pictures in the pouring rain, just so we could tell the others we’d been through Lec on a motorbike and as close to some of them ski slopes as we could safely get!! As we travelled through Lichtenstein the rain eased off and the temperature warmed up a little and as we entered Switzerland the sun started to shine, a welcome sight. While travelling through south eastern Switzerland on our way to Milan we encountered the longest road tunnel of our journey so far, the 4.1 mile in length San Bernardino Tunnel, completed in 1967. A great engineering achievement which replaced the San Bernardino pass road. I suspect the original road would have been an awesome pass to cross on the bike, but we still had a long way to travel, it was getting late and we had to find accommodation in the city of Milan when we got there. So on this occasion we chose the tunnel as the best option. We continued on through Switzerland, on past the beautiful setting of Lake Como in Italy and finally arriving into Milan at around 9pm. We did find accommodation, it took us some time, and I’m afraid to admit that tiredness caught us up, as we settled on an inferior hotel, it was Crap with a capital C but we were so jaded it was a place to put our heads down. We hoped the next day we would find ourselves somewhere more suitable, once we decided where, in Italy, we would head for.

That’s it for now folks, much love to every one back home.

But, before closing, a very very happy birthday to my mam, she was 92 on the 13th August and still going strong!

The Easyriders xxx

The Long and Winding Road thru’ Beautiful Bavaria



The Prince Bishop's Redidence - Bamberg


You may well ask the question, was ‘Winging it the right answer? Well naturally I’m bound to say, ‘Yes, absolutely’ - In truth it was hopeless. We tried at least 4 if not 5 different towns along the way and even off the beaten track, in all instances the hotels we enquired of, were either full or just too expensive. At around 5pm we arrived into Bamberg, tired and a bit cheesed off, we pulled over and decided to have a drink and just chill for a while before starting the search again. Well, I guess we were just too tired to start looking around, so we bit the bullet and paid the going rate at what turned out to be a second class hotel charging a first class rate. The positive out of this? Bamberg is home to eight breweries an unusually high number for a city of 70,000 residents. It is known for its smoked Rauchbier, the most famous is Schlenkerlas Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier from the Heller brewery, I did try some but regret to say it tasted s—t, probably an acquired taste. We finished the evening in a tavern not far from the hotel and enjoyed a good meal, washed down with a couple of jugs of good kellar wheat beer with a carafe of Franconian white wine for Ann. We slept like logs that night!


Bamberg St Peter & St George Cathedral


The following morning we were away from the hotel just after 9 am. The weather was glorious and the temperature had snook up to 27 degrees on the ole barometer. We knew that Bamberg had a Cathederal, a Romanesque building with four grand towers andbeside it the old and new residence of the Bishops, with a beautiful rose garden all of which we were keen to visit. We spent a couple of hours admiring the sites and eventually finished up at a nearby monastery with a lovely church attached.

At Mid-day we turned our backs on Bamberg, and headed due west to the City of Wurzburg about 110 miles away. We had no accommodation booked, so we were keen to get into the City to find the proverbial needle in a heystak!! Wurzburg has a population of around 134,000 and became famous as the centre of Franconian wine production. It has one of the oldest and most traditional universities in Germany with a student population of 25,000. It is renowned for the ‘Residenz’, (Prince Bishops Palace) regarded as one of the finest palaces in Europe and a high point of Baroque art. Another famous landmark of Wurzburg Germany is the mighty fortress Festung Marienberg, from where you get a great view over the famous sights of Wurzburg and the pilgrimage church Käppele and the The Dom (Wurzburg Cathedral). So many incredible buildings the list goes on and on – a bit like me yawnnnnnn.


The Dom - Wurzburg Cathedral.

It is hard to believe, that on 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed in 17 minutes by 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. Over the following 20 years, the buildings of historical importance were, according to records, painstakingly and accurately replicated. Those who rebuilt the city immediately after the end of the war were mostly women – Trummerfrauen ("rubble women") – because the men were either dead or taken prisoner of war. After the war, Wurzburg was host to the U.S. Army, before being withdrawn from Wurzburg in 2008, bringing an end to over 60 years of U.S. military presence in Wurzburg.



Juliusspital


From Bamberg we travelled through some glorious countryside and finally arrived just after 3pm into the city centre. After a visit to the TI, and some investigative work by D. I. Cronin, we managed to find a modern hostel offering a large room with it’s own bathroom. We unloaded our kit and within an hour of arrival we were out and about, experiencing some of the more significant & historic buildings within the old quarter of the city. The first of which was the magnificent Juliusspital (Hospital), an impressive Baroque building with a castle-like feel to it.




Ann moving the trees about in the Royal Gardens

 We followed a recommended walking tour through the old town and finished up at the Residenz Palace, which unfortunately had closed for the day. We settled for a tour of the beautifully manicured gardens at the rear, which were a joy to behold. Whilst not large, we must have spent over an hour thoroughly enjoying the whole ambience and took many pictures. As we left we promised ourselves that we would return the following morning to tour the Palace itself, as there was a daily English speaking tour which commenced at 11 am. We walked back through the old town, and decided to stop for a beer and something to eat at a bar only a short distance from our hostel, just as it started to pour with rain. We tumbled out an hour and a half later, a little worse for wear, walked round the corner to the hostel and retired to our room for a well deserved kip.



Residenz -Prince Bishops Palace Wurzburg

 Next morning, Thursday 28th July, we packed our kit away and booked accommodation at Nurnberg, 64 miles to the south east, better known to some as Nuremberg, our next destination. This allowed us to relax a bit and gave us more time to explore Wurzburg. We called to the Dom St Kilian Cathederal which sadly was closed and has been so for over 12 months, due to extensive refurbishment, nobody seemed to know when it would re-open. Right next to the cathederal was The Neumunsterkirche, a magnificent Romanesque Basilica with many religious artefacts and treasures, including a Sarcophagus containing the remains of St Kilian in the Crypt, beneath the main church. We ensured our timely arrival at the Royal Residenz for the English tour at 11am. In full bike kit, along with a group of 20 or more people we spent two hours thoroughly fascinated and enthralled by what we saw and what we heard regarding this incredible palace, and always at the back of our mind was the undeniable fact, this building along with many others in Worzburg had been virtually destroyed during WWII. After some lunch, we completed our sight seeing across the River Main, at the Marienberg Fortress and museum, where we spent a further 3 hours absorbing more of the ancient history of Wurzburg.



Marienberg Fortress and museum - Wurzburg



Typical street in the Old Town of Nurnberg

 At around 5.30 pm with the clouds gathering and thunder in the air, we left the Fort and Wurzburg. Fortunately for us it appeared we also left behind the imminent thunderstorm. With the help of the satnav we arrived without trouble into Nurnberg at about 6.45pm. Nurnberg is situated on the Pegnitz river about 105 miles north of Munich and has a population in excess of 505,000. We booked in, unloaded our kit, showered and were out walking into the city centre, an hour or so later. We found a restaurant and over a decent meal and a glass of wine, we planned our itinerary for the following day.

So Early next morning, we packed our kit together and left it behind reception for safe keeping till our return later in the day. We got ourselves a tram day ticket and set off on the No 6 tram (like a couple of excited kids), heading into the old town centre about 5 mins away.









The Schoner Brunnen Fountain


 I have to say we were both absolutely bowled over by what it had to offer, some of the buildings had great architectural merit with a long history to match, there was the Church of Our lady in the main square, and beside it, The Schoner Brunnen or Beautiful Fountain, standing 19m tall like a Gothic church spire andaround the corner, the Town hall with its medieval dungeons which in days gone by, served as holding cells for prisoners awaiting execution; and the piece de résistance, The Imperial castle - standing imperiously on the rocky promontory above Nurnberg. The whole experience was completely unexpected and thoroughly enjoyable, reinforced with a beautiful blue sky and temperatures in the high 20’s. Time was pressing and we were anxious to get out to the Richsparteitagsgelande, an area several kilometres south east of the old town, better known for its historic connections as the former ‘Nazi Party’ rally grounds.








'The Vision' of the complete rally Grounds
 What it might have been (Congress Hall - centre)

The Unfinished Congress hall. The exhibition is housed in the
building bottom  right



Guess Who?

 
We were not prepared for what we saw. The plans and thinking behind the whole concept, was somebody’s incredible fantasy/vision, whose ultimate aim was a lust for power and a need to impress the world. The scale of it was incredible - The plans, had they been fully implemented would, most certainly, have been impressive. This was an early and manifest statement of Adolf Hitler’s evil intention, his undoubted and overriding desire for power and glory to ‘Dominate’ the World. The North wing of the unfinished Congress Hall, designed to accommodate 50,000 people, and now occupied by the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds museum. The permanent exhibition “Fascination and Terror” deals with the causes, interconnections and consequences of the National Socialist tyranny, from start to finish within an exhibition space of 1,300sq m. There were many many items of information documenting the historic events leading up to and beyond WWII. Significantly, for me, in one of the last rooms of the exhibition was a film of the post war Nuremberg Trials. This was something I had never experienced before, seeing and hearing recordings of the trial, incredulous, as the main protagonists denied any knowledge of what was going on in the “Death Camps”, it was pathetic listening to their denials.

 Blimey, do I get a sense of ‘Deja Vous’, or what? That same familiar ring, with some of the current ‘modern day’ dictators, as they loose their grip on power, when the people finally rise up against the despots and their regimes...... OOOpps, sorry, I’m getting on my soap box!! What we saw in that room, was truly profound and hugely meaningful, there was even pictorial evidence of Hitler’s leaders (unpublished in the UK), lying on slabs with rope around their necks, having been executed!!!!

Those immortal words written above the door of one of the prison blocks in Auschwitz; “Remembering and Learning from History” kept ringing in my ears.

I reckon we spent almost 4 hours in the exhibition, reading, watching and listening to all the information, pictures and some fantastic and fascinating historic archive film on the history of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party (NSDAP). Stuff, I’m really glad to have seen, which has helped me piece together the jigsaw, and given me a much clearer picture of the history of WWII.

We eventually returned back to the hotel at around 6pm to collect our belongings. I’m sure the staff thought we’d forgotten to collect our kit and I suspect they were startin to get a bit worried. A quick change and fifteen minutes later we were on our way, heading south east to Regensburg about 55 miles away. We had an overnight hotel booked just outside Regensburg, it was brand spanking new and the rooms looked terrific in the pictures, (who said the camera never lies?) When we eventually got there, we discovered there were no facilities near by, so, due to the weather (it literally started to pour minutes after our arrival) we ordered in a pizza and ate in our room. The room was like a shoe box, I kid you not, standing in the centre of the room I could virtually touch the walls of the adjoining rooms, there was no more than 3inches to spare either side. But hey, it was a room and almost within budget!!


Regensburg, St Peters Cathedral



We were up and away from our kennel (sorry, Hotel), early on Saturday morning 30th July. We had booked in advance, 3 nights accommodation in Munich,(our next destination), but wanted to find out what the Old Town of Regensburg had to offer before we left. Regensburg did not suffer the same fate as Dresden during WWII. It was left unscathed, and apparently since 1945, is the only intact medieval metropolis. it has a population of 135,000 and like so many other cities, has many important historic and Religious buildings, it also sits beside one of the largest rivers in Germany The Danube (which runs all the way to the Black sea). St Peters Cathedral dating back to the 13th century is a very fine example of magnificent gothic architecture;







The interior of Alte Kapelle

and in the main square just around the corner from the Cathedral, The Collegiate Church of Our Lady, the Old Chapel “Alte kapelle”, which has the most stunning interior, a lavish abundance of the rococo, which hopefully the pics will show. What was also significant about this particular church, the parish priest happens to be the older brother, of our current Pope Benedict XVI. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet him as he was in Rome visiting his brother. It so happened, whilst we were there, we discovered that a wedding was due to take place in the Chapel, so in true Irish style we invited ourselves and enjoyed a German catholic wedding ceremony in our full bike kit!



Mein Hosts - The Bride & Groom.


 I’m sure the bride and groom, must have thought it odd when we were shaking their hands and congratulating them on their marriage, that two of the wedding guests had not bothered to put on their finery and couldn’t even speak German!!!! I suspect the give away might have been when I asked where we were sitting at the reception Hehehehe.

We left Regensburg at 3.30pm just as the heavens opened, fortunately for us (not so fortunate for the Bride & Groom), we left the rain behind us as we joined the autobahn and headed 70 miles south to Munich. The satnav performed admirably and took us to our hotel, situated just outside the main city, we booked in and were given a superb room on the top floor with our own private roof terrace, which was bigger than the chuffin room at the last hotel, what a contrast. It was too late to visit Munich city centre so we stayed local and found ourselves a great pub/bier garten around the corner from the hotel, we had ourselves something to eat and a beer or three, to wash it down with, before retiring back to our room for a well earned kip.


The Bavarian State Chancelleory

  As the capital of the Free State of Bavaria with a population of approx 1.35 million residents, Munich is an important political centre in Germany and the seat of the Bavarian State Parliament, the Staatskanzlei (the State Chancellery) and of all state departments. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps and is the third largest city in Germany, behind Berlin and Hamburg, the city was heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II. Munich, as some of us will remember, hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics during which eleven Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich massacre, when gunmen from the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group took hostage members of the Israeli Olympic team. It was also one of the host cities for the 2006 World Cup.


 The Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, arguably the most famous beer hall worldwide, is located in the city centre, where we had a great meal and a litre jug of their beer. Evidently, it also operates the second largest tent at the Oktoberfest, one of Munich's most famous annual attractions. For two weeks, the Oktoberfest attracts millions of people visiting its beer tents ("Bierzelte"),apparently in excess of five million litres of beer are consumed over the 16 days of the fest. I’m trying to persuade Jonathan (son inlaw) to arrange a visit to this years feste, taking place from the 17th September to 3rd October. Actually persuading Jonathon is not the issue, for he immediately recognised the potential business advantages . No, it’s more a question that Jonathon has to convince Lisa (my daughter), what a fantastic opportunity this is to enhance and extend their business into new European markets!!!!!! Keith Enstone, Marky Elsmore & Pauly More, take note – the same business opportunities await you..... hehehehe.
The city is an inspiring mix of historic buildings and impressive architecture, we spent two days walking around exploring as much of it as we could, there was so much to see, it really is a beautiful city and certainly one we would recommend for a visit. I’m not going to bore you with all the places we visited, hopefully the pics will illustrate how desirable the city is.


Marienplatz - New Town hall



Dancing in the Moonlight

 We did visit the Hoffgarten or Royal Garden, this historic court garden has conserved its original design. In the centre was a small domed temple from which music and laughter were coming from, when we got there we found a large group of young people dancing and jiveing to music from decades past, it was like stepping back in time, absolutely marvellous. Some of them were dressed in the style from the thirties and forties. The ole foot started to tap, my natural rhythm was kicking in, I was startin to rock. For some reason I could feel Ann’s growing unease, she knew it wouldn’t be long before we were in there mixing it with them. I had a real hard time stopping myself from joining in, I was sure I could impress them with my ‘rock n roll’ skills, swinging Ann around like a paper doll!! Then Ann stood on my tapping foot and quietly whispered in my ear “you can’t jive” BOooooom my bubble burst, Damn it, I remembered – I can’t jive, but it was fun while it lasted. The kids were really cool, and I was everso slightly envious at their dance skills.



The Olympiapark Structure, with the 290m high
Olympic tower in the background.



BMW World and Museum

 On Monday 1st August the weather was dull and cloudy so we decided to visit the nearby Olympiapark and the BMW headquarters at the northern end of the park. The olympiapark, with its steel and glass roof, like a huge spiders web, is still a very impressive sight, though it is starting to show its age. Damn it, we discovered GB and the Take That boys had only been performing at the 70,000 seater Olympiastadion on the Friday night, and we arrived into Munich on the Saturday, we consoled ourselves that it was a sell out and we wouldn’t have gotten tickets anyway. The BMW HQ on the other hand, with its state of the art production plant was massively impressive and so futuristic, a real 21st century creation.


Ann's New Bike - Note the caption


We were lucky to obtain tickets to be able to tour the production plant – a full two hour tour, absolutely jam packed with details, facts and info relating to the production of BMW cars coming out of this factory – every 54 seconds a brand spanking car, made to specification, rolls off the production line, At the moment,1000 cars are produced every single day (the amount can be increased) and every car is already sold as it leaves the factory (mainly dealerships), 600 tonnes of steel used every day..... I also enquired where the BMW motorbikes were produced, and discovered the Berlin plant was the sole producer with an annual figure of 100,000 bikes rolling off the production line. I have to say how impressive the tour and the production plant was – Outstanding Technology, Spotless, Efficient and Pure German Brilliance at its very best.
We really had our eyes opened, even in these recessionary times, here was a classic success story, an example of what can be achieved with a loyal and committed workforce who recognise what they have. Boy oh Boy, we lag so far behind them. What have we got left? All the crown jewels have been sold off, and for what?? – We’re now just a service industry!! How sad is that....... OOooops there I go again.... We left the plant and returned back to our hotel, we found ourselves a nice little Italian restaurant opposite the hotel and had ourselves a pasta dinner with some German wine!



Isartor gate.



Justiz Palast - Justice palace, Karlsplatz



Fountain in the main Square.

The following morning we were leaving Munich to head 80 mile south east to a small German resort town of Bad Reichenhall, known for its salt thermal waters and only a short distance from Salzburg in Austria.

That’s all for now, sorry it’s a long one this time, but internet access is not always available. Just before we go a big shout of congratulations to our youngest daughter Katherine on achieving an ‘A’ grade in her recent exam, she now has another bunch of letters to add behind her name – well done me duk!! Also lotsa hugs and kiss for her birthday on the 11th August, while she’s away enjoying herself in Chicago with big bro Ciaran. Also to wish our Romanian friend and workaholic Daniel Ragojan, a very happy birthday too, he celebrates his birthday on the same day as Katherine!!

With luv to everyone back home, missing you all, The Easy Riders xxxx

A Dreadful Drenching in Dresden

Cloth Hall or Sukiennce behind me.

The journey back to Krakow the second largest city in Poland with a population of 756,00, was thankfully trouble free, though we did experience two heavy down pours and the temperature had dropped to around the 20 degree mark. An hour and a quarter after leaving Kielce we arrived at the Hotel Kazimierz, which we’d booked over the internet. It was close to the city centre and only 5 minutes from Wawel Castle and the historic Old Town of Krakow.


Wawel castle at night - half the lights had gone out!!

We unloaded the bike and within half an hour of our arrival, we were walking along the streets, past Wawel hill where the castle and cathedral can be found, then on into the Old Town and the Main Square (the biggest medieval square in Europe), where we discovered some wonderful, old and very historic buildings. The biggest building in the square is known as ‘Cloth hall’ or Sukiennice and runs the entire length through the centre of the square some 200m long. It was originally built as a bazaar, today it is a National Museum and houses some of the most precious and priceless works of art in Poland, in a total area of 1000 sq m. In Sept 2010, 4m below the main market square, the biggest European underground museum (around 4000 sq m) was opened.


Bascilla of The Holy Virgin Mary





In one of the corners of the square the magnificent and beautiful Basilica of the Holy Virgin Mary stands, one of the most important attractions within the square, with its spired towers soaring above the centre and attracting thousands of tourists every day. We were really so glad that we returned to Krakow. After some 5hrs of sightseeing, we found ourselves a nice restaurant in the main square and sat down to enjoy some local cuisine and a couple of beers before walking back to our hotel for some welcome zzzzzzz’ss.










Auschwitz - 'Death Camp'

 We got up early on Tuesday 19th July, we loaded the bike by 07.30am, and after a really good breakfast we left Krakow heading west towards the town of Oswiecimia, better known as Auschwitz and the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, about 40 miles away. Much has been written about this place and I suspect many have tried to explain its existence, it is so personal, I judge you have to experience it before you can even attempt to understand the enormity of such an atrocity. The Auschwitz concentration camp is a symbol of horror, a memorial to man’s inhumanity to his own kind, of organised slaughter on a scale never conceived of before and of the Holocaust, the planned and systematic destruction of a race of people. –. We had a guided tour along with 20 other people in our group, it was an incredibly emotional experience, we were speechless, and parts of the tour were almost unbearable, a large room divided by glass panels, was full of shoes removed from prisoners, another room contained hair, the real hair of women and children, another containing the shaving brushes of the men and other personal possessions, it was shocking, a visual testament to man’s inhumanity, we had to choke back the tears!!!!! 

Birkenau, you can just see the rail track that brought
so many people to the Gas Chambers



We spent five hours in Auschwitz and the nearby Birkenau concentration camps, it was an immensely moving experience. The wound for some, will no doubt, never heal, the sense of injustice was overwhelming and the evidence right there in front of us, and the harsh reality - it happened only 66 years ago. Above the door to one of the brick prison blocks were some very profound words, in summary they alluded to learning from history, if not, we will continue to make the same mistakes. Yes, you can learn about it in the history books with great teachers like Moira Nallen; However, Our visit to Auschwitz made this atrocity so much more tangible, and helped us to understand more clearly the enormity of what took place in the “Death Camps” during the second world war.

We left Auschwitz around 3.30pm to get back on the road, heading in a north westerly direction towards our ultimate destination, Dresden in Germany, some 300 miles away. We knew it was a big ask and so intended to make an overnight stop in Wroclaw, roughly half way between the two. Well I reckon the trip to Aushwitz must have completely drained us, cos only a short distance along the route I could barely keep my eyes open. We pulled into a nearby town for a drink and something to eat, hoping, I would feel refreshed afterwards. Over our snack, Ann admitted that she too was jaded and was happy to stop, so we managed to find a hotel close by, booked in, and spent the evening catching up before retiring for an early night.


The leaning Tower of Bautzen

 Next morning, after breakfast we set off for Dresden, unfortunately the weather had turned wet and somewhat cooler,the temperature only reached a mere 17 degrees. We decided that we would try and outrun the rain, and for about 125 miles we succeeded. However, it eventually caught us up very close to Wroclaw, so we decided to stop off for something to eat, to allow the rain to pass by. Alas we were mistaken, the heavensopened accompanied by an almighty storm that lasted well over an hour and the rain continued unabated, we, at least remained dry. After what seemed like hours the rain did subside and we took the decision to continue on to Dresden. Well, unfortunately the weather did not improve and so we stopped off at a town called Bautzen just over the German Border. We had covered 133 miles and still had about 40 miles to go to reach Dresden, but we were drenched and it was starting to get dark.Papa was watching over us, he sent a little messenger, and with his help, we found some affordable accommodation.

We spent three chuffin days in Bautzen, the weather remained awful, it rained persistently day and night, finally relenting on Saturday morning 23rd July and to make matters worse, there was no internet, it was harsh but there was little we could do about it. On the plus side, we got our kit dried and did get to see some interesting sites like ‘Reichenturm’ the leaning tower of Bautzen, leaning by 1.44m and St Peter’s Cathederal which is the only inter-denominational church in east Germany, it actually has a dividing rail separating the protestant area from the catholic area – really strange.


The German landscape with The Bastei in the background.



The Famous Bastei bridge


Come Saturday morning we were eager and ready to vacate Bautzen, we loaded our trusty steed and set off. We decided to head south to a national park Sachsische Schwiz, about 30 odd miles, before heading up to Dresden. The ride took us over some beautiful German countryside with some excellent motorbiking roads (a pleasant change from the motorways we had been using). We stopped off at The Bastei, which is a spectacular rock formation towering 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains of Germany (another field trip for Jim Nallen). Reaching a height of 305 metres above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago. It had magnificent views of the surrounding area and some really interesting history. Neurathen Castle, the largest rock castle in what was Saxon Switzerland, the historic remnants could be reached from the Bastei by crossing the Bastei Bridge which was not for the feint hearted, the connection between baby and nappy, springs to mind!! This wasn’t your typical story book castle on a hill, this was carved out of the sandstone rock, it felt like going back in time to the stone age, you could make out various features within the ruins, some rooms carved out of the rock, one of them was a church, a water cistern devised to store the water for long periods, and stone shot used for defending the citadel with a medieval catapult, and stairs hewn out of the rock up to the highest point, and if you let your imagination go, you could almost experience how these people lived.


Those Crazy Climbers

 There were even some maniacs, (well rock climbers, actually) who were climbing up the vertical face of the rock, suddenly appearing at the top of these chuffin rock outcrops 200+ metres above ground, and walking and jumping about like they were on achuffin dance floor, it made me go weak at the knees. I don’t think they have any sense of fear. I have to say we really enjoyed the bastei, it was unexpected which made it all the more enjoyable, in fact so much so that we overstayed and decided to spend the night locally rather than travelling up to Dresden.

The following morning, we continued the sightseeing and even crossed over the border back into The Czech Republic to a nearby town called Decin, where we caught mass and even managed to visit a castle, which was unfortunately under renovation and not really accessible.

Sadly, it was a bit like Bratislavia Castle in Slovakia, and looked for all intents and purposes like a very desirable apartment block converted from the original castle, it was not that interesting – hey ho.






The Zwinger Palace

 At around mid-day we set off enroute for Dresden about 45 miles to the north west. The weather was dull and cloudy and the temperature never got above 20 degrees, quite a contrast from the day before. Dresden is the capital of the German federal-state of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen). Located on the Elbe River, close to the Czech border, it is an industrial, governmental, and cultural centre, known worldwide for the Bruehl's Terrace and its historic landmarks in the Old Town (Altstadt), it has a resident population of around 523,000. In February 1945, it was almost completely destroyed when the city center was heavily hit by Allied air strikes during the end phase of World War II. Today, it has been rebuilt; the precise amount restored is difficult to say as a percentage. According to local historians, the city is said to look very much the same today as it did in the past. We spent two very full days in Dresden, it really is a beautiful city with so much to see in the old town. The baroque Zwinger Palace.


Semperoper Opera House


The Magnificent Semperoper opera house, Fürstenzug the biggest porcelain painting of the world shows (almost) all Saxon princesses and kings on their horses and splendid parade uniforms, Frauenkirche the reconstructed Church of Our Lady which was completely destroyed during WWII, (The City of Coventry, which was raided by the Luftwaffe in WWII, now twinned with Dresden, donated the golden cross for the dome of the church). We spent several hours in the Historisches Grunes Gewolbe museum, housed within the architecturally splendid Residenzschloss, it is renown as one of the richest treasure chambers in the world. It really was an awesome city and so hard to believe what we were looking at, was not the original.





Fürstenzug - One of the few treasures that remained in tact
after the bombing of Dresden.



The Hofkirche cathederal (left), beside The Residenzschloss.
Both buildings reconstructed after WWII.



Jagerhof, across the River Elbe from Bruehl's Terrace.

On Tuesday morning 26th July, we stashed our kit back onto the bike, heading south west out of Dresden, in the Sachsen region of east Germany, towards Bamberg in the Bayern region of south east Germany, some 180 miles away - that should confuse one or two of you. We had tried, but could not find suitable accommodation over the internet, so decided to “Wing” it and hoped to find some affordable lodgings where ever we finished up. Hotel costs in Germany are considerable, often not less than 60-70 euros a night, without chuffin breakfast – we reckon they’re havin a laugh, they tell us it’s High Season and I suppose they’re right. We spend sooooooo much time trawling t’internet looking for affordable accommodation, which in reality isn’t there, this time we just decided to take a chance. The weather had improved and temperatures were climbing towards the mid twenties but the lining was staying firmly fixed back in Ann’s jacket! Just as we were leaving I glanced down at the mileage – we’ve only gone and completed 9,000 miles, I had to pinch myself again, it only seems like yesterday since we left our family and friends at home in dear ole Blighty!!!!!!!

Well that’s it for now. Till the next blog,
hugs and kisses to all

The Easy Riders xxxxx