To France

Our last morning in Germany, and a lavish German breakfast in fantastic surroundings ....

... including the chandeliers.

Many of these fields of solar arrays along the road. I wonder why we don't do this in Australia.

We don't need traffic jams like these, though. Fortunately the jammed traffic was trying to go the other way.

France at last!

This means I can navigate by road atlas rather than the bloody GPS (although I don't think we'd have survived a 9 hour drive through the German freeway system without the GPS)

Dumped our gear at the hotel in DIZY and went to have dinner in Epernay. First thing we saw was this ....

There was a music festival on in town, so we sat in the square and ate dinner with very loud music.

I thought I was ordering a normal Italian meal, but it had a RAW EGG in it. The loud music luckily distracted me from the horror of this.

We then discovered a Portugese drum band. Again, very good but very load.

One of the locals, showing the latest in Champagne footwear. Perhaps he treads out the vintage, or something ....

 

Anyway, because most of today was spent in the car, this blog is short, so we have a limerick on offer.
To wit:
A daring young lady from France,
broke her heel one day in a dance.
She limped to the Seine
in considerable pain,
Then hobbled her way off to Reims.

Entries will be accepted for an alternative such as:

There was a young man from France (or Reims, if you wish)
Who ......

The neatest correct entry will receive a citation from the portside travelers, and publication of their efforts in this blog. 

Salzburg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Typical Bavarian sunlit upland pasture

Anne was so taken by this photo of Valentine, taken in the middle of Germany. The wonders of Geopgraphy

Her equanimity was soon disturbed by ......  a TUNNEL

... which, she complained, was curved....

... but as I pointed out, there was light at the end.

Your typical Bavarian Alp

This small castle passed us. (Actually, we passed it, but from a relativistic point of view, there is nothing wrong with my original statement)

A river of ice-melt. Couldn't resist the temptation to put my feet in it. It was COLD.

Cathy tried several fingers, and Anne took a photo.

Anne in Mittelwald, beside a small, obscured river (more your Bavarian drain, actually)

Cathy in Mittelwald beside - you guessed it - a menu.

Cathy won't explain to me why she took this photo.

Imagine being a house painter in Germany. Perhaps this is why Adolf changed jobs.

Your typical lazy Bavarian dog.

A light salad, Bavarian style

Cathy had  Kaiserschmarren for lunch.

 

Lederhosen sighting.

Dirndl sighting

Another Alp

Mowing the hotel lawn in shirt, tie and waistcoat (and 34 degrees)

A Day in Salzburg

At the entrance to the Mirrabel Gardens - some imposing bodies.

Said gardens - impressive display of red begonias.

Another two imposing figures.

Even here the flood damage is evident. The Salzbach (local river) still runs strongly, but some cruise boats are beginning to move again.

Hellbrun palace - the old archbishop's hangout. They are sooo tidy - these guys were sweeping the lake bottom.

Large, ugly, Austrian fish. If you go far enough back, Erik, I think you'll find he is related to a dinosaur.

The Bishop's Table. The guide was very keen for me to sit at it.

It turned out that all the seats (except the Archbishop's) had holes that jetted water out. I had the last laugh, though, as it was over 35 degrees!

Anne in the Palace.

Anne and Peter met a dog, although Harry and Bella can be assured that this dog was just a good friend.

A view from the Palace.

After the Palace, we took up one of Karl's ideas and caught the bus to the end of the route. Sure enough there was a beautiful beer garden, with salad and (remember +35 degrees) BEER.

A friendly waiter who delighted in dropping the camera (while holding on to the cord). he thought it was so funny he did it twice. Ah, these Austrians!

I might have mentioned that it was a HOT day. Our background was snow covered mountains, which didn't make it any better.

At the Marionette Theatre to see The Magic Flute.The production was great but I thought some of the acting was a bit wooden.

Puppetry tools.

As the temperature had plumeted to 32 degrees, we walked along the river's edge ...

... and then through this fountain.