Greetings from the Grand People (Final Chapter)

Dear All,

Well here we are back in good old South Africa, but not home yet.  However we are safely back with all our baggage intact after a fairly pleasant flight with Emirates Airline via Dubai.

Last weekend was special as we spent Saturday exploring the quaint German town of Regensburg built alongside the Danube River.  It was only about a two hour drive from Plzen so we left early and only went for the day.  When we arrived we found parking in a car park which was half occupied by a type of farmers market, reminiscent of the Sedgefield Farmers Market and after looking at all the stalls we went off to explore the town.   We walked along the river bank watching the river boats full of tourists as far as an old stone bridge which was well photographed and then headed into the old town with an old Roman Fort built in 179AD, which we duly photographed (from all angles!).

 

We then explored some very quaint old streets until we arrived opposite a very old church where we made a pitstop for Beer, Coffee, Cool Drinks and hot Chocolate, under the shade of a large umbrella.  We had to go through the pub to get to the loos and I was so impressed with the pub I took a couple of photos.

From there, refreshed, we continued to explore the town, ending up back at the old stone bridge at lunch time to have sausages and sauerkraut at an open air restaurant on the bank of the Danube.  However this was no ordinary Wors!  It was The Historical Wurstkuchl of Regensburg!  The oldest sausage tavern of the world! 

"By the Danube whirlpools right next to the Old Stone Bridge you'll find the over 500 year old historical WURSTKUCHL!  Little has changed since the days where in the Middle Ages Regensburger stonemasons and dockers treated themselves to refreshments at this tavern: with it's charcoal grill, homemade sausages purely of ham and pork, sauerkraut fermented in their own cellar and of course the Wurstkuchl mustard following the original recipe of Elsa Schricker."    Most enjoyable, but very busy and of course there is only one item on the menu.  The only variation is the number of sausages you order with your sauerkraut.  We went the most economical route and ordered three plates of twelve sausages and shared between the six of us, plus beer and cooldrinks.

Suitably refreshed we continued our exploration which included a couple of very old and ornate cathedrals with very colourfully painted ceilings and lots of statues.  Needless to say we used up lots of our camera memories with all the pics we took.  We also found a few town squares filled with lots of people attracted by various bands and singers entertaining the crowds.  The people were all very well behaved and Jolly and I'm sure the beer sales were excellent.  What a pleasant vibe everywhere.   We left Regensburg after five PM having had a lovely last day of exploration.

Sunday was pack up day.  Hayley had found out that our bus to Zurich stopped in Plzen so we did not have to go all the way to Prague to catch it.  This saved a lot of traveling and it left from Plzen an hour later than Prague, giving us more time with the family.   We said our good byes  to Colin and the girls at the flat and Hayley drove us to the Bus Station with all our luggage.  The bus trip, starting about 22h30, did not give us much sleep.  After about an hour we stopped at a Macdonald's for a 15min pitstop and then  at the border the lights came on again and we all had to produce our Passports.   A few hours later, possibly at the Swiss Border on came the lights again and we had to hand over our passports which were taken away and scrutinized before being handed back to us.  It was about 06h00 when we got to Zurich and all got out at the bus station.  Luckily there was a coffee shop and a hotel right there so we made our way there and treated ourselves to a magnificent mug of hot chocolate whilst finding out how to find our hotel, The Europe Hotel.  We learned we could catch the No 4 tram nearby which would take us there, we had to get off at the Opera House stop and it was just around the corner.  We reached the Hotel safely and they had an empty room which we could occupy right away, so had a bit of a ziz until near midday.  The hotel organised for us to do a two and a half hour bus tour of Zurich starting at 13h00.  We caught the tour from the bus station where we arrived so it was easy to find.  We enjoyed the tour and the guide was good and after landing back at the bus station we decided to walk back  to our hotel, taking in the sights alongside the water/river.  We also found the Tourist Info Centre who suggested we do a round train, hike, cable car and train round trip by ourselves the next day.   We found a pleasant restaurant for supper and then crashed quite early after a tiring night and lovely day.

Tuesday dawned fine after intermittent rain the previous day.  After a good breakfast we packed our bags and left them in Reception and arranged for the airport shuttle bus to take us to the airport at 18h50, in plenty of time to catch our flight home.    We caught the No 4 tram again to the main station where we caught the S10 train from Platform 2 to Uetliberg.  That was the end of the line and we hiked up quite a hill to get to "The Top Of Zurich".  It is the summit of the highest hill in Zurich at 869.6 meters with lovely panoramic views of Zurich and surrounds below.   From there we did a super walk of approx. 6kms through forests all along the ridge with many undulations to the cable station at a place called Felsenegg.  Here we had a jolly good lunch of Goulash soup and bread rolls plus a beer for me and apple drink for Mom.  The cable car ride down was interesting because we stopped half way down whilst a technician in the car coming up stopped at a pylon while he climbed out and onto the top of the pylon superstructure to carry out some repairs or inspection.  Anyway it added interest to the ride down to Adliswil.   From there we had a short walk through the town to the railway station where we caught the S4 train back to Zurich station. It was a thoroughly enjoyable outing.   We then strolled along the waterfront and stopped at a pub built out over the water for a rest in deck chairs and refreshments until it was time to go back to our hotel to catch the shuttle bus to the airport.   We both loved Zurich which is a clean city and nearly everyone is smartly dressed and pleasant. They are helpful and one can normally find someone who understands the English language, so getting around is that much easier.  It is a beautiful city.

Our flight back to Cape town was uneventful and quite pleasant.  From Zurich we had the two seats on the side with a good window position so could see the approach to Dubai.  From there ,however, in the larger plane we were not able to get seats in the centre on the isle, but had the window and centre seats of the three on the side, so had to ask the isle set passenger to let us out every time we needed to go walkabout.   However it was a day time flight so the window was an advantage at times when there was no cloud cover and we could see the ground.

As you may have heard, Michelle took a tumble down the stairs at her home last week and ended up in hospital with a couple of crushed vertebrae (compression fractures) so we have broken our journey in Cape Town and will only fly back to PE on 31st July.  It was so fortunate that we flew overseas from CT and not Joburg and are able to be here to help the family.   Michelle is coming on nicely now. She must spend most of the time over the next month on her back, but has been given a brace to strap on to be able to get around the house a bit.  She must either be on her back or she can stand or walk a bit, but cannot sit for more than 15 minutes a day!    So, here we are in Cape town for a while and since we arrived on Wednesday it has been very cold and wet.  Yesterday we woke to find fairly heavy snow on the mountains to the north, which we can see from their home.  Today dawned clear and sunny but not very hot. All the spectacular views from the house are very clear after the rains and as it was such a nice day Pierre suggested we go and climb Lion's Head after lunch.   He, Michael and I set off after lunch and had a super climb in perfect weather.  Mike managed the climb extremely well and even managed the scrambles up the chains without help from Pierre.   The views after the rains were clear and spectacular and we had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Well, that about sums up our holiday, with our very grateful thanks to Colin and Hayley for all they did for us and making it all possible.   A holiday and travel experience we will never forget!!!

As I write this The Wood family are in London!    Hayley learned just a few days before we left that she had to fly to Zurich and then go on to Zug on the same Monday we arrived in Zurich.  She had to attend a two day meeting in Switzerland and then back home and on to London on the Thursday for more meetings until the weekend.  Next week, Wednesday she has to fly to Johannesburg for more meetings, returning home to Plzen next weekend.  Wow, what a busy girl!   Anyway,we were surprised to get an SMS to say she was in London with the whole family for a few days, until Monday!   No doubt they will have more interesting news on their Blog in a few days time and we look forward to reading all about it.

Bed calls so it's time to stop my waffling.   Lots of love to you all from us all in Cape Town.

(Greetings Chapter 2)

Regensburg, Germany

Ok, so we get back from Karlovy Vary and already the breakfast table discussions are around "where to next week-end". You just gotta love it!

At this stage, it is pretty much the first name that pops into our heads, that is where we go. Someone mentioned to me in passing that Regensburg is a pretty little town in Germany, not far from the Czech border, so that becomes the destination for a long week-end break. I have to admit, I had never heard of the town before then and on doing the basic internet research find myself getting more and more excited about the trip to the little town that has the remains of a Roman Fort dating back to 900AD and a town that was untouched by the world wars and remains pretty much in tact, as-was for the last few hundred years. Our next logistics discussions are around how to travel there. As with the rest of Europe, once you are at a destination, there is no need for your own transport as the public transport systems are so jacked (and generally because within the small towns, everything is in walking distance anyway). And even so, the public transport to get to the town is equally as efficient. Doing the sums we decided to rent a car for the week-end (the smallest Kia you've ever seen - the backpack hardly fitted in the boot).

With Colin's now very trusty and heavily relied upon travel-mate-GPS-thingy, we navigate flawlessly with only an occasional "stay on the right!!!" out the town of Plzen on Thursday midday and onto the freeway to Germany. Crossing the border was a non-event and we arrive in Regensburg at rush-hour. We circled the hotel a few times trying to work out where the parking was while attempting to decipher German road signs. After our last run in with an "ein maal strasse", we are ever so cautious and had the nerve wracking feeling that we were driving up wrong ways constantly. After unpacking at the hotel, the first evening was spent non-eventfully browsing the mall across the street in the vain hope that the Germans have heard of Marmite and got distracted with buying new running shoes.

Friday morning we geared up with city maps and strolled into the old town (one block away from the hotel). We had no set course or plan, but followed whatever caught our eye first. As we came into the old town, there is a green belt that surrounds the city. We followed the path and as it was still early morning (about 9am), there was a very crisp, fresh feeling about with birds chirping that really set the tone for the morning. The girls came into their own once their feet hit the grass and the hit the ground running. They found a fountain and a kiddies play park and we let the morning idle past as we strolled through the park.

As it turned out, we were walking around the Royal park that surrounded the very large palace of Thurn & Taxis that has more rooms that Buckingham Palace. It is still in use today and Princess Gloria spends her time between Kenya (of all places) and here.

After strolling around the outside of the castle, we found the entrance and since the information and tours were only open from 10:30, we decided to leave the tour till later (it was still only 9:30). Meandering through the old town was like walking through a maze. The streets narrow down to a single alley that a bicycle would have trouble passing through to large double lane streets that are all paved and where pedestrians have the right of way. Even after 4 days in the town, we were still able to find a little back path that we had not strolled down yet, each lined with quaint shops that beg you to stop and browse at the window for a while.

According to the story of the town, it was wealthy in the 1700s as a main post along the trade route and the wealthy families built large houses each with towers to boast of their riches. Now today, each of these towers has large clocks on them and you can honestly never be without the time in sight - and even more amazing is that they all tell the same time.

The buildings are very striking and similarly to Karlovy Vary, they are all painted in bright bold colours that beg to be photographed.

At around 10am we idled into a square in front of the very intimidating St Peters Church with it's spires that are visible from miles around and sat down to enjoy coffee in the sunshine while Colin took the opportunity to try and capture the church in film - not an easy task. We sat in this courtyard for a good hour watching the tourists come and go and the day getting progressively warmer (notice that these are probably the first photos you have seen of our heads without beanies!!!)

Below are the steeples of St Peters.

Unlike other trips, we came reasonably unplanned and unprepared as far as the tourist sights were concerned and mostly just happened upon the attractions by chance. We knew that the sights were somewhere in the town, but did not plan specific routes and paths to get to them. This was the one example. We saw a bunch of tourists madly photographing this building and it dawned upon us (like a sledgehammer) that this was the site of the remains of the Roman Fort (Castra Regina) which began in Regensburg in 179 AD!

Ok, history and sightseeing aside. My absolute favourite-favourite was the ice cream cafe in Neupfamplatz. We made a trip past it nearly every afternoon. I think the girls enjoyed it too :)

Our next discovery was the Donau River (Danube) and the Old Stone Bridge (built in 1135) which you can see through the archway (and yes, we were brave enough to cross it).

We meandered along the bank of the Danube amongst local students eating pizzas and spent some time feeding the ducks. We then had lunch alongside the bridge at the oldest sausage restaurant dating back 500 years. Lunch consisted of a plate of saurkraut with 8 grilled sausages - don't be deceived, it was really very good and tasted much better than it sounds. The girls didn't even venture a taste at the saurkraut but guzzled the sausages and bread rolls.

Crossing the river (yes, along the old stone bridge built in 1137) the two girls are fully engaged in conversations of national importance. Something about a puppy riding a horsie and the mommy that was very brave and could swim - Sarah has taken to remembering her dreams with vivid clarity and creativity.
Mom following behind ...

A note here: We have been in search of a world map since we got here and as you can see below, we are now the proud owners of a VERY large world map that is already stuck on our wall by the front door and is the only picture on our walls so far (apart from the girls artwork).

After crossing the main part of the river, the river forks into a side stream with an island in the middle. This is a favourite spot for students with their pizzas and radios and we joined in the lazy mood for the afternoon, spending it by the banks of the river - Colin taking photos, me reading my tourist guides and the girls playing, with the most beautiful view of the old town across the water ....

As the sun dipped down on the horizon (probably close to 7pm) we headed back across the bridge to find a spot for supper. Amber and Sarah amused themselves at the table by drawing on the paper serviettes - Sarah has just mastered the number 8 and was proudly showing us all her 8's and SARAH's that she had drawn.

Saturday was a very laid back day. It started at the mall because Sarah had walked holes right through the soles of her only 1 month old shoes and needed a new pair.

By the time we got into town, it was nearly lunch and the fountain with the bratworst hotdog stand looked far too tempting to pass by. The girls amused themselves by chasing pigeons around the fountains much to the amusement of all the onlookers.

After lunch, we strolled back to the Thurn & Taxis palace and did a tour of the museum (jewelry, china and carriages) and then did a tour of the palace itself. The tour was in German, but they provide English tapes of the tour - wait for it ... - on walkmans! Can't remember when last I saw one of those. Unfortunately, we had a very uptight German tour guide who was very intolerant of the 2 under 5's of the group. It was a 90 minute tour and they had to be completely silent. Even though they were the most well behaved I have probably seen them on a tour, the occasional whisper of "what's that mommy" got a telling off by the guide. But never mind, we made up for it with them afterwards with a big slice of Chocolate cake each at a coffee shop in town.

After supper at a traditional restaurant, we walked back to the hotel, dreaming of what we should do the next day.

A Week-end in Regensburg, Germany

Check out our web album for the week-end photies - the blog to follow shortly.