Leveretlodge

We always knew it would be a long day travelling - starting at 11.15 from Vienna and arriving at 21.37 in Brussels 😱. There’s not much to say really - nice countryside, comfy trains, changed in Frankfurt - bit of a surprise there though, and I suppose it had to happen - ENGINEERING WORKS! Yes indeed, the train through to Belgium was diverted, so instead of arriving in Brussels in time for a couple of beers and walk in town, we were now destined to arrive in Brussels at 23.03 😩😩😩😩😩 and even then it was late! Ah well, thank goodness it was at the end of the trip rather than the beginning, and that we still had a hotel, with a bar, to sleep in. A beer and box of fried chicken and chips later ... read more

Early start with a train at 8-15 to Melk from Vienna for our boat trip down and up the Danube. Arrived in Melk in good time - smashing little town with the most enormous Abbey, which is also a school. Would be worth a visit another time but we really only had an hour for a coffee before the boat trip. Gorgeous day and great scenery. The area is called the Wachau and is famous for its fine Austrian wines - esp Riesling grape and also apricots - they make a lot of apricot pastries as well as a liquor. Vines and fruit trees were manicured - neat terracing and row after row up the hill. The Danube, just like the Rhine had a steady stream of barges carrying who knows what up and down the ... read more

Woke up to sunshine - phew! Not too early a start - train to Vienna at 11 and only a short walk to the station. Train ride through hills, farms - lovely countryside. Arrived in Vienna - Airbnb this time, in the area of Nestroyplatz - fairly close to the old town. We had messages from owner, keys were with a local cafe - but only mention his name, not the flat ( sounds as though he shouldn’t be letting out the flat !!) Anyway, we got a set of keys - shame they were the wrong ones! So Pete hot-footed it back to the cafe and returned with the right ones. It was good to stretch out in a flat - and we popped into the local supermarket to stock up on some essentials (Wine ... read more

We decided to go for a walking tour this morning - 10 o’clock at Mirabell Palace, main entrance - easy? should have been, but tourist maps are tricky to read and we arrived too late !😂 To be honest we weren’t sorry as we later saw so many ‘walking tours / groups’ and they looked super dull. Anyway, having missed out on the organised tour, we reset with a coffee and strudel and set to organising our own tour. Using the tourist map and internet site Bigboytravel.com (😳) we were off! Firstly the Mirabelle Palace gardens ( SofM Doh-Ray-me film site) - lovely flowers but probably we were expecting a more manicured set of gardens - too many weeds for our liking!! Then to Mozarts house ( and closeby where physicist Doppler lived), and across the ... read more

Low key day today. Spent the morning in Freiburg-completely pedestrianised city centre / old town which made pottering around the market place and town really very enjoyable. All cobbled streets and independent shops - where have we gone wrong? there’s also streams running through the town - a bit like gutters but completely clean - so much so that children pull along boats and shoppers dip their feet in the water!! The Muster was lovely - amazing stained glass windows and a very impressive bell tower - all 250 steps up to the viewing area and bells. Oldest bell was made in 1275 - crazy! It was pretty loud when the clock struck at one o’clock ! Afternoon back at the natural pool at hotel - lovely to lounge around reading! Tomorrow Sarah leaves for London ... read more