Just a Manic Monday

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^{Last night we had new teenage guests staying with us at the Pension Gregory. They were even quieter than the Slovakian lugers. That's because these were Germans; members of the junior German Skelton team. The most insane of the maniacal slider fraternity. They were actually a little boring. Yesterday at breakfast gabby Gail engaged one of the Slovakian boys in a short conversation ending it with "So we'll see you in the next Winter Olympics, right?" Too which the kid smiled and said "sure". The Germans wouldn't even look at us as we entered the Fruhstuck Raum. Maybe they were too shock up from risking their lives the day before. A young guy came down to the breakfast table carrying his trophy. He didn't join his teammates and instead sat by himself with the trophy propped in front of his place at the table. My nosy wife would've loved to find out how he got it, but he seemed a really arrogant little twerp. His nose was too high in the sky to deem a glance at us.}

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Photos

A New Day and New Snow
The Winter resorts in Bavaria had to be loving this weekend. Lots of snow and the long Mardi Gras weekend bringing plenty of travelers with plenty of Euros. Best of all for the locals was the fact that it was a slow falling very powdery snow that was easy to get off the roads and sidewalks.

I Still Don't See the Practicality of This Snow Removal Device
We saw a lot of Germans and Austrians using this device to clear snow from their walkways and steps. It looks more like a mini-toboggan than a shovel. Usually they were using it to scoop-up snow than slide the load of snow inside elsewhere for dumping. I suppose there some occasions where this might work back home, but most of our snowfall is easily cleared by shovel if under 3 inches and snow blower if deeper.

A Blur of Eating Frenzy
I wasn't the only one really enjoying these German breakfasts. Gail got her choice of almost every healthy cereal known to mankind and plenty of fruit. Even now looking at those fresh rolls makes me salivate.

Where to Start and When to End?
I'm not so sure if eating all that lunch meat is really all that great a way to start your day, but I was on vacation so who cares? Tyler, our cheese man, would've just dived straight into the Stilton and Camembert, topped with some Emmentaler and Tilsit. Just give me orange juice, a hard roll and any unidentifiable meat.

Gail and Phoebe's Room
It was fortunate that Gail and her mother ended-up in the bigger of the two rooms. Their room had room for a sofa. Phoebe's cough got so bad at night that she had to sleep sitting up on the sofa. When I heard that, I immediately grabbed another orange juice.

The Quiet Kids
This was one of three team vans at our Pension. Christian, the proprietor of the Gregory, is apparently a big fan of bobsledding and other sliding events. He has a whole wall decorated with autographed pictures of great German sledders. Including Georg Hackl - a Berchtesgdaden native, three time Olympic and World champion, and affectionately known as the Human Weisswurst because the big man barely could squeeze into his white speedsuit.

Big Plans from the Man with Big Hands
This would be our last day of touring. I planned to head Northwest toward Herrenchiemsee to tour one of King Ludwig's Royal Castles. We hadn't done any real sightseeing or museum looking, but this was a place we had only been to once before and one our mothers had never seen. A nice warm boat would take us out across a scenic lake to the island where Ludwig's version of Versailles sits. It wouldn't require too much walking and we wouldn't need to spend all day in the car again. Our route would take us up to Bischofswiesen, Bayerisch Gmain and Bad Reichenhall (the "B" tour). Snow was falling as we packed-up the car and started North out of town.

There Has to be Something Interesting Coming Up Soon
The "B" Tour ended as a big bust. I didn't have anything particular in mind, but I was expecting to see at least one point of interest along the way. Had it not been snowing and overcast maybe the mountains might have been a pretty background for the tiny towns we passed through. I expected to see a castle, a military installation, a brewery or distillery with free samples or some kind of tourist attractions to entertain us. Nothing. Bad Reichenhall is world renowned as a curative spa town. I thought we might see some interesting Victorian-age buildings at least. The only evidence of medicinal advantages in Bad Reichenhall seemed to be a big cluster of hospitals around a very modern indoor swimming pool complex. Next time I need to bring a guide book. I had expected to be able to use my IPad so that I could look up things to see and do as we traveled along, but Europe isn't as high tech and wired as the America-haters claim it is.

Schloss Stauffeneck
We only found this by mistake when Steffi, our GPS voice, sent us the wrong way once again. Doing a u-turn in another farmer's driveway we were able to get a couple of nice pictures of this 12th Century castle. We had no idea of the place's name, its age or the fact that it was still a private residence today until I just looked it up now on the Internet - in America where the internet actually works!

View from the Captain's Seat
I'm glad we got a picture of the dashboard before it gets covered in dog hair and pollen.

Unscheduled Pit Stop
Since our little detour through Bad Reichenhall was a true waste of time, we needed to make up time. I got on the A8 Autobahn and was soon cruising at a slow 80 mph. There were lots and lots of trucks from all over Europe out on the road - IN THE RIGHT LANE. Not once did I have to slow for an idiot truck driver hogging the passing lane. Driving in Germany is so civilized. Since we had had lots of coffee and tea it wasn't long before we were looking for a place to stop. As soon as we saw an AGIP gas station, we pulled in.

Pay Toilets
It used to be that the Germans were the only country in Europe not charging to use the loo, but I suppose they need to boost everyone else's economy so now they too charge to pee. At this rest stop you bought a ticket to use the potty and when you were done you could use the ticket's value to knock .70 Euro off any purchase in the shop. I like this much better than the old Gypsy ladies sitting in the men's room yelling at you when you didn't drop coins in their basket.

The Amazing Spinning Toilet Seat
Americans are always fascinated by these rest stop toilets. After you flush an arm at the back of the seat, much like a record turntable needle, comes down and sprays disinfectant on the seat as it slowly spins in place. Kids on the EF trips always try to take a ride.

It Beats Burger King or Microwave Sandwichs
Not exactly haute cuisine, but these European highway restaurants offer a much more enticing menu than the typical Pennsylvania Turnpike slop. In Germany they sell Wursts, Sauerkraut, Spaetzle and beer. In Italy there's panini, pasta and wine. France has fresh fruit markets and cheese wheels.

So Tempted to Buy This
Our German friend, Jurgen, pronounce's Gail's name as "Geil". He thinks he's funny because he says that word in German means "horny". According to my online translator, it means "cool.". She's neither.

Somebody Dropped the Ball
Two weeks before we came on this trip Eastern Europe had suffered a devastating cold snap where temperatures slipped below 0 degrees Fahrenheit for days. Close to one hundred people died as a result. Yet the whole five days we were in Germany and Austria no one had really referred to those difficult days. However, we had seen evidence ourselves as to just how cold things had been when we got to the Konigsee the day before and had seen a deep mountain lake that "never freezes" totally frozen. I should've realized that the much shallower Chiemsee would probably suffer the same fate. Sure enough, when we reached the town of Prien on the shores of the lake, most of the boats had been taken out of the water and the two tour ships were tied-up and frozen at the docks. There was absolutely no evidence of the boats running now or at any recent time.

With Two Cats in the Yard Life Used to Be So Hard
Since there was no one around we took a slow drive along the Prien waterfront. A few shops were open probably because a big hotel seemed to have quite a few guests there. We kept driving until the landscape turned from lakefront to farmers' fields. We stopped to get a few pictures of those carefully stacked woodpiles when I spotted these two giant cats prowling the farmyard.

Back on the Road Again
I was left without a plan when the Heerenchiemsee option was compromised. After driving around part of the lake and seeing there wasn't much going on there during off season, I consulted the GPS to see how far Regensburg was. When we first planned our European Delivery trip I booked two different itineraries: one the route we had taken so far, and the other to be used in the event of heavy snow in the Alps. When the long range weather report showed no significant snow events for the next ten days, we cancelled the Bamberg-Nuremburg-Regensburg hotels. The fact that we were able to rent snow tires left us feeling safe driving through the mountains. Ironically, we just got passed by a minivan selling snow tires for BMW and MINI cars.

MINIs and Mercs
This seemed like a strange combination of vehicles on this transport truck - a bunch of MINI Countrymen (built for BMW in Austria) riding with a Mercedes SUV. If only the rest of the World could get along like these two fierce rivals.

So Hoppy Together
Continuing up the A9 toward Regensburg we entered the Hallertau region. Anyone who watches TV sports and is force-fed a non-stop diet of beer commercials knows what Hallertau produces - supposedly the finest hops in the World. And they were sure producing a lot of them in this part of Germany. The fields stretched for miles and miles on both sides of the road. The vines grow up these wires and are supposed to provide a lot of seasonal work for European migrant workers. Personally, I dislike the hoppiest beers. They make it to bitter.