Our German Road Trip

Hello! I've not spoken in ages, I've been away for a few weeks. We went to see my Auntie and Uncle in Germany (Munich) and had one hell of a road trip! We have driven thousands of kilometres, seen most of Bavaria, stopped in 15 different towns, seen 5 castles and been in enough churches to guarantee our place in Heaven!

We started in Munich at my Aunties house and spent a few days there, cycling, hiking and climbing. We spent a day in the alps and climbed to a cross at the top of a mountain. Really amazing views, like nothing else in the world. The crisp fresh air fills every capillary and makes you feel so alive. The climb was a killer, we could barely walk by the time we got to the top but it was so worth it. When we got back down, I looked back up at the mountain I'd just climbed and felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction having just achieved something I had thought impossible 4 hours earlier standing in that exact spot.

Above: Me and Paul at the summit of one of the tallest mountains in the German Alps

Below: The view from the summit - I just love this lone cloud right in the middle of the photo!

We then did the following trip:

• Schongau
• Fussen
• Oberammergau
• Berchtesgaden
• Salzburg (Austria)
• Passau
• Regensburg
• Nurnberg
• Erlangen
• Bamberg
• Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber
• Augsburg
• Dachau
• Munich (Oktoberfest)

Above: Our route highlighted in pink, the black dots are places we visited.

We saw some really amazing places. All of the towns and villages had their own little character. They all had their own beer and their own sausages - which culminated at the Oktoberfest with as much of that beer and those sausages as you could ever wish to eat or drink!

We managed to be there for the opening procession and saw all the beer kegs being brought in on floats pulled by horses (and bulls in one case!). The first keg was opened at noon by the mayor and then a cannon was fired to signify the start of Weise'n. We got there at 10am and all the tables were full already! They wont serve you if you're standing either so we had to go round asking people if we could sit down with them so we could get a drink! We managed it eventually and a very good drink it was too! And Pretzels bigger than my head!

Above: Me with my giant pitcher of Weis Beer and a Pretzel the size of a small child!

Below: Little boy in his Leiderhosen. Everybody was wearing traditional dress - I didn't see one outfit the same!

As you can imagine, after all this, we need another holiday just to recover!