We are departing at 08:00 today with breakfast served
from 06:30. I say served but it is a very impressive buffet that caters for all
tastes and with the hotel and restaurant quiet it is a very relaxing breakfast.
I had told Brian I would be down by 07:00/15 and by 07:30
he is not down yet so I had better give him a call. I am not too worried as he
often misses breakfast but when I see he isn’t at the bus alarms bells ring!!
I call him from reception and he is surprised to find it
is 07:35 and we are due to leave in 25 minutes! The other problem is I have
left my set of coach keys in my car so with Brian having the only set I cannot
open the coach to load cases or warm it up!
With a flurry of activity Brian appears looking a little
distracted bemoaning his phone not changing time automatically! Yeah right Mr
Jones!!
We are away by 08:00 so nothing lost except Brian’s
breakfast! Not that we don’t mention how nice the spread is with sausages, egg,
bacon and even some beanies!! Not to mention the gorgeous fresh bread, meats
and cheeses!!
He is saved by one of the passengers who has brought him
a bacon sandwich from England, meant for yesterday but much appreciated today!
We have another decent traffic day today managing to pass
Stuttgart and its airport before stopping at Grublingen services, a very nice
and modern service area. We are back to paying for a pee and in Germany it
costs €0.70 with a €0.50 ticket in return!
From here we pass Munich on its ring road, including the
Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich and the scene of Chelsea’s great European
triumph in 2012. Makes me grin every time I pass it!
We stop for lunch at a small but very adequate service
area south of Munich and are now only 2 hours from St Wolfgang. I wish the
drive through Germany was always this straightforward and trouble free! I
probably deserve this good journey after all of the hold ups during the summer!
We leave here at 14:10 after calling the hotel to say we
shall be arriving at about 16:15.
We have had snow in the fields and hills alongside the
motorway since our morning stop but once we start to see the mountains of
Bavaria and Austria the fog descends so we can’t see a thing and when it
finally lifts we are ten minutes from the Austrian border and the snow has
disappeared! Bum not what we wanted!
As we cross the border into Austria near Salzburg the sun
comes out and we could be in the middle of summer! There is no snow at all on
our left but in the distance on the right we can see some of the white stuff.
It is still very pretty but you can feel the disappointment of everyone who
wanted a white winter landscape! Bum!!
We turn off the motorway at Thalgau and you need shades
the sun is so bright!
Once we leave the motorway and head inland I am delighted
to see all the fields and mountains covered in snow! Fantastic! With the sun
out it is a beautiful drive passing delightful (and one of our favourite
resorts) Lake Fuschl looking magnificent down to our left.
We then reach Lake Wolfgang, driving down the western
side before turning across the southern end and finally up the other side to St
Wolfgang and our hotel The Forsterhof.
It doesn’t take long to unload folk and luggage before we
all meet again in the reception area for our guided torch lit walk at 18:00.
Actually we all seem to meet in the bar!
Our guide is waiting for us at six handing out long
candles ready for our walk. I like things like this as it bonds everyone
together and is a bit of fun. I don’t think Brian does though as he opts to sit
in the bar and not join us!
We all light our candles with varying degrees of success
as we begin our walk following Helga our guide.
Almost immediately the candles start to go out and we
keep trying to relight them but not with much luck and before the end of the
walk there are no candles alight!
It is only a gentle walk down to the lake and to the edge
of town where Helga wanted to show us the nativity scene but as we arrive it is
being dismantled and all we see are some shepherds, kings and cows being loaded
onto the back of a couple of tractors! It is actually fun watching them and
judging by the amount of snaps being taken they all enjoy it!
From here we take a gentle stroll back to the hotel after
an enjoyable hour in the fresh air. After a couple of long days on the bus it
is great to stretch the legs.
Arriving back at the hotel we have mugs of warming
gluwhein waiting for us although I do prefer a beer.
Dinner is at 19:30 and is a buffet.
The hotel is large but apart from us there are not many
other people in the hotel and we seem to have the restaurant to ourselves.
Dinner is excellent with a salad buffet, soup, a superb
hot buffet and then desserts. The waitress is lovely and efficient and the food
excellent.
Am a happy bunny tonight.
You can get the internet throughout the hotel and is free
and quick.
I have the BBC Radio ap on my phone and can receive radio
five live which is great because Chelsea are away to Man City in a crunch, and
difficult, game tonight.
Jose gets it right with a superb 1 – 0 victory and I go
to bed an even happier bunny!!
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