Bavaria, Germany, touch of France and More

The journey continues.

Leaving Austria behind we headed north into Bavaria aiming for the little town of Fussen. Bavaria is just stunning, the scenery, the views, the fresh air, the sense of space and peace. We are heading here purely to visit two castles, the extraordinarily beautiful Neuschwanstein and the nearby castle of Hohenschwangau.

Neuschwanstein Castle, once the home of King Ludwig, and built high up on a mountain ridge is something quite special and fairy tale inspired. Very pleased to see that not too much has changed in the area around the castle since our last visit here 10 years ago. I really was expecting multiple new hotels, excessive tourists and tacky gift shops, but I am happy to report that the only obvious change was a larger car park, unless of course it has always been there and I just failed to see it. With an early afternoon timed entry, we arrived, as it suggested some 3 hours early. People, read!! the information provided is there for a reason!! You purchase entry tickets for the castle, or both castles, or even both castles and the museum from the official website, and you choose your time. Neuschwanstein visits are exquisitely well organised, well timed, and works. What does not work are butt lazy bunnies who assume they can just wander up 10 minutes after their entry time and think they can walk in! No, no and no! Arrive at the town with plenty of time to spare, the car parks are at `the bottom` the Castle is perched on a mountain! You need time to get there. Are you walking? Allow a comfortable 30mins to an hour depending on fitness. Going by bus? a little faster, but you may still have to wait if your chosen bus is full. Or how about horse and cart. The cart is powered I hasten to add, aiding the horse. We chose the horse, we had plenty of time to spare until our timed entry, over an hour and a half as I recall so the horse suited us . Yet we were accompanied by people whose entry time was just 15 mins later. The horse is slow. Very, very slow. What on earth were these people thinking? Did they really assume Dobbin would trot up the hill with his heavy load at a brisk pace? Nutshell. They were late. They were not admitted. They had to rebook onto a later tour some three hours later. We had zero sympathy. Were they the only people who casually wandered up late? No, it was actually incredible how entitled some people act, demanding that they join the next group because they missed their own. No, it does not work like that. The staff are incredibly tolerant and patient, finding ways to ensure people who are late, actually get to see the castle one way or another. Don`t be one of those people, just arrive on time, or preferably early.

Neuschwanstein. My mum always wanted to visit Neuschwanstein, but it is not suitable for everyone, nor does it actively aim to cater for everyone either. If my mum had gone she would have stumbled at the first hurdle. The first thing you do when you enter the Castle, is climb around 90 steps up a spiral staircase. You can walk a little slower but you do need to keep up. Hot on your heels is the next tour group. It is not the only set of stairs either. Since our last visit, the tour has also gone personal. Silent. You are given headsets and your tour guide actually says very little, using a pointer to indicate the direction in which you need to look to view the objects or art as described in the audio. I do not want to say too much about the interior, except that it is worth the visit. `No expense spared` quoting John Hammond, and it is true here as well. Yet the castle is also unfinished. One minute you are walking through the most beautifully painted rooms, then as your tour ends, plain bland walls, ordinary ceilings and low key architecture. Ludwig died young, and with him the finished article. Is it worth the hype? Absolutely. And the stairs? There are many.

Hohenschwangau. Neither bunny could remember anything about this second castle apart from the memory of buying a frog from the gift shop, and the easier walk to get to the Castle itself. After our tour, timed entry again, we remembered why we failed to recollect. It`s not very interesting.... I know that`s our personal opinion and subjective, but hmm, meh... Go by all means, but definitely visit this castle first so that the joy and pleasure of seeing Neuschwanstein after stays with you longer. We did it the other way round and were both tired and a little bored by the time the tour finished. Do not misunderstand, it is nice in its own way, but nothing at all like Neuschwanstein.

• 

• 

• 

Friedrichschafen. On our way to our next destination quite some distance north, a small museum popped up on our map. The Zeppelin Museum. Mrs Bunny here very much had the thoughts that this would be one of those cute little museums housing a few artifacts and would simply act as a quirky little break in our journey. I can hear voices screaming at me now, `so why didn`t you research it, google it, look into it`, because I didn`t! Its a balloon, its a war thing, not exactly Concorde why would it need more research? Whoops, silly me. The Zeppelin Museum turned out to be exceptionally interesting! Big oval balloons preventing airplanes from flying a said route thought I, and then that big one that failed spectacularly on film with those poor unfortunate souls on board. I admit it, this Bunny was woefully lacking in knowledge about the Zepellin and its uses. I will skirt over one half of the museum which was entirely boring (sorry), we whizzed through the art gallery not actually caring as to whether or not these average works of art were truly stolen by Germany from the Jews, or legally purchased, again (sorry) and headed directly to the main event. The partially reconstructed Zeppelin. Who knew, because I certainly did not, that the Zeppelin was an actual mode of transportation! I feel a bit of a numpty as I type this, but I genuinely thought it was an oversized weird shaped balloon with a bigger than average enclosed basket with seats, and a bit of a gimmick. I did not realise that this balloon was the forerunner for the commercial modern day airline. (Numpty moment number 2 coming up. Airship.... Nope, I did not twig!) Not just seats, but a dining area, small bedrooms akin to small rooms on a ship, a fully functioning galley, and unbelievably, a smoking room! The darn thing is filled with a flammable gas and they installed a smoking room?? There were also many zeppelins, judging by the numerous photographs dotted around the museum, and not always successful ones either judging by the amount of photos with the zeppelin lying on its side, or crashed, or landing in the wrong place entirely. I also did not appreciate that the Hangars at Cardington Nr Bedford UK, a place that I have passed often, were purpose built hangars in which to build airships for the Admiralty. Not a fan of museums that display weird mechanical artifacts attached to a whole lot of waffle, this Bunny hopped by the many cabinets and spent quite some time in the partially reconstructed zeppelin. They have built a cross section so you can appreciate the complexity of its Meccano like shell. Then the living space itself. The seats next to the windows that open, (do you recall the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where he famously quotes "no ticket") and the reconstructed cabins. There`s crockery and cutlery, a menu (very impressive) So much more than the basket with seats of my imagination. Naturally there is a recording of the disaster caught on film, as the Hindenburg caught fire coming in to land. All in all a very interesting museum, and if time allows Lake Constance is right on the doorstep.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I don`t normally mention our rooms, our accommodations, unless unique, quirky, or unforgettable, but the one that followed our trip to the museum was all of the above.

Ignoring the fact that despite google maps telling us to turn right, unless we wanted to fall into a big hole, right was wrong. We could see where we wanted to be on a map, but there was no visible working road. Good job the car contained a female bunny, who opened her mouth and simply asked a local person, `how do we get to xx?` Trust the Germans to sort the problem with an open farm gate, rough stones, and a cardboard sign. No road? no problem, adapt a bit of farmland! . We drew up to this large hotel type building, with its own private church in the car park (a church?) more akin to seeing a bar, restaurant or swimming pool, a Church was decidedly not your usual onsite facililty. The silence of the reception was palpable, this was not your average hotel. This was a sanctuary, a refuge, a place of reflection, not quite a convent but very close. And these three bunnies turned up in shorts and holiday type t shirts, did we feel underdressed and out of place? oh yes, very much so. It was also situated a very long way from anywhere, miles from the nearest town and oozed peace and solitude. Fabulous if you like that sort of thing, but these three bunnies were hungry. `Can we eat here?` our quiet host responded that the dinner was being served at 7. We noted her glance at our choice of clothing, and changed into more subdued attire, shirts for the boys, a dress, brought for emergencies such as this, for Mrs B. Clearly not a restaurant, our simple repast consisted of chicken fillet, noodles, and a small serving of vegetables. You may chose a drink from the machine. There was no dessert. We wandered around the `hotel` building to get a feel of where we were staying, and modern day church comes to mind. The open rooms religiously decorated. The Bible was everywhere. Quiet rooms with comfortable chairs. Mr B and Daddy B spotted a small fridge containing beer and suddenly all was good again in their little world. Mrs B had a bottle of water that we brought with us. Our rooms were tiny, neat and contained a small container of Holy Water in a wall mounted jar. Personally I would have preferred a kettle and a few tea bags hum te tum. Our decor was (I think) a verse from Psalms? No television. The shower. I have to mention the shower. We didn`t fit. None of us. Not even close. We couldn`t get through the door. I would try and help you conjure the image of a chubby bunny trying to insert one leg, then one boob through the narrow gap, but in this particular establishment, I fear regaling this image to anyone would provoke several Hail Marys, and one Holy Mother. One night there was more than sufficient. We left after breakfast, (fruit. cereal. yoghurt.)

Europa Park - Rust- Germany

As far as theme parks go, this has to come a very close second to our precious Mickey Mouse related parks. Any of them. Funnily enough Europa Park also has a mouse as its character logo, but this little mouse will never be in the same league to his distant cousin.

Europa Park is fabulous. The Theming around each land is just superb. Loosely resembling Epcot in the way that it has Countries for Areas, that is where the resemblance finishes. Europa Park just does it so much better. (sorry Epcot) To fully appreciate all that the park has to offer, two days would be recommended. I personally think the park has too much to offer to try and cram it all into one day. There is something here for everyone. From your thrill seeking adrenaline junkies, to small tots who can barely walk. Everyone can find a little place of magic. Of all the fast rollercoasters available to us, we chose only one. We admit it, we were bunny wusses in every sense. One of us suffers badly with headaches, one bunny was still suffering hip problems, and my lovely Mr B had many more miles of driving to do and was being just overly cautious not to chance any back jarring rides. We did however partake of all the water rides, many of the tamer rides, and absolutely rode any Suitable for kids of any age rides. There are a few hotels immediately in the close vicinity to the park, but we chose an apartment, that had a bedroom window just far enough off the ground...

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Strasbourg

Right on the border between France and Germany this small town has belonged to both countries over the years, before settling down into its present French knickers. I had chosen a hotel with a close proximity to a bus station, but Mr Bunny preferred his four wheels to a walk and a bus ride. Parking was a little easier than we expected, and the underground carpark was extremely centrally located. Leaving via a different exit point into the middle of a cobbled walking street was a little unnerving, but not wrong. We went into the city on two separate occasions. On our first excursion we opted to tour as we have previous cities, using a scenic bus tour. Actually a small town train, but still fitted with headphones and commentary. Tour one I called the Building Tour. For non building connoisseurs such as we three bunnies, we uttered words like `pretty` or `different` or `unusual`, for those of you with a penchant for architecture I am certain words like Renaissance, Gothic, Tudor or Classical would spout freely from your lips. Tour one was fine, it was out of town, was a decent length, showed you a different side of Strasbourg and passed a wee bit of time. Tour Two however, I shall call the Pretty Busy Tour. This time we drove in and around the extremely pretty area of Petite France. No wonder they call this town the most picturesque town for a Christmas market. It genuinely is quite lovely and quaint. The buildings are so old, akin to the town of Chester, or York, but even nicer. With the larger number of people milling about, we could almost window shop as we wound our way along the narrow streets. Whilst I am not sure that I have a reason to revisit Strasbourg itself, I wouldn`t hesitate to go in the winter months and see this small area all lit up in Christmas glory. Summer?meh. Christmas? absolutely!

Wars and Battles . Napoleon. WW1. Passchendaele. Ypres

The latter part of our trip was our History Tour. The places that Daddy B had a personal hankering to visit. We started at Genappe, and the nearby town of Waterloo, the home, of course, of the Battle of Waterloo. With Daddy B a huge history buff, it was nice to share his love of history with visits to the Three Museums of Waterloo. They are covered by one ticket, called the 1815 ticket. One museum is where Napolean held his final meeting, a small unassuming farmhouse on the side of what is now a very busy road. Small and thoughtful is how I would best describe it. The second Museum, and largest, is The Lions Mound, or to give it its correct name, Butte de Lion. The Lions mound, is a monument on the top of a very large, conical hill, with a huge flight of stairs that you can ascend at your leisure to stand alongside the wonderful and majestic Lion Statue. Not to detract from the nature of the area but three bunnies puffed their way up these stairs, as a young sprightly teenager ran past us, then down past us...and up past us, and down past us, some crazy fitness test we assume....We finally caught up with him at the top, we were huffing and puffing (the stairs are very steep) whilst he sat and whistled along to a tune that no doubt he was hearing through his headphones. The mound surveys the whole of the Battlefield, with the actual museum cleverly hidden underground to avoid changing the landscape where so many soldiers died. An excellent museum telling the moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day story of the Battle of Waterloo. Even for persons not entirely interested in History, this Museum is very well designed and interesting for all. The last museum was the stronghold location and key to the winning of the Battle, Hougoumont Farm. The last of the three museums, but certainly not one to miss if you appreciate your history. Here we sat though yet another rendition of the Battle Timeline, in the unlikely location of the Barn. How much of the original farm exists is anyone`

• 

• 

• 

s guess, but it is nice to sit in a place of history.

Sad little tale. What happened to all the soldiers who died in Battle? There are no graves, no markers? They were recycled. All the bodies were ground up to make bone fertiliser. It is also the reason why finding an intact skeleton from the war is very rare. So many men lost to the earth with no memorial or name.

Ypres, Passchendaele, and a personal tribute.

The Menin Gate is located at Ypres. This is the only reason we visited this City. Ypres is actually a beautiful town, and the town hall is simply magnificent. However it is the moving ceremony, held every single night of the year since 1928 at the memorial gate that drew us there. Despite the intense heat, we dressed in a manner to respect the solemnity of the occasion, and made our way to the Gate at 7.15pm For a mere ten minutes we stood alone, then the whole area filled with people so rapidly it was as though every bus in town had dropped off its passengers right there. (hadn`t but felt like it) Like a well oiled finely tuned machine, the attendees laying a wreath were drilled, the road was closed, the buglers arrived, the organiser barked orders to the crowd. On the stroke of 8 the Last Post was played and you could hear a pin drop. Intensely moving. We stood in silent tribute to the fallen until the Buglers once again raised their instruments and played Reveille. For anyone who does not know, the Menin Gate is a tribute, to the fallen heroes of WW1 who sadly do not have a grave of their own, the names of which adorn the walls as a collective yet personal memory. Deeply moving.

Passchendaele

I cannot begin to type with confidence about the Battle of Passchendaele as I have to admit that whilst I recollect the name, I did not know why. A museum that is well worth the visit, and most certainly leaves you with a knowledge of a War that no man should have ever had to endure. I prefer not to talk about our visit there, as I could not begin to do the story justice. I do firmly believe however that anyone interested in history, and the Great War would find it very moving.

War Graves

I humbly apologise for failing to recall the names of the War Graves Sites that we visited. We went to two, and those rows upon rows of silent white crosses made me feel so sad. We walked around both Military Grave Yards reading the names of the fallen and their ages, many just so young. As we made to leave for our next destination, Mr Bunny`s Mum messaged to say that if we were anywhere near Meteren Military Cemetery we would find the grave of Mr Bunny`s Great Grandfather James Briggs who died on 17th April 1918.

Find him we did. A poignant moment.

And on we go.