Up early to catch the ferry, it was a clear day on the Dover side. Upon arrival in Calais, it was cold and overcast. Fortunately we had warm clothes available and quickly used them. Once over the hills and away from the coast, it became warmer and warmer to being hot. Off with the jackets.
We stopped at a war memorial site and had a bowl of soup, the only thing being available at that time. There was a bus full of people as well as a ladies luncheon going on.
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| Lunch stop |
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| War Memorial |
Laon was our destination for the night, where we had arranged with John and Gail to have dinner at the hotel. We met them at 7 PM and had a wonderful dinner in the hotel.
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| WonderfulSalad |
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| Yummy fish |
The next morning we walked up to the Laon Cathedral and around the town before heading out to meet the tour in Ste Prevue, France.
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| Laon Cathedral |
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| Inside Laon cathedral |
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| With John and Gail in Laon |
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Electrics mess
It was a lovely driving day.
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We arrived at the hotel before any other of the tour participants, and had time for a nice swim in the lovely pool. Dinner was nice, but short on vegetables, something we soon began to crave on the trip.
This was the start of trying to learn new names... as the only people we knew previously were John and Gail from MOAV.
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| Hotel in St Prevue |
After departing the wrong direction from the hotel, we eventually found ourselves heading in the right direction. The day was already warm and lovely for a long drive through France.
Late to breakfast, we hurried through in order to leave
about the same time as the group, as the day would be long. We had to get
through France to get to the main part of our Alps tour. We entered the Alsace
region, which is very beautiful, and also very easy to stray from the route.
Stopping for lunch along the river in Verdun, we ran into some of the Jaguar’s
on the trip. The day was beautiful and warm and perfect for driving. However, having hoped to have time to visit
Camp du Struthof (google it), we finally passed it after it was closed,
arriving at the hotel in the lovely little Alsace town of Ottrott, France “just
in time” to change for dinner.
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| Arriving in Ottrott |
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| Duck and "cereal bar" with red carrots |
My stomach was a bit unsettled this morning (thanks,MiraLax and
rich food) , so we were slow in getting out of the hotel in Ottrott,
France. There had been a wild lightening
and thunder shower, as well as a lot of rain during the night, but the day
turned out to be not rainy. We crossed the Rhine River on a small ferry boat,
entering into Germany. The river was
MUCH smaller than I had imagined, so the ferry only took a few minutes. Lunch stop was at McDonalds where I finally
was able to eat a bit. We had a challenging drive, getting lost and diverted by
roadworks, but finally ended up at our hotel, waterfront on Lake Constance in
Lindau, Germany. Along the way, we were
also stopped by a chopper airlifting a motorcyclist who had collided with a
car. Later we learned that Sarah was first on the scene, and the motorcyclist
was alive. While driving through the windy roads, we were concerned because the
motorcyclists were tearing up the roads at very fast speeds, passing at poor
times.
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| Kirsty and Leader Sarah from their window |
A stroll around Lindau and a beer at the local bier garden completed our afternoon.
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| View from our room with new panorama feature |
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of local whitefish, Italian vegetables and
tiramisu.
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| Tiramisu |
After a lovely buffet breakfast, we left Lindau for a long
drive along the Deustch Alpenstrasse (German Alpen Highway). Unfortunately the
rain had starting during the night and continued on through most of the
day. It wasn’t miserable, but our
photographs are not the best.
The drive continued through valleys and more mountains until
we arrived at our intimate hotel at Tegernsee Lake in Bad Wiesse, Germany. A
lovely dinner of roast pork was enjoyed, but I neglected to take pictures. Philip has developed a “cold” so we managed
to get to bed early.
The next morning was
our first two-night stop, so there was no reason to awaken early. So we didn’t,
and worried that we would miss breakfast, which turned out not to be a problem,
and like, we needed more food!
We fiddled around until noontime, doing hand laundry,
straightening up and getting out the door.
Although the forecast was for showers, it was lovely out when we
departed on foot for the “see promenade”, the walk along Tegernsee Lake.
Shortly we saw the ferry boat which goes from the villages surrounding the
lake, and hopped on for a round the lake tour. Gail and John from MOA V, as
well as Janet and Pat, whom we hadn’t really met yet on this trip joined the
tour on our first stop, so we had company round the lake.
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John and Gail
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Tegernsee
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| Panorama view on my new camera |
Lunch was a Turkish Domor, like a Gyros- very filling and
yummy.
We strolled along the see promenade and took a nap on the wooden
recliners along the shore.
While
browsing, I saw some Finn Comfort shoes in the window for less than ½ the price
at home, so had to stop by the shop and indulge. (Lee, they have Birkies for
really cheap as well)
After returning down the hill, we headed for the "old town" of Kitzbuhel to walk around. Ice cream called to us, so we enjoyed ice cream and a beer.
