We left our hotel at 7:30am after a breakfast of cornflakes and rolls with a selection of pates and jams. We soon got onto the autobahn, bound for Munich, stopping at a service stop after a couple of hours where I bought my first pretzel. Eees gut ja!! We were all totally fascinated by the self-cleaning loo – after flushing, the seat of the loo automatically begins to rotate through this cleaning device. Such a pity I couldn’t have captured it on video.

As we drove into Munich we saw the Olympic stadium. Again, Gerry gave us so much information before we arrived – he told us all about the war, the Olympics, the hostage drama etc. He really is brilliant.

Munich is a lovely city, clean and with very pretty areas. Gerry took us to the Hofbräuhaus and for a brief walk through the city, to the Marienplatz, where we saw the glockenspiel and the beautiful town halls.

Old town hall (above)

New town hall (and yes, it does look older than the Old Town Hall!)

All the time it was like invisible ropes were pulling the five of us back to the Hofbräuhaus! So eventually we gave in and headed back there for lunch ;-) Grant had suckling pig (the swine!), Rox and I had meatballs and a warm potato salad with delicious red cabbage, I can’t remember what Dad and Paula ate – must be because of the BEER!

Hofbrauhaus

On the way back to the meeting spot Grant bought us cones of cherries and strawberries. Oh my word, I have never tasted such delicious fruit in my whole life! I salivate just thinking about it! Life is gut ya!!

Back on the bus and we drove for a couple more hours. It’s amazing how the people on tour are becoming friends. Much laughing and chatting…and I don’t think it’s just the beer ;-) As we drove along the countryside became more mountainous, with lovely little villages inbetween. After a very scenic drive, we arrived in Innsbruck in Austrian Tyrol. We saw the ski jump and ice skating stadium from the Winter olympics some years ago.

Innsbruck is too beautiful. It has buildings that look like something out of a fairy tale. Amazing. Gerry walked us into the centre of town to the golden roof – much more beautiful in real life than on the website I looked at before our trip.

We visited the Swarovski shop, where the girls bought some small pieces of jewellery.

We ate Mozart balls – marzipan balls coated in dark chocolate, very delicious. Then we had gorgeous ice-creams and took a walk back to the golden roof for another look.

Finally we wandered down to the river. It was quite fascinating, as we got closer to the river the temperature dropped noticeably – that water must be really cold!

Once we had all met up and boarded the bus, it was off to the alpine village of Igls, where out hotel was located. I know I can be very gushy, but seriously, this village was like something out of a picture book. Too, too gorgeous! Rox was begging us to leave her there forever and Paula has already got her eye on a house ;-)

We are staying in the hotel Bon Alpina, which has a swimming pool, so after a walk around the village, Grant and Paula opted to have a swim. For supper we had salad, soup, schnitzel with potatoes and apple strudel. We had a super waiter, a real character, with the unlikely name of Herr Mustafa.

The girls with Herr Mustafa