Today, as we got up and looked out the window, we were shocked to see snow! The nearby mountains (really nearby) had that picturesque stuff that is so pretty to look at, but dangerous to drive steep mountain roads in. Hopefully the roads we drive today are in the valleys, not through those beautifully snowy mountains!
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| Snow? Seriously? |
The air was certainly cold enough to support snow right where we were, but lucky for us, it had not.
It’s rather sad that this amazing trip is coming to an end, but it has gotten so cold and raw (low 40’s) as we headed north, that it softens our disappointment that the trip is over. Norm and I are not used to this cold - we live in Florida! My toes are cold all the time. I am wearing many layers on the rest of me, but other than wearing hiking boots, my toes are perpetually chilly.
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| Detailed driving directions we all received the 1st day. |
The schedule today was a tour of the famous Passions Play Theater and free time to visit the town of Oberammergau. Every 10 years they stage a seven hour play depicting the life and death of Christ . I am sure it would be interesting, but another couple from Australia decided to head out on their own to drive the 5 hours, 210 mile destination without the group. We decided to join them. Norm and I have been driving for nearly a month following other vans “caravan” style. We wanted to see what it might be like to be on our own, traveling roads with signs in foreign languages we couldn’t speak or read, and try to find interesting places to see, in case we might want to come back and see Europe alone. We were given very detailed trip directions, so it might be good practice to follow them like the days gone by of MapQuest.
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| Just the two vans venturing out on our own. |
Well, after a few wasted hours of going down roads whose unintelligible signs (to us) suggested a historic walled city and either getting a little lost or having it not be interesting at all, we decided to give up and head for the autobahn for the long drive. We finally stopped at a rest stop restaurant that offered an overpriced buffet, and then headed back on the road.
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| Very serene landscape on a cold day |
One thing we have noticed about Europe is the use of alternate energy, particularly solar panels. We saw “farm land” changed from harvesting food to energy! Very old homes and barns are sporting rows and rows of shinny glass panels to collect those solar rays. We really need to promote more of that in the US.
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| It was a bit strange to see a building hundreds of years old sporting solar panels. This city enticed us by a historic building sign on the autobahn. We we drove the walked through the was no one there. Where is everyone? |
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| We drove past many fields of solar panels! |
The other group came in about a ½ later as I went to get some internet. Happy hour was cancelled due to the cold, and Norm created a nice meal out of leftovers we had to finish up while I tried desperately to post another journal entry. (Didn’t happen – email stopped working).
By the time we had dinner and had taken the dishes to the washing area, it was time to call it a day. Phew!
