Thursday, September 22, 2011
Nurenberg, Germany to Innsbruck, Austria
A late exit from the hotel, on the road by about 10:30am. Dick and Shiela had breakfast at the hotel, Jan and I went to Burger King in the Altstadt, but it was closed so we got fruit and coffee and bunwiches from a deli across the street.
Almost ran into a major issue in the parking lot, a steep spiral driveway out of the lowest level to the street. I managed to come to a stop, by mistake, in the middle of the arc. No big deal, you say. Not so, say I. We have a standard transmission car, six forward speeds and reverse, the thing is about two football fields long, and it has an electronic e-brake. I can't see all of the arc behind me, the proximity alerts are going off, front and rear, as the arc of the driveway is so tight, and I dare not rev up the engine and transfer my right foot from brake to gas and ease out the clutch because I can't allow any rollback as, after two false starts, I'm almost against the concrete wall with this new, rented, car. The electronic e-brake, just a button on the console, finally worked and allowed me to hold the car with it, rev the engine and slip the clutch, then hit the 'off' button. Thank the gods it worked, a failure on that last time would have seen me scrape the paint off for sure.
Relieved, we were out of the basement and on the road in the grey morning, cloudy but no rain. Our route today takes us down a major Autobahn route to the ring road surrounding Munich, then branching west to the town of Dachau. Dick had been here in 1972 and remembered it as being a very worthwhile stop, and Shiela was interested in seeing it as she had heard the stories and wanted to be present to acknowledge them. Jan is up for almost anything, she is such a good traveller. I am the grinch, I did not want to attend. My imagination would not let me sleep after such a visit, and I just couldn't do it. I already know the story too well. So I stayed in the car, napped, and typed, for the two hours of the tour. The four of us had lunch in the guest area, then we hit the road again.
Our route continued around the ring road, then south to the lovely little German town of Garmish/Partinger, truly lovely scenery with the most amazing and curious little log houses scattered in profusion in the farmer's fields beside the road. We speculated at length on their purpose, and concluded that they were either cattle shelters during the very cold winter months or wood storage sheds, or ... Whatever, said Dick.
Finally, Innsbruck and because Jan and I had been here before and Brunhilda's (the GPS) unerring navigation, we found the entrance to the hotel's parking garage on the first try. Checked in, dropped the bags, and out on the town by around 4:00pm looking for shopping, a mug, the famous 'golden roof', and beer/wine in that order. All were found and either bought or photographed, and we sat and had our drinks at a sidewalk cafe with an Italian flair. Italy and Germany meet in Austria in this narrow neck of Austria, and both influences are everywhere apparent.
Up and out, finally, looking for dinner. After a couple of false starts due to my bad memory, or lack of it, or places I imagined that we had dinner but didn't in reality, we wound up at another absolutely lovely sidewalk cafe on a wide promenade on the main shopping street of Innsbruck. The staff were originally quite harried by the number of guests sitting outside, but later it quieted and the service was exceptional and the food totally excellent. The menu was German and Italian mixed liberally, and in fact I had a schnitzel on a bed of Spagetti, Dick and Shiela had schnitzels with mushroom sauce, and Jan a spinach Omlette. Very international.
Then, full and pleasantly drunk, a wander home to the hotel and bed. Tomorrow, over the Brenner pass and down into Italy, destination Verona.
