Bach to Bach

After all the Leipzig celebrations, we retired to a highly recommended traditional restaurant. The traditional German speaking and (perfectly reasonably) non-English speaking waiter had a good go at sorting out what we would eat. Two delightful German ladies from the next table stepped in to help. They managed to translate to the waiter that I wanted a traditional German dish with no meat and no fish. He sat down and held his head In his hands. There ensued a debate of which we caught the odd word. He overcame the inherent oxymoronic nature of my request and settled on an asparagus dish that he had to negotiate with the kitchen. Who has heard of potatoes with no meat! What was extremely impressive was the time all concerned were prepared to take to get me sorted out. Big tip required. Food was delicious.


The idea today was to go from where Bach worked for the longest period, back to his birthplace in Eisenach. Halfway to Cologne it fitted well. However the car has decided we need a break. A horrible grinding from a bearing in the differential means we are stuck here till we find if a local garage can sort it out. The best laid plans .......

Bach again

Surprisingly easy drive north through Czech Republic to Karlovy Var then over the border to Chemnitz and Leipzig.

The Nikolaikirche with its light interior was where prayer-meeting opposition to the old regime became the peaceful revolution in 1989, leading to the fall of the Wall and reunification.

Special treat to be in Leipzig for the week of the 1,000 year celebration of the city's founding. Bach concerts yesterday and today in Thomaskirche, with the famous choir, the 'Bach' organ, and musicians from the Gewandhaus orchestra.

Czech-out

Busy day in Plseñ with visits to Cathedral (including more vertigo challenging up the tower), Synagogue (including atmospheric photo exhibition of the WW2 liberation of Plzeñ), the Pilsner Urquell brewery, and a City of Culture gala concert. We met two other guests in the hotel who were leaving in disgust, except the stairs were blocked and the lift wasn't working due to a power cut.

We meanwhile are relishing the faded glory. Breakfast alone in a hundred yard ballroom has a certain splendour.

Czech-in

After the buzz and bustle of Salzburg off to the very different streets of Plzeň. (Pilsen). We disagreed with the satnav's route and chose our own obviously more direct route. Big mistake. A winding road through every village, and through a national park. It had the label E53, so was clearly a major European road. Oops.

Checked in to the restored Continental Hotel. Huge rooms and possibly no other guests. We are resisting jokes about how many Czech waiters it takes to make a cup of coffee.

City of Culture events here. Gypsy Jazz last night and a gala concert in the town square this evening. A tour of the Pilsner Urquell brewery in between.

Meanwhile, the cost of two Camparis, four glasses of wine, a salad, a beef goulash, and a mushroom ragout? All excellent incidentally. £16 in all.

Umbrella city

Salzburg is famous for Mozart, but not many people know about the statue to the early experimental umbrella maker. Part-time soldier with a big helmet, he forgot to put the spokes in.

Mozart museum, Cathedral, Franciscan Church, Festungsberg Castle, Tomaselli's cafe - it's amazing how many sights can be dealt with while the rain comes down.

We found the city weather station, which showed the hygrometer stuck firmly on 100%.

The city view is another in the 'hotel' series, but this time from the bar on the roof terrace.

Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse

To quote from the Michelin guide:

"The most famous of all Austrian mountain roads, the Grossglockner Alpine Road leads to the celebrated Grossglockner, the highest peak on the Austrian Alps (alt 3797m, 12,457 ft). "

Good news this morning - the road was open. It was built in the 1930s and is often closed obviously because of snow. The squad of snow ploughs and blowers cleared it, and by 11:30 even the highest spur, the Edelweissspitz, at 2577 m was open.

Naked ambition

Bad news confirmed this morning that the Grossglockner was closed due to snow. Maybe not surprising for the highest Alpine road.

Plan B was a drive to a motorail train through an alpine tunnel to Bad Gastein. That worked well, and the celebrity resort of Bad Gastein was worth seeing. It is built around a gorge, with a waterfall and river thundering through the middle. Very out of season now so no other celebrities about.

It is also a renowned spa, so a suitable compensation for missing the Grossglockner was a visit to the Felsemtherme Spa, thus satisfying a long ambition. Only one of us was interested so the other drank lots of coffee. Meanwhile I nearly forgot my swimmers, but retrieved them from the car, only to find they were superfluous. The spa had endless thermal pools, plunge pools, saunas, steam rooms, icy showers, icy water buckets to tip, and loungers indoors and out. I felt like first day at school - all the signs and instructions were in German, I had no glasses anyway, so I hadn't a clue. However a bit of copying what others did and all was well. It is a strange sight to see naked Austrians lying back on a lounger, snow still lying on the nearby grass and covering the mountains, enjoying a cigarette before going back into the sauna or the icy shower. One of life's more unusual Sunday's.

Another day another douleur

Said goodbye with some regret to Raffaela and her perfect guesthouse. The drive towards Austria involved one of yesterday's Passes, and then north along mountain roads till we met a main road to the border and on to Lienz.

The rain started as soon as we crossed the border, so the roof had to go up. Lunch was a damp sandwich under a dripping pine tree by the roadside. We consoled ourselves with the thought of a welcoming inn outside Lienz. Arriving late lunchtimes we were met with a sign saying 'heute ruhetag'. Day off. Doors locked, no lights.

Retreated to a sodden Lienz town centre - the major Michelin sights of which were all visible from our cafe table. They didn't rate any stars.

A call to Booking.com confirmed they would open later, so here we are at last. Another bedroom window view - somewhat cloudy and damp. However things are looking up. The landlord is friendly and full of advice (some of which we didn't want - like tomorrow's route impassible) and a little village inn is always quirky and interesting.

Making passes

The clouds lifted enough this morning for us to drive the Sella circuit - the Passo Gardena, the Passo di Campolongo, the Passo Pordoi, and the Passo di Sella - skirting round between mountain peaks between 3162 and 3342 m high. The passes themselves were were about 2,000 - 2,500 m and very dramatic. Full marks to the co-pilot and navigator who didn't scream at all. The hills were alive with the sound of a 3.2 l straight 6 Mercedes engine doing what it was designed for.

By way of light relief we then went to Ortesi and took the cable car up to the high plateau for a walk in the snow. That was the really scary trip for one of us. (Vertigo? What vertigo?)

Clouded judgement

Sunshine tempted us out to walk the Valunga (valley) above Selva. It was a mix of atmospheric (ie clouds and mist all around), sunny, scenic, scary, cold, windy, and pleasant easy walking. Weather obviously changes fast, but sometimes one has to accept that the clouds mean business.

A walk that took around 4 hours, and a visit to the drying room, left us ready to try a motoring tour of the mountains. We gave it a good bash but when visibility was down to 100m we accepted that spectacular views were not likely.

I knew I forgot to pack something - snowchains.

Climate Change

First of all, it is necessary to report on the Vittoria Hotel in Brescia. A fading 5 star from an earlier age. Our room had as much space as a small bungalow. The bed wasn't king size. Is there such a thing as 'emperor size'? Solid wood everywhere, a beautiful parquet floor, and as reported earlier a view over the cathedral. The bathroom had so many chrome fittings I lost count. The bath had an arrangement of pipes emerging from the floor and a long chrome-topped plunger of mysterious purpose. I couldn't decide if it was part of a sophisticated drainage system or some sort of fearful enema.

Breakfast was attended by many properly attired staff, one of whom stood to attention at the egg bar for the entire duration of our breakfast, and seemed relieved and delighted to make me a crepe - which was incidentally perfect.

The drive today was interrupted by a visit to the Mille Miglia Museo as compensation for missing the event. Wonderful old cars, some still used for the 'historic race'.

Then up into the Dolomites. Farewell Riviera sunshine. The car thermometer was showing 4C when we arrived in the rain. Then it started snowing! Booked in for 3 days. Plenty of reading to come, however the walking boots, thermals, and walking gear we laughed at two days ago are going to be needed.

And another hotel window photo.

Brescia

Some criminally bad planning meant we missed the historic Mille Miglia race. The Thousand Mile race was a classic from Brescia in a circular route to Rome and back. Two days earlier and we could have caught the end. However we might not have found a hotel room.

As it is we have a splendid grandiose room overlooking tiled roofs and the Cathedral. These hotel room photos are becoming a theme.

A cocktail in the hotel colonnade with the faithful car sitting outside. Very stylish guests keep walking past for a private event on the hotel rooftop terrace. The passing thunderstorm is causing some anxiety.

Two Rivieras

Drove along the French Riviera from Saint-Raphael to Cannes. Seemed to be some big event on there. Then an autoroute across the border, before a slow scenic drive along the Italian Ligurian Riviera from San Remo to Finale di Ligure. It is still called the Via Aurelia, dating back to the old Roman route to Genoa.

Stayed a night high above the town in Hotel Rosita, but liked the town so much we moved down for tonight to Hotel Gabone right on the promenade. (Photos show views from the two hotels). Splendid day of very posh loungers on the beach, just in front of the hotel.

Saint-Raphael

Things getting tough here. Sunshine and Riviera atmosphere. However all signs of the campsite, where Trevor and I disgraced ourselves many years ago, have long gone. Expensive villas and hotels have taken every available space - but in an attractive and opulent way.
Hotel du Soleil suitably named for this decadent place where the casino is next to the cathedral.

Latest vegetarian dispatch: having discussed my vegetarian needs with the helpful waiter he recommended the roast marrow. I pictured a large stuffed courgette and agreed. You've probably already guessed it was the other sort of 'marrow' - complete with three huge chunks of some poor cow's leg.

Onward and downward. Italy here we come.