Grand Tour - Sept 2014
It's really happening! After all our planning and anticipation, our 2.5 week mini-vacation to Germany, Austria and Italy. From Sept 9-27th we'll:
> bus to Gatwick airport near London,
> fly to Munich and do the sights for 2 days, then
> train/bus to Hoenschwangau, Germany for 2 days to visit castles, then
> bus/train/train/bus to St Martin b Lofer, Austria to stay in a 14th century castle for a week, then
> walk/bus/train/train to Montegrotto, Italy to say in a hotel spa for a week, then
> train to Venice, Italy for another day of sightseeing - on the day of Clooney's wedding, then
> bus to Venice's Marco Polo airport, then
> fly back to the UK, then
> bus back to Oxford
Whew!
What an incredible journey we had! Seeing lots of new exciting and fantastic places, hiking paths through the Alps, visiting castles, staying in a castle, feeling humbled and confused by not speaking the languages, learning a smattering of German and Italian, meeting lots of wonderful strangers many who became friends and acquaintances and having an absolutely wonderful time!
Prep for the journey was bit tricky as European airlines are VERY strict about baggage. One ITEM of cabin baggage no bigger than 50x40x20cm (approx 20x15.5x8 in) including wheels and handles. Right, NO purse, NO computer bag etc. We'd brought our size-correct backpacks from the US but now needed to plan 2-1/2 weeks of clothing to include for weather 40-85 degrees F. Not a small feat but we did quite well, only forgetting a couple things. Included in my bag was an 2" stack of papers with tickets, maps, hotel confirmations, reviews and things to do for the 2 wk trip.
Got up early and caught the bus to Gatwick Airport at 9:17am giving ourselves time for the 2-2.5 hour bus ride to the airport with plenty of time to go thru security, eat lunch and get to our gate for our 2pm flight to Munich.
HICCUP #1 Unfortunately, 45 minutes into the 2 hour trip we hit a huge traffic jam. After barely inching along, the driver took the next exit, then announced "as you noticed, we've not been moving. If anyone has access to Google maps and can route us to Dorking or Reigate please let me know". So everyone got out their phones and one young man was the first to go to the front of the bus. He sat on the step next to the driver and we could hear his phone giving directions. Thus we arrived with only 1.5 hours before flight time - but the sightseeing trip along the back roads thru all the small villages and countryside was an added bonus.
HICCUP #2 Slight snag going thru security when they pulled my tray with vest, passport and iPad. Then they had problems with their auxiliary machine to double check things so a female agent came over and patted me down. Finally released from security, we quickly picked up a couple sandwiches and waited to find out the gate number. Jim even took some time to exchange $100 US for Euros so we could hit the ground running.
Very unique system here that you must wait in the "central shops and food area" watching the board to display your gate number. (smart marketing move on their part). Gate numbers are posted only 20 minutes before the flight begins boarding. Since gates radiate down hallways in all directions you must just wait for the number to be displayed, then walk like crazy especially when/if your gate is at the end, like ours was.
HICCUP #3 After boarding, we all sat on the plane for 25 minutes waiting for them to clear a technical issue - some problem with the toilet. Once we were in the air, the 1.5 hour flight to Munich was uneventful.
The Munich airport has smooth escalators - no steps! So of course I just had to take a picture. Yes, it was a bit "wierd" riding down the smooth escalator, but did make it safer if you wanted to pass someone. ------------->>>>
Getting thru passport control was a breeze since we were still within the EU even though we'd traveled between countries. Consulting my research, we quickly found the underground train. Buying tickets was easy thanks to the multi-lingual ticket machines and our train came in just as we approached the platform.
The train ride thru the German countryside (Munich outskirts) was fun, mostly surrounded by corn fields until we got closer to the city centre. One half hour later we arrived at the Marienplatz stop and gasped WOW upon exiting the escalator into the plaza - teeming with people, surrounded by beautiful tall buildings.
