Day 16 – Monday 6 June 2016

After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, fresh fruit, cheeses, prosciutto, salami, etc (a recurring theme?) we drove a short distance to the museum in Bolzano for a special tour. The museum is usually closed on Monday but was opened especially for us. The exhibit was around Otzi, the iceman, an archaeological display of the well-preserved body of a man from the copper age, dating back 5,300 years, (Otzi is the oldest mummy in the world) found frozen in the Schnalstal Glacier. Nico, our guide is an archaeologist & gave us a very interesting talk on the clothing he was wearing, the weapons & tools he was carrying, what his last meal was & how he died. It was a fascinating insight into the lives of people in that time & the Tyrol mountain area.

Our journey continued towards Innsbruck in Austria, climbing the mountains & following the valley up to the Brenner Pass. Every square metre of arable land has vineyards, with houses tucked away & the occasional castle on a prominent strategic rocky outcrop. As we climbed the valley got narrower & the cliffs closed in, with the nearby mountain peaks covered in snow, all very pretty. Up near the Brenner Pass the agriculture changed from grapes to cattle, with lush green meadows replacing the vineyards, due to the prevalence of snow during winter. The Brenner Pass is a popular ski area in winter so the style of building changed to a chalet style. As we descended from the Brenner Pass the valley started to open up again, however, the surrounding snow covered Alps still dominated the landscape. We passed the Italian & Austrian border before descending into Innsbruck, a small Austrian city full of beautiful old buildings in the old city centre. We walked to see the main square & the gold covered roof of the Emperor Maximillian’s palace. There are lots of interesting old buildings around the square & one that we did have a look at housed the Swarovski crystal store, their factory is just outside Innsbruck. They do have some amazing detailed jewellery inside, one we were taken by was a peacock, alright if you have the 15,000 Euro to buy it. We walked around a little more admiring the old buildings before stopped for lunch next to the flood swollen Inns River then wandered back to our coach, sampling some very nice gelato on the way.

Our journey continued to Munich, crossing into Germany & following the valley down that widened considerably the closer we got to Munich. The building architecture changed noticeably again. Munich is the capital of Bavaria, a large German province & a very large city & we stopped in the middle of the city & walked the short distance to the main square to admire the Marienplatz, the ancient building with elaborate decoration dominating the square. The city was destroyed 60 percent during the 2^nd world war, it is amazing how all the buildings have been renewed & there is no sign of all the devastation. A quick walk back to our coach & it was off to find our (we encountered a lot of delays because the farmers have blocked some of the major streets protesting) hotel, the Pullman Munich, a very nice hotel again. We only had time for a short rest before we were off again for drinks & dinner, Bavarian style.

The Munich Hofbrauhaus was our first destination, a very popular German beer hall near the city centre. We grabbed some tables & ordered some pretzel & drinks, Tereza ordered a ½ litre glass of beer (no alcohol & it was very good too) & I ordered a stein, a full 1 litre of beer. During the time a traditional German Oompah brass band was playing, complete with traditional costume. We enjoyed our time there sitting on the benches with the rough wooden tables, we sang louder than the Germans as our Tour director taught us the song on the coach. All too soon we had to down our beers & head off to dinner at a restaurant around 10 minutes’ walk away. This was a typical Bavarian restaurant & we sat downstairs, again on benches & wooden tables. Our first dish was potato soup, Tereza had pork hock, potatoe dumpling with sauerkraut & I had bratwurst with sauerkraut & potatoe, very traditional. Desert was a light yogurt mousse with fruit. There was so much to eat, I didn’t see one person finish their meal. It was all very good, just too much. It was 10.30pm before our merry lot reached the hotel to bed down for the night. A great night was had by all.