So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodnight

So comes the end of my journeys with the Olivers. But this final day was awesome.
We got up early and boarded a train for Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg was where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born and where The Sound of Music was filmed.
All over Munich and Salzburg, people would ride their bikes to a train station and just leave them there. Most aren't even locked. Crime is very low here.




The train ride took two hours. Here the Alps are just coming into view. The train ride was so pretty winding through the German countryside. We passed through lots of cute villages that looked like they belonged in a fairy tale. All that we saw of Germany looked like it was part of a fairy tale.




The gardens at Mirabell Palace. If you have ever seen The Sound of Music, you may recognize this from the song Do-Re-Mi. The children and Julie Andrews sing and dance through this garden under a trellis and up and down some steps. It was a nice spring day in Germany and so the flowers and plants were blooming and it was colorful.




Hohensalzburg Castle is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe and sits up on a hill overlooking Salzburg. The name means High Salzburg Fortress. It was built in the late 1000s.




The views from the fortress were amazing. Looking over the town of Salzburg.




Looking out towards the countryside and the Alps.




We noticed all of these locks on a bridge crossing the Salzach River in town. Our tour guide said that people come from all of the world with their loved one and they engrave their names in the lock, put the lock on the bridge, and throw the key in the river below. How romantic.




A piece of Sacher Torte. A very famous cake invented in Austria in 1832. The cake is made of two layers of chocolate sponge cake with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle, coated in dark chocolate icing on the top and sides and served with whipped cream. We ate it at the Sacher Hotel overlooking the river. Yummy!




That night we had even more traditional German food. Der Weiner Schnitzel! Good thing this was our last day in Germany because I wouldn't be flat much longer here.




So we come to the end of my journey. Tomorrow morning the Olivers head back to Perth and I will go back in the mail to Jack. It's been so much fun and I can't wait to share all of my pictures.
So as the say in Germany, auf Wiedersehen to the Olivers. That means until we meet again and not goodbye. I hope to come back and visit them from time to time.
The End (for now)

Location:Salzburg, Austria

A history lesson in Germany

We left London and headed to Munich, Germany. After all of my long plane flights, the 1 1/2 hr flight from London to Munich was so short! We arrived in Munich late afternoon and after checking in to the hotel and figuring out how to read the train maps, we headed to the main town square or "Marienplatz". It's been Munich's central town square since 1158. As we walked up the stairs from the S-Bahn (train or subway) station, the first thing you see is the massive town hall or "Neues Rathaus" which was built in the late 1800s. It's gothic and a bit creepy.



It seemed everyone in town was headed toward a huge soccer (called football in Europe) match between one of the main German teams, Bayern, and the Barcelona, Spain team. It was crazy in the square with chanting and the rival opponents shouting at each other. Germany ended up winning that game and another German team won a day later and so now they will meet up in a European soccer version of the Super Bowl soon.



More of the central square and all of the people.



As we walked around we could not understand much but sometimes it was easy to understand certain things like this window obviously telling me to head back to Australia.



Scott, Erin, and I in the S-Bahn station. Bahn means rail in German. It was so efficient and really easy to get around the city.



On the first full day in Munich, the Olivers had planned a day of history. The first stop was at the site of the first concentration camp opened in Germany during World War II. A concentration camp was a prison where Hitler and the Nazis sent people who opposed them or people they just didn't like. They would have to work really long hours doing very hard jobs and many people died there. In 1945, American troops showed up and set everyone in the camp free. This plaque was a thank you to one of the two American army divisions who helped free all of the prisioners.



This is a view of the area where all of the prisoners had to line up every morning for roll call. It's very quiet and peaceful there now and it's hard to imagine all of the unhappy people who had to live here during WWII.



So many people ended up dying here. There were a lot of prisoners from Russia here so they built a memorial after the war.



This was a memorial for all of the Jewish people that died here. It's set under lush green trees and is very peaceful now.



This was a creek that the Nazis built around the camp to keep prisoners from escaping.



Later that afternoon, we took a walking tour of the city to see where Hitler used to work and learned about the events leading up to him becoming the leader of Germany and the Nazi party. Many of the buildings were bombed during the war so we just got to see the location, but a few buildings survived the war like this one. It was very interesting to see how many buildings had spots for flags or plaques with nothing on them as everything related to the Nazis was removed after the war ended.



Whew. I'm tired from all of the walking today! After all of that walking, we needed a traditional German dinner with pretzels.




Pork, potato cake, and sauerkraut. You might not like sauerkraut, but this stuff was actually delicious!



I loved how they served Coke in a wine glass. So fancy.



The town hall at night. It's hard to see in the picture, but at the top there is a Glockenspiel which is kind of like a really fancy cuckoo clock. It was built in 1908 and still chimes 3 times a day. All of the figures up there spin around. The top part goes first and tells the story of a duke's wedding and the jousting tournament that takes place. The knight from Bavaria (a state in Germany) takes on the knight from Lothringen and wins. The second part of the story is in the lower circle and tells about a group that dances through the streets of Germany every 7 years to keep everyone's spirits up through hard times. At the very end, the cuckoo clock at the top calls out three times. The whole show takes about 15 minutes. It's cool, but my neck hurt from looking up so long!

Location:Munich, Germany

Longitude, Stars, and Ships

This picture really belongs in my last blog but I didn't have it downloaded in time. The evening of the marathon, Scott and all of the other Aussie marathon runners in our group got together for nibbles and celebratory drinks. This little guy was used by the group to all find each other at the finish line.




On our last day in London, we decided to do something low key so we rode the trains out to Greenwich (which doesn't have anything to do with moldy sandwiches like I first thought and is pronounced grin-itch). The Old Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory were established there back in the 1600s. Now it's a museum spot and home to the Cutty Sark. The Cutty Sark was a clipper ship built in the 1800s to carry tea between the continents. Among many other cargoes, it also carried wool from Australia for sale in England for many years. I thought it was cool that this ship and I have both been to the harbour in Sydney.



We entered in the hull of the ship where they would have stowed the tea for sailing.


This is a picture of what the Cutty Sark would have looked like with all of its sails unfurled at sea.



The next deck was filled with artifacts.



Standing on the deck looking up at the masts.



Being a sailor would be so fun but I'm not sure my flat hands would be much good at tying knots in these ropes.



An upper bunk where some of the crew slept.


Ahoy matey!



Argh! Time to swab the poop deck!



I'll be taking over the sailing of this ship from now on matey!



Chillaxin with Erin and Scott in the Captain's galley. Bring me some grog!



Down below the Cutty Sark was a collection of mast heads which are put on the bows of ships. Most were kind of creepy.



Next we went to the Royal Observatory. Over a 300 year span, 10 astronomers who worked for the British Monarchy lived here and charted the stars creating maps of the skies for sailors to use when navigating the seas. The Earth is divided into longitude and latitude. Greenwich is the place of 0 degree longitude which means we were standing in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres at the same time. This is called the Prime Meridian.



If I stretch really far I can just reach both the Eastern and Western hemispheres!



Head West young man!



They had lots of cool telescopes in the observatory. I know my buddy Jack's dad likes telescopes so I posed with some of them. This was a really old one.



This clock was invented to help sailors determine their longitude when at sea. Before this clock, it was hard to keep reliable time at sea and they needed clocks to help them map where they were when no land was in sight. After they had these clocks, they would set one at Greenwich Mean Time before they left England and the other would be reset everyday at sea when the sun hit its peak location in the sky. By comparing the two clocks, the sailors were able to determine their longitude and know where they were in the ocean. The man who invented this clock won £20,000 which is equivalent to at least a million dollars today.


More telescopes.





On the way back to our hotel, we looked for the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane.


London has been so much fun. From the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern and then the Eastern and Western. What an adventure this has been! Tomorrow we head to Germany. Only a few more days with the Olivers before heading back to the US of A. I can't wait to share all of my adventures with Jack when I get back!

Location:Greenwich, UK

The London Marathon

The Olivers were very excited that the London marathon began at 10:00am. apparently most marathons start around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning and so they were happy to have a "leisurely" morning today.

We all went with Scott on the Underground (London's subway) to the train station.



From the train station, Scott headed to the starting line with the other runners and we took a quick peek around the finish line area before heading to the halfway point where we would watch some of the race. This was a good decision because when we came back later, we couldn't get anywhere near the finish line and the crowds were insane. Just through these arches is where we met up after the run.



This is called the mall and way at the other end you can kind of see Buckingham Palace. The race ended just past the palace. I wonder if the Queen was watching from her bedroom window? Scott read that Prince Harry would be handing out medals, but he never saw him. I liked the flags that lined the street. This was as close as we ever got to the finish line.



After checking out the finishing area, we headed to watch the race from the Tower Bridge. On the way we passed the Tower of London which has been a castle and a prison and several other things over the years. There were so many cops around the marathon course.



Here is a nice shot of the Tower of London. It kind of gives me the shivers to imagine all of the famous people who have lived and died (usually beheaded!) there.



We made our way to the Tower Bridge to watch the marathon at its halfway point.





There weren't many spectators at this point so we got a chance to walk around a bit and see some of the bridge.


More police.


The first runners to pass us were the elite women, followed by the wheelchairs and then the Paralympic athletes. Many of the Paralympic runners were blind and running with a guide runner. It was very inspiring to watch them. Finally came the elite men's group followed by the main field.



It was funny to see the runners who had dressed up for the run. We saw a gorilla, a Smurf, Ironman, a baby, a fairy, guys in dresses, and so many other crazy costumes.


After Scott passed us at the bridge, we headed to the finish line. There were people everywhere and it was hard to take any more pictures. Finally we found Scott and he was so happy to have finished the run.



I don't know if a flat person can run a marathon but after this morning, I kind of want to try someday!

Location:London, UK