Rob’s Travel Blog

 Now don’t get excited because it’s after 10 and time for bed after a huge and utterly amazing day in the city and I won’t last long enough to tell you about it here. Suffice to say, the walking tour exceeded all expectations for the huge amount of history covered, as well as the stories our entertaining guide told…so I will have time to write and post pics tomorrow and can’t wait to recall and reflect on the many special moments…until then, night night! There seem to be many bears in Bearlin! So sorry everyone but haven't managed to work out the wifi at Schloss Boitzenberg yet. Hopefully I can sort it out in the morning and normal services can resume.  Love from me to you💕 Good morning from the Schloss. So much to tell between Thursday and now…so I’ll start from then. Richard and I headed out to the first of many tube stations. My first impression was of the many hundreds (if not thousands) of bicycles secured all around it. Great way to get around but it’s too far to ride t...

 I was one very relieved girl when I saw Richard dashing along the platform towards me. I thought I’d become a seasoned public transport user in Vienna, but Berlin is next level HUGE! The station is a constant flow of humanity and endless trains coming and going from hundreds of platforms-both the underground and above ground variety. I think I would have become completely paralysed and still wandering in circles if he wasn’t there to rescue me me. It was great to see Silke on her birthday and enjoy waffles and coffee in their beautiful 4 th floor apartment in which I have a large room, comfy bed and bathroom. Also great to meet their lovely daughter, Rieke, who’s finishing off her 2 nd last school year. So friendly and confident and it’s great hearing her take on spending a year at school in Whakatāne in 2024-so brave for a 16 year old. We had a birthday dinner of Silke’s favourite- white asparagus. It was St John’s day and the last day that asparagus is available-a tradition of o...

 Yesterday…Monday 23 June was a quieter day, and a bit cooler, which was a relief. Some clouds, the odd showers but not the wild thunderstorms mentioned on my weather app. Did a bit of browsing in the shops( much to Ian’s delight) and even got a chance to see how the real people live in Passau. At one point we even landed up in a shopping mall (we could have been at Westfield). So many shoe shops and opticians and jewellery shops in Germany! After not very long we all agreed that our moods were dropping by the second and we had to get out quickly before we did something we’d regret. Back at the hotel we met Geli’s brother, Andreas, who’d driven in from his hometown and had a beer( local monastery-with-a-brewery ) at a pleasant beer garden. Then back for a rest before heading out for our farewell dinner at a genuine Bavarian restaurant. We were in the area below the castle and fleetingly flirted with the idea of climbing up. That idea didn’t last long with Ian and I! It was fun to e...