16 May

Today started with me reluctantly getting up at about 6:30 so I would be ready for breakfast at 7. I had my shower and dressed, then headed down and was there just as the door opened. There were two others there, but I think they only spoke German.
A few minutes later two couples, one from Massachusetts and one from Pennsylvania. Among the things I found out was that Florida and some other states in the US now require tiles on roofs instead of shingles, because tiles resist hurricanes and fires better than shingles.
Then I struck up conversation with a chap from Aberdeen, Scotland. He was here, visiting friends in Innsbruck. Sometimes he stayed with them and other time he stayed here, as Pension Paula. It seems this place gets a lot of repeat custom, and with reasonable prices, good breakfast, comfortable beds, being within easy walking distance of the centre of Innsbruck and close to public transport, and (for me) having Internet access available and included makes it a logical choice.
He does walking and train holidays, and has been to Australia but not done the train trips there. He has been through most of Europe by train and books through a company in England who can usually meet or better the prices he can get by various means.
After breakfast I packed up (very carefully) and then, after settling the account, left. Again I went through the main part of Innsbruck to leave heading north on the road to Munich, although I had programmed Hamburg as my final destination. That was to ensure I kept heading the right way and didn’t get distracted.
I had a very good run along the Innsbruck – Munich road, although it had been raining overnight and a lot of the road was still wet. The commercial traffic made things slow, as it was difficult to overtake due to the density of the traffic. I did some overtaking I would never even dream of doing in Australia.
I stopped to take some pictures along the way, including the huts on the mountain meadows. The day being overcast, there wasn’t a lot of glare from the sun, but a lot of peaks were shrouded in mist. North from Munich I saw many typical German villages, with white or light buildings and red or brown roofs, churches which looked very different from those in France, Italy, Spain and even Austria and a different appearance to the villages when driving through. Please note that you are only allowed to use the footpaths if you are a woman in a skirt walking a small girl. One village I stopped in for a stretch looked to have a population composed either of nuns or brewery workers.
North of Munich I stopped to get lunch, but was back on the road soon. I wanted to fill up, but of course in Germany the cost of fuel (both diesel and petrol) was about €1,50, dramatically more than Austria. I may be able to last to Denmark, but the price there may be higher.
I arrived in Wurzburg, at the “top” of Bavaria about 4 and thought it would be a good idea to book in somewhere. If I found one early enough, I could look for a Laundromat and do my washing (I can only last another two days). I zeroed in on the Tourist Bureau, parked the car, took the SatNav with me to walk there, and couldn’t find it, only to realise after looking at a map of the town that I had been standing in front of it and looking in every OTHER direction. Once in, I found a very helpful girl who spoke English and she able to provide me with a list of hotels and B&Bs. I quickly noted that they listed Internet access AND wireless access, so decided to try the wireless access and reasonable priced ones.
The first two I tried, there was no-one at home. I didn’t ring because this time I have no command of German and fewer than I thought actually speak English. I did see a police dog in action, with its handler walking it, a plainclothes detective with her and a uniformed officer behind. I didn’t get to see where it went, as the traffic lights (which have incredibly long cycles, even longer than Adelaide) changed.
I thought I had success with a hotel, only to find there are about five places with the same address in Wurzburg and that I had the wrong one. I eventually found it, a charming little hotel in Zell, about ten minutes from the centre of Wurzburg (but twenty for me, as a traffic accident happened just on the road a few hundred metres in front of me and hardly anything moved until the police came along). I enquired, yes, they did have room for one, €33 for B&B and wireless Internet access. I booked in, had a local beer while I was waiting (I’m not going to drive for another fourteen hours), then took everything up and got on the Internet. I checked my mail, then went out for a little walk including the cycle path, the local supermarket (prices reasonable, but higher than I would pay at home, allowing for an exchange rate of about A$175 = €100. I got some low sugar orange juice, put that in the car and then did my daily chores, processing photos, doing my blog and uploading everything.
That’s all finished at 8:30, so I’ll do some other things and then be off to sleep by about 10.