Innsbruck to Bad Breisig on Rhine

Just to be perverse, I'll start this blog towards the end of the day:-
In the dining room of Hotel Zur Muhle in Bad Breisig on Rhine, Frau Hindenburg raised her ample proportions from the table and transferred to the piano stool. Within seconds of starting to play the similarly aging instrument, those diners who were still allowed to be up at that time of night, burst into song, as only geriatrics can – painfully.

We had dined here as there was virtually no other choice. On entering the dinning room we realized that we really are not old. The odour was difficult to identify precisely, but either the chef had over boiled the cabbage, or someone's bag had burst. Nuff said.

Local s/mrkt has deals on beer, so will be loading up with some strange brews (apologies to Cream) in the morning.

SatNav is currently telling us that the Rotterdam ferry terminal is 600 miles south, whilst we know it to be 208 miles north. Time will tell who is right. Methinks the lady in the box will be told where to go!

We had vaguely planned to stay in either Koblenz or Koln, so we sort of split the difference, here in Bad Breisig, which is an “Ein Klippen Kloppen burg”, ie:- a main street with many closed businesses, a few “grosse preis” restaurants, some interesting architecture, and pier access to the Rhine with it's multitude of traffic. Cruise boats seem to stop here.

The collage today includes our yellow hotel here (Eu 60 / night + towel rental!!!), Schindler's Lift (sorry, couldn't resist), Innsbruck dawn, down the Rhine, architecture samples, and across the other side of the Rhine.

Mixed drive today. Recovered the car from the garage, then 100 miles of interesting roads through Austrian Tyrol, and on into Germany proper (take what inference you like out of that.) Autobahn for the rest of the journey, but non-toll :-) Fun and games south of Mannheim where 2 x 4 lanes merge, plus major road works. “ Knife through butter ” sums that bit up nicely, although how I got through in only 5 minutes or so when all around seemed more or less stationary I'll never know. Neither will Sue – she had her eyes closed.

Apparently our parking ticket might have opened the shutters last night, if inserted into the entry ticket dispenser. We thought of that, briefly, but were afraid the machine might retain it, with unknown consequences. As it was, the whole thing cost us Eu 28 and me much of the night's sleep. Another bit of life's rich tapestry of experiences, dammit.

Rotterdam, perhaps with a quick visit to Amsterdam, tomorrow. Any requests? Naw, forget it.