Tuesday, June 13 – Krumbach

We started today with a tour of Salzburg. First stop for pictures was a spot across the lake from the house used to film The Sound of Music. From there we drove to near the centre of town and walked in. Most of us rode the tram up to the Hohensalzburg fortress. We wandered around soaking up the atmosphere and taking in the various displays and exhibits. I found this chastity belt particularly interesting. Ouch!Meanwhile, Trevor and Betty went straight to Mozart’s house because the slopes and uneven surfaces of the fortress would be difficult walking for Trevor and Carol and Marge took a tour that they just raved about.

We left Salzburg about noon, grabbed a quick lunch on the road, and arrived in central Munich about 2:30. Mary Ann hiked a few blocks to the Marienplatz, where she met a cousin. The rest of us went to the nearby Hofbrauhaus for pretzels and beer. There is a World Cup game here tomorrow and the atmosphere was pretty festive. Contingents from various countries were chanting out their team cheers in great spirit. The house band played a Spanish song and the Mexican group got up singing and dancing. It was all great fun.


At about 4 we made our way to the Marienplatz to meet Mary Ann and take in the obligatory observance of the Glockenspiel. Bells play a song while carved figures on the bell tower play out a story for the crowd below. It is not real exciting, but it is pretty neat what they were able to engineer with fairly primitive technology.

From there we dropped off Frank and Nora-Anne at their hotel on the west side of Munich. They are staying here for a few days to visit cousins that Frank has been corresponding with about genealogy. As he says, it will be their first meeting in 300 years. We will meet again in Toronto on the way back.

From there we were off to Krumbach, a small town about 40 km SW of Augsburg. The booking service that I used didn’t have anything suitable in Augsburg, so I found a place nearby. The last few kilometers were a quite pleasant drive through scenic countryside that you just don’t appreciate whizzing by on the Autobahn. The town is pretty and quaint, as is the hotel.

Weather today was beautiful - warm with bright blue sky. Maybe it was a little too beautiful, as a couple of people were bothered by the heat.