Austria for Lunch?

We are just back from Munich and it was so wonderful that I thought I should devote a blog to it.

Business first - we spent the best part of Friday at Bimobil. They are a company that build camper bodies for 4WD vehicles. We first saw them in Morocco and were so impressed we decided that this was the way forward for us. Hilda the Hymer was always an interim vehicle and she will go to a new home some time late next year. (check out www.bimobil.com)

Bimobil design each body individually, so that’s what we were doing on Friday, as well as bombarding Simon, the marketing manager, with loads of questions regarding building it onto a Landcruiser chassis. Having lived in 2 motorhomes now, we know what our priorities are – storage, storage, storage and this one should do the trick.

A Typical Interior

Don’t get too excited, this is a 12 month project so won’t be ready for quite some time.

Since we were in the region we thought it appropriate to see a bit of Bavaria. We arrived by happenstance for the first weekend of Christkindlmarkt (Christmas markets) and there seemed to be people from all over the world in town. On top of this the local football team, Bayern Munich, was playing Borussia Dortmund so the city was also full of out of town football fans. The place was absolutely heaving. The market is really just a great excuse to put on all your clothes and stand around in the freezing cold night air drinking gluhwein and eating wurst.  We felt obliged to join in the fun.

Neue Rathaus and Markets

Day 3 we ventured into the Bavarian Alps. It was like driving through a Christmas card. Snowy trees, onion domed church spires, cuckoo clock houses and the odd snow flurry. We did a quick tour of one of Ludwig II’s fanciful schlosses, and could see very clearly why he was called Ludwig the Mad (Ludwig the Absolute Barking more like it).

Me in the Snow

I'd forgotten how silent snow is, and so gentle, it makes rain seem noisy and undisciplined by comparison.

Road in Bavarian Alps

Chocolate Box Villages with cuckoo clock houses

Day 4 we decided to drive to Austria for lunch. Salzburg is only 130kms away so it seemed like a fine idea. We woke to quite a lot of snow but the roads were clear and everywhere just looked like a postcard. It was a beautiful drive and Salzburg is still lovely. Downed a quick gluhwein and some goulash for lunch and then off to the airport.

Salzburg was a balmy 4 degrees

Now back in Lisbon, we are eating vegetables and drinking water. After 4 days of beer, pork, cabbage and potato dumplings that have the consistency of squash balls, we need to detox.