Leave Wed AM for 14 days in DE, AT, IT

Have a great trip Lee! Glad to see that you're branching out to Italy and Austria--it will be fun to follow your progress. You did a great job with your itinerary posting--I enjoyed beautiful photos!
Sharon

Lee,

I'm not sure what type of Net access will be available for your Netbook in Hallstatt. When I was there last year, a brand new Net Cafe & Bar was just opening so they may offer either wired or wireless connection? It's right around the corner from Gasthof Simony and Hotel Gruner Baum.

I can post a photo if you're interested?

Have a great trip!!!

Have a great trip, Lee. I will follow your progress with great interest.

Hi Lee,

Have safe and fun trip! Will be looking for your updates on your site. Enjoy!

Paul

Hope you have a good trip, Lee.

love your itinerary posting, have a great trip!

Lee ...I always enjoy your great advice to others from your travel experience and have made lots of good notes for my next trip. I will be following your adventures with great anticipation. Thanks for all your posts and I hope you have a great trip.

Hope you have a wonderful trip and enjoy trying to decipher that deep Bavarian and Austrian accent. It can be tough!

Schoene Reise!

Jo is right, when I get down there I have to mentally translate the South Bavarian/Austrian dialect into German, then to English. Fortunately they can understand my German or I'd really be in trouble.

A train trip into Italy for lunch? I'd tell most travelers that's not a good use of time. I presume your purpose is to see the Brenner Pass?

Brenner Pass. That's what I want to see. I'll go at least to Brennero, not sure if I'll go all the way to Bolzano. Maybe I'll get to see a little bit of the Dolomites.

This way I can check off Italy (LOL).

Great Post Lee, and looks like you have all your time planned out. Will enjoy your updates as I will be going to several of the same areas in Sept.

Lee,

The Kufstein-Brennero rail trip is fantastic (at least I enjoyed it)! You'll have a (very) few minutes to have a look around when they change locomotives. On past trips, the Police have wandered through the cars at the border, but I've only had my Passport checked on one occasion. Stopping in Bolzano for a quick "walkabout" for a few hours sounds like a good plan.

I'll be interested to hear your impressions when you get back.

Happy travels!

I'm here in Munich, ready to travel to Herrenchiemsee and Freilassing. I'm using the mobile Internet connection Andreas mentioned to write this. It works but it is a lot of work (phone calls in German) to make it work.

Good to hear from you!

Thanks for the updates on your website. Sounds like you're enjoying your beer.

Lee,

I was interested to read about the Bus trip that was required due to work on the rail lines.

The same thing happened to me on the trip from Salzburg to Hallstatt (actually on the leg from Attnang-Pucheim to Hallstatt). The train stopped, everyone disembarked and boarded several large Coaches and then eventually we reached another train and resumed the journey.

Unfortunately, the PA announcements were all in German and none of the station staff that I was dealing with could speak English so I was a bit "lost". Fortunately a very kind Austrian lady sitting across from me explained the routine and I got to Hallstatt on time and without any problems.

Really enjoying reading your Blog!

Hey Lee, looks like you are enjoying yourself with some grand weather. Are you in shorts too? I have been checking your blog each day.

Lee,

Did you get through the Brenner Pass yet? Any impressions?

Looking forward to your next Blog entries.

I went over Brenner Pass yesterday. Having spent years in Washington State and in Colorado, I wasn't awed by Brenner Pass, but it was pretty, with forested valleys and quaint Alpine towns. The most interesting sight there is the highway. They tried to make a more or less straight superhighway in a terrain that didn't match, so most of the way it is suspended in the air. It was interesting to see from the train, which most of the way is below the highway.

Lee,

As B.C. has similar scenery, I know what you mean about the scenery in the Brenner Pass. Maybe it just seemed more interesting and beautiful to me as I knew it was Europe?

It was great to see the three photos of Hallstatt - just as I remember it! I see Hotel Gruner Baum is prominent in one of the photos (nice dinners there, but not inexpensive!)

Hope the trip is going well.

After five days of limited Internet access, I am in Schliersee, a resort town in the Bavarian Alps about half way (by crow) between Munich and Innsbruck, and there is good reception (2 bars, but better than before) for my G3 Aircard here. Hope to have good reception from here on out.

Lee,

It sounds like your trip is going well! It's fantastic to hear that you're able to communicate well enough in German to not only get compliments but also "fool" some of the locals. One of my goals is to eventually be fluent in Italian, so hopefully I'll also be able to communicate in the same way (although that's doubtful as I've never been able to "fool" the locals - when I use Italian, they generally reply in English).

I was a bit confused about your location when you mentioned "Steinach". I believe there's another town of that name north of Munich, on the way to Rothenburg. However, after checking your Map the difference became clear.

Cheers!

WOW Lee. Very nice!!

Add me to the list that is following your travel log. Your ambition for learning bus routes on local transportation systems still amazes me.

Regards, Gary

Hi Lee,

I'm following your trip also. You mentioned it was supposed to get down to 41F the other night. I'd be interested in knowing what the average daytime temps have been so far? Thanks and enjoy the rest of your trip.

Paul

I've enjoyed reading your blog and seeing your pix. I admire and envy your good German. Mine is barely sufficient to get around. Your photos remind me why I love this region so much.

Gary, I found a lot of the bus routes (in Germany) on the Bahn website. If there are no rail alternatives, the bus routes will show up. If you want to "favor" buses (like I did from Osterhofen to Mittenwald, you go into "advanced selection of means of transport" and uncheck the trains. There is also the RVO website, www.rvo-bus.de, but it is in German.

In Austria I used OBB.at and SVV.at.

Lee,

I can very much relate to your "walking experience" at the Deutsches Museum. I was determined to at least have a look in each part of the Museum and dwell for a bit in the parts that interested me. As in your case a brief stop for lunch was my only break, and at the end of that day I was VERY THANKFUL to get back to the Hotel for a rest. My legs felt like I had covered all 16 kM in the Museum!

Your experience with the breakfasts also sounds familiar, as I really enjoy the boiled eggs in the morning. I always look forward to staying at Hotel Uhland as their breakfasts are incredible! Fortunately, they haven't forgotten the eggs in the morning.

You indicated that your "tour" of Dachau would depart in the afternoon. Are you taking a guided tour?

Glad to hear that the trip is going so well!

The update of my website on Sept. 1 will probably be the last until I get home on Thursday night (or Friday morning). I have lost my GSM connection, so I now have to rely on Internet cafes (I'm in one now), and I'm not sure if I can upload from there.

BTW, on past trip I have taken along a spiral notebook and kept a detailed journal of my travel and what my experience and feelings have been. This time I'm recording it on my laptop so I can put it on the website. It's not taking much time than the written journal took, but I can share it with you.

I've been a little lazy since I got back (jetlag, of course), but I have finally attached photos and uploaded my last report. I didn't take any photos at Dachau. I only regret not getting a picture of the "Nie wieder" sign. Sigh. But considering Cambodia and the Balkans, I guess we haven't learned much.