Day 9 - Wednesday 20th September - Venice

So I'm not sure if the fall shook my insides all around as I thudded to the floor, but I was up most of the night emptying my stomach contents. I felt very unwell when I eventually got up. Just had a cup of tea and then lay on the couch while John went out to get some things we needed. Later in the afternoon when I was feeling a little better we ventured out at a very, very slow pace to accommodate all my aches and pains.  We walked to the jewellery store to exchange John's ring for a smaller size and John was going  to buy me the matching earrings to go with my cameo but that would have to wait until our next trip because I was still feeling quite nauseous. We slowly made our way into the new department store next to Rialto which opened earlier this year in a fully restored palazzo called Fondaco dei Tedeschi and this is its name. The building was once a storehouse for german merchants' goods and also had 160 living quarters and offices. The plan had been that on our last day we'd come here and go to the rooftop terrace that had views over this magical city but the way I was feeling and with the queue we found to go up, we decided to wait til our next visit for that too. It's full of designer brand stores so no purchases from us. The ground floor though is dedicated to all things Venetian and made in Italy but that will have to wait too. We made or way back home and after doing some packing I slept on the sofa for quite a while and poor John had to go out for a last passegiata alone. I finished the packing, went to bed and left John to tidy up as we were leaving the next day.

Day 8 - Tuesday 19th September - Treviso

Today we were heading to Treviso by train to see the Italian Rellas, i Trevisani. It had been raining all night and would be raining all day so a good day to get out of Venice. Set off with our brollies and weather appropriate shoes and caught the vaporetto at Ca' d'Oro to the station, bought our tickets,  remembered to validate them so we wouldn't get fined, and we were on our way. When we got to Treviso railway station Moira and Lucia were waiting for us.  So so lovely to see them both. Moira had a day off work and Lucia is now retired so they took us for a passegiata under their big umbrellas, Lucia took John's arm and I took Moira's and we strolled around until it was coffee o'clock. They took us to a gorgeous new cafe called 'Caramella' where we talked the legs off the chairs, as Alison would say, drank coffee out of very pretty cups and enjoyed tiny cupcakes. We then went through the market and into a new fancy food store that's opened up, them headed back to the station where Lucia had parked the car. We headed to Moira's place where we helped her get some lunch ready. Marco arrived for lunch - great to see him again too - and we ate and talked and talked and caught up on everything. Then it was time for Marco to go back to work and for Lucia to pick Giovani, her son, up. We helped Moira tidy up then she took us for a drive in Marco's very fancy new Citroën seeing as it was still raining. She decided we could go to Possagno, a small town in the Province of Treviso where the famous sculptor Antonio Canova was born.  We visited the house where he was born then went to the Gypsoteca di Canova. It's a gallery full of plaster replicas of all his marble sculptures that are all over the world in various famous museums and there were also some of his small terracotta sculptures in glass cases on metal stands. We wandered around the first few halls full of lovely sculptures and saw Le Tre Grazie that my cameo is modelled on. We went through to another hall and as I was wandering around the sculptures looking at the small terracotta ones I failed to see the one and only step. We were walking on a white marble floor on a slight slope down and the step, which had only one dark line at its edge led to an equally white marble floor and not easy to distinguish. And besides, the display was set up so that the small displays were at eye level so that's what I was looking at.  Anyway, I went flying spectacularly through the air,  the whole time willing myself not to topple any of the glass cases containing these precious artworks over. I ended up at the base of one of the said cases,  next to the wall. I hit my bad knee on the metal base, twisted my left foot badly and injured my right foot and shoulder in the process also. Moira and a couple of young men ran over while John slowly appeared,  all concerned I'd hit my head but head was OK, just everything else was hurting, especially my pride. I told Moira this is what happens when you take little old people out on excursions! John helped me up and they took me over to a lower section to sit down. When I was feeling OK I hobbled around the rest and then out. Moira took us to a nearby cafe and got some ice for my knee. After a little rest we piled into the car and headed back to Moira's to wait for  Marco to get home from work so we could go out to meet Lucia, her partner Paolo,  Giovani and Matteo, my other cousin Eleonora's son. She is Lucia & Marco's younger sister. We did stop in  at Marco's bicycle store on the way there first. Moira put ice packs on my knee and foot for a while before we left then headed to a restaurant Lucia had chosen near where they all live - Wild Buffalo Steakhouse. Not very Italian but there was lots of room to accommodate such a big group. By the time we got there I wasn't feeling 100% and my foot was killing me.  We all had great meals, talked laughed, took photos then we said our goodbyes and Marco & Moira took us to the Piazzale Roma in Venice so we didn't have to catch the train. So lovely to see them all again. Shame we didn't get to see Lorenzo but he was in Trieste where his university is and he'd had exams to sit. We just missed a vaporetto so waited for the last one to go (11.41pm) and then slowly hobbled painfully back to our apartment.

Day 7 - Monday 18th September - Venice

Today for lunch we were going to head back to our favorite restaurant in Venice, Villa '600, which is on the island of Torcello, the first island to be inhabited in the Venetian  Lagoon. We went there a few years ago and fell in love with the place and the food. Knowing we would catch the vaporetto at Fondamente Nova we headed towards Zanipolo again, where we stopped for a coffee then made our way to the best bookshop in the world, Acqua Alta. We haven't been able to resist buying something here every visit. This time I came out with a book of Venetian landmarks and scenes drawn in biro and watercoloured and with lovely descriptions. John bought yet another Veneto/Italian dictionary. Oh and I bought each of the girls a lovely pencil with a swarovski crystal and venetian mask on it. We took more photos on the stairs made out of piles of books that have been ruined during the acqua alta (when the canals overflow and flood the streets and stores and residents have to wade in gum boots to get around their beautiful city). We also stopped to buy a new umbrella for John because it was supposed to rain later. When we left Acqua Alta we started walking towards Fondamente Nova, or so we thought. Instead we had easily made a wrong turn and ended up at Rialto so we headed up the bridge to my favorite jewellery store, Gioielleria Eredi Jovon. Last time we were in Venice John bought me a beautiful blue cameo of Le Tre Grazie del Canova and we chatted to the lovely young man for ages, he put me on his email list and I've been receiving updates from the store.  His dad made all the jewellery and carved the delicate cameos as taught by his father and he passed his skill on to his sons who now have taken over since he died and their mum runs the store with them. I knew about a special filligree wedding ring with a 500 yr old tradition that they make which is the symbol of eternal love and eternal luck and wanted to check them out. The mum, Gabriella, was in the store with Marco, one of the sons and she showed us the rings. We both feel in love with them so we decided to get one each in silver and Gabriella reels the story of the ring as I'd read on their website. As she said, 'it may not be true, but we Venetians say it costs nothing to believe it'. Sounds good to me. We chatted about Australia because she'd been on a holiday and loved it, then we made or way to the vaporetto stop for Torcello. John bought another pair of his Venetion burgundy slippers at the same shop where we bought his first pair (well you never know when you'll have another chance to get replacements!). We were at the island of Torcello before we knew it and sitting on the terrace looking onto the beautiful garden full of trees, benches and gazebos.  Our waiter bought us lovely basket of mixed breads and we shared a mixed Venetian seafood antipasto which was as delicious as we remembered and then John had tagliatelle with gamberi (prawns) and zucchini and I had gnocchi with crab and cherry tomatoes.All washed down with a half carafe of prosecco. Deeeelicious. We finished with Tiramisu for me, of course, and Bavarese (a bit like pannacotta) for John. Ask we can say is that we'll definitely be back next trip. After a very relaxed lunch we sauntered to the remnants of what would have been the old town, had another look around,  took some photos, which we've probably already taken in the past, then sauntered back to catch the ferry back. We did stop at Ponte del Diavolo, The Devil's Bridge, which has no sides or handrails,  to take some photos and then were on or way back when the clouds started coming over. Perfect timing after lunch but we hoped it would wait til we got home to rain.  It didn't. We did have our umbrellas but by the time we got close to home my shoes and feet were wet. We stopped for a spritz out of the rain and then head home to dry off. Another wonderful day in our beautiful Venice.

Day 6 - Sunday 17th September - Venice

Relaxing morning in our lovely piece of Venice. Our apartment is beautiful but the shower leaves a lot to be desired - very low water pressure and no way to stand under it because the head can't be turned away from the wall. But we made it work as on the Enterprize - wet yourself,  soap up, rinse off. After breakfast we decided to walk towards Ospedale at San Zanipolo but found that we were waddling towards the hoards of tourists which meant San Marco so we changed route, found a vaporetto stop and when we got on decided to go all the way around til we got to the stop before San Marco where the Lido ferries leave from. We wanted to see if we could get to Chioggia, which is on the south western tip of the Venetian Lagoon, for the day. We found that the season for the boat trips had finished but we could catch the vaporetto to Lido and a then a bus to Chioggia. The Lido is the very thin peninsula at the north boundary of the lagoon and stretches down towards Chioggia. Great idea! By the time we got to Lido it was time for lunch so we checked out all the restaurants in the main drag and settled on one of the many. John had Fritto Misto this time and I had a fish called Orata baked in the oven, and we shared a salad. Little did I know that I'd ordered a whole fish and not a fillet. So I gingerly ate this delicious fish, picking out the bones carefully, but enjoyed every mouthful. At the end of our meal the little man running the place offered us some Limoncello on the house, to help our digestion. Don't mind if we do. We strolled to the bus stop, hopped on the bus, checked with the driver that it was going to Chioggia and eventually it set off. We passed through the town and then down along the extremely thin part where the road runs down the middle of this big strip of land with water on either side. Then we got to water separating one strip and the next and before we knew what we should do, the bus drove onto a ferry which took us over the water! The bus continued on to Pellestrina the last town on this peninsula. We stopped and waited for the bus to get on the next ferry to take us across the water to Chioggia which was just on the other side. Lots of people stayed on but the bus started to head back to where we'd come from. Apparently we needed to get off and catch the ferry ourselves!  By this time it was late in the afternoon and apparently we were on the last bus so had we got off we would have got to Chioggia but would have had a long swim back. So we stayed on the bus and headed back to where the bus got on the ferry and heard people saying that the bus we were on wasn't going back to Lido, it was heading off after the ferry stop in another direction. So we all got off, ran onto the ferry, crammed onto the bus on the ferry and went full circle back to where we'd started. Well that was thoroughly exhausting so we caught the vaporetto to Piazzale Roma where we went to COOP the big supermarket we remembered and bought some supplies for dinner - stinco di maiale al forno (roasted pork shin) and some roast potatoes nom nom nom. Had a relaxing dinner and evening in.

Day 5 - Saturday 16th September - Munich to Venice

After a hearty breakfast we set off to the station, which was fortunately only a few minutes away,and in the rain of course. We bought some rolls for the trip, found our DeutschBahn train and our seats and settled in for our long journey to Venice via Verona where we would be changing trains. We had been on this route before when we had gone from Innsbruck to Venice in 2009. We travelled through the beautifully picturesque alps,  through tunnels. We passed many castles up on hilltops, some looking quite delapidated, some looking quite elegant and superior to the towns below.  We passed dozens and dozens of vineyards with the red grapes still waiting to be picked and pretty mountain town after town. The train was very comfortable and before we knew it we were in Verona lugging suitcases up and down steps to change trains. We found seats but then changed them so that we could fit our cases with us. After a while John realised that his umbrella wasn't where he thought it was. He wandered back to the seats we'd started at, there was a man in a long white dress with a little hat on sitting there but he didn't ask if he'd found a brollie there.  Then when the train stopped at Mestre we saw the man in a dress get of the train with John's umbrella safely tucked under his suitcase strap! Bye umbrella. Our Freccia Rossa wasn't as fancy as the German train but still comfortable and we arrived in Venice around 5pm. When we came out of the station there were hoards of people, but not the tourist hoards, it was a bunch of Italian nutters protesting against the new government law that children had to be vaccinated to attend school! Seems these nutters are all over the world. Ahhh Venice. We always feel like we've arrived home when we get here. Such a beautiful fascinating city that we never tire of visiting. We pushed our way to the ACTV ticket office to buy our 3 day vaporetto tickets, then headed to the Linea 1 vaporetto stop and made our way to Ca' d'Oro to meet Elena who would take us to our apartment.  We followed her down Strada Nova past the street to the last apartment we had, turning left, right all the time forgetting to take note of landmarks. Fortunately only one bridge to cross because when we got to the apartment, I'd forgotten that we were on the top floor and no lift. But what a gorgeous entrance - a courtyard full of lovely greenery and we clambered and hauled up the lovely old marble steps, then discovered that we had another huge flight of stairs to go! But what awaited us was worth it, an enormous, elegant apartment with a long balcony over a quiet canal with gondolas slowly cruising by. Heaven! Elena left us after passing on the usual instructions and information and we collapsed into the beautiful white leather sofas, one each. Once we'd checked the place out, opened all the cupboards etc we headed out to find the supermarket and explore our new surroundings. What a fascinating place this is. We wandered and wandered and as we'd decided to eat out we looked around and settled on Osteria dal Riccio Peoco close to home. Looked full of locals and not tourists which was perfect. The lady who served us was a real character and when we hadn't decided when she came back she told us we could take as long as we wanted because she didn't finish work until 2am. John decided on the Fegato alla Veneziana con polenta bianca (livers Venetian style) and I had Fritto Misto di Mare both super delicious and for dessert we had a specialty of the house - a luscious custard served with 2 types of traditional Venetian biscuits to scoop it up with. What a wonderful way to end a long day. We made our way back home and again fell into bed.

Day 4 - Friday 15th September - Munich

We've been waking up at 6am so no chance of being late for our tour. Showered, dressed and down for breakfast by just after 7am and we were at the bus for the start of our tour by 8.10am. The tour was to start at 8.30 but as they filled each bus they headed off, so we were in the 2nd bus and headed off about 8.15am. There were 6 buses in total. The sky was as clear as a bell and we were going to be very lucky with the weather with rain predicted late in the day. Our bus guide was Barbara, a lovely German lady probably in her late 50s and our bus driver was Klaus. The bus headed out of Munich and soon we were going past very lush green fields, the occasional herd of cows and picturesque little towns in the distance. Then The Alps came into view topped with snow and Barbara was very excited to point out Germany's highest mountain appearing right in front of us told us how lucky for us to have such a clear viewer of it as it's usually covered in fog or clouds. It was indeed spectacular. After about 1 1/2 hours we got to our first destination, Linderhof Castle. One of King Ludwig II of Bavaria's dream castles. It's the smallest of his castles and the only one he saw finished. His father had a hunting lodge on the land which he visited often growing up and when his father died he had the castle built in the early 1800s and spent a lot of his time there. It's not a big castle at all with smaller rooms than you'd expect in a castle, but just as elaborately decorated. Ludwig was a collector of small vases so we saw dozens displayed on little shelves up the walls. He was a great admirer of the French sun-king Louis XIV and took inspiration from Versailles in the decoration of this small castle which made it look even more over-the-top. It faces a beautiful terraced garden with a cascade of marble stairs with a music pavillion at the top and an ornamental lake resplendent with Neptunes fountain in the middle which shoots impressively up in the air each hour. Back on the bus.  Barbara was very particular about people being punctual for the departure, but we never found out what the consequences of being late were. I forgot to mention that seated in the front row just in front and on the other side from us was an odd couple - an older fellow probably in his late 60s and a younger woman probably in her mid to late 30s. We worked out that he was Spanish and she was Russian (probably a mail-order bride or internet match??) They were very lovey-dovey, holding hands, smooching and he only seemed to speak Spanish and she Russian. They communicated by speaking into their phone and it would translate what each one said. Really weird. So weird that one couldn't not look and listen! Anyway, off we went in the direction of our next stop,  Oberammergau, a pretty town in the Bavarian Alps. It’s known for its once-a-decade performance of the Passion Play in the Passion Play Theater which lasts 7 hours, and the houses have frescoes on them depicting the Grimm Brother fairy tales. This was our souvenir shopping stop so I followed the instructions and bought some souvenirs then we went to an Italian cafe and had lovely coffee and shared a pastry. Back on the road to our last destination, Neuschwanstein Castle, King Ludwig's fairytale castle on which the Disneyland castle was modelled. Building started in 1869 but it was never completed. He wanted it to be a monument to medieval culture and kingship. As we approached the village of Hohenschwangau we had our first glimpse of this beautiful, white, fairytale castle up in the mountains nestled amongst the lush green forest. The bus dropped us off at the Hotel Müller where we could get some lunch and use the restrooms. Barbara gave us or entry tickets for the castle - our entry time was 3pm, not a minute earlier. The only catch with seeing this magnificent castle is that it's way up the mountain. There are 3 ways to get up there: 1 - line up to buy a shuttle bus ticket, then line up for the bus, then walk 15 minutes to the top;  2 - line up to go up by horse-drawn cart, then walk 15 minutes to the top; 3 - walk 40 minutes uphill up the steep path. We bought a parmesan and rocket baguette for lunch, some postcards and then chose option 3 because we had time to slowly make our way up. I really don't know how some people made it up! All good at the start, then huffing and puffing,  but not stopping, we passed the place the horse-drawn carts stopped and made it to a very well-positioned and welcome kiosk where we had an icecream rest stop. It was just nice to be on flat and not sloping ground. Refreshed we trudged up the last section to the top, stopping to take photos of the castle as it appeared above us through the trees. At the top we rested and watched many skydiving groups coming out of the sky and floating down to the green green fields below us. The scenery was spectacular. We wandered around the back of the castle to see the little bridge, Marienbrücke, in the distance where people go photograph the castle. We didn't go to it because it was a 15 minute walk there and 15 minutes back uphill. When 3pm came we were herded in, were assigned a lovely young guide whose name I've forgotten,  and off we went with her. The tour took us through all the completed rooms of the castle. Ludwig only got to spend 172 days at this castle before he was certified insane by the government, which locked him up in Berg Palace, near Munich, and he died mysteriously and suspiciously in the nearby lake. The castle is enormous and again very opulent and excessive. The exterior is immensely impressive though and looks exactly as you imagine a fairytale castle. Once our tour was finished we got to take photos from the large balcony at the back which looks out towards the bridge. Then we made the rapid trudge downhill, which was no good for my fixed knee, onto the bus and on our way home. Klaus the bus driver had beer for sale so John got to have another German beer as we made the 2 hour trip back. Smooching was still going on in the front seat and two American blokes behind us didn't stop talking and then we had to listen to the woman in front of us on the phone complaining to her phone company about her phone coverage or lack thereof. So an interesting trip back but not peaceful. It just started to rain as we walked back to the hotel and it was about 7.30pm by then. I did a bit of packing and then went to an Italian restaurant very close to the hotel and naff two delicious meals linguini con vongole and papardelle con scampi. Fell into bed and slept like logs.

Day 3 - Thursday 14th September - Munich

Raining and cold today! Bavaria's autumn seems to be more like winter. So we decided to be real tourists on the good old hop-on hop-off bus. After breakfast we headed just up the road to where the bus routes start.  It is handy being close to the railway station because a lot of things start from there. Brollies, scarves and jacket for John and cardigan for me, because i wasn't all that cold (big mistake) and we were off. Sat up the top, at the front and soon the sun disappeared and the rain started. We did the small route first and saw all the sights in the city centre, then we changed to the longer route and our plan was to get off at Nymphenburg Palace, wander the gardens, visit the inside of the palace and have lunch at the restaurant there. It was raining a bit when we got off so we went first to the Marstallmuseum which is in the former Riding Stables where we saw a collection of the most elaborately decorated royal coaches, carriages and sleighs. They were almost all resplendent in gold leaf and very, very fancy. Dozens of them in all sizes and all a bit too ornate for my taste in coaches. We walked through the porcelain museum but didn't linger. We were in need of coffee so we went for a short walk through the gardens to the Palmhouse where we found the little coffee shop looking over a small beautifully manicured part of the gardens and by the time we'd finished our coffee the rain had gotten heavier. On the way back to the palace through the gardens we took some rainy selfies then headed to the dry interior of the castle. The castle was commissioned in 1664 by Ferdinand King of Bavaria and his wife Henriette of Savoy, to mark the birth of their son Max Emanuel. The palace was extended several times to become the enormous place that it is today. We didn't get to visit the four extra pavillions (small palaces) on the grounds because it was too wet. The interior of the castle is beautiful with the usual gorgeous inlaid timber furniture, lots of royal portraits, tapestries etc etc. We love to visit these places but one can't help but see a similarity of over the top opulence in all the castles we've visited. Watched the 3D animation of the different building stages of the palace which was interesting, then spent some time and money in the gift shop before running in the rain and wind to catch the bus. I really should have worn a warm jacket and waterproof shoes so on the rainy trip back I dried my socked-feet and shoes on the heater by my feet. We saw Munich's Olympic Park with its big tower and glass roofed pavillions and the enormous BMW centre - had office,  new vehicle collection point and there's also a BMW museum. We didn't get off until we got to the end because it was raining to heavily. We headed back to the hotel to get warmer clothes and more appropriate shoes for me then went out again because we hadn't had lunch and I had some souvenir shopping to do and we decided to book the bus trip to see some castles the next day. Remembering that the underpass at Karlsplatz had lots of eating places all under cover, we headed there for a snack. By the time we surfaced the rain had stopped so, having sat for a large part off the day,  we strolled back into the centre and down some new streets we hadn't ventured down before. Found a lovely coffee and cake cafe where we resisted the very fancy cakes as they were too big and had coffee and a macaron each - salted caramel for John and I had chocolate & raspberry. On the way back to the hotel we stopped in a department stores so that I could get a warm beanie seeing as the weather was so cold. Because I have such a small head I managed to get a nice wooly hat in the kiddies section because I didn't like the adult ones and John kept laughing every time I tried one of them on. For dinner we went to a Schnitzel restaurant we'd passed many times but neither of us ended up having schnitzel. The waiter pointed out some of the traditional Bavarian dishes so John had beef in red wine stew with two different dumplings and I had pork strips in a creamy mustardy sauce. Very delicious. We started to see lots of boys dressed in lederhosen and girls in dirndls leading up to the start of Oktoberfest. Fortunately we'll miss it. But it was fun to see tourists buying up the traditional Bavarian costumes and having fun. Early start tomorrow for our bus tour so we tried to get to bed early but too many things to see wandering around.

Day 2 - Wednesday 13th September - Munich

We had 2.5 hours in Changi airport where we wandered aimlessly for a while then waited sleepily in the gate lounge as it was 2am Melb time by then.  Second flight was on schedule and thanks to my eye mask, neck support collar and fancy new noise-cancelling earphones I slept through the meal service and then on and off until we only had 4 hours to go.  John has admitted that an eye mask would be useful because he woke when the lights were turned on for the food service but he got some sleep too. No crying kids which was helpful too. Breakfast choices were interesting, we both chose the pork noodles which gives some idea of what the other choice might have been! No issues when we arrived so found somewhere for coffee and croissants before our 45 minute train ride into Munich Hauptbahnhof. Found our hotel easily but as it was only 9am by the time we got there we left our bags and wandered into the main city square, Marienplatz. We chose a hotel close to the station because we'll be on an early train to Venice on Sat but as is the case for all train stations, the immediate surroundings aren't very elegant - we have a local strip joint just up the road which makes our comings and goings a little more interesting and interesting characters to pass by but the hotel is quite nice and comfortable. The old city centre seems to be wall to wall department stores of one sort or other and designer stores.  Marienplatz is a nice sized square with a hugely elaborately decorated city hall resplendent with huge tower housing the carillon with a display of the Coopers' dance,  reenactment of a dual wedding and a knights' jousting tournament which all are performed by figurines when it chimes daily at 11am and noon. We stopped in the square for coffee and, for some reason one huge delicious pastry each, instead of sharing one. Yum! Bellies satisfied we continued through the square,  through an arch and soon found  ourselves walking through the Victuals Market, the Viktualienmarkt. This food market has been trading on this site for 200 years. Lots of very interesting little shops to examine from meat stores, where you could also order a bread roll with deli meat and eat standing at the bar tables provided, to fruit and veg,  to stores selling beautiful fresh and dried herb decorative wreaths and bouquets. There were a variety of food  stalls where you could buy delicious looking sausages,  schnitzel and other goodies to eat in the beer gardens set under magnificent huge trees at one of the dozens of tables with bench seats. We decided that this is where we'd have lunch later! We wandered through some little streets and found the Tor Peter, the bell tower at St Peter's church. We'd seen people up the top while having our coffee and thought this would be a good thing to do. We paid our €3 each and set off to climb the 306 steps to get to the 13th floor. Even though by the time we get half way up in these towers we choose to climb and I'm huffing and puffing, red-faced and hot and regret my decision, we're always rewarded with magnificent views over the cities we're in. This was no exception. Our bird's eye view of München was lovely over its old red roofed buildings,  wide main pedestrian street and narrow little streets. I took photos of all the towers i could see. Not sure which ones are open for climbing but this one would do for today. After clambering down the narrow steps and stopping many times along the way to let people coming up pass, we headed back to the market for lunch. Well, we were overwhelmed with choice which always makes it harder to make a choice. We found 2 spots at one of the tables under a huge tree in the beer garden and John went off first to get something for himself and came back with sausages with tomato and curry sauce and bread  and then went to get beer. He returned with a huge stein - 1/2 litre was the smallest glass you could get! John said the beer was delicious but I had a few shops and,  yep, it tasted like beer ... yuk! I got myself a sausage,  sauerkraut and patate in teccia - Deelicious. I let John share some of mine because it was tastier than his. While people watching and listening we discovered that there were many aussies around us. In fact there are aussies everywhere. We left the beer garden when many people around us lit cigarettes. We'd forgotten that huge numbers of europeans smoke and you have to constantly move out of their trails of smoke. We headed back towards the station so we could get our train tickets to Venice for Saturday and then go back to the hotel because our room would be ready. We showered checked the room out and then headed out again,  this time with warmer jackets and brollies because it's not at all warm here as we were expecting and wandered back into the main square. At Karlsplatz the huge intersection we go through discovered a fabulous underpass to take you from one street to another full of shops and eating places and even a department store. We (I ) looked in a few stores but once again the stores are so over-heated that I feel like I'm going to die so there's absolutely no chance I could try anything on, so I had outside to find John who's usually sitting somewhere reading. In our wanderings we found remnants of the old city walls with a few of the towers that have survived. We were starting to feel a little weary so for dinner we went to a place in the main square called Rischart - bakery downstairs and restaurant upstairs. We must have looked baffled while checking out the menu which was all in German because the waitress asked if we'd like the English version. John had their special burger and I had a lovely turkey salad. Slowly the place emptied out and we were the last ones there. The waitress asked if we could pay cash because they had closed off the credit facilities. She explained that they closed at 8pm and had asked the chef to put our order through. We must have looked tired and in need of food.  All good. She told us not to hurry and they cleaned around us. Too early to go home so we strolled around for a while as the rain had stopped and eventually went back to the hotel and fell into bed. Very comfortable bed but those stupid feather pillows must be the worst things ever invented.

Day 1 - Tues 12th September - Melbourne to Singapore

Very organised this trip, we had everything ready for days with just last minute things to add to the cases before we left the house. Of course it was raining in the morning while we walked the short distance to Turtle Cafe (which is actually closed for renovations to open as "A Girl Called Jayne" ) to catch the Skybus and it stopped shortly after we arrived at the stop and had a sunny ride to the airport. New departure procedures easy without forms to fill out. Flight left on time at 3.40pm and went remarkably quickly with 2 movies for me (Beauty & the Beast and Hidden Figures - both great), some reading and food and drinks (Singapore Sling of course to start the journey for me).