GERMANY FRANCE REVISITED

Sure was some tense driving when Fay sent us up a mtn pass with snow EVERYWHERE. Really beautiful! We weren't to know the Austrians would charge us 26 euros to go through that area. More of the kids' inheritance spent!

We stayed with 2 lovely Servas families in Bavaria (Germany) - Christian and Sigrid at Siegsdorf and Volker and Lieselotte at Senden-Aufheim near Ulm. All teachers except carpenter Christian. Good occupation for a bloke called Christian!
Poor Peugeot was covered in snow the 2 days we woke up at Siegsdorf. A very pretty sight. (I'll show you later.)

Their area round Siegsdorf is well known for hikers and skiers (and windsurfing on the Chiemsee for 5 days each year when the wind is blowing!)

On Friday we left Siegsdorf headed for Ulm, there was snow, ice conditions, wet roads, QUEUES of traffic and more trucks than I've ever seen in my life. I figured there was a truck convention on. Some roadworks didn't help and probably caused some of the delays.

After visiting the tallest church steeple in Europe at Ulm we headed for France stopping for 4 hours at the new Mercedes Benz museum at Stuttgart. WOW! (Got photos here too.)

We stayed at 2 hostels in France as we headed towards Paris. The Chateau des Rohan in Saverne was a big chateau and was the youth hostel. We were the only ones staying there until another couple arrived early in the evening. The chateau is now a museum, a school and a hostel. There were 80 steps to reach the top floor where our room was which we did 5 times before we went to bed that night.

At Troyes-Rosieres we stayed in a hostel being renovated. Hard to tell who were guests and who were workers but they found room for us. Room with brekky worked out at just under 30 euros, 50 AUD. Now around Fountainebleau area - also quite stunning. We visited the chateau this morning used for 8 centuries by French Royalty and Napoleon. Then off to Paris tomorrow to drop Peugeot off (sad sad) before staying with a Servas host nearby and then flying out of Orly airport on Saturday 11 November to Athens.

After Greece we will head to Italy since we are due to fly out of Rome on 28 Nov for Beijing and Hong Kong.