Munich - Florence

Prague - Munich - Florence

We drove out of Prague earlier than we had planned because there was a heavy fog and you could not see anything. Car parking is a problem in Prague, around where were anyway, and the hotel arranged for us to park in the grounds of another hotel, down a winding set of streets close to the Castle. This was about 8:30am and the tour guides with their myriad of followers were already out pointing up to the facades of buildings, and the queue in front of the castle doors was long.

I extracted the car and went back to the hotel, loaded up and started down the narrow street in front to the hotel. it seemed very narrow for two way and a truck coming up alerted me to the fact that it was oneway coming up and the police were at the bottom of the street waiting for cars coming down.

I backed up the street until I could turn around and were were on our way out of Prague.

Again we avoided the toll roads and it took us a long time to get out of Czech. It was pretty depressing because the houses all seemed to be in a pretty bad state, but the scenery was beautiful. We finally crossed the border int Germany at a crossing where there was a huge shed which was obviously a customs post before the Czechs joined the EU. There was a German customs chase car tucked into a lane seemingly waiting for something as there were two officers in the cars which was idling.

We had taken such a long time on our back roads that we needed to find an autobahn to get us to Munich rather more directly. The Avis office closed at 6 and it was now after 3 and there was about 2 hrs driving to get to Munich.

So a little low flying once we got to the autobahn was in order. I had an Audi A3 with a max of 240km/hr. I did not get anywhere near that but did do about 160 where safe.

Arriving in Munich, our TomTom got us quickly to the Pension Margit, we moved our luggage into the  smallest room we have ever stayed in. Then it was off to the Avis office, we had about 15minutes to get there. Got there with 5 minutes to spare but I could not turn into the Avis driveway. Marguerita got out and went to the office which was closed by the time I got back. BUT the boys were down the back dealing with the days returns so I managed to get rid of the car.

We walked back to the Pension and found an Italian restaurant on the way where we had a good dinner in a very pleasant setting.

Walked back to the Pension and we squeezed in and turned in.

In the morning we were up and breakfasted by 7:30 and on our way to the station by 8. We walked as the station was about 400m away.

We found our way, Marguerita doing the asking, to the 1st class waiting room and we settled down for a comfortable wait for the train to Bologna.

Our train, whilst not a TGV type was very comfortable, with 4 passengers to the compartment and we had a business man in the compartment until Innsbruck and then an american couple, Bill and Cherry from Innsbruck to Verona.

We are climbing up through Austria

Idyllic countryside

The top of the ski jump at Innsbruck
 

We are still climbing up to the top of the Brenner Pass where we entered Italy

Italy just after the Brenner

This was a significant route for the invasions going both directions
THe towns have both Italian and German names and
this is a picture of some fortifications facing south

It was amazing the buildings on the sides of the mountain valleys

Vinyards in the Dolomites. The raw cliffs of the Dolomites

Vinyards occupied almost every square metre of flat and often partway up the mountains

We often saw Churches set high on the hillsides or as this one close to a cliff. Perhaps for disposing of heretics.

We arrived in Bologna 5 minutes after our train to Firenze had left. On our train from Munich we met an other Australian couple from Sydney who had the same problem and we banded together. The Italian signage is not very helpful when trying to find the Information desk. Eventually we found assistance and were on the next Frecciarossa to Firenze not quite an hour after we should have left. The departure platform was 3 floors down, underground and in fact except for 3 or 4 maintenance gaps we were in a tunnel the whole way from Bologna to Firenze. I know that for much of the way we were at ground level so they have enclosed the highspeed rail track for some reason.

30 min later we were in Firenze trying to contact Cesare, who was to open the apartment for us. Finally when we were in the taxi I managed to get Cesare. Our taxi from the station deposited us at the door and we waited for our little man to arrive. It was a very narrow street lined with parked motorcycles and very old buildings either side. We are around the corner from the Duomo. A truly fantastic location.

The apartment is magnificent and must have cost a fortune. It is in an old palazzo and has two main rooms, bedroom and living room with a modern kitchen and bathroom.

We had good dinner, with a very drinkable tuscan wine, just around the corner away from the Duomo, and then after dinner we walked back and continued on to the Duomo. It is a truly awesome sight as you turn a corner and there is this stunning building.