A weekend near Munich

We love to meet up with a friend we’ve known since 1993 when she was a teacher at Laurie’s work at Timbertop School. Renate has been to Australia and we make a point of travelling to Munich to visit her when we are in England and she has come to us in London as well.

This visit we headed for Munich and the train trip to the south of the city to a little village called Ebenhausen. Our first night saw us at dinner on the Isar River at a gorgeous traditional German restaurant. It was ‘fish night’ nd we got stuck into some beautiful trout.

The next day was beautiful and sunny so we headed for the highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspizte. At 2,962 m (9,718 ft) above sea level, it lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the border between Germany and Austria runs over its western summit.

We had lunch in Austria and coffee and cake in Germany!

The scenery is amazing. We took a cable car up the mountain, then another to an incredible ice hotel, after looking around  inside it we then took another cable car to a cog wheel railway and half an hour down the mountain through a very dark tunnel, squashed between heaps of exhausted skiers.

On the road to the Zugspitze

Laurie and Renate on the summit of the Zugspitze

On the border into Austria

From the top of the Zugspitze

Mountains as far as you can see

One very steep cable car

The Ice Bar

The African theme is followed in the entire Igloo Village

   

There about 27 bedrooms. Lots of sheep skins on the beds!

The incredible details in the ice sculptures are amazing

A line of camels welcomes you into the hotel - entirely carved from ice.

The doorway in this mound of snow behind the external bar is the entrance to the Igloo Village. 

You’d never know it was there from the outside

For more information about the ice hotel you might like to explore the following site: 

http://www.iglu-dorf.com/pdf/IDZU_Info_en.pdf

The tariff shows as 174 Euro per person or about $A492 per double!

More to come on our stay near Munich. Have to pack now!

Snowy Sweden

We hadn’t been to Sweden since 2011 so were very much looking forward to seeing this beautiful country again. Our last visit was during temperatures of - 18 degrees. Very cold indeed. 

Whilst very cold this time too of course it didn’t start snowing till the second day which was fine by us. 

This time we stayed with a friend, Annette Berglund, who lives in Borås about 40 minutes east of Gothenburg where we landed from our flight from London. Gothenburg is on Sweden’s west coast and is the country’s second largest city.

Borås is also known as the city of textiles being the home of the Swedish School of Textiles, part of the University of Borås. 

The Fashion Textile Centre was one of the first places we visited. 

Like an aboriginal dot painting - stunning.

The exhibition explained the connections between just about everything we use as being related to textiles of some sort from fire hoses to filaments.  Innovation with textiles was everywhere.

Tops of coffee bags!

Fabric made from fibre optic threads and light transmitted through the fibres - very effective

A special technique using rayon and indigo - the effect is fascinating

The same object side on

Cambodian Letters by Emiko Nakano 2009 

Japanese paper, silk, multi layered weave, clamped shrinking

Quite close to Annette’s is the oldest Stave Church in Sweden. The word stave refers to the method used to build the church. Located in the village of Hedared, 10 minutes from Annette’s, the medievil church was thought to be built in the early 15th century.

The tiny Stave church at Hedared

The quaint interior. The church was closed in the winter. This photo is courtesy of Wikipedia

The interesting construction of a stave building

Our Swedish friends, Perolov Thornqvist, Annette and Laurie at the Hedared Stave Church

 During our stay Perolov and Annette took us to a glass factory which was very interesting, especially the prices!!

The Glasets Hus at Limmared is south east of Borås. The display of glass was stunning and the demonstration fascinating.

The front of the glass factory modelled on a bottle. It started snowing as we left

The senior glass blower was keen on trying a new technique which involved rolling a bottle under production in previously prepared glass pieces. The pieces are blasted with a gas burner to make them hot enough to adhere to the bottle. It was fascinating to watch and worked out really well. We weren’t able to see the finished product as it had to be placed in the kiln to be brought down to temperature slowly to avoid breakage.

From a blob of glass to a beautiful vase

Gradually the blob gets blown larger and larger

The little glass pieces are heated so they will adhere to the vase

The vase is rolled over the hot glass pieces

The vase is rolled and rolled and continuously heated to make sure the 

glass pieces melt into the vase

The vase, when completed, was placed in a kiln to cool down slowly so when it was removed it would be shatter at the change of temperature.  Limmared has a long tradition in glass. The Limmared Glassworks was founded in 1740, and has been producing without interruption ever since. Today it is known as the main supplier of the world famous ABSOLUT VODKA bottle.

********

Our last full day in Sweden found us in Gothenburg. After exploring the shops and picking up a few things we headed for the water tower high on a hill overlooking the city. After squeezing into a lift which only fits two people, (reminded us of the hotel lift where we stayed in Paris in 2011) we enjoyed a really nice lunch in a freezing cold wind. No seats  left inside!

The views were lovely and quite clear despite the cold. 

In the middle distance is a huge crane working near the Göta Canal which runs into the sea

Annette’s sister has a property on the island of Hönö which is west of Gothenburg. The ferry, (free) took only 10 minutes to take us to the island which is a very popular tourist destination.

Our ferry leaving the mainland on the way to Hörö

The island is very beautiful and we could see why it is a popular spot for holidays. Very close to Gothenburg too.

Despite the tourism aspect of the island the town is still a working fishing village

As picturesque as this boat is there’s a bit too much water in it for my liking!!

Returning to Gothenburg we collected Annette’s little dog, Agnes, from her Mum’s then drove home. It was beyond Agnes’s dinner time and she quietly let us know!

We were pleased during our stay to witness some native deer visit even into Annette’s back yard for a feed.  later on in snowed quite consistently so we’re not sure where they would find a feed.

Very cute.  And inside the fence!

Four hours later, not much grass to be seen.

Annette’s beautiful house near Bredared - still snowing. We were so lucky to be looked after by Annette and shown round by she and Perolov. It's so good to have a local connection.

The morning of our departure was even snowier than the day before. The ground staff at  Landvetter Airport, Gothenburg had to spend a large amount of time de-icing the wings of our plane.  The ice and snow was really quite thinck. We were sprayed with something that looked like anti-freeze used in your car radiator.  Despite the snow and these delays the flight was uneventful,  always a good result.

The snow partly-removed from the wings of our plane. The fire engine then sprayed an anti-freeze type liquid over the plane to remove the ice. Couldn't see much after that till we took off as the windows turned yellow!!!

Next we travel to Munich

********

A brisk look at Ancient London

London Walks are a great way to get the inside story of London from incredibly knowledgable guides who come from all walks of life and who have a passion for history. The walks last for about two hours and weave in and out of little laneways and what you think must be private spaces but which are not. They depart no matter how bad the weather.

On this particular freezing cold and windy Sunday afternoon we decided to explore Ancient London -  Knights, Nuns and Notoriety! This walk is led by Sue who is a Freeman of the City of London, a rare award usually bestowed on royalty but in more recent times to others who excel in their field of interest and expertise.

The first was believed to be presented in 1237. Historically it allowed recipients to take their sheep over London Bridge without paying a toll! This greatly improved the profitability  of the trip when they sold their sheep at the Smithfield Meat Market!! 

Our guide, Sue, is also a history and arts lecturer and a Fellow of the Huguenot Society. Her delivery was interesting and colourful telling us of the incident of the head of a duke kept in a biscuit tin! Of the bursting of a well known William’s body which had to be scooped back into the coffin, and the disgraced prioress who had been sharing her bed.

Another tale whether tall or true was the tradition of having to open Sir Francis Bancroft’s coffin each year for a hundred years, to wish him well and serve him bread and wine!!

We heard of the tale of 13 knights performing three deeds of bravery, one above ground, one below ground and one in the water. We heard of the marking out of the southern boundary of the original City of London by a knight throwing a spear from the middle of the River Thames at low tide.

In the middle of this walk is revealed in an obscure square Devonshire Square also known as Cutlers Gardens, surrounded by modern offices which you would never even contemplate exploring as it seems private but we can go in by special arrangement for London Walks participants. Being a Sunday it was very quiet.

The Knight of Cnihtengild by Denys Mitchell, is made of beaten bronze, covered with stylised birds with blue crystals in their tails. It is quite stunning and apparently looks amazing lit at night.

This is the story behind the knights

There are segments left of the original Roman wall which surrounded Londinium. Although it was first settled in AD 47 the Romans didn’t build the wall until an estimated 190 and 225 AD. The Romans abandoned it in the 5th Century.

This surviving piece of the London Wall is behind the Tower Hill Underground Station.

Excavations and constructions in London often reveal items of archeological significance which generally are prized although some developers aren’t thrilled because of the delays they can cause. Those perceptive developers use the finds as a positive by highlighting the discovery and making a feature of it in their building.

Some other buildings we came close to are pictured below.

30 St Mary Axe is the proper name for this distinctive sky scraper in London known as the Gherkin.

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate first mentioned in 1212

 Surrounded by modern buildings, St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, is a mediaeval church dating to 1210. Incredible history.  It now serves the business  people in the area holding many of its activities during the week.

St Helen’s at the left and on the right the extraoardinary Lloyds of London building where all the workings of the building are on the outside, the lifts, air conditioning pipes etc.

Next: Our five day visit to Sweden.