About 10 kms up a very steep mountain is the sleepy medieval village of Pacentra.  Pale limestone paths, worn shiny over hundreds of years.  Lots of narrow winding streets and many many steps.  At the top of the hill is the remains of the castle.  From here you get a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains, the valley below and in the distance the equally beautiful village of Sulmona.  The air is crisp and clear.  It is quiet and peaceful.  There are no tourist traps.  No McDonalds, Starbucks or of the other fast food joints.  Old ladies sit on their front steps calling across the road to their friends.  Men sit outside the coffee shops, cafes or barber shops and chat.  

Pacentra in Abruzzo

who would believe this was edible.  All of it is.

Mario Pelino is the famous Confetti maker of Sulmona.  The Pelino family has been making this confetti in Sulmona since the early 1700's and the art of confetti dates back to the early 1400's.  We visited the Pelino factory and museum.  Everything is still made by hand.  I watched ladies making the beautiful bouquets.

the machinery at the Pelino factory

Sulmona is famous for it's confetti.  Not the paper stuff, but sugar/candy coated almonds and other nuts.  These are then fashioned into exquisite bouquets of flowers, butterflies, lady birds, sunflowers to name a few of the possibilities.  The sweets are bought for special occasions, births, weddings, anniversaries etc etc.


You can buy bags of sweets which we did.  Almonds and pistasios dipped in chocolate white and dark and then candy coated.  They are delicious.

These are not flowers, they are sweets made to look like flowers

Village of Barreo

Lake Barreo

Us at Lake Scanno

Lake Scanno

On our second day in Sulmona we set off on a journey along the mountain road winding up and over a pass and down into a valley and then up and over another pass and so on.  We drove through very picturesque mountains and valleys, passing through pretty medieval  villages clinging to side of the mountain. 

Eventually we reached Lake Scanno, a beautiful Emerald green lake nestled into the valley. 

Halfway along the lake is a bridge that takes you to a church and beyond the church you can walk to an area where there is a bit of beach and beyond that a small waterfall.

We drove through the village of Scanno and out along the mountain road again until we reached Lake Barreo.  A much bigger lake than Scanno.  Beautfiul emerald green lake with a river leading into it.  We drove up the mountain to the village of Barreo and stopped at a cafe someone at our hotel suggested.  The cafe had a verandah perched on the side of the mountain looking out over the Lake.

The scenery is just amazing.

Sulmona, view from hotel room of mountains

After leaving Bologna we caught the train to Pescara in Abruzzo.  Pescara is on the coast and the train travelled alongside the sea for many miles.  There lots of beaches chock full of brightly coloured beach umbrellas and chairs.  Miles and miles of umbrellas all different colours all in uniform straight lines.

Eventually we reached the busy town of Pescara we collected our hire car.  A tiny 2 door volkswagen that we were just able to squeeze the luggage into.  Our destination was the town of Sulmona at the foot of the mountains. It took about an hour to drive there.

Sulmona is a very pretty town, nestled into the foothills of the most  beautiful towering mountains dotted with villages.

Aquaduct Sulmona

Bologna

Bologna

We spent two nights in Bologna.  Bologna la rossa to the Italians.  Which means Bologna the red, in reference to the colours of the buildings.  They are various shades of yellows, oranges and reds and this changes as the light changes.  The city is also famous for it's miles of porticos or covered walkways.  There are 25 miles of porticos around the city.  When we were there it was very hot, about 38 degrees, so we really appreciated being able to walk along under the porticos.


We went around on the hop on hop off bus and a second little train that chugs it's way up the hill for magnificent views of the city and then reaches the Bascillica St Luca.  There is a single continuous  portico from St Luca all the way back down the hill to the town about 20 kms.


Bologna is also famous for it's cuisine.  Bolognaise which we are all familiar with, ie spaghetti Bolognaise, except here it is not served with spaghetti but with taglietelle pasta and also famous for lasagna and mortadella.

The famous Golden Roof

We are now in the beautiful city of Innsbruck.  The town is surrounded by towering snow capped mountains and alpine meadows.  The river Inn flows swiftly through the town separating the old town and the new town.


There are many beautiful baroque buildings but the most famous is the golden roof.  Erected by Emperor Maximillian to show off his wealth and prestige.  We went into the newly opened church which contains his empty tomb and is surrounded by life size bronze statues of his relatives and ancestors.   He is actually buried in Vienna.


We are staying in a lovely character filled hotel right in the heart of the old town.  The hotel has been an inn since the 1400's and Mozart stayed here as a 13 year old boy on his way to to Vienna with his father.


Yesterday Colin went by cable car to the very top of the mountain.  Reached by funicular rail and then 2 cable cars and a walk to the summit.  He said is was the highlight of the trip for him.

Colin at the summit

View from summit

View of mountain from Innsbruck

After a day in Munich we caught a train from Munich to Innsbruck.  A 2 hour journey.  Not an ICE train but still nice and comfy.  We shared our compartment with a young couple from Sweden.  We have met some lovely people on the trains.

Us on the train to Innsbruck

We had a full day in Munich.  The ICE train got us there early enough to watch the Glockenspiel perform one of it's 3 daily shows.  This one at midday.

Glockenspiel

We travelled from Nuremberg to Munich on the ICE train.  This is a super fast, super efficient train.  It travelled at 280kms gliding silently and effortlessly on the track, you hardly knew it was moving.


Comfy leather seats, lots of room to stretch.  They bought us around some free snacks and there was free WIFI.  Our journey only lasted an hour. So it was over very quickly.

ICE train to Munich

We are now in Nuremberg.  There's lots to see and do here.  Today we visited the Document Centre and the Zeppelin Fields.  That's where Hitler had his famous rallies.  Where he staged these shows of military strength and the towers from which he addressed hundreds of thousands of people.


The Document Centre is now a museum, a partly built building by Hitler the interior of which is now the museum.  Telling the story of the Zeppelin fields and then later the Nuremberg trails.

The Document Centre

Our Lady's church

Hangman's Bridge

Me at the Castle

We are in Dresden.  Dresden was heavily bombed during the war and had to be rebuilt almost completely.  The old town is very pretty with it's cobbled streets and lovely buildings.  The church though very new, is beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.

Church of our Lady

Inside church of our Lady

The hottest hardest work in Berlin must be the guys who strap themselves to a gas powered hotplate and sell Bratwurst Mit Bruchen - sausage in bun, standing in the sun all day.

Sausage seller

Me sitting by the river

Finding your way around Berlin is quite easy.  There is a network of buses, trams and trains that can be accessed quickly and easily using just one all day ticket that covers all forms of transport.

Today we went to visit the Story of Berlin museum.  It is a multimedia museum with over 20 themed room that let you experience 800 years of Berlin's development.  It's almost as if you were there at the time experiencing it.  An excellent museum.  As part of that visit we also visited a nuclear bomb shelter from the Cold War, situated right below the museum.  It was built in the seventies allowing shelter for 2 weeks for 3600 people on a first come first served basis.  It was quite creepy down there. Definately not a place where I would want to experience 2 weeks of living.  Why 2 weeks?  That's what they used to believe was safe time away from a nuclear bomb.  They thought it was safe to back to the surface after that, which is now known to be nonsence.

Symbolising book burnings in the 1930's

We did a day trip from Berlin to Potsdam.  It's only about 15mins or so from Berlin.  Potsdam is lovely.  There are two palaces there.  We visited the Sans Soucci Palace built by Frederik the Great.  It has has beautiful gardens and fountains.

San Soucci Palace

Yesterday Colin went on a walking tour called the Cold War Tour.  It was a 4 hour walking tour all about the Cold War.  He visited Check Point Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the Halocaust Memorial and many other sites.

Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie

One of the buildings that remained untouched during the war was the Wilanow Palace.  A beautiful 17th century palace built for a king of Poland and referred to as the Versailles of Poland.


We visited the Palace and it's gardens.

Wilanow Palace

Colin inside Palace

Our final destination of our tour of Poland was Warsaw.  A city with a population of around 2 million people.  It is hard to believe now that in WW2 Warsaw was completed flattened.  Absolutely everything had to be rebuilt.

Our hotel was located in the new part of town not far from the train station.  Our room on 22nd floor had a terrific view of the Stalin memorial building.

Stalin building from hotel room

At night with a full moon

Gdansk

From Sopot we drove not very far to Gdansk.  


We fell in love with Gdansk.  It is a really pretty town.


There is the old town with the largest brick cathedral in the world.  There are lots of lovely narrow cobblestoned streets filled with shops and restaurants.  The river runs right through the middle of the old town.


Gdansk is the hometown of Lech Walesa, leader of the solidarity movement and former President of Poland.  We drove along the road to freedom and saw the shipyards where it all began.  He still lives in Gdansk.

Gdansk

Rubbing the lions ears or nose is supposed to bring good luck

When we woke up in the morning there was a thick blanket of fog which eventually turned into heavy rain.


Our first destination was Sopot.  


Sopot is a small seaside city which together with Gdansk and Gdynia forms the Tri City.  The Bay of Gdanski is sheltered by the Hel Peninsula and because of that the waters are warmer than anywhere else on the Baltic Coast.  
There is 4.5 kms of lovely clean sandy beaches and there is the longest wooden pier in Europe.
Unfortunately it was pouring rain when we were there.  The only wet day we’ve had on the trip.
We did walk out along the pier though.  There is a pirate ship and several other boats that run regular trips from Sopot to Gdansk a short distance away.

On the pier, longest wooden pier in Europe

The Salt water from the fountain is supposed to good for you 

After leaving Posnan we drove to Torun.   The town is situated on the Vistula river and there are remnants of a town wall and a fortifications.  Birthplace of the great astronomer Copernicus.  Also, the Teutonic Knights.  The town dates back to the 11^th century. The Old Town boasts a large number of sights, mostly dating from the Middle Ages, such as St Mary's Church erected by the Franciscians in the 13^th century, the Cathedral of St John and the Town Hall. 


The panorama of the historical quarter as seen from the left bank of the river or the bridge, especially when illuminated in the evenings, is really stunning.


Undamaged by WW2 the town has been added to the UNESCO world heritage list.  It is also famous for it’s gingerbread.  There are many shops selling gingerbread and there is a gingerbread walk of fame.

Town Hall Torun

Our next stop was Posnan.  Crowded with churches and cobblestoned streets and colourful burgher houses, the old town is a mixture of different architectural styles and the old town square is stuffed with churches and museums.
The town hall in middle of the square has a clock and above the clock is a little door that opens at midday to reveal two mechanical goats who come out, turn to face each other and head butt each other a number of times before retreating back behind the wooden doors.  A bit bizarre and quite funny we thought.
There is a legend about a roast deer that got burnt and the stealing of two goats as repacements who away to the town hall tower and fought. 
It so entertained the townspeople that the mayor ordered mechanical goats be made and installed above the clock.

The Goats coming out at midday

Head butting goats

From Zakopane we drove to Wroclaw. Wroclaw has gnomes.  They are everywhere in Wrocław. Like a miniature army they dot the city’s doorways, alleys and street corners.  They say there are about 180 of them around the city. They are knee high and adorable.  It was a bit of fun to go around town looking for them. We only managed to find 4 though.


Gnomes have a long folklore history in Poland , but their current iconic incarnation in Wrocław began in the 1980s. Under communism gnomes became the absurdist calling card of the 'Orange Alternative' movement – an underground protest movement that used absurdity and nonsense to stage peaceful, yet subversive protests.


Apart from the gnomes there was quite a lot to see in Wroclaw.  It has a magnificient town hall which I mistook for a cathedral.  It has an underground tavern that has been in existance since the 1200's making it the oldest in Europe.  It also contained a prison, a small room with a hole in the ceiling where prisoners were dropped through and left where they fell.

One of the cute gnomes

Wroclaw Town Hall

Colin in town square Wroclaw

After leaving Krakow we visited the alpine village of Zakopane.  High up in the mountains with beautiful views of snow capped peaks and deep green valleys where sheep graze.
The houses are wooden with sloping roofs and window boxes full of colourful geraniums.  Reminded me very much of the Swiss Alps in minuature.

Us with the Tatra Mountains in background

Zakopane is also famous for it's sheeps cheese.  It is made in moulds with fancy patterns and smoked in wooden huts.  You can buy the cheese on every street corner and there are plenty of roadside stalls as well.

Sheep's cheese for sale

Colin in the main street of Zakopane