[vinayrathore]

Originally Posted by DeepChat

Very nice photos! I'll be using your travelogue to plan my European tour, thought its still some way off

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Living pictures and nice story. Loved the car story more..

Are there many no Limit Zones? Looked like you pushed it towards redline with 4K revv and 200 KMPH!!

--Ramky
======

Originally Posted by Jagdeesh

Usually, the Autobahn doesn't have any speed limit. Unless there are areas which are under construction or accident prone. But the good thing about such places is that the reduced speed limit would still be around 120 km/hr.
People usually get their Ferraris, Lamborghinis etc. from all across Europe to Germany to hit over 300 on the streets.

@Vinay Rathore.

The pics make me nostalgic about my stay in Germany. I had a multimonth rental from Sixt. A BMW 120d M sport which did close to 20K kms in a 8 month period with maximum speeds touching 250 km/hr on my way to Amsterdam within German borders. I think it was the rush to get to Amsterdam .

Awaiting more...

Cheers,
Jagdeesh [Jaaaag]

Sure Jagdeesh, must have been a great experience. I can imagine how squeezing every last bhp out of the monster of a car would feel on an autobahn.

Originally Posted by girishglg

Very nice TL indeed and some super pics, keep it coming. About the autobahn, have been hearing it from younger days when my dad used to narrate the history and construction of these super highways.

These pics brought back all those memories and visualization of these motorways and hope to travel in them some time in the future.


Some narration from wiki-

Thanks guys!

Yes, Autobahns generally do not have any speed limits but I did not see a "No limit zone" go beyond 5-10 Kms. A town, construction zone, Tunnel or a bridge will come and speed limit boards will show up. When an autobahn passes around any such area, the speed limit generally is around 100 KMPH on the main carriageway and 60 KMPH on the support roads in the proximity. The limit then is gradually increased to 120 KMPH and after sometime there will be a board with a crossed 120 written in gray. Any such board with a crossed previous limit means "All Limits end". At this point, you either floor the pedal or go to the right most lane, else you sure will invite some angry gazes while they go past you.

[RM Motorsports]

Can anyone help me how do I add text before the pictures which I upload. I cannot find any option in go advance.

[selfdrive]

Great account there. I am glad someone has put up pics of Bavaria. I have been delaying updates of my own TL for the last 2 years now!
Do you have more pics of Garmisch-Partenkirchen? if not, I will need to update my TL

Originally Posted by vinayrathore

Up there some one paragliding from the mountains nearby. You can see such scenes almost every where in the mountains. Sometime 15-20 together.

Paragliding is done from Tegelberg. This place also has a luge ride.
At Neuschwanstein, we walked down from Marienbrucke to the castle and then took the horse carriage ride back to the bus stop.

[vinayrathore]

We came out of the Cathedral and walked towards the Rathaus. Thankfully it was a Sunday and all the shops were closed. Saved me some Euros .

The Rathaus.


Marien plazt


Heiliggeist Church


Frauen Church


A piece of art in front of The Fischereimuseum or the Fish Museum.


Karlz Platz


We had lunch at the Marian Platz and some some amazing Pastries there. Highly recommended.

It was 4 and we were decided to head back to Augsburg.

An Ape Three wheeler parked near my car in the parking


The same evening at the Motitz Platz, Augsburg


Four days of work followed.

[anand_saraf]

Wonderful TL.. really enjoying the read.. everything about it - the pictures, the trivia and the places... making me want to plan a Europe trip next year!

Waiting for the subsequent installments!

[DeepChat]

Loved the last dusk shot of Moritz Platz! Keep the snaps coming.

[vinayrathore]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Great account there. I am glad someone has put up pics of Bavaria. I have been delaying updates of my own TL for the last 2 years now!
Do you have more pics of Garmisch-Partenkirchen? if not, I will need to update my TL



Paragliding is done from Tegelberg. This place also has a luge ride.
At Neuschwanstein, we walked down from Marienbrucke to the castle and then took the horse carriage ride back to the bus stop.

Thanks SelfDrive! I might have some pics from my earlier trips, let me check. But we would like you to post your TL as well

Not just Tegelberg, you go to any part of the Alps, during the season, you will find hoards of paragliders hovering above you.

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

Can anyone help me how do I add text before the pictures which I upload. I cannot find any option in go advance.

Dear RM, visit this link for help: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_8

Originally Posted by anand_saraf

Wonderful TL.. really enjoying the read.. everything about it - the pictures, the trivia and the places... making me want to plan a Europe trip next year!

Waiting for the subsequent installments!

Originally Posted by DeepChat

Loved the last dusk shot of Moritz Platz! Keep the snaps coming.

Thanks guys! Work is taking up good amount of time. Trying to keep pace.

PS:Just realized I did some typos. Sorry for the same.

[vinayrathore]

On way to office, went to return the car early Monday morning, bade goodbye and expected not to meet her again for the big drive next week.

When we talk about work, let me tell you something about work life in Germany. In summers, with sun rising at 3:30~4:00 am, the day usually starts at 5:30 am and everybody is in their office by 8~8:30 am. The day generally ends at 5:30pm and even the late sitters leave by 6~7pm. With most of the population using public transport, Jams are seldom seen except for the big cities. Very little people carry home food and almost all big offices have big canteens. In our office, there is a buffet. When I say buffet, its not the "eat all you can buffet" as we know it. Buffets in Germany are "take what you can eat" and "pay for what you take". So you take a tray with two plates, fill in what all you want and go on to the POS counter. They will punch in the contents of your tray and you pay through either cash or the food card that the company provides.

I have seen quite a few offices apart from my own in Germany and Austria. They are designed in a way where you can co exist with plants. Yes there are lots of indoor plants in offices. This is to break the monotony associated i guess.

After work, people generally head home and then on to a Brauhaus (Brew house or a Bar). Daylight lasts till 9:30~10 pm but everything including shops close max by 6 and the only thing open would be Pubs and Restaurants. So they have around 4 hours of goodtime everyday.

All in all, people seem happier. Specially during the evenings.

[vinayrathore]

So the week went by and it was Thursday evening. Tomorrow was a big day as we will be literally on the road for the next 10 days. We will be visiting totally unknown places. I was skeptical particularly about rural Czech Republic as had heard some stories about lawlessness. I was a bit nervous specially because of my son who was all of just 18 months. But since last weekend went great, I kept my fingers crossed. We did all the packing that evening with a target of starting by 9 in the morning. With all the anticipation, sleeping was the last thing I did that night.

Woke up at 6, got ready and reached the Sixt office at 8. The same guy was there and he recognized me. After the greetings and handing over the booking sheet, first question from me was which car is it? Same, was the reply. Asked(pleaded) if some other is available. Negative was the reply.

With a broken heart, I took the keys, said Hi again to the car and started off for the hotel where wife was waiting with all luggage ready. With a boot almost the size of a sedan, we had no issues with our truck load of things. Packed the stuff, fastened my son and ourselves on the seats and here we go.

Plan was to reach Prague atleast by 1 so that we have sufficient time to see around. Anyways it was 9:45 when we started. 45 Mins behind schedule. The going was going good.

In no time we were on the road towards Berlin.



A village on the way.


The farmers selling organic produce directly from the farms.


Solar energy is the way to go. Almost every German village has most of houses with roofs covered by solar panels.


And soon we were on an autobahn. Chasing an Audi TT.


A tunnel on the way.


Joined the A93 towards Berlin/Prague. You would see country codes with city names if its in another country. In this case its CZ for Czech Republic.


Some villages with Solar panels.

[vinayrathore]

From A93, we take a right towards Prague.



Entering Czech Republic. Almost all borders have such signs announcing the Country name in local language. No check posts no checking. Also note the sign boards will be in green now.


Just after the border, you need to buy the Vignette or the toll sticker. All countries except Italy(that's a story in itself) has the Vignette system. Germany does not have toll. We stop and buy a 10 day Vignette for 16 Euros but affixing it was a task in itself.


Czech Republic is very strict in terms of traffic offenses. We saw a large number of speed cameras and devices like these. Mr. GPS too was warning us every now and then about the speed cameras.


A closeup.


Plzen or Pilsen is the place where Pilsner beer as we know it was born.


The Motorways in CZ were no different then the German counterparts. Silk smooth all the way.



Some 10 Kms from Prague, we encountered the biggest traffic jam I ever saw in Europe. There was road widening work going on and the highway was squeezed into a single lane road. After an hour and a half of crawling, we got the first glimpse of the City called Prague.

[vinayrathore]

Entering the city, we had some problems understanding Mr. GPS and took some wrong turns. Anyways, soon we were on the correct way.

Czech Republic do look a bit different then whatever the rest of Europe we had seen. There were posters on the walls just like at home.


Majority of the trams running are the old vintage ones.


Skodas rule the roads in the home country.


A tunnel through the rock carved into a gateway.


The cityscape.



A closer look tells us its a Diesel CRV. Not sure why Honda did not do the same in India. Had been a totally different scenario. Europe is full of all kinds of cars that we normally do not see in diesel. I even saw a DDIS old model Wagon R.


Some more cityscape.




And finally we reached our hotel. Getting the car parked was a bit of a pain though. It was a basement parking with a car elevator.

[vinayrathore]

So after a little struggle, the car was parked and we moved in the room. It was on the 8th floor and had a nice terrace with the city view. Amazing!!



After a bit of relaxing, we started off to a walk around the city.

Prague being the cultural capital of Central Europe, the city boasts of numerous architectural wonders. The hotel was near the central district and a 20 minute walk to the Charles Bridge, one of the major attractions.

The buildings on the way. The amazing architecture.


Vintage trams.


Around the National Theater. (Clicked by my phone.)





The Most Legii Bridge


TheFrantisek Palacky Monumen.


And we walk towards the Charles Bridge.

[vinayrathore]

Before you reach the Charles Bridge, you pass through a flee market sort of place resembling Delhi's Palika Baazar. You find everything from souvenirs to t-shirts to food. We did a big mistake here. Since we forgot to get the money changed to Czech Koruna at the hotel, we had to do it here which cost us 20% more. Yes, never exchange money at a tourist place. Anyways we got some souvenirs for ourselves and moved on.

We 3 the Charles Bridge.


The light had gone too low for good clicks and I did not bring the tripod for the walk. But still I tried some clicks.




After spending some time there, we went back to the hotel as it was getting too cold for Kanishk and we were not prepared.

Anyways the terrace at the room had a great view. Took some long exposures from the terrace of the various buildings.

The city views with the Castle in the backdrop.

[vinayrathore]

As a pleasant surprise, the hotel we stayed in had an Indian Restaurant. That meant, we could do without MTR today , trust me, you do get board with MTR too. Anyways, we were too tired to go to the restaurant so I went there to check if they had room service. The manager was a Pakistani and his assistant was an Indian and both were from the respective Punjabs. I over heard them speaking in Punjabi and started my conversation in Punjabi too. This made them overwhelmed with Joy and almost jump with excitement. Both seemed very happy to meet me. Although there was no room service, they still extended it for me. But I told them I will take it myself as it was a bit late (10pm) and the boys had left. I came to know that the last orders they take is 9:45 but they were so happy that they not only offered me food but free drinks with them while I waited for it. I too felt really glad to meet them. The hostility we see in the subcontinent, seemed only an adjective without a meaning here. I know of many such examples elsewhere too.

Next morning, we had half a day to see the Prague Castle and then had to leave for Vienna. So the target was to reach the castle by 10am see around and leave by 3pm so that we reach Vienna by 8~9 pm. I had requested the manager to allow us the parking till 3pm as using the trams was convenient then searching and paying for the parking outside. This is always true everywhere.

We loaded the luggage in the car, came out and took the Tram number 26 to the Parliament complex from where we could walk till the castle. The feel was no different then our city buses. Completely opposite to what we saw in Germany. I was shocked to see signs of "Beware of Pickpockets".

It took 20 minutes to reach the designated stop, the St. Nicholas Cathedral.


You really have to depend on conventional maps sometimes.


Note how Škoda rule the roads there. Below and above.


Some statues on a nearby buildings.



There were lots of Vintage cars being used for city tours. Some looked original and some heavily modified to accommodate extra passengers.





The entire area around here was part of the parliament complex. With various ministries and departments housed in different buildings.

[vinayrathore]

We moved ahead and started our climb towards the castle which is situated on a small hill. Its a 15 minute stair climb. As you reach the top, a large compound greets you with a big gate guarded by the Czech army. On one side is the large wall of the castle and the other has beautiful views of the city. This side of the fort like walls have small peeps from which people flock to see the views.

The Parliament complex from above.


The Charles Bridge. See the crowds there.


The far off National Theater.


Skyline.


Then you enter the gate, pass this long passage and get into


this main compound.


The north end of the St. Vitus Cathedral which is the central building inside the castle.


Also to you your right is the House of Sexton.


And when you turn around, you see the red Basilica of St. George.


You walk towards the St. Vitus' main building and you see this