Thursday, 6 May

Another great breaky with Christina then got away reasonably early. We certainly enjoyed our stay with Helena and her mum and we are extremely grateful for their warm hospitality and help. Headed for Vernonica's village of Edling. Coffee at Veronica's lovely house, where Michael stayed last year, then she drove us to Chiemsee, the largest lake in Bavaria, where we took a boat out to an island, Herreninsel. Walked up to Herrenchiemsee which is a huge schloss or chateau built by King Ludwig 11 and modelled on Versailles - quite a site - he also built the "Disneyland" castle, Neuschwanstein. It had been raining when we left but now fined up, around 10C. Lunch back at Ebling at an excellent restaurant - Land Wirtschaft - last Bavarian meal worth noting in full - Krustenbraten vom Jungschwein mit Dunkelbiersoss und Kartoffelknodel dazu Speckkrautsalat - great. Alcohol free wheat beer - a bit of an oxymoron in Bavaria but essential before driving through the Alps. Back to Veronica's to pick up our car and say farewell - thank you very much Veronica - you are a great tour guide and friend. Best wishes to Helena, Veronica and Lara with their various university studies - we look forward to hearing of big achievements from them. Headed for Rosenheim, got lost a couple of times, finally onto the autoabahn heading for Innsbruck with the weather lifting and temperature up to 16C at one stage. Through Austria in less than 2 hours then through the amazing Brenner Pass arriving at Brixen-Bressanonne at about 6.30pm. Josef and his mother welcomed us into their home which has a spectacular setting perched on steep hill leading up to the mountains, looking across the valley to the snow covered Alps very close on the other side. This is the Sud Tirol or South Tirol and is bi-lingual although most people speak German rather than Italian. Josef's village is Neustift (Novacella). Dinner at Finesterwirt Oste Scuro in Brixen - good meal and wonderful interior - there was a magazine article on the wall which had this restaurant voted number one historical restaurant in Italy.