Bruges

From Bavaria we drove to Bruges where we stayed overnight in Dusseldorf.  We had a lovely suite in a stunning modern hotel where the kids entertained themselves, whilst I did all the packing lol:

We then set off for Bruges:

After spending 89 Euros on chocolate we got on this.....

.....and sadly headed home.

Bravaria

After 2 weeks of City breaks one after the other it was lovely to finally reach Bavaria where we stayed in a ski resort in the foothills of the German alps.

The clouds cleared and off up the alps we went.  We decided to visit the Eagles Nest which was Hilter's secret hideaway on the top of the mountains.  We drove up a real step hill and at a couple of points I swear I thought we were going to go backwards as the road was that steep.

We parked the car and waited to board the bus up to the top.  From here it is a single track road and buses run up and down the mountain.  At this point the roads are narrow and very close to a steep drop:

At the top we got off the coach and took in the views, which as this point were a little cloudy.

We walked down the 400ft marble lined tunnel into the mountain to the original brass lift which takes you over 400ft up to the top where the building still stands today.  

At this point you are 6,017 ft above sea level with views like this:

After a nice alpine rest we set off for Düsseldorf.

Austria

Beautiful, gorgeous, expensive Austria.

We travelled from Krakow down to Vienna through the picturesque Slovakia.  I'm not quite sure what I expected Slovakia to be like but it really surprised me and was very pretty.

The majority of this trip we stayed in Novotel and Marriott hotels, all of which are 4*.  As I said Austria was expensive.  We stayed in the Novotel and paid £178 for 1 night in Vienna and I can honestly say it was the most cramped room ever.  Novotel family rooms are all the same but when I am paying that much for 1 night I expect to be able to move around the beds.  The room was that small, even Freya at 8 had to shuffle sideways to get past the bottom of the sofa bed.  Then we paid 95 Euros for a ride in this:

Although the carriage ride was expensive, I can honestly say it was well worth the money as it gave us the opportunity to see the City in its entirety which we would never have done with my leg in the time we had in Vienna.  As with the rest of this trip we had the most glorious sunshine.

And down by the water in Vienna, was this little man made beach.  It was so lovely and sunny but sadly we did not have time to soak up the sun.

Next we set off for Saltzburg with plenty of smiles:

Saltzburg was as expected; Sound of Music everywhere.

From Saltzburg we went to Bravaria in Southern Germany for a bit of Country alpine air.

Poland Part 2

After the wedding we headed back to Warsaw where we went up the top of the Palace of Science and Culture.  This is the Palace from our hotel (31st floor) on a much clearer day:

Warsaw was really not what I was expecting, very modern and the parts of the old town that we did see was not as impressive as I thought they would be.  These are some views of the city from the top.

The tall dark building on the right was our hotel.

After Warsaw we went to the beautiful City of Krakow.  Sadly due to my broken leg we were unable to go to the Castle, however, we will certainly be going back here, hopefully sometime soon.

Then off to Austria we went.