Day 13 And Day 14 Of Our Rhine River Cruise And Globus Bus Tour Of Germany

After leaving our hotel in the Breitnau area, we drove for a bit on our tour bus until we reached Birnau. Birnau is on the Northern shore of Lake Constance. Germany along with Austria and Switzerland border Lake Constance. In Birnau there is the beautiful Pilgrimage Church Birnau. 

Rows of grapes run in front of the church and down towards Lake Constance 

 Here are some interior images of the Pilgrimage Church Birnau (also known as the Birnau Basilica)

After leaving Birnau we stopped to get something to eat in Friedrichshafen. Veronica and I walked around and went into a grocery store. This was our first time ever seeing an escalator for shopping carts. They even had items you could purchase in a small area that ran between the up and down escalators

After our break for lunch we boarded our tour bus and headed to Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany. Oberammergau is best known for its location where the Passion Play is held in each year where the year ends with a "0" 102 performances of the play took place between 5/15 and 10/3/2010. 

2000 performers, muscicians, stage technicians along with the residents of the town, took part in putting on this major theatrical play. 

We checked into our hotel before venturing out to see the sights of this Bavarian town.

The next play is scheduled for 2020.

We had the privilege of visiting a beautiful church in Oberammergau..the St. Peter and St. Paul Church.

Here are some images of the interior of this church

Images of Omerammergau

Before heading to bed Veronica and I found a nice hole in the wall restaurant that served a pretty good salad and pizza. Then it was off to bed for us.

Unfortunately the next we woke up to a cool, rainy, drizzly, dreary day. Today was our much awaited day to go to King Ludwig's picturesque Neuschwanstein Castle. The weather was absolutely miserable. Between the wind and rain I was only able to manage 3 photos of the castle and below is the best of them. It was so disappointing not to be able to photograph this castle but the weather would not allow it.  

 After we finally walked our way down from the castle and back into town we noticed that everyone was lining the streets. We had no idea why but after asking around we found out that the farmers were doing their seasonal moving of the cows from the higher elevations down to the lower elevations where it was a bit warmer and the grass was a bit greener. We ended up joining the crowds that were lining the street and we able to find a good spot to view the farmers and the cow parade. They even dressed up some of the cows with fancy cowbells and other things.

After the cow parade and the crowds subsided some, we joined the rest of our tour on the bus for our return drive to Omerammergau where we would spend one more night. Veronica and I returned to the same hole in the wall restaurant where we had enjoyed our previous nights dinner. We walked around town for a bit before retiring for the evening.

The next morning we took an optional tour to King Ludwig's other castle...Linderhof Castle. The weather was much nicer for this castle visit

After spending time at Linderhof Castle we boarded our tour bus and began our drive back to Munich. That night we had our farewell dinner as our tour wound down to an end. The next morning we were up super early and were the first people of our group heading for the airport to catch an early morning flight that would take us to Amsterdam and from there back home.

Although we saw many sights they were all seen at a very rushed and hectic pace...very unlike how we usually travel and very unlike how I usually am able to take photos that I want to take. I ended up having to pass up on so many photographic opportunities and the ones I did not take will be kept in my memories.

So what is next for Veronica and I...well we will be returning to Paris and we will actually be staying at an apartment on the famous street...Rue de Cler...THE most famous market street in Paris. That will be in the Spring and my plans are to take a high speed train to Colmar, France and spend a night there and on another day take a high speed train to a place that I have only recently read about...Nantes, France which sounds like a place where we will see things you can't anywhere else...a very interesting location. Probably spend a night there and then return to Paris. Other future trips might be what we are calling a traincation...travel by train to various locations and spend a night or so in each place. I still want to return to Venice again. So many locations...so many photographs...so little time.