Middle-aged flash packers

Day 6 – Bad Reichenhall 

The ghost in the machine has given up on us. No strange switching on of the a/c in the early hours. Phew.

Packed and breakfasted, we headed off for a final visit to Lidl. This time we  had  hoped to buy something for dinner for  when we arrived in Bad Reichenhall, as well as breakfast and sandwiches for the journey. Ambitiously S had been hoping to buy a veal steak to be served with some fresh vegetables. (Veggies are not a priority here. In fact we’ve never found France big on vegetables, another of the French food myths.)

Plans scuppered as usual. We couldn’t find a a basket, and trolleys require a coin to operate them. We have no coins so we could only buy what we could carry which was pastries for breakfast and lunch. 

Never mind, it’s the most beautiful day we’ve had so far and we are only going to be stuck in the car for over 6 hours as the German motorways are full of roadworks and accidents. (German myth-the  autobahns are great,  you can drive at 100 miles an hour.Only if there’s no traffic jams. Which is never.)

We stopped for just long enough to have a wee at a trucker’s toilet stop. Everyone else held up on the autobahn had the same idea so there  wasn’t just a queue for the loo, there was a queue of cars trying to park to use the loo.

We eventually arrived at the     Ferienwohnungen Tivoli apartments in Bad Reichenhall (curious mixture of Italian and German ). The sun was shining, the air was fresh and our hostess was charming. Hurrah!

Our apartment is very pleasant with a beautiful balcony overlooking the mountains. The kitchen is tiny and doesn’t have an oven but it does have a hob, microwave and fridge so I was sure we’d be able to conjure up something. 

After a well deserved beer for Steve,  it was off to check out  the delights of Bad Reichenhall. 

We had both imagined a small traditional alpine  town with one  tavern serving hearty food and steins of beer. 

Not a bit of it. It has its own cable car (to be avoided at all costs) ,loads of snazzy shops and it’s very posh. Aperol spritz was  the drink  of the day and delicious looking cakes and glaces were being consumed by exceedingly well heeled ladies.  We felt a bit conspicuous in our zip off hiking trousers and flip flops. 

We did manage to find a reasonable supermarket (not a Lidl) and imaginatively dreamt up some tasty meals that could be cooked without an oven. This made Steve very happy.

The rest of the evening was spent drinking wine, me cooking (gnocchi Bolognese with peppers and mushrooms) and Steve researching things to do locally and also where we should go after this. Austria’s weather is not looking good – will the hills be alive ?