22.08.2011 – 22.08.2011  34 °C

Driving day today! Got myself going pretty early as I knew I had a fairly hefty drive ahead of me from Innsbruck to Stuttgart. The drive through Austria and very southern Bavaria was absolutely gorgeous. The climb through the alps and the Fern Pass was pretty beautiful! Unluckily, many other Austrian and German’s had the same idea of taking the back road into Germany (avoiding the Autobahn) so the drive was spoilt by constantly having to watch traffic but really you’d have to be in a pretty awful mood to not appreciate the beauty of the Austrian Alps.

I found myself passing a couple of derelict castles set atop craggy cliffs so I was very much transported to another realm.. I spent my time driving through the alps more watching the scenery than the road!! (not dangerously.. just when I could!)

If the drive wasn’t already a four and half hour trip I would have stopped in the pass to take some photos and just soak up the scenery.. Absolutely beautiful! I think skiing in Austria is on my list of things to do another day!

Once I hit Germany it was back on the Autobahn on the way to Stuttgart. Stuttgart is the home to Porsche and Mercedes Benz and just quietly this is the only reason you would come to Stuttgart. To put it quite bluntly it was a waste of my time going to this city! I think in fairness I wasn’t expecting too much (I knew it was an industrial town) but every other city where I haven’t expected anything has more than exceeded my expectations and I guess I thought that Stuttgart would wow me.. Nope it didn’t do that!

The town was raised during the war and unlike many of the other cities in Germany many of the old buildings weren’t rebuilt. Some of the notables were but I guess it being such a hot day (again well over 35 deg), no breeze and no shady trees or umbrella’s to sit under my whole impression was quite sour. There are no noteworthy museums, art galleries, palaces or cathedrals so……………….. I think I’ll stop here and say that unless you are dead keen to see the Porsche or Mercedes factories don’t bother! (I didn’t see either—I’m not that interested!)