Castles

Yesterday we drove to Schwangau. That means swan in German. We went to two castles, and they both had lots of swan pictures.

Yesterday we went to Hohenschwangau. The castle was yellow. The queen had her own guest room, reading room, writing room, dressing room and bedroom. The king had his own rooms too on the floor above. There was a spiral staircase hidden in the wall connecting them. The rooms were all painted with beautiful pictures. Every room had a tile stove and the servants could heat them from inside the walls. So the king would never see the servants. I liked King Ludwig’s bedroom because there was a picture of a tree and the ceiling had a painted night sky.  The king put holes in the ceiling, and the servants lit oil lamps above to make it look like real stars. King Ludwig’s mother liked to climb mountains.

Today we went to Neuschwanstein.  This is the castle that King Ludwig built, but he died before it was completed. This castle was white stone. We went through the King’s rooms. They all had lots of paintings on the walls. Genevieve liked the throne room and the mosaic floor. I liked the singer’s hall, because it had a big painting of a forest.  King Ludwig even had a fake cave in the castle. He was a bit crazy!

The castles were incredible, but we could’t take photos inside, so you will have to see yourself…

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Salzburg

Today we drove to Salzburg, one of Mummy and Daddy’s favourite places. We took a bus into the old town.

First we walked in the Mirabel gardens.  There were flowers laid out in pretty patterns and lots of statues. This was in the Sound of Music film.

Then we walked along the streets under the fortress.  There were lots of shops, my favourite was one with thousands of eggs.  The eggs had the inside blown out and were painted lots of different colours. Some had glitter and gems, and some had pictures painted.  I am going to try blowing eggs and painting them in England. We also saw nutcrackers and there were lots of shops with Mozart chocolates. Mozart (a composer) was born here.  We have listened to his music in the car.

Then we walked up to the fortress.  It was a long way up! The fortress has never been taken by force. We saw murder holes in the entrance way, where the soldiers would pour boiling water or oil on the people underneath. Then we went inside. There were displays on the military, which Daddy liked.

There was also a puppet museum. I liked these best, my favourite was Papageno and Papagena from the Magic Flute.

Then we took the cable car down back to the town. There were horses and carriages in the town too.

We also went into the Cathedral.  It was huge.

 

 

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Venice

Yesterday we got up early and drove from Croatia to Italy. We had a lazy afternoon at Camping Fusina. Genevieve and I played on our tablets in the car. A big storm came through with thunder and lightning.

Today we went to Venice! It was very exciting. We took a boat there. Venice is lots of islands with canals. There are no cars, only boats.

We spent lots of time wandering round the streets. There were lot of bridges. There were lots of shops selling fancy dress masks. I got a lacy one in blue and gold with feathers and a flower. Genevieve got a purple one. There were also shops selling pretty glass.

For lunch we went to a little courtyard. I had the best pizza with ham.  Daddy had seafood pizza. The waiter was very funny.

After lunch, Mummy, Genevieve and I went into the big Basilica. The roof was covered in lots of gold mosaics. It was very beautiful. Then we climbed up on to the roof by the four horses and looked over St Marks Piazza – which is a big square.

Then we did a gondola ride. Our gondolier was called Matteo, he had a stripey top and used an oar to make the boat go.  It was fun.

Then we took the boat back to the campground, and Daddy had another pizza for dinner!  Genevieve had a pizza with chips on it, but I had sausages.

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Split

Today we drove to Split, and walked around the old town.

In Split there are the remains of Diocletian’s Palace. He was a Roman Emperor.  The ground was very slippery because it was made of marble. We went into a church with 8 sides. There was a treasury, with real human bones. In the church there were big gold angels. We also climbed up the bell tower. It was a bit scary as it was very high. There was a good view from the top.

Then we had the best ice cream. I had strawberry.

We watched a talent show with lots of dancers and cheerleaders.

Then we went to another campsite. We did some real hairpin turns on the way! There was a beach, but the water was a bit cold.

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Mechanical thoughts 5 weeks in…

tire

Venice, Italy.

It has been a VERY busy 5 weeks.  We have covered 10,773km, and driven through England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, (boat trip to Russia), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and are now in Italy. Home in around 10 days time.

Given how heavy the Taniwha is (it is REALLY heavy, especially with full water and longrange fuel tanks) I have been pretty happy really with how things have gone mechanically, all things considered.  When the extreme distances we have covered are added to the compressed timescale (and with some pretty wild weather thrown in) the old fella has done well.

However..  things are not perfect.  I have come to the conclusion that the aftermarket hubs that are fitted aren’t going to work out for us – I am sure that on a “normal” Land Rover (if such a thing exists?) they would perform flawlessly, but given the weight and constant stresses ours are under they are showing the strain.  We have a bit of bearing grumble front and rear, and none of the hubs are more than 12 months old.  So..  something to sort out back in the UK before we hit Morroco and more serious terrain.

We have a slight oil leak from the turbo drain pipe (I think I may have cracked a weld when I was wrestling with the manifold pre-trip), so I will need to replace this – not a biggie at all and the leak is very minor by Land Rover standards.

Storagewise, still some changes needed in the rear.  Too much stuff loosely packed.

Tires – I have been really impressed with the Cooper Discoverer STT Pro tires we fitted before this trip.  Roadhandling is exceptional, snow/ice they stick like glue (Thanks, North Cape..).  Ride quality is superb.  Given these are proper mud terrain tires, this is a huge surprise.  Yes, they are pretty noisy – but it’s a Land Rover so is very noisy anyway. Orchestras need many instruments.

Water tank/Pump/Filters – working very well indeed.

Bonnet chequerplate – a really good investment.  Margaret climbs up the bonnet to get to the roof boxes, no hint of buckling yet.  I will be adding some grab handles in the UK to assist in the wet.

External mains power hookup, USB and 12v sockets – superb.  I am using all three right now.

Fridges and Freezer – we have a perfect setup for us now. I need to run heavier wire from the distribution board in the boot to the middle seats, as we are getting an unacceptable voltage drop.  But it’s all working nicely.

Navigation Systems – Garmin, sort your $h1t out!!! I foolishly updated the software, maps and camera database before we left.  Naturally, the build is as buggy as hell, and is happily screwing up routing and mis-reporting speed limits (90 in 50 zones, etc…).  I sense some fines coming in the post. There has been much swearing directed at it, and not the usual good-natured Antipodean sort.

Remapped ECU – MUCH more power.  Possibly too much in built up areas.  I think I will use the factory ECU for on-road, and the remapped one for when we need the power… it simply doesn’t like rolling along at the speed limit.  And it is thirstier, despite the engine running a few hundred RPM lower than the factory ECU… not sure how this works – maybe it is injecting more fuel?

Anyway, more musings as and when I have them.
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