 August 23 A short drive down the road from our gasthof were two of the more famous castles in Germany. Hohenschwangau was originally built in the 12th century and since modernized (up to 19th century standards). We walked up to it and strolled through the courtyards.  On our previous visit, we had toured the museum and exhibits and found them quite interesting. Looming over Hohenschwangau is the most famous of the castles of King Ludwig II: Schloß Neuschwanstein. This one was built in the middle of the 19th century and looks like something out of Disneyland – it is rumored that the opposite is true: that the Fantasyland Castle was modeled after Neuschwanstein. The castle is perched on a hill overlooking Hohenschwangau and several lakes and valleys. If you've never been there, spend the time to visit this one. Then, whenever you see its picture on a travel poster or calendar, you too can say "been there, done that!" |
 We didn't dally too long, however, since we had reservations in Venice the next day. After purchasing a few souvenirs, we hit the road again, crossing almost immediately back into Austria. Our path took us over Fernpaß, through a long tunnel, back through Innsbruck, and on to the Brenner Paß. This is the easiest route across the Alps and quite scenic. You have a choice of autobahn or secondary road – we choose the secondary road. One of the more interesting things we saw on this drive was the incredible number and height of the bridges built for the autobahn. Very little of the road was built on the surface of the ground – almost all if it is either bridge or tunnel. |
 The summit of the Brenner Paß is the border between Austria and Italy. (Here's another site about Italy.) You enter the district of Trentino/Alto Adige, which was once part of the Tirol or Austria. Many of the signs are in both German and Italian. We drove through the cities of Bressanone, Bolzano, and Trento, admiring the scenery, architecture, and learning to cope with the Italian style of driving. |
| We didn't see too many lodging establishments, however, and decided to start looking in earnest once we left Trento. As we approached the town of Calliano, we saw both a castle on a hill (Beseno) and a billboard advertising the Villaggio Hotel Aquila. We entered the courtyard, driving our Audi with Hamburg (Germany) license plates, and found a spot to park. We were quickly greeted with "Wunschen Sie ein zimmer?" or words to that effect, which we knew meant "would you like a room?" We found that our limited German vocabulary was much more useful than English in Northern Italy. We suspect that not too many Americans drive through these parts, but the road is the main route from Munich into Italy. We arranged for a roon, which had a view of the castle, and dined in the attached restaurant. Our first meal in Italy was some very tasty pasta dishes.
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