Leaving Koblenz for Rothenburg ob der Tauber. (the breakfast at the Mercure Koblenz was the best so far, the selection was huge)
We stayed at the Spitzwig hotel Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Rothenburg is a lovely old town surrounded by a huge stone wall. We walked around the town and took in all its history. Very similar to Brugge.

The following day we headed to Munich, via Neuschwanstein. The castle is very impressive, and well worth the drive.
It rained all daybut lucklily it stopped when we arrived at Neuschwanstein. After leaving the castle it rained all the way to Munich.

When we arrived in Munich (Mercure hotel city centre) we still had time for a walk to Marienplatz, and see the square all lit up with Christmas decorations, lights and stalls. Then it started to rain again, so we headed back to our hotel.

After a hearty breakfast we wandered around Munich and visited a few Cathedrals and shops. Both cathedrals were stunning. On leaving Munich we stopped at the BMW car muesum for a look. It was free and well worth looking at.

Now we are on the way to Salzburg. This will be the shortest days drive, only 1.5hours. It rained and snowed most of the way from Munich to Salzburg.

Arriving at Salzburg late in the afternoon, we grabbed the camera and walked into the city.
Very pretty with all the Christmas lighting. It gets dark very early, usually around 4.30pm
Sunrise is not till 7.30 to 8am.
Doesnt leave a lot of time, but we are managing to see as much as we can. Getting very cold now.

Early start today as we have a lot of miles to cover. The destination is Venice, about 460ks. The road cuts through the mountains, so we expect it to take 5 to 6 hours. Hopefully we will have better weather in Italy.

Arriving in Mestre(14ks from Venice) late in the afternoon at the Novotel Mestre. We decided to visit the local shopping centre as it was close by. We were amazed at the size of the shop called Auchen. Bigger than a Walmart Superstore. And the food selection was amazing.

Today we caught a bus into Venice for 1.5 euro. Cheaper than parking the car at Venice, around 25 euro for the day.
The day was cool but the sky was blue. Yes this is a vey interesting place. Visited the top tourist spots, but we were really impressed by the Doge Palace, absolutley stunning.

The drive from Venice to Firenze was very eventful. One the way we stopped at the Ducati Museum in Bologna, then headed to the Ferrari Galleria in Maranello.

The weather had turned for the worse with heavy snow. This slowed us down a little. After driving through many tunnels, someting very intersting happened. On the entry to the last tunnel in the mountains we were being snowed on. On exiting the 2 kilometre long tunnel it was a sunny day with blue sky. One side cold and snowing, the other side blue skies, still cold. We did find out later that a huge cold front had covered most of Europe, with the unusually cold weather coming down from Siberia.

We are staying at 2 hotels in Firenze, The Plaza Hotel Lucchesi and the HOTEL BRUNELLESCHI. Both very old with lots of history and located in the centre of the city.

There was a lot to see in Firenze, but we covered it all. Never drive a car in Firenze, it is a pain. This city is full of scooter and push bike riders. There are a lot of streets that you cannot drive down, and the ones you can are so narrow!
Anyway that was an adventure in itself.
We are ceratinly walking a lot, and climbing a lot of stairs. The views have been worth it!

Tomorrow (16th december) we are driving to Napoli, around 450ks. Spending 3 days in Napoli