Chiemsee - 20.05.04
(Click the thumbnails for the big picture.)
Right so, a day-trip to Chiemsee it was to be. I decided to drive down even though it being a bank holiday type weekend it meant traffic would most likely be nasty. It was nasty, but we survived.
It's photos like this that make the hundreds of crap ones worthwhile. Aaron leaning out the window and me taking the picture, whilst driving, whilst doing about 160km/h on the motorway...erm, honest, would I lie to you?
Of course, first stop was a little beer garden affair by the lakeside. The others had arrived down on the train and so the obvious thing to do was to have a couple of beers while waiting for us.
Da Boyz tucking into their ice-creams.
Can a man not eat his dessert in peace?
These guys are classic, Barretta. It would nearly be worth making the trip down to see them in action.
So, beers n' munchies out of the way, it was time to head off to the island.
An inspired "Breakfast Club" moment. Don't you, forget about me, ayeayieaieaaa!
On the left we have sausages n' chips, on the right we have what is known as a Germknödel. It's basically a large dumpling with plum jam in the centre covered in poppy seeds, icing sugar and sitting in a pool of custard. Perfect diet food! Here's a recipe if you fancy trying it out yourself.
So this is the castle. It was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a replica of Versailles, but was running out of cash before it was completed. Apparently he only lived in it for a total of 16 days back in 1885. He was mad as a badger and died in mysterious circumstances in 1886 in Starnberger See. That's the very short version but I'm not really into long winding historical diatribes.
Well you have to, don't you?
Aaron re-enacting page 57 of a mens fashion catalogue.
This is Harry. In this picture we can see him depicting a scene from the much loved TV series, Little House On The Prairie. He is playing the character Laura Ingles, aka "Halfpint". For this particular re-enactment we are changing the characters nickname to "Three Maß" for obvious reasons.
Aaron, highly skilled US rocket surgeon. Truly a man outstanding in his field.
'Erm, ok.
See, even though she was ill and couldn't be with us on the day, Katy was there in spirit.
Cookie Monster gets his first camera.
It's important to point out that Irina (above in the Cookie Monster t-shirt), put a lot of work into organising the day, even to the extent of printing off information sheets in German and English. She also regaled us at length with tales of Sisi and Franz Joseph and stuff like that. 'Tis quite a historical place so it is.
Steam train arriving. It runs the 2km from the station in Prien to the harbour. Apparently it was built in 1887 in 70 days and is the oldest narrow gauge railway in Germany.
Trixie, you completely useless bitch! The useless bint to whom I am referring is the crappy little boat which we hired. It's billed as being an Elektro-boot. If you ever go to Chiemsee, be very careful about what boat you rent. If within the first 5 minutes you realise that it's crap then go straight back and demand a new one. Erik and co were able to go in reverse faster than we could go forwards. A guy and his girlfriend in a rowing boat went pissing past us. Fish we being born, growing and swimming lengths of the lake faster than we could cross it once. We soldiered on at about 0.5km/h for about 45 before arriving back and complaining loudly. The guy said that instead of the agreed hourly price of €15 I could pay just €7.50. I told him to stuff it and that I'd give him €5 and not a penny more. He accepted this begrudgingly and make a few smart remarks as I walked away. Twat! A few minutes later one of his lackeys brought Trixie around the corner to be recharged. Doppletwat! I really don't feel so bad about accidentally snapping the handle off the radio now.
Apparently this is a very nice boat with very expensive sails. Sorry I couldn't get a closer photo but I've not yet perfected my walking on water skills.
And finally back to where we started, the little beer garden. Apart from obvious boating stress, a top quality day out. I even got myself a half decent suntan into the bargain.