A weekend away

Beautiful Konigsee

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Alas, my poor neglected blog! I can't believe I haven't posted in over a week, but life has been a bit hectic and I simply haven't had time to update it. I'm making up for it now by posting lots of pictures of our wonderful weekend in Germany. I can't tell you how restful it was! I think I read more in the few days we were away than I have read all year and the sleep...oh, the sleep!

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Mark and I both needed to recharge our batteries, so we took it easy while we were away. Each day we had a wonderful breakfast in the hotel, read in our room for a while and then went sightseeing around Berchtesgaden and Konigsee, usually having a light lunch whilst out. We would head back to the hotel late afternoon for Kaffee und Kuchen (mmmm, kuchen!) and then took our books onto our patio and read some more. We would then head to the hotel pools and have a swim. I can now officially say that I have been swimming in the snow. The hotel has a heated outdoor pool, so as long as you kept your shoulders under the water it was lovely. It was quite invigorating swimming in temperatures of -5 C with the snow falling around you.

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After our swim, we would head back to the room to ring the Podlings and then dress for dinner. We had a four course dinner in the hotel restaurant each evening. The Alpenhof makes sublime food and we always stay half-board there. After dinner, it was more reading and then off to bed for a night of uninterrupted sleep...bliss!

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It was a fabulous trip and, despite the rather stressful journey home, came back much the better for our time away. It was a wonderful way to celebrate ten years of being together. Thank you so much to Mum and Dad P. for taking care of the Podlings so we could rest and spend some time alone together. I know the Podlings had a great time in our absence!
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Although we have been to Konigsee several times, we have never been on it. This time, we took a boat ride across the lake to visit the church and palace (the latter is now a restaurant) on the other side. The muppet fur hat probably looks a bit daft, but I was nice and warm!

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St Bartholomew's church, Konigsee. The church here was founded in 1194, but this building dates from 1697. It can only be reached by boat.
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The stunning interior of St Bartholomew's
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The beautiful stucco-work ceiling of St Bartholomew's
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A walk in the grounds of our hotel. Is it not beautiful!
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The view from my chair. Every afternoon after kaffee und kuchen we took a hot drink outside to our patio and read for a while. We always take our travel kettle with us when we go away to make sure we don't have to go without tea...so very British!

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We took a stroll around Konigsee on our last afternoon and got covered in snow!
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Off to the airport and home, but first we must dig out the car!

Our journey home was rather eventful. Two accidents on the motorway meant that we only just made it to the airport in time. We literally had to run onto the plane after checking in. After arriving back at Heathrow, we sat on the runway for over an hour while they found a parking spot for the plane and then had to wait while they found a bus to take everyone to the terminal. We then discovered that they had lost one of our bags! Poor Mark had to rush straight off to Ireland on business on the Sunday night and he only just made his plane as a result of the hold-ups!
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