Drive through fog

Usual morning routine - packed and left for the Rhein valley. Mamabear hearing noises on street in front of our Window - and looked out to find a group of school children all rugged up and walking to school in complete darkness at 7.45 am. Had to ask the local hotelier for instructions on how to get to the Valley. Weather was still foggy so knew we would not see much - still by the time we hit the valley it had lifted somewhat and we could get a feel for what it must be like. Mamabear going crazy with camera and taking lots of pics. Also had to point out the story of Lorely and also that it inspired the Niebelungen setting - Tristan and Isolde etc.
Got to the end of the valley and decided to stop in last town for a quick bite and maybe some tourist shopping. No Christkindl market and only one genuine Tourist shop - in a former Bakery.We did however stock up on drinks - including 2 bottles of the local Mosel wein region wein's! Yumm. From there we hit the Autobahn again. Heard on news lots of stau's - but luckily for us not on any of our routes. It used to be a simple system - but now there are so many cross routes we had to be on our toes as to which direction we wanted to go.

Needed to get some petrol after we nearly run out = 1000km on one tank is not bad going!
Such is European traffic - we managed a stretch on the autobahn covering 100km in 25 min and then had to go via open country road and covered 50 km in 55 minutes. Anyhow after another 400 km plus journey - we found Treuchtlingen in Bavaria (and in the snow -which they had for the last whole week) and went in search of a place to bunk down. Eventually found a Gasthof tucked away way back of the beaten track - again the first one we looked at - turns out there are heaps more further into the town. Anyhow the place is lovely - and yes they had a room. Unloaded and went for a quick stroll through town to stretch legs and came back for dinner - just lovely. Asked for a phone directory as we could not Txt Aki - no luck so the lady offered us her phone - and we successfully made contact with Markus and Aki. Arranged to meet next day after breakfast. (Not sure why we cant ring a land-line) Gave Pam more kittens taking the car on a wee spin in the snow and getting nearly stuck!! I have been told of for trying to much!!
Decided to head back to room and use some time to catch up on blog, (well - pre-write , no internet here) and Diary.

Got a knock on the door. Most unusual.
Lady informs us we have a V I S I T O R ! ! Us - in the middle of the nowhere - a visitor???? This could be interesting. It was Aki who came to say hello and offered a taxi service to her place so we could meet and have a drink. Which we did - spent a lovely time meeting some more Scoutlink folks. Back home by 10pm-ish and straight to bed. Blog and diary will have to wait now - maybe even till we hit Salzburg again! Arranged with Aki that we will meet again the next day - after our breakfast at the local Gasthof. Turns out that while we were searching for her number in directory Aki meets monthly at the place we are staying and knows the land lady very well. Small world. Was most funny - the German chatters on Scoutlink wanted proof (via photo) that they did not cheat and made up our presence, and when Markus did upload image there was a hint of suggestion of photo-shop being used. If only - then I would have asked to look 20 years younger!!!! Met Earny online too, he still yet to receive his pressie from Dees. Hehehe - despite some big clues - he still has no idea what the big furry thing is. Ah well he'll find out soon!

Bee good - pics to follow maybe tonight from Salzburg.