Thursday 9 June After a couple of days of substantial walks, we had an easy day exploring Bad Schandau. About 10 minutes walk through the forest from Ostrau, there is a lift down to the riverside, that’s been there for over 100 years. A bit like Grandfather’s axe though, not much is left of the original structure.It costs about $2 per trip up or down but worth it for the view and experience. We walked through some of the back streets where there were some nice shops, including a shoe outlet that had a fantastic selection of smart casual shoes for men and women – not cheap, but definitely good value. We could have bought half a dozen pairs each, but Frances settle on only one pair. From there we walked to the top of a hill with some castle ruins and had our usual packed lunch with a beer.
Our BnB hosts provide so much food for breakfast, we just pack some for lunch rather than waste it. The day has been fairly overcast so the photos are a bit dull.
As you probably know, Frances loves water, so after a day trudging around the countryside, she needs to cool off. In Karlovy Vary it was in a fountain where some kids were playing. In Bad Schandau it was what looked like a water feature. The water was only about 30cm deep so she took off her shoes and socks and waded in – much to my embarrassment. However only minutes after she got out, having cooled off, other people, from children to adults did the same thing. It appears that this is what the water feature is for, or maybe she started a trend.
This is some of the local peaches we haven't seen in Australia, and delicious. The manhole cover is a throwaway - not literally.
For dinner tonight we went to the remaining restaurant in Ostrau, Ostrauer Scheibe. It’s a hotel and restaurant and had quite a good menu, including discounts for seniors. Frances got the discount too, so seniors must be a bit younger here.
Before eating we had to sort out the drinks. Frances couldn’t decide between the house white and a Riesling. The waitress brought a sample of each which were both good. On that basis I ordered the house red which unfortunately was only just drinkable. The only saving grace was the huge glass-full they supplied - 2.5 lit.Frances ordered sauerkraut with dumplings which came topped with fried onions - an interesting touch. She thought it was great, but it tasted a little too vinegared for me. The dumplings though were delicious, firm with an interesting mix of vegetables and ham. I had a goulash (it's hard to make a goulash look good) with spinach and potatoes, and although the goulash was good with a red wine flavour, it was too salty to enjoy. All in all a very relaxed and pleasant evening in very amiable surroundings
