Day 22 - Sun 21 Jun 15: Simbach and Braunau am Inn

Estimated km: 0; Actual km: 25; Total km: 985 

8-16 deg C, cloudy and cool with a few spots of rain.  

We awoke to a nicer day, although the sun was still hiding.  Brekkie was at the bakery downstairs; coffee and a bread roll.  We headed out about 9:30am behind our tour leader for the day, Gunther.  First we visited the town square (circa 1265) of Braunau am Inn across the bridge into Austria.  It just so happens there was an ice cream shop there, so we just had to have one.   This shop was one of the ones where Gunther's mum used to work.  Another couple of hundred metres or so up the road, we visited the house in which A. Hitler was born.   It took some finding as it's not marked in any way.  They've even taken the street name sign down, just to make it even harder.  

Gunther then took us on a tour of his Family's homes in the area, both hand built by his dad around 1946-50, after they had been kicked out of Yugoslavia for being of German decent post-WWII.  We were also shown a stream in which his mum/grandmother used to wash their clothes.  We had lunch in his dad's "pub", which is now a very nice guest house / restaurant specializing in Hungarian dishes.  Just to settle lunch (we sure needed it as it was huge) we rode up a hill to an ex-palace where his (Gunther’s) sister used to go to school.  It is now a music school.  The stunning old Palace Church (dating back to 788) is next door.  The Gothic Church, although very plain outside is nothing short of stunning inside. In fact the whole hilltop is full of interesting buildings, a cemetery and a lovely forest / nature-walk area. 

On the way back through town Gunther and Greg checked out a very beautiful WWI & II memorial under an old church.  The number of names of those killed on these war memorials for such small towns is staggering.  

Due to the huge lunch we consumed Wendy and Greg just had a small pizza between them for dinner.  A beer to wash it down in the hotel foyer watching Australia vs Brazil in the ladies soccer finished off a great day.  Australia won 1-0, even better.



The 'Fish Man' at the Austrian Border


The Inn River

The shop Gunther's mum worked in

Braunau Town Hall

The house Hitler was born in at Braunau

"For peace, freedom and democracy, never again fascism, millions of dead admonish."

Gunther's parents' first house


The stream used by Gunther's mum to wash the clothes


Gunther's parents' second house

Palace Church and Gardens

Palace Church Barunau

View of Braunau from Church grounds

Dinner

Fish man

Braunau Town Hall


Never too cold for ice cream

Part of an old water mill

Clothes washin stream

Gunther's parents' second house

Lunch venue - herbs grown on-site at the pub

Lunch at Braunau - Mick, Kate, Ali, Stew, Yvonne, Gunther, Wendy, Greg

Palace Church Braunau

One of the many mummies in the Church

Forest path in the Palace Gardens

WW1 and WW2 memorial under a church in Braunau

Unusual pews in a church at Braunau

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