RTW on a H.A.T. In the slow lane.

Before we head off to Zagreb, I thought it might be a good idea to post up a couple of shots of the Spa town Rogaska Slatina, seeing as I didn't in the last post, although I wrote about the place briefly. Pretty isn't it in a very organised European kind of way.


An intersting aside. That pink droopy looking plant in the middle of those flowers is colloquially called "fox tail" in Australia. We palnted this back home, but removed it when they started to pop up all over the place. We already have far too many invasive weeds back home. Now I've got everyone's attention.



A couple of days in Zagreb is well worth it. Ok it looks like 100's of other European cities I suppose. But thats no bad thing. It's not monumentally large to over awe you, but there is enough going on to keep you interested for at least a few days, without massive hordes of tourists. Actually some of the larger, more frequently visited citys like Barcelona, Venice and others are looking at putting limits on visitor numbers. Either by punitive taxes, limitations on tourist accomodation and other measures. It really is getting that bad and in a way I don't blame the locals.


Local cathedral is getting a makeover.


Don't normally see churches with colour like this splashed all over their roof's, all tiles no less.


The one and only Nikola Tesla hails from Zagreb.


Apparently the oldest funicular in Europe.


We walked, it seemed quicker.


In any case we needed to burn off some calories.


They don't build them like this any more. I reckon the bean counters would draw a red line through any architect's similar proposal now-a-days.


Seems we just missed the market.




I should have had Katrina stand next to the hand wheel so as to give a sense of scale. In any case I don't think there use to be a 2 gallon backet at the end of the rope.


It's not all hard work.


Power cables are at 12 & 3 o'clock. The others keep it suspended.

Under the Gric district of Zagreb you'll find a series of tunnels. Built during the second world war as a shelter and a way to move around safely. They were again used for the same purpose in the 90's during the Balkans war. They've recently been cleaned up and reopened both as a tourist attraction and to again move about this area unhindered by hills or traffic.






Another of the six entrances.




A final look over our shoulder before we move on. School holidays finnish in Europe this weekend and the Alps beckon. Yeah baby!

Back in the Alps woohoo. Here we are crossing from Italy to Austria on the Passo Pramollo.


I'm going to try and photographically record each and every one we cross. Hmm too many passes, not enough time.

Three times over the last 20 odd years we have approached the Grossglockner or is it Grobglockner pass? I'm really not at all sure which is the correct name. In any case, on the two previous occasions we turned back, declining to pay the 26 Euro to pass over. But this time we threw caution to the wind, opened the wallet & released the moths. This time it would be different, this time we shall pass the Gro(b/ss)glockner, for we are unsure when we will be this way again.


The climb up from the south revealed a pretty little church. This sort of stuff abounds around here.


We got to a lookout with many other bikes. I thought this was the pass. It turns out that I was wrong. Just a very pleasant spot to take a photo and talk with kindred spirits. Each country has a 2 or 3 letter code adjacent to their respective number plates, denoting where the bike ( or car ) is registered. We are in Austria and theirs is AUT. We are AUS and the locals pick up on that pretty damn quickly. It makes for a good conversation starter. When they approach you and ask, "how did you get it here"?


The local.


& his Missus.


Then we reached the pass, 2504 metres. Really not that high in the whole scheme of things, Bloody great riding though.


Of course you are never too far from a tunnel around here.


This could be found on the other side.


This too. Four glaciers could be seen across the valley or more correctly what was left of them.


Toll booth on the north side. 26 euro thank you very much ( 36:50 euro for a car ) Ka-ching.


Then we stopped here for refreshments. We've been here before, but neither Katrina or I could remember which year. Alzyhmers sucks.


Then one of those mini-me adventure scooter thingy's pulled up. They get tubeless tyres. Not that I particularly care. I'd never seen one on the road though, only in shops. I think they are about 80% of an AT's price.

As a miser, I fully understand your reaction 20 years ago.


Großglockner:


The rules for when to use the ß rather than "ss" have never been easy, but while the "simplified" spelling rules are less complex, they continue the confusion. German spelling reformers included a section called sonderfall ss/ß (neuregelung), or "special case ss/ß (new rules)." This section says, "For the sharp (voiceless) after a long vowel or diphthong, one writes ß, as long as no other consonant follows in the word stem." Alles klar? ("Got that?")


Thus, while the new rules reduce the use of the ß, they still leave intact the old bugaboo that means some German words are spelled with ß, and others with ss. The new and improved rules mean that the conjunction formerly known as daß or "that" should now be spelled dass (short-vowel rule), while the adjective groß for "big" adheres to the long-vowel rule.


Many words formerly spelled with ß are now written with ss, while others retain the sharp-s character (technically known as the "sz ligature"): Straße for "street," but schuss for "shot." Fleiß for "diligence," but fluss for "river." The old mixing of different spellings for the same root word also remains fließen for "flow," but floss for "flowed." Ich weiß for "I know," but ich wusste for "I knew." Though reformers were forced to make an exception for the oft-used preposition aus, which otherwise would now have to be spelled auß, außen for "outside," remains. Alles klar? Gewiss! ("Everything clear? Certainly!")


But despite the controversy, and even a Sept. 27, 1998 vote against the reforms in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, the new spelling rules have been judged valid in recent court rulings. The new rules officially went into effect on Aug. 1, 1998, for all government agencies and schools. A transitional period allowed the old and new spellings to coexist until July 31, 2005. Since then only the new spelling rules are considered valid and correct, even though most German-speakers continue to spell German as they always have, and there are no regulations or laws that prevent them from doing so.


Perhaps the new rules are a step in the right direction, without going far enough. Some feel that the current reform should have dropped ß completely (as in German-speaking Switzerland) , eliminated the anachronistic capitalization of nouns (as English did hundreds of years ago), and further simplified German spelling and punctuation in many other ways. But those who protest against spelling reform (including authors who should know better) are misguided, trying to resist needed changes in the name of tradition. Many counterarguments are demonstrably false while placing emotion over reason.

https://advrider.com/what-honda-x-adv-scooter-wins-2019-gibraltar-rally/

Fuck me, I just wanted to cross the damn thing. Now my head hurts DunkingBird . Mind, now I'm a little wiser................................I think.

I have always thought of this thread as "educational" and now I am sure of it! Still don't know what to do with that little squiggle mark, but I cant read German anyway. Please resume, Graeme.

@DunkingBird the teacher, thanks had wondered what the rules were.

We knocked out 240 klms today, with no passes on the agenda. Our primary objective or I should say my primary objective was to check out the Eagles Nest. Hitlers little hide away in the mountains of southern Germany. Katrina didn't really care for it, fair enough I guess. I foolishly thought we'd be able to ride right up to it. Not a chance in the world, especially when we saw the park and ride. Hundreds of people and buses lined up to ferry everyone up there. Further along there was a place where you could park, leave your vehicle and walk for 2 hours. We wern't prepared for either, so just kept riding and enjoying the beautiful countryside around here. The roads are billiard table smooth and the scenery as always around here picture perfect.


Somewhere up and to the left is Hitlers Eagles Nest. This is as close as we'll ever get it seems.

Typically we stop in a little cafe somewhere for a snack or drinks. This just happened to be parked nearby when we did.


At first I thought that it had to be some kind of permanent display out on the street or something. But no, once again I would be wrong. This was some guys hommage to the Mad Max trilogy of films. Whetever floats your boat I suppose.

This thread educational, now theres something to ponder BarryB

Still can't read or understand German though MrKiwi. Something that both Katrina and I find a little embarassing sometimes, our lack of language skills. Product of our education system of the 70's and growing up in a country that has English as it's mother tongue, I suppose.

Yes, same for me

Getting up close and personel with the locals here in Austria.

^ Tyrolean Grey.

I suppose this beauty is due to its brown color an "Original Braunvieh"


Also called: Montafoner Braunvieh

I admire men that know their mooey's. Mooey's make great neigbhors you know, much better than people. Not that I'm particularly anti social or anything.


Here are some of our neigbhors from a couple of years back. These fine looking girls are now part of the milking herd across the road from us. We lease our paddock out to that particular dairy farmer. Hi Ken.

Thanks for that, I was wondering about the colour. The nose reminded me of Jerseys. (I grew up with "mooeys").

Old french joke :
Do you remember the forename of Alzheimer ?

No ?

Be careful, it starts like that !!!

Just as I want to type an aswer about that Germanic letter, I just realise that I don't have it on my keyboard ... that sucks !
I just wanted to say it's very interesting to read, but nowhere in the article you posted is mentioned the name of that letter. It is just written how to pronounce it (like a double s) but never its name appears and I think that's the reason why people who have never been studying german get it mixed up with a capital B.
But as said in DunkingBird's post, this letter has nothing to see with the B because it's pronounced like a "ss" and it's name is the "Esstset". Now that you know that, you'll never make the confusion again.
When I was at school I had been studying german for 5 or ... 6 ... or 7 years (yes Alzheimer really sucks !!!) but I wasn't as good as in english and after school I never needed to speak german, so I forgot every thing, till the Kosovo war broke out ... I had to work with my german counterparts the Feldjäger (the military police or as we still say in France the Feldgendarmerie which is no more used in german since the end of ww2 because of bad memories ....)
So when on the phone, I had to speak english with them ... I tried once or twice to speak german, but the guy at the other end of the line was so happy to have a german speaker that he was talking like to a german caller and of course I couldn't understand a word and had to say " Hello I'm "Yannick" your neighbour at the french security post, can you speak english please ? My german is rusted !"
Of course, when not on the phone, I could speak a little german whith those guys just 100 meters far from my shelter, but it's amazing how fast you can forget a language when not using it.
And for that reason, now in 2019, my german is ... dead (completely forgotten). I'm sorry for DunkingBird, we seem to have the same points of interest, the same friends we're following (@gperkins and @MrKiwi ) and despite that I'm unable to have a chat whith you in your language (which I regret a lot because it seems we have a lot to share) but in english.

My neighbours here in Brittany are from Jersey, I never noticed they had such a nose .... (and such horns too ... !!!)

Thank you, Yannick, for your addition. I camouflaged the "Esstset" a little as: "sz ligature"
In German: s = Ess, z = Tset

Yes, English dominates this world.
But there's still a little bit of my French left, because I worked as an assistant at the EPFL in Lausanne.

I would really like a visit to Brittany.

Hello DunkingBird, I don't want to hijack Greame's thread, but if you want to visit Brittany, don't hesitate to send me a pm.

Certainly very similar to the Jersey DavidM1. Our milking herd as a kid were predominately Jersey's.