Where's Maria?

Kept expecting to see Julie Andrews spinning around in a meadow today. We are actually in Bavaria rather than nearby Austria, but the scenery is so like the opening sequence of The Sound of Music. We are here for the launch drive of the newly revamped Volkswagen Polo, the latest incarnation of a model that is celebrating its 39th anniversary. More than 14 million Polos have been sold around the world since the 1970s.

This afternoon we have been trying different versions, including the 1.4 diesel and 1.0 three-cylinder petrol. The longest queue, though, was for this 1977 classic, a well-preserved original Mk 1 Polo. Mostly the weather has been beautiful, but just as we parked near the lake at Tegernsee to photograph the car, the heavens opened while the sun stayed bright in the blue part of the sky. So this is what was waiting at the end of the rainbow ...

Happy St George's Day, and Shakespeare's birthday!