Lets go back to Tuesday. We were still in Rothenburg. What a fabulous town that is! Apparently it is one of the oldest villages in Germany and still has quite a medieval feeling to it...
Some of the amazing architecture.....
The main market square
We took it pretty easy that day. We went for a walk around the top of the old city walls which gave us a great view over all of the rooftops. Rothenburg is 'kind of' in the middle of the countryside so the old city is well defined inside its walls.
Walking along the old city walls.
This corner had a teddy bear shop on it (Rothenburg is famous for its christmas markets and a lot of the shops sell christmasy-type stuff and dolls and teddy bears).
This shop had a teddy bear in the upper window that blew bubbles out onto the street. The girls spent about half an hour madly chasing and popping the bubbles as they floated down the street. I think Eloise won with the most number of bubbles popped!
It was a lovely day just wandering the streets of this beautiful town.
The next morning we were off early to go and visit a friend of ours who lives not far (1.5 hours drive) from Rothenburg. He (Frank) lives in a town called Weinsburg, which is famous for its wines (funnily enough) and the hills around the town are covered in vineyards.
This was a special day in Germany. It was 'unification day' - to commemorate the day the Berlin wall came down. I asked if this was considered the national day (like Australia Day) to which Frank said it was. It was somewhat different to Australia day at home though in that all the shops were closed and there were no festivals or any events planned anywhere. It seems throughout europe that shops don't open on Sundays...which is kind of nice in that it allows for family time together.....but kind of annoying when you run out of bread or milk.....
Anyway. We went into a bigger town called Heilbronn for lunch by the water. It was all very quiet but really nice to be outside in the sunshine.
The girls and Frank.
After lunch we went back to Weinsburg to a very popular ice cream shop that Shane had been telling the kids about (since he had been to Weinsburg before).....and it certainly didn't disappoint us - thankfully this was about the only thing open in the town today!!
Ice cream heaven....
We then needed to walk off the ice cream so we went for a walk through the town. There is a special story about this town and the castle that sits at the top of the hill....
The castle ruins at the top of the hill in Weinsburg.
"In 1140 the castle was besieged in the course of the struggles between neighbouring kings. Finally it had to surrender on December 21, 1140. According to the report of the Chronica regia Coloniensis, the women of the castle were granted free departure and allowed to take what they could carry on their backs. They carried down their men, and so saved their lives, since the king adhered to his word. The women became known as treue Weiber ("loyal women"). The castle (today's ruin) is called Weibertreu due to this occurrence."
There is a statue in the town that also commemorates this event.
The women carrying their husbands on their backs to save them
That night we stayed at Frank's mum's place in Heilbronn. The kids (and I) were absolutely exhausted - I think the last few months had just caught up with us....so we were all asleep by 8pm!!!
We woke up early the next morning (Thursday) and got on the road to head down through Germany to Lake Constance. Lake Constance is one of the largest lakes in europe. It has 3 countries along its edges (Germany, Switzerland and Austria). We drove into one of the main towns (and the one named after the lake - Konstanz). This is a German town but it lies right on the border with Switzerland.
Some of the buildings were truly magnificent.
One of the better 'street statue' thingys I have seen....the kids still don't understand how he is floating...
Lake Constance
More Lake Constance
That night we stayed in a town just outside of Konstanz....and just outside of Germany, inside the Swiss border. So after we dropped our bags off we walked back across the border into Germany to explore some more of Konstanz....and then later headed back into Switzerland to go to our hotel.
Straddling the German/Swiss border.
This was kind of neat until we realised that the Germans use the Euro and the Swiss use the Swiss Franc as their currency.....this became slightly annoying since we hadn't yet changed our money over and so Shane had to go back across the border into Germany to buy some bread for dinner!! I think the locals take full advantage of the differences (with Switzerland being a non-EU country) and get their tax refund back on just about everything they buy. I watched one guy walk from the Swiss side to the German side, get his refund and then walk straight back into Switzerland.
Guess its the compensation for having to deal with the 2 different currencies!
Anyway. Today (Friday) was a beautiful sunny day. We walked back into Germany for a coffee/hot chocolate and one last visit at the lake before heading back to Switzerland and into the car.
Walking back into Switzerland through the border.
We drove down along the lake, past masses of apple orchards with trees that were literally dripping with apples. There were also a lot of school kids on the streets (going home for lunch I think) and we noticed that every single child had a reflective vest or bib on (like road workers)....great idea I say!!!!
We skirted the border of Austria and then took a left into the country of Liechtenstein.
Driving into Liechtenstein.
Liechtenstein is one of those tiny countries that are often forgotten in europe so we thought we would deliberate choose this place for our next nights' stay. I am so glad we did.
We drove through the capital, Valuz,....and then up and up and up we went, twisting our way into the mountains until we got about as high as we could go.
Our hotel was in a town called Malbun and it seems to be a bit of a hiking/skiing town. Our hotel was a the very base of a chairlift that took you to the top of mountains so it was definitely on our list of things to do. First off was lunch....Shane and I had quite a peaceful lunch as the girls played with the hotel's resident rabbits.
The girls were very excited to be able to feed the rabbits.
After lunch (ours and the rabbits), we jumped on the chairlift (figuratively and literally) and off we went....up and up and up.
Up we go....hold on tight.
Looking back down the valley towards Switzerland....
At the top of the mountain the view was incredible.
Trying to take it all in through binoculars....
At 2000 metres above sea-level.
There was also (of course) a small restaurant on top of the mountain, which served delicious bubbles just fit for this occasion.
This kind of view needs something special to enjoy it with....
There was also something special for the kids. Possibly the worlds' highest playground (complete with trampoline!).....God bless those thoughtful Liechtensteiniens!!!!
The kids were occupied so we could really enjoy our drinks!! There is NO WAY I would have let the kids on the trampoline without a safety net....its a l-o-n-g way down!!
This is looking across to the Austrian alps. From the top of the mountain you can see the Austrian Alps, the Swiss Alps and the Liechtenstein Alps.....not bad!
Shane enjoying the view.
We stayed up on top of the mountain for quite a while, trying to take it all in, before getting back on the chairlift to go back down.
Back down to the village we go.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting in the sunshine, watching the kids play with the rabbits while listening to the tiny bells ringing on the goats that were feeding on the hillside beside us. Not a bad way to end a day really.
After dinner we discovered an entire 'wellness' complex under the hotel - with heated indoor pool, sauna and even a solarium....so the girls got to go swimming again (their first time since the crystal water of Sardinia and probably their last time for this entire trip) and Shane had a sauna......the perfect end to another perfect day!!!
Tomorrow we go back into Switzerland and head into the alps where we will be staying for the next week. I must admit it will be nice to 'base' ourselves somewhere again for more than a night or two....plus the next place has a washing machine and we are all starting to get a bit grimy and smelly!!!
