Germany - Switzerland - Liechtenstein

It's been a busy 4 days....where do I start?

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!!!

Salzburg - Legoland (Germany) - Rothenburg (Germany)

What a busy few days we have had!

On Sunday we left Salzburg and having already decided to give Neuschwanstein castle a miss (it was just too far to drive in a day...I mean, we COULD have done it....but it wouldn't have been fun for anyone!!) and headed into Germany towards our hotel near Legoland.

Crossing the border from Austria to Germany

As we crossed the border, we noticed that all of the rest stops along the freeway were totally full of trucks and that there were no trucks on the freeway itself. I haven't looked this up yet but my thoughts are that on Sundays as least, the big trucks are not allowed to drive on the freeways.....this is (I think) a fantastic law and one that the Australian government should definitely consider!! It would certain save Shane's sanity every time we have to drive between Sydney and Newcastle.

Trucks at a rest stop....

The other thing we noticed once going into Germany, is that the autobahn (or freeway) has no speed limit on freeways that are 3 lanes travelling in each direction. Shane got excited when he got our little car up to 150km/hr....and this was while still in the middle lane...there were still lots of cars that were flying past us that must have been doing close to 200km/hr!!!

Shane gets the car up to 150km/hr!!!

Since we were basically driving around the outskirts of Munich, we decided to take a quick detour into the city of Munich. Munich was in the midst of Octoberfest so the city itself was completely overrun by possibly every backpacker currently in europe......I haven't heard so many Australian accents since leaving Sydney airport!!! We did stumble upon one of the brewery beer halls and took a quick look around inside (just to say that we had been to a beer hall during Octoberfest)....

It was totally packed and VERY noisy!! Whilst it looked like everyone was having a great time...it really wasn't the place to be with small children - so we didn't hang around. Although we will tell our children that they have already done the Munich Octoberfest thing so there will be no need for them to go there when they are in their 20s.

So we continued on to our hotel which was just down the road from Legoland.

This morning we woke to drizzly, grey skies - perfect weather for keeping the crowds away from Legoland!!!

We got to Legoland early with 2 very excited girls. 

Outside Legoland

It was REALLY quiet. Sure it was cold (14 degrees max) and a bit foggy...but it wasn't raining so we powered through the park all day with hardly any trouble. The most we had to wait for any ride was about 10 minutes and on some of the rides the kids got off and then walked straight back on (actually on one ride they didn't even get off because there was no one waiting to get on!).....absolutely ideal for any amusement park scenario!!!!

Legoland is actually pretty cool with some pretty impressive lego displays....and the rides are very age-appropriate for our kids. We got around the entire park and went on all the rides we wanted to (some of them multiple times) and saw the lego displays and the lego factory.....it must have been one the of the quietest days they have ever had. There really was hardly anyone there. BONUS!

The flying lego planes - the kids could control how high or low their planes flew...

The lego jousting horses

Eloise's first ever roller-coaster ride

A view of the mini lego "lands" - there are about 12 different scenes built entirely of lego. You can also see how beautiful the trees are becoming with autumn....

One of the mini-lands....this one is Amsterdam.

Neve with her light sabre and darth vader.






































The lego display with the largest number of lego pieces....a famous face....

Shane and Neve on the water ride....













We had a ball at Legoland....it was a really great place.

Once we left Legoland we drove for another hour and a half (at 140km/hr mind you!) to reach out hotel for the next 2 nights in the German town called Rothenburg.

It is a beautiful medieval walled city that seems to have more Japanese tourists than I have seen anywhere else in europe....Neve and Eloise had to pose for a photo with some Japanese who thought they were very beautiful girls!!!

One of the little streets inside the old town...

The main square in Rothenburg.












We are looking forward to exploring more of this lovely town tomorrow.

One thing I forgot to mention about our time in Salzburg......everywhere we have been in Austria (and even now in Germany) - there are shops selling these chocolates called "Mozartkugeln". They are mostly by brand called Mirabell but when I googled it, the original Mozartkugeln were made by a company called Furst, who actually won the gold medal in 1905 for their hand-made Mozartkugeln. So we managed to track down the original Furst shopfront in Salzburg and try one of the hand-made Mozartkugeln.....
They were delicious and MUCH nicer than the Mirabell (non-handmade) versions!!!

The Furst shop












The wrapper of the original Mozartkugeln is silver and blue....the more common mass-produced version has gold and red wrappers...

The Mozartkugeln....the dot of chocolate on the top is where the skewer was put in to hand roll the  ball in the chocolate.....then the skewer 'hole' is filled with chocolate - hence the extra dot on top!

Inside....a pistachio-marzipan centre, covered in nougat and chocolate....

Salzburg - the hills are alive...

Today, Shane was in charge of "adventure day".....and what a fabulous job he did!!!

We set off fairly early in the morning (9am) and drove through the Salzburg country-side to the town of Mondsee, which is famous for the cathedral that Maria and the Captain got married in, in the Sound of Music...and I tell you, there were at LEAST 4 couples getting married there today - we saw 4 different brides in the space of 20 minutes - Saturdays must be the day for weddings (as it is at home I guess!).

The famous church..with some wedding cars out the front...

Another bride arrives.....

Some of the colourful buildings in the town square....








The next stop on Shane's magical mystery tour was St Gilgen. This town has an amazing gondola that will take you all the way to the top of the mountain (it takes about 10 minutes to get to the top in the gondola - or a 2 hour hike up....no thanks!). The girls were VERY excited to say the least.

The gondola station at the bottom.....

On we get..fighting for who gets on first.....

Up we go....over the road and up the hill.....

And up

And up...just when you think it couldn't get any higher...

We even spotted a few deer on the mountain beneath us....you can "just" see one in this picture (look just to the right of the brown grasses around the middle of the picture)....

We FINALLY made it to the top....totally worth it for the amazing view!!! I think some of the opening credits for the Sound of Music are filmed here as well....

The gondolas seem to go all the way up into the sky...

We stopped for a coffee/hot chocolate at the top.....an even nicer view than the cafe at the Salzburg castle!

Above the cafe is the actual mountain peak (only about a 5 minute hike)...this is the view on the other side of the mountain....right at the back you can see a glacier in the midst of the mountains...

The girls thought this was the most fantastic adventure ever.....!!!






Once we got back down the mountain we had a quick explore of St Gilgen town.....being part of bavaria it has a very typical style....the flowers, the colours and the shapes all work so well together....gorgeous.

St Gilgen main town...






After leaving St Gilgen we drove further south and around the other side of the lake to a town called St Wolfgang, named after the lake itself (Wolfgangsee).....this was very pretty although very touristy...and a lot of boats that do tours around the lake leave from this point....you can see why so many tourists like it here though...

We returned back to Salzburg after our adventure, very happy that we had gone out to explore this area. Thanks Shane for being a fantastic tour director!!! We spent our final afternoon in Salzburg in a beer garden watching the girls spinning around and around a pole until Eloise came unstuck and fell over. Much tears resulted but she is fine and the pizza for dinner and the One Direction concert on TV (should I be concerned that both my girls LOVE this band?) made her forget she had even hurt herself!!!

Tomorrow we have decided to bypass Neuschwanstein castle.....it will add an extra 2 hours driving time on our day and apparently you can only do guided tours that go for half an hour anyway.....it isn't worth the extra hassle driving with the kids (those of you with young kids - or those of you who have had young kids at some point - will understand).....so instead we will do the straight 3 hour trek into Germany to find our hotel right near the Legoland amusement park so we can get cracking early on Monday morning!!