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Published: January 9th 2017
We arrived in Munich then had an immediate frustrating 'broken hire car debacle' to get us started. At the airport we loaded up the new hire car, installed the car seats then, finally ready to go, we found the car computer was reporting some kind of 'wrench-shaped' fault warning light. Alicia went back to the hire counter in rage whilst the kids and I stayed in the warm car with our luggage. The hire company wisely sent a guy and a new car with Alicia to us so we could rapidly transfer everything. With the hire car setback sorted we then confronted the end of the work day Munich traffic which was rough.
On a quick segue- the story with us carrying kids car seats around and having to install them ourselves is simple enough. Alicia cleverly calculated you could buy two dozen car seats (not literally) for the price the hire car companies want to charge you. So instead of hiring the car seats in France, Germany, and UK we just bought them in France and take them with us everywhere. The only catch was if the airlines would check them in for
us for free, which our research indicated and we've happily found: they do.
By the time Alicia finished our drive through the horrific Munich commuter traffic she was suitably stressed and shouting.... which was also about the time the kids were sparking up whinging and fighting in the back seat which was a barrel of laughs for us all....
After getting into the hotel and we made a beeline to the Munich Christmas Market with Nick's parents and sister. We immediately found an outdoor traditional eatery doing a brisk trade and ate a dinner of Bratwurst, nice spiced fries, and Franskizaner beer.
Munich has impressive markets; but Alicia and I suffered much indecision on secret santa gifts.
On our first day in Germany we began with a very good quality typical German full buffet breakfast with loads of salami, cheese, ham, olives, pain au chocolates, croissants, medium sized salted pretzels, and other odd things. They also had more Australian-friendly items like lot of cereals, toast, condiments, and a buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, etc and
even a juicing machine to put orange juice halves in which sounded awesome but was hard, sticky work and was a lot more trouble than it was worth.
We farewelled Nick's family who were forging on to scout out the cottage we are staying in for the next week and Alicia and I went back to the ice skating place we'd spied the night before and with a hefty 6 Euro + ID for security rental of skates per person plus another fee for admittance to the ice we got out there and had a skate. Unfortunately the Munich ice didn't have the same quantity or quality of balancing characters/ seats for the kids to hold/ push as in Tours, France so it was bloody hard work getting Roman moving and we had to wait for other parents to abandon theirs before we could get one.
Alicia was cranky with the thoughtless teenagers who were zipping around the ice hanging on to the balance characters since they obviously didn't need them and others did. Nick cursed and toiled pushing Roman's character around the ice. Roman was really to little to
learn to skate. Lucy on the other hand was thriving and had built up enough confidence to let go of the characters and parents. Nick eventually discovered Roman could be trusted to keep his feet down and glide when holding the character so we whizzed around fast and had a good time.
After wrapping up a successful ice skating session we set off on our drive to
Garmisch-
Partenkirchen. It was moderately stressful getting out of city but we then had a remarkable winter-wonderland drive with loads of snowy trees, fields, hills, Christmas trees covered in snow everywhere. Alicia was so excited she could barely drive. It really was looking like our magical snow-clad winter wonderland we'd painted a picture of the kids. The temp stayed down around 3c and when we arrived in
Garmisch-
Partenkirchenthe whole town had foot high banks of shovelled snow.
The Snow was about 15cm deep on the path and yard of our house. We were staying in a very big house to accommodate the twelve members of Nick's family. The place was very spacious and quite well fitted out. The town was
picturesque with beautiful steep snow laced mountains ringing the area in most directions and there's a nice fresh layer of white snow everywhere.
The story was that the locals had been surprised by an unseasonal huge dump of fresh snow over the two days before we arrived; it was great timing since not another flake of snow fell the whole time we were there for the week.....
We started out to explore the town and Christmas market, but the kids just wanted to play in the snow. Nick convinced Alicia to abandon the Christmas market mission and let the kids play. We found a snow covered yard in the town with a giant shoulder high shovelled mound of snow and let the kids play there which they happily did. We then took them home to our backyard to play in the snow, the snow was so fresh and powdery it was actually damn near impossible to shape so we couldn't really throw snowballs or build snowmen with it! Lucy eventually tired of it but Roman did not want to come in.
For our first meal together with the whole family we
The bizarre dress up crew of Russians (?)
Wandering the grounds in Schloss Linderhofwent to a local German pub two mins walk from our door. Alicia and I shared some Duck, and a Pork knuckle, plus bread & potato dumplings with red cabbage. Despite our misgivings from previous times in Germany the potato dumplings and red cabbage were actually fairly edible. The pub only had the local beer on tap which was swill but otherwise it was nice to have a big dinner out with the whole family together. Exactly the point of the trip.
The next day we set out to the famous Germans castles of the region. At Linderhof in the car park we saw some remarkably dressed people: the girls were wearing large dramatic blue over cloaks, warm looking aroon dresses, and blue military looking jackets and the men smartly embroidered military looking jackets and paints. We've no idea what they were about but from our observations throughout the day we think they might have been a Russian group. Possibly a drama company or somesuch who wanted to get photos in a dramatic snow & castle setting.
Sadly for us the best parts of Schloss Linderhof which are the amazing
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Lucy always had her princess dress at castles; even over 10 layers of warm clothes golden fountains were mothballed and covered up so, despite the snowy vistas it was actually less pretty to visit than it usually is.
We set out to drive to the next castle (Schloss Neuschwanstein) and had a very scenic drive. Highlights included pretty small towns in heavy snow, a lovely stream running from the town into the snowy forest with jaw dropping reflections, and a large lake with nice mountains ringing it and reflections in the water. Frustratingly there was all safe to stop along the side of the road at any time to have a look or take a photo.
Schloss Neuschwanstein is best known as inspiring the castle at Disneyland and is very picturesque. Upon arrival at Neuschwanstein at 1pm we parked up and made our way into a Bratwurst (German sausage) shack where we fought to gain a table then got Bratwurst, fries, and drinks whilst the quirky hosts blared heavy metal and thoughtfully gifted our kids thousands of lollies.
When Nick's family arrived to meet us we all took a horse drawn cart ride to the top of the
Schloss Hohenschwangau
This castle may be the ugly step sister of the 3 King Ludwig castles but it looks beautiful in the afternoon sunlight and snow mountain, the journey was fairly slow and lulling but relatively comfortable in the well suspended carriage and Roman nodded off in Nicks arms for a few mins.
At the top of the horse carriage ride we still had 5 mins of steep up hill walking to get to the castle. Tired Roman was barely able to walk and cracking up. We got a few photos below Neuschwanstein with Lucy curtsying in her dress and stunning views of the whole flat lands around the high mountain then set off for a bridge 20 mins walk away with the best schloss views.
We had another tough toil up more steep paths to get to the bridge. Nick almost died carrying/jogging Roman up the hill. Walking was just too slow and wearying, at least with jogging you feel like you're making progress and your arms don't get quite as tired. We stopped to take in a stunning late sunlit view of Hohenschwangau (one of the mad kings other local castles) then carried on.
From the bridge, which looks perilous set over a deep gorge, were extra special views of Neuschwanstein
in winter; it only could have been better had the snow been thicker on the castle. With Roman, Lucy, and Alicia out of harms way Nick managed to get a few photos of the bridge, gorge, and castle all in reasonably nice light.
Our next day in Winter-wonderland Alicia and I had earmarked to take the kids tobogganing to enjoy the snow while it lasted. Our plan was to do a cheap, cheerful, and local bit of sliding on whatever patch of snow we could find. We felt confident such would be possible after seeing so much snow on our big day of driving the region the day before.
Surprisingly starting from the Tourist Info lady onwards all the negative locals insisted it was inconceivable to hire a sled and/or go anywhere other than up to the top of the local ski slopes on the glacier which required a minimum of an hours travel plus a cable car and a tonne of cash to get to.
When pressed tourist info did concede there were some free hills around the town we could try
on but said with a straight face 'there's just no snow' which we knew to be false since the streets of town are piled a foot high with it and after yesterdays drive we know how many potentially snowy slopes there are around. We drove to where some internet hints had said there may be snowy public slopes but alas our friend from tourist info was right and remarkably there wasn't enough snow on the little hill to make it worth well but then, thinking laterally we decided to drive around the town fringe to see if there might be any other public, snow covered areas and we spied some likely ones.
The ski hire shop guy did concede they were willing to loan us a sledge for 6 Euros a day, but strongly insisted we were mad to try it anywhere but up on the glacier where we'd be better off hiring it, we took at look at the local classical timber sledge for hire and found it a heavy timber monstrosity weighing at least 8kg. Nick made the decision we'd get a cheap plastic toboggan from the toy shop to try on our parkland gamble
and after buying a large plastic circle with two handles for 9 euro we set off, this time by midday with the kids still behaving reasonably.
Our perseverance and willingness to ignore the local naysayers was rewarded with some good 20cm eep snow that preserved cover over the grass/ rocks/ dirt even when trodden/ slid over and we managed to manufacture a couple of decent toboggan runs of our own between 15-40m long.
Once Alicia and I had tested the toboggan to ensure it would in fact slide and stop with no peril we got the kids going. The kids were having a good time but naughtily kept messing around with their gloves which invariably led to gloves full of ice and frozen little hands. Ideally next time we'll duct-tape their gloves on and threaten them with missed turns if they take them off!
After a good 1hr 20 mins or so of fun tobogganing it was a getting a little cool in the shade and the kids were starting to get tired and whingy so we called it a day, everyone walked away happy.
Our next day was a trip with the whole family across the Austrian border into Innsbruck to explore the town and its surrounds and finish up Christmas shopping. At the Christmas market we snacked on yummy German baked goods (Nick loves Nussenschneckes and Alicia's Apfelschnecke was very good) and took Roman to the 'chocolate wheel' type stall that he'd spotted and let the kids have some spins. Roman spun up a tonne of points to the proprietors dismay and she offered a massive stuffed dog as the prize. We declined and scored two smallish cute polar bear teddies instead which were well loved by the kids.
In Innsbruck we wrapped up our Christmas market shopping and bought a little wooden clock and nice wooden yo-yo for secret santa gifts for family on Christmas day. We then had some tasty lunch from the market stalls including Flams (extremely thin pizza things) and spiral potatoes (like giant scallops) and set out to catch the funicular railroad and cable car up to the steepest mountain around the city.
At the top of the cable
car we had stunning views of the city and a very compelling range of deck chairs near the edge that would have been a pleasure to sit down and soak it up. Further, there was a modest hill of good snow about 100m long with lots of toboggans and sleds. To our joy we discovered all the toboggans and sleds were free and Lucy was quickly brave enough to do the whole run by herself. Nick's teen cousins rode little snowboard-on-spring contraptions that Nick eventually tried too. They were hard to control and Nick had a few rough falls to learn how. Alicia took Roman on innumerable sleds but couldn't trust him alone after he promptly smashed a sled into a temporary plastic fence the moment she let him go free.
All in all we had an awesome hour or so with the whole family sliding down the slopes in the sun with great views of the city below. Since we were driving back separately Nick tried to talk Alicia into abandoning my family (in a nice sensitive way) but it seems my hints were too subtle so Alicia insisted we head on down instead of staying
To the victor go the spoils
Roman spun up loads of points on the 'chocolate wheel' and the kids both scored a beautiful polar bear up to enjoy the sunset and stunning views. Upon getting to the bottom of the mountain Nick realised he was missing his warm winter coat ( a critically important item for surviving the next 2-3 weeks) so he had to pay to cable car back up to the top of the mountain where he eventually found the jacket hung somewhere bizarre and then we all headed out of Innsbruck and back home.
The next day was Christmas eve which was an 'administrative' type day of shopping for groceries in the morning, playing in the snow in the yard with the kids, then some ice skating in the local town square near the Christmas market. Alicia and I enjoyed a bit of time resting between ice skates with the kids with a drink and some hot chips. True to German form on Christmas eve all shops were closed without exception so we came home and made dinner for the family and played some cards and games together.
Christmas day was predicted to have both rain & snow in the early hours. Nick dreamed of snow all night
Family on the mountain
Most of the family group together on the mountain high above Innsbruck and checked every two hours all night long (as did my eldest sister), but there was no fresh snow to be had and it was not meant to be.
Christmas was a nice enough day but fairly draining. We gave the kids a gazillion presents from Santa and family then, loaded up on lollies & chocolate we left the kids to play for a bit whilst we toiled in the kitchen making an elaborate baked potato dish. We had a very good Christmas lunch with roast duck & roast pork and loads of other tasty food that everyone had prepared. Alicia gave the kids some champagne (not really- purple fizzy drink in a champagne bottle for a treat) which they loved. Nick drank some of the best beers that can be found in Germany (based on the infinite wisdom of the Ratebeer.com community) and Alicia enjoyed a good red wine (not German of course we don't enjoy any German wine).
After lunch the adults gave presents via a Secret Santa Kris Kringle game where you can pick or steal a gift. Our presumed dud yo-yo gift was actually quite popular amongst the teenagers since
The family that sleds together....
Nick & Lucy in the foreground sled down the snow above Innsbruck whilst Alicia & Roman are following in the background we'd paired it with a block of chocolate so all worked out well!
It rained (not snowed) most of the day and washed away a good deal of the snow in town. The kids were going stir-crazy in the house but we didn't have much joy getting them out and exercised until the late afternoon due to lunch commitments and rain.
Alicia scouted the town to get a brief reprieve around 4pm and reported back that the town was jumping with people at the Christmas markets (drinking Gluwhein (mulled wine) mainly) and suggested we go ice skating. We took the kids for a walk into town but it poured with rain so we abandoned the town and took them home where thankfully Nick's family at last agreed to take the kids off our hands for a bit so Alicia and Nick left the kids for a bath and tea at home and we had a brief night out together.
We found a nice tea room for Alicia where she scored a nice cup of tea and some apple cake and then we soaked up the town ambience. We watched the locals
play what looked like Curling on the ice (they slid bowl-type things with handles along the ice towards puck-shaped things which were the 'jack') and had a drink then stopped in at one more local 'music bar' which was had a handful of odd locals and we didn't feel terribly at-home there so we headed home for dinner.
Christmas evening we all ate leftovers and played games together and Nick drank a few more of Germany's best beers to close the night.
On our final major day of site-seeing (boxing day) after a slow-start morning which included Grandma giving the kids more nice presents since they'd all “presented out” the day before and sorting and packing, Alicia and I took the kids to the local cable car to go up the mountains to the Glacier.
It was a slow journey to the top with stunning views of the forest-ringed lake below and, as we got very close to the top the vertical bare rock mountain face which was amazing to see in real life.
The Zugspitze
Fast sledding
Alicia & Roman slide down chasing Lucy is Germany's tallest mountain standing just below 3km high, Nick was amazed that the highest mountain in Germany has been so built-upon and touristy; we literally got off the cable car 15m below the summit and could have thrown a snowball from the viewing deck across to hit the summit of the amazingly steep and dangerous mountain. German engineers are certainly capable and fearless to build as they have on such an absurdly dangerous and steep spot.
Sadly the top of the mountain remained shrouded in heavy cloud so Alicia and I couldn't take in the apparently wonderful views. We decided to stay in the summit area for lunch in the hopes the clouds would lift but it didn't happen. Eventually we took another cable car off the peak and down to the glacier and to our wry amusement we found the stunning views were just below the cloud around the peak and we could now see all the stunning surrounding mountains and glacier with ski slopes as the cable car dropped us down from the Zugspitze peak.
The glacier area was certainly thick with plenty
Mum & Dad and the fine views
Nick's parents Lorraine & Dan enjoy the stunning views over Innsbruck from the comfy deck chairs. of great snow and it was a decent looking ski area for presumably moderately skilled skiers and below. Alicia and I longed to have a chance to ski/ snowboard but we won't have the kids skilled up for another year or two so tobogganing was the order of the day.
We had difficulty finding infant friendly tobogganing; and Alicia was struggling almost as much as the whingy kids with her busted elbow (from the fall in France) so after endless mucking about we only ended up managing about nine successful toboggan runs on a little suitable slope we'd found before Lucy completely fell apart and so we had to depart. Sadly since the weather was closing in Alicia and I suspect if we'd stayed up another hour or so on the mountain we may have got the fresh snow we'd sought!
To stave off Lucy's total hysterical meltdown from tiredness we took the cog railway down the mountain (a less picturesque but effective way to get down) and we headed home for our final night in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a relax, bed for Lucy, diary-writing catchup for Nick and some quality German beers.
The family then all headed together into the town centre to a German restaurant for a dinner together that was pretty good (more Pork Knuckle for us!) then, since we'd promised Roman because he'd been so good, we took the kids for a last ice skate. We had a great late evening skate despite it starting to rain gently. Lucy is now able to skate around the whole rink alone and is growing in confidence each time; we are very proud of our girl to learn to skate over the 3-4 sessions we've had on this holiday.
The last day in Germany we packed up the house and farewelled Nick's family whom we won't see until we're all flying back to Australia.
Our drive to Munich airport was notable only for the fact that German people often realise we can't speak German properly so, despite us speaking to them in German, they try to reply in what they guess is your language. Nick heard a petrol station staff member say to me “Merci. Ciao” in farewell which was a nice try, and hedged his bets,
Christmas break
Nick & Alicia enjoy a hard earned two hours alone at a nice Tea shop. Yes they served Nick a beer.... but still didn't get it right!
The airline checked in our giant bag of car seats and separate stroller without batting an eyelid which was a great relief for us as this was the one leg of our journey we thought we might cop some grief. We suspect our progress was somewhat helped by a family-friendly check-in woman who appeared late forties and motherly....
Our flight to London had us surrounded by thousands of kids including one family with four including a newborn! Seemed like they loved a challenge (and procreation).
In summary Germany was indeed the winter-wonderland we hoped for and the only thing we missed was having fresh snow fall on us. Now that we've farewelled Nick's parents and other family there's no hope of an hour off from the kids (except when they sleep) for the rest of the trip!
Next up was our time in London. Read about it in the next blog entry - you need to scroll down to see the additional
German mountains
Beautiful views around the Zugspitze Glacier photos for this entry.
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Anne
non-member comment
Great blog
Great blog