Germany part 2

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The Austrian Alps

Departing Ulm we headed south toward Austria stopping for lunch and a stroll around the cute island medieval town of Lindau on Lake Constance with spectacular views across the lake to the Swiss alps.

We then drove high into the mountains crossing the border into Austria destined for the rural alpine village of Schoppernau where Ralph spent many childhood family holidays. This tiny village is situated in the narrow flat land of a valley surrounded by steep white capped mountains. In Winter it is the base of a popular ski resort.

Arriving at our b & b we discovered a nostalgically decorated Austrian farmhouse perched a top of its cattle barn. Being summer the cattle were up in the mountains and not tucked away beneath us which happens in Winter. Despite this we could hear the sound of the cowbells coming from all over the valley around us. Our hostess was delightfully warm and hospitable and dressed in her Austrian dirndle dress. In the two days here we had a beautiful summer evening wandering the hills a top the village and looking across the Alps, the next day we set out on a more lengthy mountain trek to turn back within 30 minutes of commencing as the bleak day turned foggy, rainy and quickly dropped to 7 degrees. We returned to our car and set off for a drive winding up in the famous ski resort of St Anton.

In the evening the sun returned, the local volunteer firefighting unit were hosting a kids event at the station and Dillon spent a good few hours hanging out with his heros, spraying the fire hose and riding a fire truck through the valley (good timing for our visit given his passion for all things fire brigade). Ralph was keen to visit the now elderly couple in their 70s who had hosted his family on several occassions more than 30 years ago in his summer holidays. Their farm house situated not far from ours, so he knocked on their door and they both remembered him, invited him to sit on the porch and their they sat chatting and reminiscing about the olden days for several hours. As midnight drew closer Mum and I thought Ralph must be talking them both to sleep, especially given they are in their 70s....but no apparently it was the other way round and they had a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining rendezvous.

Cousins finally meet - Waltenhofen, Kempten the Allgäu, Bavaria

It has been 5 years since the last time Ralph and I had seen our German family Michael, Andrea and Jule. I was then 12 weeks pregnant with Dillon and Andrea had just discovered she was pregnant with Mia. Now finally the cousins were to meet. Dillon had been waiting 6 long weeks since we left Australia to meet his cousins. This was his primary motivation for the big holiday. He was super excited when we arrived in Waltenhoffen to Michael's home in the southern Allgäu Region of Bavaria. Mia who is two months younger than Dillon is a good 5cm taller however somewhat quieter and shy.

He had been practising his German language skills and in not too long was trying to use his persuasive skills to charm Mia over. Remarkably for a boy who had hardly uttered a word of the German language prior to this date, over the next two weeks he started to put it to work. It was a real delight to hear him attempting to communicate with Mia in the first few days in the back of the car.... but then a feeling of overwhelming pride when at the end of the two weeks he was fluently communicating with his German family. Needless to say Mia and Dillon had become best friends and playmates. Finally the 4.5 years of Ralphs dedicated non-stop German one-way banter to Dillon had paid off. Now just 6 weeks later I truely have no understanding of the discussions between them. We are now in meeting several German backpackers and Dillon is communicating fluently with them, easily switching between German and English with the conversation.

Our family reunion was just as we had hoped. Lots of time to catch up with plenty of coffee and cake, big German breakfasts, the mandatory family photo viewing (recent years and olden days). Mum was super excited to see how much of a resemblance Dillon has for when Ralph was a boy as we trailed through Michael's family photo collection, of course we found plenty that resemble Dillon.

Some sightseeing of this picturesque Allgau lake and mountainous region was on our agenda and Michael was an absolute gem to plan out a great itinerary and drive us around...in the 7 seater family Van ( perfect!). We experienced plenty of Alpine hillside adventure, visits to the Allgau lakes, non-stop vistas of the beautiful mountains and lush green rural landscapes, a day at Neuschwanstein ( the mad king Ludwig Castle that Disneyland was modelled on), and a day of shopping with Andrea in the shopping malls of Kempten.

The hills are alive........Forstau, Salzburg region, Austria

The next two weeks we embarked on a Familie Warta Austrian alpine farm stay, which honestly was the best European summer getaway. The drive into the Bavarian alpine area and across into Austria was absolutely superb....we took the alternate route and not the autobahn and got to see some very very beautiful scenery. It had more than enough attractions suitable for 4 year olds, a 14 year old , two 40 year old adrenalin fuelled brothers and an Australian Nanna who was desperately trying to shed her years of thrill and height phobia. Our German Family members had never heard of the film the Sound of Music and Google came in handy to show them of its fame (better than my singing in any case).

Our farm yard apartments were perched on the side of a high valley overlooking a small village and the mountains beyond including the mammoth Dachstein. The farmyard and barns were home to horses, goats, chickens, ducks, very fat rabbits, and a few new litters of kittens. Mia and Dillon were smitten with all especially the poor kittens. Mia was thrilled that kids horse rides were held in the mornings after they helped to groom and saddle the horses. The yard also contained go carts, ride on toy tractors, a playground with trampoline, bowls lane, basketball hoop, tree-house, swings, slide, a love seat, a pool and sandpit...plenty to keep the kids entertained and a bar for the adults.

Our days were filled exploring the mountains with the thrills that mum was seeking and those that kept Ralph and Jule happy aswell...plenty of chairlifts to mountain top playlands (Hopsiland was a kids favourite educational adventure obstacle course), trekking areas (some a bit scary like the trek back down a steep hill to a lake), summer taboganing, treetop adventure climbing and zip-lining ( including one for Dillon and Mia). A favourite for all of us was the 12km down hill go cart track. We went back for a second ride on our last day and mum confessed to me her secret dream to one day become a race car driver. She was very proud of herself and quite keen for me to send the pics home to her friends.

We spent a day sightseeing in Salzburg city, to stroll through the beautiful old town, market stalls, shopping area, gardens and riverside. Another day we donned some overalls and explored a Salt mine, getting on the mining train to take us down the shaft, on an underground river boat and sliding between mines on very long underground slippery slides. Salzburg was named after the salt that was discovered by the 1500s...it is what made the town rich and bestowed it with its beautiful buildings.

Our time with our family came to an end after a few days back home relaxing in the beautiful Waltenhofen village and making preparations for the next leg of our adventure. A sad and teary farewell at the train station, with Dillon hanging fondly onto Mia's hand and cuddling her tight.

Munich

We spent the next three days in Munich exploring the old town, the shopping malls, the gardens and palace Schloss Nymphenburg. We caught up with some friends from Sydney ( Mysie, Geoff, Ralf and Chelsea) at the fabulous Augustiner biergarten, this place has the best BBQ mackerel. Mum and I shared a stein of beer, which took us from 6 till 10 pm to drink between us! After saying a rushed and sad farewell to Mum at Munich airport, our last few days in Germany were warm and sunny and the perfect way to end the trip. Many thanks to Mysie for spending the day leisure riding with me about Munich (after her 100km triathlon training ride that morning), showing me some sights, ensuring I threw myself in the flowing and cold river in the Englischergarten and introducing me to a refreshing Hugo!

Dillon looks back upon his time in Germany with a love for his fatherland and fond memories of his cousins and friends and clearly very eager to return soon.

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