Northern Italy/South West Germany Trip - Completed!
Apr 30th, 2007, 04:03 AM
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Northern Italy/South West Germany Trip - Completed!
Hello out there.
Before I start the trip of the journey, thanks to everyone for the advice before we left, there is no doubt that a number of hidden gems (well certainly as far as I was concerned hidden to me) were uncovered through the use of this forum. (In particular, Hall in Tirol - Austria and Weggis in Switzerland).
This part will cover the start to the end of Austria.
We (That's me, wife and 2 kids 11 and 9 yrs) left Perth (Australia) for Zurich via KL on Malaysian Airlines on 5th April and arrived at 6.15am on 6th April. Our first observation was how easy it was to catch the train from the airport to the central train station (on advice from this forum - thank you saved plenty on a taxi fare!).
For the first 2 nights, we stayed at St Josef's Pension on Hirschengraben Street, which is classified as a 3 star hotel (again from advice here). For a family of four, the location, price and quality was excellent. In particular the breakfast was my favourite of the trip. We liked the experience enough to book for our final night when we came back before flying out of Zurich.
During the 2 days which were Easter Friday and Saturday, we visited the local attractions and walked a lot to see the parks, use the PolyBahn (which my daughter loved) and took a riverboat which was included in the public transport day pass.
Zurich is impressive with the public transport service as one ticket allows the trams, trains and boats to be utilised. Very enjoyable.
On Sunday, we took the challenging step of picking up our hire vehicle from Europacar in Josef Street (which I booked, thinking it was near our hotel - incorrect! - it was about 4 tram stops away). Anyway, after some interesting initial challenges like "wheres the hand-brake?" and how do we get the GPS device to work in English...we were off to Hall in Tirol - Austria (no Kangaroos!)
We navigated through the city of Zurich to the autobahn to head for Austria (I think on the correct side of the road for the majority of the time)...the drivers were amazingly tolerant of my driving. (I still had Italy to enjoy in the near future).
After a wonderful (in terms of scenery) drive from Zurich to Innsbruck, we got to Hall in Tirol and stayed at Gasthof Badl at www.badl.at (advice from this forum). Another excellent location with hosts that made us feel very welcome. (Steiner family) - My kids loved the two dos Max and Nellie and the opportunity to live next to the river with views up of the mountains. To sit on the balcony with a beer and look up at the mountains was fantastic.
Remembering this was Easter Sunday, we walked up to the town (Hall) and while the majority of shops were closed, a huge line of people were waiting at one window (of course, it was the local ice cream favourite, selling double scoop ice-creams for 1 euro - and yes my kids did get one each).
Back at the hotel, we were provided with a great meal and very nice drinks. We set off on Monday for the Swarvoski factory, which again my kids loved as they had a great maze, flying fox and playground equipment to keep them entertained. We then had lunch at Wallens, a small town like Hall - which had a great Italian restaurant in the main street.
My kids then wanted to get back to see Max and Nellie (the dogs at our hotel) and we were happy to sit in the beer garden in the sun to enjoy the rest of the afternoon before heading off to Venice the next morning.
I'll complete the next stage covering Italy tomorrow.
Cheers
Before I start the trip of the journey, thanks to everyone for the advice before we left, there is no doubt that a number of hidden gems (well certainly as far as I was concerned hidden to me) were uncovered through the use of this forum. (In particular, Hall in Tirol - Austria and Weggis in Switzerland).
This part will cover the start to the end of Austria.
We (That's me, wife and 2 kids 11 and 9 yrs) left Perth (Australia) for Zurich via KL on Malaysian Airlines on 5th April and arrived at 6.15am on 6th April. Our first observation was how easy it was to catch the train from the airport to the central train station (on advice from this forum - thank you saved plenty on a taxi fare!).
For the first 2 nights, we stayed at St Josef's Pension on Hirschengraben Street, which is classified as a 3 star hotel (again from advice here). For a family of four, the location, price and quality was excellent. In particular the breakfast was my favourite of the trip. We liked the experience enough to book for our final night when we came back before flying out of Zurich.
During the 2 days which were Easter Friday and Saturday, we visited the local attractions and walked a lot to see the parks, use the PolyBahn (which my daughter loved) and took a riverboat which was included in the public transport day pass.
Zurich is impressive with the public transport service as one ticket allows the trams, trains and boats to be utilised. Very enjoyable.
On Sunday, we took the challenging step of picking up our hire vehicle from Europacar in Josef Street (which I booked, thinking it was near our hotel - incorrect! - it was about 4 tram stops away). Anyway, after some interesting initial challenges like "wheres the hand-brake?" and how do we get the GPS device to work in English...we were off to Hall in Tirol - Austria (no Kangaroos!)
We navigated through the city of Zurich to the autobahn to head for Austria (I think on the correct side of the road for the majority of the time)...the drivers were amazingly tolerant of my driving. (I still had Italy to enjoy in the near future).
After a wonderful (in terms of scenery) drive from Zurich to Innsbruck, we got to Hall in Tirol and stayed at Gasthof Badl at www.badl.at (advice from this forum). Another excellent location with hosts that made us feel very welcome. (Steiner family) - My kids loved the two dos Max and Nellie and the opportunity to live next to the river with views up of the mountains. To sit on the balcony with a beer and look up at the mountains was fantastic.
Remembering this was Easter Sunday, we walked up to the town (Hall) and while the majority of shops were closed, a huge line of people were waiting at one window (of course, it was the local ice cream favourite, selling double scoop ice-creams for 1 euro - and yes my kids did get one each).
Back at the hotel, we were provided with a great meal and very nice drinks. We set off on Monday for the Swarvoski factory, which again my kids loved as they had a great maze, flying fox and playground equipment to keep them entertained. We then had lunch at Wallens, a small town like Hall - which had a great Italian restaurant in the main street.
My kids then wanted to get back to see Max and Nellie (the dogs at our hotel) and we were happy to sit in the beer garden in the sun to enjoy the rest of the afternoon before heading off to Venice the next morning.
I'll complete the next stage covering Italy tomorrow.
Cheers
May 1st, 2007, 03:20 AM
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Italy....
On Tuesday morning, we set off for Venice. Winding through a number of various size tunnels and long stretches of scenic countryside, we laughed about the volume of traffic in comparison to Perth Australia. we did stop at a "rest-station" in Northern Italy along the way and unfortunately (due to language challenges) ordered an "American Coffee"....we quickly learnt from this experience to go for cappucino's!
We got to camp fusina www.campingfusina.com (across the water from Venice) and bought a 3-day pass Venice. We were accommodated in basic (and I mean Basic!) units...we would call them Donga's in Perth, used in mining sites. They consisted of 2 beds and a small bathroom attached. However, beyond that, they were great for location and ease of access to ferry to Venice.
Venice of course was a unique location. My kids loved San Marco square with the pigeons and the never-ending alleys where tourists can easily lose themselves. I would love to actually come back here for a month plus to enjoy the opportunity to get around without trying to do it all in 1-2 days.
We crossed to the island twice and even saw Murano (though this was over-rated in comparison to the main island). The Vaporetto was an excellent way of getting around (13 euro each for the day) and highly recommended. On advice from our Italian contacts, they suggest we visit Venice during winter, when there are not so many tourists around.
On Thursday, we left venice for the farm up in North-West Italy.
The morning started out in a challenging fashion, trying to negotiate the roads (in particular trucks) to get onto the correct lane on round-abouts etc....my son believes Mario-Kart is easier!
Anyway, after 4-5 hours of driving rom Venice to Aulla (we only averaged 115 Km/hr...cars were flying past!) we get to the back roads of our trip to the farm in casola in lunigiana...(For me, the farm experience was easily the best part of the holiday!)
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/it482.htm
Our hosts Carlo and Silvia (with their 2 daughters) were fantastic...they spoilt us with their hospitality, introducing us to local towns folk and on one night cooking us home-cooked pizza, (in their own built wood fired oven) providing the wine and serving quality gelato for dessert.
It was an experience totally different to the tourist locations we had been to and one which gave us an opportunity to enjoy the rural tuscany life of Italy.
To watch the local shop-keeper (Josephina) work the languages with the children was a treat and one my kids will remember for a long time....
We were able to use the farm as a central point to visit Cinque Terre, Pisa and Lucca and each of these locations had attractions that needed more time than we could give...Lucca in particular is a hidden gem that people can access and enjoy easily.
After 4 days we set off for Weggis in Switzerland.
To be coninued
On Tuesday morning, we set off for Venice. Winding through a number of various size tunnels and long stretches of scenic countryside, we laughed about the volume of traffic in comparison to Perth Australia. we did stop at a "rest-station" in Northern Italy along the way and unfortunately (due to language challenges) ordered an "American Coffee"....we quickly learnt from this experience to go for cappucino's!
We got to camp fusina www.campingfusina.com (across the water from Venice) and bought a 3-day pass Venice. We were accommodated in basic (and I mean Basic!) units...we would call them Donga's in Perth, used in mining sites. They consisted of 2 beds and a small bathroom attached. However, beyond that, they were great for location and ease of access to ferry to Venice.
Venice of course was a unique location. My kids loved San Marco square with the pigeons and the never-ending alleys where tourists can easily lose themselves. I would love to actually come back here for a month plus to enjoy the opportunity to get around without trying to do it all in 1-2 days.
We crossed to the island twice and even saw Murano (though this was over-rated in comparison to the main island). The Vaporetto was an excellent way of getting around (13 euro each for the day) and highly recommended. On advice from our Italian contacts, they suggest we visit Venice during winter, when there are not so many tourists around.
On Thursday, we left venice for the farm up in North-West Italy.
The morning started out in a challenging fashion, trying to negotiate the roads (in particular trucks) to get onto the correct lane on round-abouts etc....my son believes Mario-Kart is easier!
Anyway, after 4-5 hours of driving rom Venice to Aulla (we only averaged 115 Km/hr...cars were flying past!) we get to the back roads of our trip to the farm in casola in lunigiana...(For me, the farm experience was easily the best part of the holiday!)
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/it482.htm
Our hosts Carlo and Silvia (with their 2 daughters) were fantastic...they spoilt us with their hospitality, introducing us to local towns folk and on one night cooking us home-cooked pizza, (in their own built wood fired oven) providing the wine and serving quality gelato for dessert.
It was an experience totally different to the tourist locations we had been to and one which gave us an opportunity to enjoy the rural tuscany life of Italy.
To watch the local shop-keeper (Josephina) work the languages with the children was a treat and one my kids will remember for a long time....
We were able to use the farm as a central point to visit Cinque Terre, Pisa and Lucca and each of these locations had attractions that needed more time than we could give...Lucca in particular is a hidden gem that people can access and enjoy easily.
After 4 days we set off for Weggis in Switzerland.
To be coninued
May 1st, 2007, 11:02 PM
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Hi Bigtyke
the comparison of traffic with Perth to any of the places we visited was Perth had a small volume and Switzerland, Austria, Italy (in particular) and Germany all had plenty in comparison.
An obvious observation was that the drivers in Europe were disciplined enough to keep in the slower lanes unless passing. That is a fantasy over here. We are quite happy to "cruise" in our "fast" lanes and overtake on the inside....(something that we didn't see in Europe).
the comparison of traffic with Perth to any of the places we visited was Perth had a small volume and Switzerland, Austria, Italy (in particular) and Germany all had plenty in comparison.
An obvious observation was that the drivers in Europe were disciplined enough to keep in the slower lanes unless passing. That is a fantasy over here. We are quite happy to "cruise" in our "fast" lanes and overtake on the inside....(something that we didn't see in Europe).
May 2nd, 2007, 01:33 AM
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Part 3.
On saying our farewells to our hosts at the farm, we set off on our 30km of winding road back to the Autostrada, Monday morning.
We had gone about 5km's when we came upon 2 very large trucks (going our way) and sat behind them. Traffic literally had to stop from the other way to allow these trucks to pass. (and we were fortunate enough to be able to piggy-back behind)...What we thought was kind of hair-raising, most of the locals just took in their stride...(when in Rome??? or Aulla!)
We got to the autostrada and set the GPS for Lake Lucerne (or Weggis - a close town nearby). We were directed up to Lake Como (incredible scenery...very attractive) this was nearly going to be our stopover point instead of Weggis before heading into Germany. With what we saw, I am sure we would have loved it.
Across the border and into Switzerland, we got to travel through the famous St Gotthard Pass. I had seen reference to this on the forum before we left and now understand why people were suggesting that this would not be a great place to be if the roads were busy...I think it goes for around 16-17Km of 1 lane traffic either way. We were lucky and enjoyed the novelty of such a long tunnel....
We continued driving past beautiful scenery (Lakes and mountains), but nothing was as impressive as the small towns around Lake Lucerne. Weggis in particular, was right out of a fairy tale book. Our hotel the Seehotel Gottard (another recommendation from here) www.gotthard-weggis.ch was literally on the lake...it had a sister hotel across the road which has a heated swimming pool & spa and outdoor area where drinks could be had next to the lake.
My kids raced up to the room and changed and then stayed the rest of the day swimming, eating chips and drinking cool drink....The wife and I sat in the deck chairs and had drinks watching the ferries, boats and yachts out on the lake...The meal later that night was also taken right next to the lake and was a perfect way to finish off the long drive from Italy.
Before the meal, we did visit the cable car that heads up from Weggis to Rigi (the local mountain) and were advised we were too late for the day, so on advice from the teller, we decided to try in the morning.
The next morning, we had enough time to get to the cable-car station and the teller (same man as day before) gave us a discount for coming back....great work! My kids loved the ride up the mountain and loved the playground at the top even more...we stayed an hour before going back to the hotel and sadly checking-out to head off for EuropaPark.
I will say that my wife thought that Weggis was fantastic and wanted to work out how we could go back there again as soon as possible. The rest of the family loved it too, but if you ask my kids, its the next 2 days that they continuously talk about.
And so the moment arrives, according to my kids, forget about Venice, Zurich, Tuscany, romantic road etc...Europapark was what they wanted to see.
We left Weggis and took about 2-3 hours to get to Europapark, where we stayed at the resort hotel. El Andaluz - http://resort.europapark.de/
From my perspective, it was very similar to Disneyland. We were there for 2 days. Kids loved it, parents thought it was good for the first morning.
On leaving Europapark, we head to Wurzburg to do the romantic road.
To be continued.
On saying our farewells to our hosts at the farm, we set off on our 30km of winding road back to the Autostrada, Monday morning.
We had gone about 5km's when we came upon 2 very large trucks (going our way) and sat behind them. Traffic literally had to stop from the other way to allow these trucks to pass. (and we were fortunate enough to be able to piggy-back behind)...What we thought was kind of hair-raising, most of the locals just took in their stride...(when in Rome??? or Aulla!)
We got to the autostrada and set the GPS for Lake Lucerne (or Weggis - a close town nearby). We were directed up to Lake Como (incredible scenery...very attractive) this was nearly going to be our stopover point instead of Weggis before heading into Germany. With what we saw, I am sure we would have loved it.
Across the border and into Switzerland, we got to travel through the famous St Gotthard Pass. I had seen reference to this on the forum before we left and now understand why people were suggesting that this would not be a great place to be if the roads were busy...I think it goes for around 16-17Km of 1 lane traffic either way. We were lucky and enjoyed the novelty of such a long tunnel....
We continued driving past beautiful scenery (Lakes and mountains), but nothing was as impressive as the small towns around Lake Lucerne. Weggis in particular, was right out of a fairy tale book. Our hotel the Seehotel Gottard (another recommendation from here) www.gotthard-weggis.ch was literally on the lake...it had a sister hotel across the road which has a heated swimming pool & spa and outdoor area where drinks could be had next to the lake.
My kids raced up to the room and changed and then stayed the rest of the day swimming, eating chips and drinking cool drink....The wife and I sat in the deck chairs and had drinks watching the ferries, boats and yachts out on the lake...The meal later that night was also taken right next to the lake and was a perfect way to finish off the long drive from Italy.
Before the meal, we did visit the cable car that heads up from Weggis to Rigi (the local mountain) and were advised we were too late for the day, so on advice from the teller, we decided to try in the morning.
The next morning, we had enough time to get to the cable-car station and the teller (same man as day before) gave us a discount for coming back....great work! My kids loved the ride up the mountain and loved the playground at the top even more...we stayed an hour before going back to the hotel and sadly checking-out to head off for EuropaPark.
I will say that my wife thought that Weggis was fantastic and wanted to work out how we could go back there again as soon as possible. The rest of the family loved it too, but if you ask my kids, its the next 2 days that they continuously talk about.
And so the moment arrives, according to my kids, forget about Venice, Zurich, Tuscany, romantic road etc...Europapark was what they wanted to see.
We left Weggis and took about 2-3 hours to get to Europapark, where we stayed at the resort hotel. El Andaluz - http://resort.europapark.de/
From my perspective, it was very similar to Disneyland. We were there for 2 days. Kids loved it, parents thought it was good for the first morning.
On leaving Europapark, we head to Wurzburg to do the romantic road.
To be continued.
May 2nd, 2007, 01:54 PM
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marketridge, we also stayed at the Gasthof Badl in Hall. I remember the two dogs well, being a dog owner myself. Nice place. Glad you enjoyed the Swarovski factory -- it was certainly different and I can see where the kids would be keen on it. Just a minor correction for anyone planning to visit. It is located in Wattens, not Wallens.
We have been to Lucerne many times, but never to Weggis. I think we'll have to put it on our list the next time we visit Switzerland.
We have been to Lucerne many times, but never to Weggis. I think we'll have to put it on our list the next time we visit Switzerland.
May 2nd, 2007, 02:28 PM
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Thanks for the great report! I've really enjoyed reading about your family's adventures.
Yes, driving in Europe is different than in Perth. I visited Perth in 1996, but did not drive, just walked a lot and too the scenic tour bus around the city... lovely, by the way!
I like that you traveled from place to place quite a bit. That's what my DH and I usually do. A couple of nights here, a couple of nights there, we find it enjoyable to move around.
Looking forward to the rest of your report. We may also have to put Weggis on our Swiss itinerary, as we've been to Lucern once or twice yearly since about 1985!
Carol
Yes, driving in Europe is different than in Perth. I visited Perth in 1996, but did not drive, just walked a lot and too the scenic tour bus around the city... lovely, by the way!
I like that you traveled from place to place quite a bit. That's what my DH and I usually do. A couple of nights here, a couple of nights there, we find it enjoyable to move around.
Looking forward to the rest of your report. We may also have to put Weggis on our Swiss itinerary, as we've been to Lucern once or twice yearly since about 1985!
Carol
May 2nd, 2007, 04:21 PM
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Hi Paul
In terms of driving time from Zurich to Hall in Tirol, its worth noting that we were driving on Easter Sunday (and it was our first efforts at driving in Europe...so we were fairly conservative....I was still using the wipers to indicate at this point!)
All that said, it took about 3-4 hours (with a 30 min stop for some tucker). It was a relatively straight-forward drive in comparison to some of the other trips.
Hall in Tirol to Venice was a longer trip and a little more involved with plenty of traffic as we got closer to Venice. I think we left (Hall) around 9.30am and arrived at about 2.30pm, in time to catch the 3.00pm ferry from Fusina to Venice.
In terms of driving time from Zurich to Hall in Tirol, its worth noting that we were driving on Easter Sunday (and it was our first efforts at driving in Europe...so we were fairly conservative....I was still using the wipers to indicate at this point!)
All that said, it took about 3-4 hours (with a 30 min stop for some tucker). It was a relatively straight-forward drive in comparison to some of the other trips.
Hall in Tirol to Venice was a longer trip and a little more involved with plenty of traffic as we got closer to Venice. I think we left (Hall) around 9.30am and arrived at about 2.30pm, in time to catch the 3.00pm ferry from Fusina to Venice.
May 2nd, 2007, 05:44 PM
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I recall one time sitting at the north end of the Gottard tunnel on Good Friday, waiting for about two hours to get to the tunnel and on our way south to the Ticino region of Switzerland. Traffic during the Easter holiday can be truly crazy!
Carol
Carol
May 3rd, 2007, 02:33 AM
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Part 4
The trip from Europapark was fairly uneventful, (we had booked the remainder of the holiday from the dial-up connection at the farm in Italy) and the hotel at Wurzburg-Randersacker was not on advice from fodors. While it was clean and fine for 1 night, if we had our time again, I would have booked something closer to the town of Wurzburg.
We did get to see a little of the Randersacker area and the hotel folk were very friendly (spoke very little English, but I can assure you...their English was a lot better than my German!) With lots of bitte and Danke's as well as smiling plenty, we reached some common ground and it was great hearing my daugther ask the host for "eine wasser und eine bier bitte", to which we later found out, that our host replied in german if we wanted water with gas? My daughter was just saying "Ja bitte, ja bitte" repetitively....Hilarious...We of course couldn't understand either....
Anyway, we set off for the Wurzburg - the town itself in the morning as my sister was meeting us (she had come from France via Frankfurt) and we had some time to kill while we waited at the train station. We set off down the main streets of Wurzburg and were pleasantly surprised at the range (and price) of the goods on sale. Of course my son wanted to get some bratwurst (and so did I) and the others had fresh pastries from the bakery....perhaps they looked cheaper in price as we had come from the theme park???
My sister arrived and we set off for Colmberg Castle for an evening in something totally different. The trip was only about 1-2 hours at a very slow pace and we were able to have a late lunch in the town of Colmberg itself. (Local pub - Goulash....very nice too).
The castle http://www.burg-colmberg.de/englisch/lage.html is well set up for tourists, it is basically on an excellent golf course....looking out our bathroom window (of the third floor), you could watch below the golfers on the green putting.... All the medieval relics and stuffed animals (including a huge bear near the dining room entrance - which scared my daughter - we had to walk with her past it for the whole time) were on display and the novelty made it a worthwhile experience.
We all slept ok, I was not aware of any hauntings etc and the breakfast tasted great. All ready to continue the romantic road, which had started to really impress just before Colmberg.
On advice from previous visitors, we decided to drive to Fussen and stay there 3 days as our base and then drive back to the castles near the south of the romantic road.
The road from Colmberg to Fussen had some spectacular scenery and coming into Fussen with the lakes and the mountains, we were treated to some very special views. (Highly recommended)...we stayed at the seespitz apartments (another very good recommend from here) http://www.seespitz.com/seespitzuk/home.html - This place has everything for a travelling family including heated swimming pool, games room, free internet, large rooms, Italian Restaurant, Bar, close to shops and a magnificent view of the lakes and mountains. The hosts were very helpful and it was a great stay had by all.
I'll finish the report tomorrow with a more detailed view on the fussen experience as well as the return to Zurich before flying back home to Australia.
Cheers
Marketridge
The trip from Europapark was fairly uneventful, (we had booked the remainder of the holiday from the dial-up connection at the farm in Italy) and the hotel at Wurzburg-Randersacker was not on advice from fodors. While it was clean and fine for 1 night, if we had our time again, I would have booked something closer to the town of Wurzburg.
We did get to see a little of the Randersacker area and the hotel folk were very friendly (spoke very little English, but I can assure you...their English was a lot better than my German!) With lots of bitte and Danke's as well as smiling plenty, we reached some common ground and it was great hearing my daugther ask the host for "eine wasser und eine bier bitte", to which we later found out, that our host replied in german if we wanted water with gas? My daughter was just saying "Ja bitte, ja bitte" repetitively....Hilarious...We of course couldn't understand either....
Anyway, we set off for the Wurzburg - the town itself in the morning as my sister was meeting us (she had come from France via Frankfurt) and we had some time to kill while we waited at the train station. We set off down the main streets of Wurzburg and were pleasantly surprised at the range (and price) of the goods on sale. Of course my son wanted to get some bratwurst (and so did I) and the others had fresh pastries from the bakery....perhaps they looked cheaper in price as we had come from the theme park???
My sister arrived and we set off for Colmberg Castle for an evening in something totally different. The trip was only about 1-2 hours at a very slow pace and we were able to have a late lunch in the town of Colmberg itself. (Local pub - Goulash....very nice too).
The castle http://www.burg-colmberg.de/englisch/lage.html is well set up for tourists, it is basically on an excellent golf course....looking out our bathroom window (of the third floor), you could watch below the golfers on the green putting.... All the medieval relics and stuffed animals (including a huge bear near the dining room entrance - which scared my daughter - we had to walk with her past it for the whole time) were on display and the novelty made it a worthwhile experience.
We all slept ok, I was not aware of any hauntings etc and the breakfast tasted great. All ready to continue the romantic road, which had started to really impress just before Colmberg.
On advice from previous visitors, we decided to drive to Fussen and stay there 3 days as our base and then drive back to the castles near the south of the romantic road.
The road from Colmberg to Fussen had some spectacular scenery and coming into Fussen with the lakes and the mountains, we were treated to some very special views. (Highly recommended)...we stayed at the seespitz apartments (another very good recommend from here) http://www.seespitz.com/seespitzuk/home.html - This place has everything for a travelling family including heated swimming pool, games room, free internet, large rooms, Italian Restaurant, Bar, close to shops and a magnificent view of the lakes and mountains. The hosts were very helpful and it was a great stay had by all.
I'll finish the report tomorrow with a more detailed view on the fussen experience as well as the return to Zurich before flying back home to Australia.
Cheers
Marketridge
May 3rd, 2007, 03:51 AM
#18
hi, marketridge,
still loving the report. your experiences with german reminded me of the first time i went to austria with my parents, my dad having learnt german at school, while I had then done a couple of years.
somehow, we ended up ordering "drei erdbeereis dreimal" which meant we got nine very large scoops of strawberry icecream. it took me along time before I could face it again!
regards, ann
still loving the report. your experiences with german reminded me of the first time i went to austria with my parents, my dad having learnt german at school, while I had then done a couple of years.
somehow, we ended up ordering "drei erdbeereis dreimal" which meant we got nine very large scoops of strawberry icecream. it took me along time before I could face it again!
regards, ann
May 3rd, 2007, 04:20 AM
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Hi Ann
You sound like you have had a similar experience to the ones we have enjoyed.
I'm pleased you can relate to come of the challenges we have had, I'm looking forward to reading others experiences in the future and having a laugh at our expense...
We've only been back a week and we're already talking about how we get to do the next one....though the wife agrees the concept of a scandanavian holiday sounds challenging! (we could have flown to Stockholm instead of Zurich for the same price.....)
Anyway, hope you get a few laughs out of this....if you have been though something like it...I'm sure you will.
Cheers
Marketridge
You sound like you have had a similar experience to the ones we have enjoyed.
I'm pleased you can relate to come of the challenges we have had, I'm looking forward to reading others experiences in the future and having a laugh at our expense...
We've only been back a week and we're already talking about how we get to do the next one....though the wife agrees the concept of a scandanavian holiday sounds challenging! (we could have flown to Stockholm instead of Zurich for the same price.....)
Anyway, hope you get a few laughs out of this....if you have been though something like it...I'm sure you will.
Cheers
Marketridge
May 3rd, 2007, 11:58 PM
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Part 5.
After arriving in Fussen, we went down to the local town (it was a Sunday) and a lot of the shops were closed (not the cafe's and ice-cream sellers) We bought ourselves some great icecream in the centre of the towns walk-through mall. A lot of people were just enjoying the sunshine. Great spot for relaxing after the drive.
The following day we decided to visit the famous castles of the Bavarian region including the Neuschwanstein Castle which I think everyone visits if they visit the area. As with all the high traffic (in terms of people)sites, there is not enough time to really enjoy the attraction, however the ride on the carriage with 2 clydesdales kept my children entertained and the aroma from both the horses and the horseman kept me entertained watching the tourists reaction.
We visited King Ludwigs parents castle as well as his own famous one and both were worth the effort. The tours are very professionally conducted, though it would be hectic in peak season.
We got back to our appartment and enjoyed a swim along with great pizza's & pasta from the sister restaurant.
The following day (our last before heading back to Zurich) we took off over to Austria and spent 2-3 hours at the ehrenburg museum http://www.ehrenberg.at/ which had armour the children could try on (authentic and very heavy)...the kids loved it and the playground was again very impressive for our kids. Definitely worth the effort and a good way to finish off our trip before heading back to Zurich the next morning.
The following day, we checked out of our room early as we had to get the car back before 11am. It took us 3 hours to get from Fussen to Zurich and we had about 8 minutes to spare as we handed over the keys to our friends at Europacar! A sense of relief came over me as now I had to catch public transport and didn't have to concentrate on the road! We headed back to our trusted St Josef's Pension on Hirschengraben, left our gear there and ran around Zurich for the rest of the day before having a final supper in the "The spaggetti bar" (very nice too!)
The following morning (after that very impressive breakfast), we caught the train to the airport (we considered ourselves to be experts now!) and said our final goodbyes to Europe.
We stopped over at Kuala Lumper in Malaysia for 3 days to sit around the pool and eat lots of asian dishes....Until finally getting back to Perth on 29th April.
It was 3 weeks of totally different cultures and challenges, which together with the historical places we were able to visit - gave us another perspective on how others live.
Once again, thanks to a lot of people on this forum, I will definitely be using this for future holidays. The advice has been invaluable.
cheers
Marketridge
After arriving in Fussen, we went down to the local town (it was a Sunday) and a lot of the shops were closed (not the cafe's and ice-cream sellers) We bought ourselves some great icecream in the centre of the towns walk-through mall. A lot of people were just enjoying the sunshine. Great spot for relaxing after the drive.
The following day we decided to visit the famous castles of the Bavarian region including the Neuschwanstein Castle which I think everyone visits if they visit the area. As with all the high traffic (in terms of people)sites, there is not enough time to really enjoy the attraction, however the ride on the carriage with 2 clydesdales kept my children entertained and the aroma from both the horses and the horseman kept me entertained watching the tourists reaction.
We visited King Ludwigs parents castle as well as his own famous one and both were worth the effort. The tours are very professionally conducted, though it would be hectic in peak season.
We got back to our appartment and enjoyed a swim along with great pizza's & pasta from the sister restaurant.
The following day (our last before heading back to Zurich) we took off over to Austria and spent 2-3 hours at the ehrenburg museum http://www.ehrenberg.at/ which had armour the children could try on (authentic and very heavy)...the kids loved it and the playground was again very impressive for our kids. Definitely worth the effort and a good way to finish off our trip before heading back to Zurich the next morning.
The following day, we checked out of our room early as we had to get the car back before 11am. It took us 3 hours to get from Fussen to Zurich and we had about 8 minutes to spare as we handed over the keys to our friends at Europacar! A sense of relief came over me as now I had to catch public transport and didn't have to concentrate on the road! We headed back to our trusted St Josef's Pension on Hirschengraben, left our gear there and ran around Zurich for the rest of the day before having a final supper in the "The spaggetti bar" (very nice too!)
The following morning (after that very impressive breakfast), we caught the train to the airport (we considered ourselves to be experts now!) and said our final goodbyes to Europe.
We stopped over at Kuala Lumper in Malaysia for 3 days to sit around the pool and eat lots of asian dishes....Until finally getting back to Perth on 29th April.
It was 3 weeks of totally different cultures and challenges, which together with the historical places we were able to visit - gave us another perspective on how others live.
Once again, thanks to a lot of people on this forum, I will definitely be using this for future holidays. The advice has been invaluable.
cheers
Marketridge
