Holiday 2019, Sept 15 - Weerberg - Neuschwanstein - Sinsheim - Day 11

We woke up our last morning in the Alps, raring to go, as we had our eyes set on Neuschwanstein, back in southern Germany.  Andy and I felt like we were a pretty good team 😊, getting the beds stripped, food packed and kids ready for the day. 

  Neuschwanstein is literally translated as New Swan Stone castle and is a relatively new castle, built in the 1860's for the mad King Ludwig of Bavaria. There were a couple of castles in the area all from the same king.  Neuschwanstein is now called the Walt Disney castle, and has a connection to the Hollywood castle used on the titles of films as well as in Sleeping Beauty.  

We arrived in time for lunch in the parking lot, which we were also getting good at.  Out came buns, butter, cheese and chocolate spread.  Fill those tummies before walking.  It was a busy place, obviously a hot tourist destination even in September. We had to catch a bus up the side of the mountain and walk from there.  Our first stop was the Marienbrucke (Queen Mary's bridge), the pedestrian bridge built over a cliff in 1845, which gives the best view over the castle.  

The lake in the above pictures, was by the parking lot and was a gorgeous place to stop, reminding us of lakes in the Canadian Rockies.  We stopped to dip our toes in and enjoy the swans.

Below: a picture with a the smallest Fendt we had ever seen.

Here is where things take a funny twist.  According to our host in Austria we had booked one more night.  But we had trouble understanding her and in our head we were going to stay in Germany at the next vacation rental. Half way to Neuschwanstein we decided to check the papers more closely and found out that indeed, we left too early and had no place to stay in Germany that night!  We had to find a place that had wifi  so we could book something for that night.  This is where we really missed North America.  The lack of fast food chains and signage (free wifi and washrooms) was really hard for travelers like us, with no data on our phones!  Finally after driving a few hours we found a sign for a Burger King and we were very relieved and were able to book a hotel, as well as fulfill our need for fast food (shhh, we are more Canadian than we thought 😆)  We decided to book the hotel close to Heidelberg since that was originally first on our list of things we really wanted to see, but didn't think we would have time.  Now we did, which was actually a blessing in disguise.  In the meantime we really enjoyed Burger King and the Happy Meals they offered and the coffee they served. 

Once at the hotel, we discovered it was actually someone's home (surprised us yet again, us chain hotel lovers), and we couldn't get in as the instructions were very poor and in German. So we drove around again and found a cell phone store and Andy borrowed someone's cells phone so we could call the lady to meet us at the house and let us in.  Even though that was a bit frustrating for us, I think she was also shocked to see *so* many people and FIVE children going to sleep in her fancy apartment.  We laughed good about that.   

 

The kids with their Burger King toys playing in the front yard while we waited for the lady to open up for us. 

Holiday 2019, Sept 14 - Weerberg (Austria) - Day 10

 Sunday. 

Thanks to modern day technology we were able to worship with a Canadian Reformed Church in Ontario via YouTube. The kids were thrilled for some English!  It was really nice to be able to do this, and feel refreshed also this way, spiritually.   Again, the outdoors were calling and we spent much time roaming and enjoying the farm.  

The owner of the farm invited us on this day to the "almabtrieb" in the village just down the road. The Almatrieb is a German word for the traditional festival when animals are brought down from the mountain pastures (alm) at the end of summer.   It is one of the major village celebrations in mountain farming regions.  We had no idea this was happening and had not planned to be here for this but Andy was thrilled to be able to see and participate in this as he has a soft spot for bringing the cows home. Andy had already noticed when we were at the Kellerjoch that there were no ringing cow bells and cows to be seen.   We were in for a real treat.  It was hard to get very good pictures though, as there were alot of people in small spaces and the cows were moving quickly.

While waiting for the cows to show up everyone was allowed to go look inside the barns. We were intrigued and impressed. Everything was spic and span and also tiny.  Compared to a North American farm it was super tiny, yet this was a normal size for Austria. We were astonished that farmers could make a living on so few cows.   Farmers take pride in how clean and neat everything is and this was also obvious.  The locals were wearing traditional costumes/outfits and the whole village joined in the event with traditional live music, handcraft demonstrations and lots of local food specialties. 

The cows themselves are elaborately dressed with flowers, ribbons and other impressive ornaments.  The best cow wears the biggest bell and headdress.  

 

 

There was a picnic area set up with a bouncy castle and pony rides.  Abby was brave and went for a ride. It was so cute.  

When it was done the cows ended up in the pasture and we could take some pictures with them. This was the icing on the cake of our trip to Austria.  Really a unique opportunity for us.  Can the Alps get any more idyllic?  😍 

In the evening, while the younger kids went to bed, Andy and Seth drove around to check out a little church they had seen earlier.  I am also adding here the pictures of across the road from where staying of the famer taking the hay off the field. It was amazing how the farmers could utilize all the space on the mountains, no matter how steep. They have specialized equipment made for mountain farming.  The scale made it look like were experiencing the 60's, again comparing to the large scale farming in North America.  We saw an entire family with hand rakes gathering hay where it was too steep for equipment to reach.  

 

Holiday 2019, Sept 13, Kellerjoch Hutte (Austria) Day 9

We had a very good sleep in the spacious farm house and woke up to the most beautiful views all around us. We took some time to just enjoy the calm and fresh air with coffee in hand as the kids played and poked around the farm.  The valleys around are dotted with farmhouses and small barns all around. At night the lights twinkle. You can see many church steeples when looking over the valley. All the houses have balconies with flowers. You can tell much pride is taken in having beautiful flowers. Such a different way of life from what we are used to.  

A highly recommended activity in the area was to go ride the Kellerjochbahn and hike.  The Kellerjochbahn is a chair lift from a ski resort that is used in the summer to bring hikers up the mountain.  The pictures are quite self explanatory, and can hardly capture the stunning views we enjoyed all around.  It was a real treat to be able to hike like this, also without bear warnings. The temperature was +30 and we all got a nice tan.  Everyone was happy to be there and Marla proved the champ by sitting in the backpack carrier for just a few minutes and insisting on hiking the entire way herself. She had her "monkey" fingerling along and showed him everything along the way. You can see him popping up on the pictures.

Above: notice the clear blue skies, we were blessed to have this our entire stay in Austria. 

Below: notice the red and white striped Austrian flag on the rock. They are common trail markers in the Alps.

Our little trooper 💗💗💗 she is such a good sport.

There were two sections to this hike.  The girls waited with me by our lunch spot while the boys went to the Kellerjoch Hutte which was just a bit too steep for the little ones.  

These signs show the most common hikes from where we were.  The boys were dreaming big for "someday".  Who knows, maybe they will come back. 

Once we were back down at the main restaurant, which was at the top of the lift we sat for a while to enjoy the views (and watch the wedding that was taking place!).  We got a fresh pretzel to enjoy as well, so we could use the chairs;)

Supermarkets do not offer a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables to snack on where we were (or in Holland or Germany either).  They do have a lot of fresh, and amazing breads though which we ate a ton of.  By this time, being gone from our normal diets for 9 days the kids were begging for more fresh fruit and vegetables in our diets and less bread. So I had "splurged" and picked up some bags of  baby carrots and strawberries and cucumbers etc. and taken them along in our knapsack. Abby asked for the bag of baby carrots to snack on while in the ski lift.  When we were at the bottom I asked her where they were so I could put them back in the knapsack and she admitted she had eaten them all. Every last one. We got a good chuckle from that.