On the 17th September we arrived in Munich and stopped in a lovely campsite near a lake. The campsite had brilliant facilities and had a decent playground which the little ones and ourselves,might I add, played on. There was this amazing little dish type roundabout that spins you around like crazy that you couldn’t help but laugh as you clung on tightly so as not to fall off and then when you did stop and get off you felt your head spin so much that it seemed like you were highly intoxicated. I absolutely loved it but my husband who finds simulation type rides nauseous found it gave him the same result. Our little boy also learnt to walk properly on this day- having taken a few steps here and there previously- he managed to walk around two table tennis tables so we officially called this day “the day he learnt to walk”! It was amazing. We got chatting away as much as one could with a language barrier to a little German girl. Her father, who spoke very good English came over some time later and we got chatting to him as well. We learnt from this encounter and another conversation earlier on with an old German man when I was washing up, that this weekend was Oktoberfest! The German festival of beer really! It does have fairground rides and stuff but mostly it’s an event for drinking beer and generally having a good time whilst dressed in traditional Bavarian clothes (you don’t have to wear Bavarian clothes but a lot of people do both Bavarian and tourist alike). Today was Tuesday though and we didn’t think we would be staying here for that long and besides we didn’t really think it would be the type of festival to take little ones- you can, but we didn’t really want to. I want to go at some point but maybe when it’s just the two of us.
The following day we went to catch the train into Munich itself and was amazed by the many bike shelters they had and the amazing service point to help fix any problems you may have with your bike- again you would never get this in the U.K. as everything would either get damaged or graffitied on, never mind the amount of stupid things our tax payers money gets spent on; statues and sculptures that will soon get graffitied on comes to mind!
We walked to the Rathaus but didn’t stop to admire it for long as it was absolutely rammed- it seems there was a football match on and then all of a sudden there was a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot! Our little girl was terrified bless her so we decided to move on as the atmosphere didn’t feel very friendly or safe as is the usual when crowds appear especially when it’s associated with this specific sport which always seems to spark aggression, even with police presence.
Not far from it, we entered a cute little area that was full of market stalls selling all sorts of things before carrying on towards a huge park called the English Gardens. It was beautiful, with a fast man made river going through it and strangely full of naked people sunbathing- well, mostly men, in fact I think every person who was naked was male. You have got to love children’s innocence and boldness in saying whatever they think though as our little girl exclaimed “mummy that man’s naked, and that man over there” without any fear of being overheard whatsoever. And why should they- the naked form is seen for what it truly is; our body and the way we were born- our birthday suit so to speak. I found it amusing and thought it must be quite liberating to do such a thing if you had the confidence. It’s sad really that society has made everyone view the naked body as a sexual thing and not a natural one so we keep it hidden rather than be open minded about it. My husband however, found it weird as it wasn’t what we was used to and he didn’t understand why on earth people would even want to. Each to their own I suppose. Neither one right or wrong- just differing opinions. I wouldn’t have the confidence but then again I have never really felt comfortable in my own skin and wish with everyone bone in my body that I would but it’s one of those things unfortunately. However, I would do in the privacy of my own garden where no one else could see (if I ever had such a garden).
We found another playground where the little ones played for a while before eating ice lollies whilst I had a Schwartz weißbeer. It wasn’t as nice as the original weißbeer but you have to try these things don’t you. We then walked to an area my husband had been to before with a work colleague where the river created waves so big that you could actually surf on them and so we watched people surf for a little while before heading back to catch the train as it was getting rather late. It was very dark by the time we got back to the campsite and we were all tired from our city adventures.
The following day (Thursday 19th) we drove on towards another tourist attraction, this one featuring in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was called Neuschwanstein Castle. We parked up and got chatting away again, this time to a British couple who informed us that the walk around was done by guided tour and had select times in which you could enter. They had hours to wait when they arrived apparently so we were lucky when we only had an hour to wait when we bought and collected our tickets. That gave us enough time to wait for the horse and carriage up- something we adults didn’t really want to do but thought we’d do it as a one off seeing as our little girl really wanted to when visited St Mont Michel. However, I couldn’t help but feel guilty and saddened for the poor horses as they pulled us up the steep road towards our destination. They looked tired and thirsty as they had probably been doing this same route all day without a break- even though the riders/driver, whatever they’re called had one. I wanted to give them an apple or something but I had none to give and so we left them with a heavy heart in our chests.
We bought our daughter the softest, warmest mittens ever in the store nearby. They were and are absolutely lovely. The horses stop at the bottom of the hill to the castle and so we had to walk uphill a little in order to get to the entrance where we put our child carrier in one of the buggy lockers (you can leave it at the main entrance but it was safer in a locker) as you can’t take them in because of the metal within it. We then waited until our tour time showed up on the screen. The tour itself was okay but I think we would have much preferred to have been able to walk around on our own at our own pace. The information given was good though and the rooms were pretty grand indeed- especially the cave corridor but I don’t think I’d ever do it again. The king in which the castle belonged to seemed like a right character and my husband to a liking to him straight away when hearing about his many demands.
After the tour we walked up to Marienbrücke (a bridge) which went from one mountainside to the other. I didn’t really feel safe on it at all because it didn’t feel very stable so as you can imagine we didn’t spend long on it. However, the view of the castle is amazing and probably the best view in my opinion to capture a picture. We headed back down with lots of people cooing over our little man who had fallen asleep in his carrier with his head back and mouth wide open. This time we walked back and took the quickest route through the forest to the car park as we realised we didn’t have long left until it closed. Luckily we arrived with only minutes to spare!
Back on the road we headed towards Austria and stopped in a campsite called Camping Comfort- Gran and comfort it was BUT not so much for the reception we received. To be fair we had arrived when it had closed- it was somewhere between 6.30pm and 7pm and they had closed at 6! We thought we would be okay as most campsites are open until at least 8pm so this was the first one we had encountered that closed earlier. However, someone did come to check us in which was nice but the man who did wasn’t pleasant at all. He was more interested in drinking his beer and it was very clear to us that he did not like the English at all as he insulted and laughed about the English with every given moment which we didn’t appreciate one bit- I mean if you don’t like the English fair enough but when you work in an international customer facing environment I think it’s just purely rude and unprofessional to say the least. He didn’t even bother to tell us the price when we enquired; the campsite was in high season due to skiing and so our ACSI card wasn’t valid here. He only did so once taking all our passport details and informing us about other things and then even then he just printed out an invoice and told us we could pay in the morning. It was extremely expensive and we were shocked- I wanted to leave but my husband didn’t pick up on my quietness and to be fair I didn’t say anything- I think I was afraid to incase I said something I probably shouldn’t. He then told us that the pool was only open for another 30mins but would be open again in the morning. However, what he failed to tell us when we went to check out the facilities was that children weren’t allowed in the pool in the morning and could only enter after 11pm which also happened to be check out time.
The upside to this though was that the facilities were actually really good and there was even an indoor play room which the little ones took full advantage of- it was then clear to see why the price was high. It was just such a shame that the welcome was so poor. We decided to leave in the morning and was again annoyed by the lack of information when we was told that it was cash only. This wouldn’t have been so annoying if we were told the previous day as we would have gone and got it out but instead I was left waiting with the little ones whilst my husband drove on in search of an ATM machine before coming back and paying so we could finally leave. I know they are only small things but it’s the principle and so my husband complained when he got back to pay as this was just the icing on the cake. And so it was that we left that campsite disheartened by our first encounter of Austria and headed to Liechtenstein instead.
The road which we took towards Liechtenstein was absolutely insane! Think Alpine passes, hairpin bends and narrow lanes through small villages all done in our heavy beast of a motorhome. A route my husband would have an absolute blast on in a car as it was like a dream route for any car-lover and you could just picture it being featured in an episode of Topgear.
Lichtenstein is a funny place indeed- why? Because it has nothing really going for it and you can see why no one really goes there apart from to say they’ve been there. There is only one main road through it and you can literally do the entire country well principality in less than a day- you could even walk it, it’s that small. Fun fact though- did you know that Liechtenstein is double land locked? Meaning you need to get through at least two countries before you can get to a coastline. There are only two on the whole world with the other being Uzbekistan! We stayed in a campsite with the most strangest layout you’ve ever seen; they were little hill ledges where you parked one in front of the other longitudinal so really it only made sense to have two to each ledge and for both campers to reverse in so either could get out whenever they wanted. However, we parked behind a camper (we reversed in) who had a tent in front of them so the camper was stuck in the middle. We left them plenty of room to get out if they wished but then a rude man came along and told us off for parking where we were and told us to move over! We were annoyed because for one we had left plenty of room anyway and for two we were entitled to park wherever we wished because we had paid for it- it wasn’t our fault the layout was terrible and so we made sure to tell reception before we left- it wasn’t really a moan but more of a suggestion that they relook at there layout for the sake of others. Luckily the campers didn’t mind one bit where we had parked but we moved it anyway because we felt like we had to. The little ones had a lovely time playing on the park though and then the following day we left little Lichtenstein behind without ever getting out and headed straight back into Austria hoping that round two would be more of a pleasant welcome than the one before. Fingers crossed!
K.E.E.N Explorers 