Munich-Freiburg



Neuschwanstein Castle





Hohenschwangau Castle




Hohenschwangau


We left Munich and headed to Freiburg. On the way we stopped at two amazing castles near Fussion, Germany. We spent the afternoon touring the castles and really enjoyed listening to the stories behind their construction and  history .


Freiburg



Freiburg



Freiburg Church

Freiburg was a lovely town full of friendly Germans! Unfortunately it didn't live up to its name of being the sunniest city in Germany. We enjoyed a fantastic buffet lunch in one of the shopping complexes and also enjoyed a bit of afternoon shopping (the girls that is!).
We also managed to fit in some viewing of the Royal wedding at our hotel. For the first time in a couple of weeks we had BBC TV and were therefore able to watch the wedding in English.

Munich



Munich



Drew at Dachau

We spent a couple of nights in Munich, Germany.

After touring the main city and seeing the sights of the town we then headed to Dachau, a concentration camp just out of town. It was interesting learning about the history of the camp and the terrible things that happened there.

We also visited the site where the Olympic games were held and at the same time popped next door to the amazing BMW showroom.  The children(including Mum & Dad) picked out their favourite vehicle!

A great time was had in Munich. 

Dachau



Enjoying a drink in the Beer Garden





Innsbruck and Salzburg



Hats in Innsbruck



Dogs life in Innsbruck





Innsbruck and Salzburg were fun towns to visit. We visited the old part of Innsbruk and enjoyed shopping here.



Street in Salzburg



Gardens where 'The Sound of Music' was filmed







Eating gelati in Salzburg

We spent a day in Salzburg. We climbed up to the castle and looked around and then drove to a few of the places which have been made famous from The Sound of Music.

Pertisau



Accommodation - Pertisau



 




  


 The little town of Pertisau was nestled in the valley in the Tirols region in Austria. It is a huge skiing area in Winter. The town is set on a magnificent lake where the views are spectacular in all directions.

We stayed here for 3 nights and did a couple of day trips.

One night we travelled to a nearby town to a swimming complex which had many water slides etc. We all had a great time.



Golf Course





Swimming Complex



Dolomites



Hotel Cyprianerhof



 

The Dolomites - Italy





Driving through the northern mountain ranges of Italy was spectacular. The town where we stayed was Tiers. It was a beautiful small village where the people spoke German and were very friendly. The hotel was fantastic.

Our room had spectacular views of the Dolomites and the hotel had everything you could want. This stay was highly recommended by Pop as he had stayed there previously and done some hiking.

Upon arrival we sat outside in the sunshine and had afternoon tea by the indoor/outdoor pool. We then tried out the facilities and went swimming and worked out in the gym.

Dinner was amazing - a 5 course meal (which we all struggled to finish) at a table by the pool.

In the morning we set off on an adventure hiking up into the Dolomites. We took lots of great photos and felt very healthy breathing in the fresh mountain air.
We enjoyed a final workout in the gym/pool/sauna before heading off to our next destination - Pertisau, Austria.

Sirmione-Veona-Venice

 Verona was a beautiful city with lots of expensive shops. We enjoyed window shopping & wandering the streets. Gelati & pizza were again popular.

Venice was an exciting town to visit. We were greeted by a lady who showed us to our accommodation. We stayed on the third floor in a spacious appartment. Breakfast was delicious- once again croissants etc etc etc!!! Lunch/dinner - pizza of course! Can see the effects of all this great food already. Lucky we have still been doing lots of walking up & down stairs.

Got lost one night in Venice trying to get home but by the end of our stay the streets were starting to look more familiar. 

 Sirmione was another beautiful city which had a historical town. Was so busy we had to park about 3km away and walk to town. Kids loved this! NOT!!! We enjoyed lunch here and spent some time shopping and eating lots of delicious gelati.

Sirmione - Verona - Venice

Italy cont...

On the second night we stayed in a small town called Mezzegra. Fantastic and spectacular view from our balcony. We made our way around several towns by ferry.
The weather has been warm, around the low 20's. All perfect for sightseeing.
Food has been great. We are enjoying the pastries for breakfast and pizza for lunch &/or for dinner. Luckily we are getting lots of exercise getting up & down stairs in our accommodation.



This pic to the right shows one of the streets in Bellagio. A typical beautiful cobble stoned strret filled with great shops. Lots of fun had here!

Italy

Fun has been had by all trying to navigate around the lakes in Italy. We started with an exciting day trying to pick up Drew from the furniture show. What started out as a fairly simple exercise turned into a very long and exhausting day. Firstly we had the incorrect address and secondly our reliable Tom Tom couldn't get a signal. It all did however end sucessfully and we became a family of 5 once again!!! (Of course as soon as Drew looked at the Tom Tom, IT WORKED!!!!)

Touring Italy

While Drew went to the Furniture Show in Rho, the rest of the crew had to put up with Jen trying to drive a manual car with a tom tom without any signal and to top it off, remembering that europians drive on the opposite side of the road to us!!

Touring Italy

Touring Italy

While Drew went to the Furniture Show the rest of the crew had to put up with Jen trying to work out how to drive on the wrong side of the road, how to drive a manual car and to add to the excitement, how to navigate with a Tom Tom that can't get a signal!! Instead of taking 1 hour to pick up Drew it took  
6 hours! What a day.

Day 1

After a long flight with not much sleep we finally made it to Milan. We arrived in the morning so we had plenty of time to work out the rail system and navigate sucessfully to our first nights accommodation - a place we still struggle to pronounce; Calolziocorte. We were greeted with drinks & nibbles and were pleasantly surprised with the accommodation, a recently renovated old monastry. After a hectic start making it to the station with a minute to spare we were told by the ticket inspector that our ticket was not validated & therefore had to pay a cash fine of 50€ or if the police had to be called it would become 200€!!! After much discussion 50 € was paid.

We spent a fun day in Milan shopping & sightseeing and are looking forward to more action packed days.

Night before the big trip

We are all so excited and are all ready to go. Everyone is looking forward until we go on the plane. Tomorrow will be a big day for us all.