Somewhere over the Mountain...



Lucern



Tanja, Jolie,Amelia & Donna-the horse



Friday we took a long drive towards the south of Switzerland, near Thun, to visit my life time friend Tanja.  I met Tanja 25 years ago on a Christmas trip with my cousin to Germany.  We’ve kept in touch ever since, and have only seen each other twice since our initial meeting, so this made it the third!  She now lives on a beautiful property high up in the mountains surrounded by fields and forest with her cute little daughter Jolie and two horses to look after, and of course her husband who unfortunately we couldn’t meet as he was away on business.  We ate lunch outside in the lovely sunshine and while Noah slept we helped rake the horse arena!  It was fun being out in the sunshine with lovely views and chatting while we worked.  Poor Tanja has such a huge job looking after all that land and a little one I only wish we could have stayed a few days and helped her out!  I think Maciek’s ideas about helping on a farm are fading after that!  She made us some delicious Canadian coffee (she lived in Canada for some years and has it sent over, I don’t know the name of it but it was so nice!) and a yummy chocolate cake while the kids raided another child’s toys!!  It was really lovely seeing Tanja and meeting her little girl, and hopefully if we stay in Austria for a while it won’t be seven years before we meet again!



Tanja's place - gorgeous ( for sale too)



From Tanja’s we took the ‘scenic’ route (Karen’s choice, not ours) through some pretty hairy and scary mountain roads, (nearly lost the side mirror a couple of times, and at one point while climbing a steep section of road, we got stuck behind a tractor, which was trailing a ride on lawn mower!) to Lucerne, a city we both remember from our Contiki days!  We didn’t arrive till 6.30pm, and had just enough time for a quick dinner and a wander around.  It was nice actually in the evening, as the weather was lovely and there were only a couple of tour groups oohing and aahing and snapping pics!  Needless to say, Lucerne is another one of our favourites.

We’ve had three full days in Switzerland, visiting friends and famous places! (“how do you know so many people in Switzerland?”, said Suzanne!)

Peach and Monika were fantastic hosts.  We really enjoyed sitting up in the evenings and chatting, eating Ben & Jerry’s and drinking tea (of course Peach and Maciek didn’t have tea, they had BIER, because they’re MEN!)  Every evening we had a delicious meal to come home to.  Monika even made hats for the kids!  Thanks guys – we really appreciate all you did and your company.  And thanks Yannik for sharing your precious toys!

And no, as tempting as it was, we didn’t set up a Swiss Bank Account…..

Suzanne & Rapunzel

Suzanne, Victoria & us

Lenzburg Shloss 

Thursday we visited Suzanne, a friend I used to work with in Dublin.  She lives a half hour drive from Peach and Monika but its lucky my memory held out for her street name as the Sat Nav had us pull up outside an electrical store!  Her street was on the corner of this one, and luckily it was signposted, as we have come to find that not many streets are in this part of the world!  By the way the name of our guide on the Sat Nav is Karen, who is Australian.  Karen has a habit of leading us up the garden path, and it doesn’t help that Maciek gets so confused with his lefts and rights, especially when this is a typical instruction – “keep left on A223, then keep right, take the exit ramp and then keep left, then take the 3^rd exit right on roundabout”!

Suzanne made us a lovely lunch with her 3 gorgeous girls (once again Amelia and Noah had a field day with little Victoria’s toys!) and showed us around her surprisingly large and beautiful house set over 4 floors!  (it’s deceptive from outside, tucked away there around the back – I only found it as I knew her garden was being renovated and so I followed a gardener/builder type looking man to her front door!)  After lunch Suzanne proved herself as the new coffee maker of the household (move over Andries!). 

King Maciek & Heir

Mummy's Knight in Shining Armour

Suzanne told us of Lenzberg Castle not far from Peach and Monika’s so on the way home we stopped in for a look.  It dates back to the 11^th century and has a museum and at the top of a winding staircase in the tower is a kids museum, full of medieval dress ups including jewellery and hats and a mini castle the kids can play in, plus puzzles, dolls and other toys, and colouring in and games!  We had so much fun trying stuff on and taking photos.  But as we arrived a bit late in the day we had to cut it short.  But what a fun day! Thanks Suzanne!

Rapunzel in her Tower

Swish in Swiss

I BIN on a train in Zurich

Zurich-Old Town

The drive from Austria to Switzerland was pretty smooth and stress free.  We were briefly questioned at the border but that was it.  It’s funny how everything seems to change once you cross, the road signs and the state of the roads, the architecture and the layout of a village.  I know it’s a different country, but weird that only a few metres back things were quite different!

We eventually found Peach and Monika’s place.  We’d forgotton to ask what apartment block was theirs and what floor they were on.  They invited us into their gorgeous spacious apartment with 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms and low and behold a T.V and wi fi that we could use in the comfort of their lounge room!  It was luxury being able to stay in a friend’s house as opposed to a caravan/mobile home.  Amelia and Noah were in their element surrounded by little Yannik’s toys!  He has a bunk bed with a slide – awesome!!

The Whole Crew-Above Zurich

Yannik & Noah-there must be something in the water

We all bus’d and trained it to Zurich on Wednesday where we took a tram up the mountain and walked up a massive tower for a view of the whole city and beyond (where Maciek dared me to ‘plank’.  “after you” I said).  The kids loved travelling about on trains and of course Noah found the bin!  We stopped for lunch (the kind of lunch that you gobble up really fast to get out of there before the kids have a meltdown!) and wandered the old town before stopping again for coffee and cake (those cakes are divine!)

Ausfahrting Austria – Random Bits and Bobs

As we have now left Austria and since we were there for 3 weeks I wanted to share a few random bits about things that happened, how we felt and stuff we saw that was funny or interesting to us…





E1.61 for a bunch of banana!

It was and still is a difficult task keeping Noah safe being surrounding by such tempting things as unchildproofed sockets, pools and lakes that aren’t fenced, steep declines from the side of slippery gravelled paths in the woods (he’s fallen over heaps of times – had a huge splinter in his hand, fallen face first into a bunch of stinging nettles which caused his face to go red with white welts, and not long after that he was bitten by something and his finger swelled up), balconies with chairs that can be pushed about and climbed on, stairs everywhere and no gates, really high climbing frames at parks where I can’t reach him, and the list goes on!  Milly has been sick in the car a couple of times.  I’m never sure whether to give her a Kwells or not.  I don’t want to give it to her everyday.  We never know whether the route we are taking is winding and steep or flat and easy, even if it’s only meant to take 20 minutes.  And we’ve run out of sick bags and I can’t find any more!

Not knowing where to buy things.  There are heaps of supermarkets but some sell this but not that and others sell that but not this and some just have a huge mish mash of stuff.  If the kids need a hat or bathers or shoes or socks I don’t know where to go.  Or if the places I have found are where you’d normally go, or are there better places, cheaper places???  There are loads of bakeries but some sell rye bread and others don’t and I can’t seem to find a butcher anywhere.  We were worried about buying salad and vegies for the first couple of weeks because of the E.Coli but then started buying some salads, only stuff from Austria and washing them really well, so the food situation is improving!  On the upside of the food situation, food in Austria was really cheap!  I can buy absolutely loads of bananas!!!  If we eat nothing else we can make banana cake, banana bread, banana splits, banana muffins, banana’s in pyjamas, banana on toast, banana in cereal, banana soup? (maybe not!)

Things I miss:

Checkout chicks putting your shopping into bags; Uncle Tobys Oat Sachets for breakfast; Arnotts Milk Arrowroot (they don’t melt when you dip them in tea); Old Gold Dark Chocolate; Being able to speak to people; Eating salad without worrying we’re going to get sick and die; Huggies Nappies; Fly screens (there are so many bugs and midgies and flies here – not to mention WASPS!); Wireless internet that works ALL the time; My gym membership and classes and having a routine; A toaster, a kettle and a microwave; Speed limits on motorways; A wardrobe; Family and friends (and babysitters!).

Health and Safety – Was Ist Das??

It doesn’t exist!  We took the kids to another awesome playground right by a raging torrent of a river, kids running about everywhere, but no fence?   There are no signs around water to tell you how deep the water is, or not to dive, or any lifeguard in sight.  The Englishman who ran the B&B we stayed in told us that not long ago a loose boulder had to be removed from a cliff face above a road.  The only way they could figure out how to do it was hoist a guy in a bobcat up with a crane to chip away at this rock until it was ready to be brought down. The good thing was they closed ‘half’ the road below!  Keeping in mind the roads are only about 4 metres wide anyway!  Reminds me of living in Ireland actually….

Random Old People – just standing at the side of roads.  An old lady, a proper Babushka, complete with head scarf and traditional farmers wife attire, just standing at the side of a country road muttering angrily and waving her arms at passing traffic.  Another time, an old man leaning on a zimmer frame, waiting at the side of a busy road presumably wanting to cross.  Funny thing was there was forest on his side and sheer drop on the other side so God only knows where he’d come from and where he was going to!  There were others, but I can’t remember them all now…

Nudie Sunbather – At Natterersee Camping site.  Right in the middle of a popular section for families, with an open book covering his bits.  Charming.

Amelia’s Private Info – As we were enjoying dinner with a view of the sunbathed mountains at Niederau, just as the waiter approached our table to ask if we’d like more drinks, Amelia exclaimed ‘My gyna hurts!’  We hastened an embarrassed glance at the waiter to see if he’d understood.  He hurried away, to silent giggling from us!  And then we gave Amelia a lesson on things that you only say in private!

Tchuss, Meya, Tchuss! – this is a goodbye greeting in Austria meaning see you later…the way it’s said is very sing songy, and sounds like ‘juice’!  Every night for the past two weeks Amelia and Noah exchange tchuss’s at bedtime.  We can hear them calling ‘Tchuss, Meya, Tchuss!’ and ‘Night night, Noah, Tchuss!’  Very cute.

No time off school – we have found out that in Germany and Austria you need special permission to take your kids out of school outside of school holidays.  Kids are only allowed 5 days off from the school schedule other than school holidays otherwise the authorities come down on the school.  A lady we met at the Sportcamp place told us that there are policeman at airports near school holiday times scouting for kids that are meant to be at school and if you don’t have the appropriate paperwork and permission you are in big trouble!  It seems the Germans are VERY STRICT!

At Sportcamp – every morning at 10.30am there would be an announcement over the loudspeaker calling all the children to ride the train.  Of course it was in German, and for those of us who don’t speak it, it sounded eerily like a scene from Schindlers List or similar!  Funny but not, if you know what I mean…

Awesome playgrounds and facilities for kids – I know I keep going on about it, but they really are brilliant, even with the ‘health and safety – was ist das?’ issue.  And everything is so clean and well kept.  We’ll miss them as much as the kids, as it kept them entertained for ages!

This is all a bit late.  I started writing this a couple of weeks ago but never got to post it.  So here it is now better late than never.  And apologies for the continuation of the ‘fahrting’ joke.  I’m afraid it cannot be ignored!  You know me!  Tchuss…



FUN, MUMMY, YAAAAYYYY!!



Innsbruck by day and Innsbruck by night



Innsbruck by day



A day out to Innsbruck reminded us of what a quintessential European city looks like.  It was the first time we’d been into an actual city since we have been away and we were excited by the buzz! As any other it has an old town area full of beautiful facades and brimming with quirkiness, a mandatory accordian player, with the added extra of a backdrop of stunning mountains.  We just wandered, soaking it in, saw a part of a traditional wedding under the Golden Roof (difficult to see well through the throngs of tourists), had some lunch and then spent quite a long time pounding the pavements for beach towels!  We finally found a shop in the most unlikely place smack in the middle of the old town square amongst all the souvineers! 

Saturday we stayed around the campsite, walked into the nearby village of Natters where we found another playground and where Amelia found a shop selling ‘going out to dinner shoes’ which she ‘really needs as she hasn’t got anything to wear to a party’!  (Amelia – do you know you’re only 4?)

We met a couple from Doubleview also staying here, with two little kiddies the same as us, travelling around in a camper van for two months!  That’s the second set of Aussies we’ve met from Perth and the fact that they were also doing it with kids in tow relieved us from worrying that we might just be crazy!  We arranged to have dinner with them on Saturday night, but after a huge day of hiking, riding gondola’s and then getting lost they gave us a raincheck. 

It turned out well though as a spontaneous decision by Maciek (couldn’t have been me as I need to plan things at least two days in advance!) took us into Innsbruck by train for dinner.  It was lovely as the crowds had dispersed, and we enjoyed a meal and a beer (we didn’t go the stein!) and the kids had MORE ice-cream and we took our time window shopping and trying on silly hats in the souvineer shops!  You never know, some unsuspecting relatives may get one for Christmas!

Innsbruck by night

Just popping down to Italy for lunch….

Vipiteno

Yes that’s right, on Sunday, we drove to Italy for lunch!  There’s a lovely village called Vipiteno just over the border about half hour drive south of Innsbruck.  Just before we got there we realized we hadn’t brought our passports but it wasn’t a problem as there was no border checking going on and we just drove straight through!  It cost us E20.00 in road tolls though.

We expected a bit more Italiano flare but everything was written in German first and then Italian, as I guess it’s not that far and a lot of Austrian’s and German’s go there for holidays.  I wanted to get a photo of the Italian flag in the background but couldn’t actually find one!  Good job we took a change of clothes as it was freezing in the morning when we left and warmed up to 30 degrees by lunch time!  We’re still not used to the changeable weather, it’s like four seasons in one day!  Anyway we had a lovely pizza (even Amelia ate it and that’s saying something!) and some chocolate gelato before heading back to our campsite for a swim. 

And tomorrow, off to Switzerland……

Applejuice in the courtyard

Pizza in Italy

A splash in the lake

Matters and Nutters?

 

Das ist our Campingplatz

Timber

Arriving at Natterersee Campingplatz (in the village of Natters) we were greeted by a stern woman in reception and a crazy guy on a golf buggy who showed us the way to our new home for the week.  It’s a great little place, bit smaller than the caravan we had last week, not as much storage space for all our stuff and nowhere to put Noah’s cot, but enough for what we need.  Noah is sleeping in a bed for the first time, although half of it is in an alcove so we have managed to sort of block him in with a suitcase and pillows and two spare quilts, and despite banging his head against the wall numerous times during the night, he hasn’t fallen out and is sleeping quite well!  Every time I hear a loud bang in the night I jump up to check on him which means I’m not sleeping well at all.  How typical!The day we arrived the weather was lovely and although it was moving day we managed to get a food shop in (in the nearby village of Mutters), a swim in the lake, and

Kinder on tree stump

I made salmon and veggies for dinner (hooray I can cook healthy food!!)  The lake has all sorts of fun things to play on:  a floating trampoline, a floating slide, an ‘iceberg’ (or ice burger as Amelia calls it), other floaty things, a little kids beach an

d play area, and peddle boats to use, big surf boards you can just paddle around on, and a big winding water slide.  Unfortunately also in the lake are millions of tadpoles.  I mean millions!  In comparison to the Swan River at home, not sure which I’d rather have, tadpoles or jellyfish?  Tough one.  Best to stay out of the water I say.We went on another walk yesterday, through the woods and meadows, picking and eating bluebe

rries along the way (we also found strawberries but they were not yet ripe) to arrive at a hut where there was a paddock of donkeys, a petting zoo and a playground.  We stopped and had ice-cream and then headed back with kids on shoulders.  The views were beautiful but we have finally learnt that a hike that is supposed to take 45 minutes takes us 1 ½ hours (one way)!  From now on we will stick to trails that are only ’20 minutes’ long!Then in the evening, with Germans all around us in caravans and tents, within earshot of us

on our verandah, Maciek and I were discussing the abruptness of the stern lady at reception.  Maciek then went inside, only to come out again after a few minutes saying, ‘I wouldn’t worry about her she must just be a bit of a Nazi’.  Oops!  A bit of a faux pas causing much silent giggling from both of us!Off to check out Innsbruck tomorrow.  Servus……

"Hey Mel, Whats Nana Lol doing here?"