Little Savage's Kitchen: Our Travels in France, Germany & Austria (Part 4)

The day after our trip to Austria we were pretty tired so we slept in until 9am or so and felt refreshed enough for another day of fun.
We got ourselves ready and made our way to a local toboggan run, I had checked online first that it was safe for our youngest (3 & 4 years old) - all they had to do was go on with an adult and they were fine.
Each toboggan had 2 seats - the back seat was for the driver and the front seat for the passenger. This meant that our two oldest had to go down together - so they had to take it in turns to be the driver.

The toboggan run is 850 metres long and goes pretty high up - you start off at the bottom while the toboggan is lifted up a steep incline - once at the top you have control of the toboggan and you can go down at your own pace or you can speed down there like a bullet!

(image from their website)

It was so much fun speeding down - I went down with Ruben first and he loved it so much that the next time he went on with Jared he was shouting "Faster, Daddy!" the whole time - they sped down there so fast, Ruben with a giant grin on his face!

Everyone agreed the tobogganing was a real highlight of our trip!

(image from their wesite)

After we went tobogganing we stopped back at our apartment quickly to have some lunch and get our swimming gear before we headed to a local pool - it was such a hot day and the kids were really happy to splash about in the water, there was a toddler pool for Rad & Rube and the big girls were in the main pool where there was a giant inflatable for them to jump about on.
There was the most amazing giant hot tub room there with glass windows all around where you could float staring out at the mountains - it was bliss!

I love the local buildings!

After an afternoon at the pool we headed out to a local playground - it was so warm out we just sat and relaxed while the kids played away.

Upside-down Riley!

We headed back to our apartment for some dinner around 5pm, we wanted to eat early so we could make it back into town to catch a local evening outdoor performance.

We arrived in town early evening, the band listed was a traditional German music band - but the listing must have either changed or been wrong, because when we arrived there was a brass band setting up, who we found out had come all the way from Australia to play - which wasn't what we'd been expecting to see but was a really lovely surprise.

The venue was in such an idyllic spot - in the middle of an amazing park - the stage was decorated beautifully and it was a really intimate atmosphere, the kids settled in their seats and were really happy to sit and listen to the band play both some classic and some more modern music on their brass instruments.

The concert ended at around 9pm, and by this time our two youngest were nearly falling asleep on our laps but they stayed up and listened until the very end and I'm so glad they did - it was such a lovely atmosphere, and great music!

Radley Belle, enjoying the concert - but ready to sleep!

The next day was Thursday and we had one last day of fun before we were to start our long roadtrip back the next day - so we made the drive to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle!

Funnily enough - the fastest route to Neuschwanstein from where we were was to drive through Austria and back into Germany, so it was really nice to see a bit more of Austria again, even if it was just through the car window!

The drive took about an hour and we arrived early afternoon and parked down in the village below - there isn't access to the mountain for cars, only for the tour buses and hikers. It was so warm at that point that we quickly decided against the hike uphill we had planned on and we took the bus up there instead!

We decided to see the castle from the Marienbrücke bridge rather than up close because the view is a lot better - you can see more of the castle.

The bridge is over a huge drop, it's kind of rickety looking and we had come at a pretty busy time of day, so while the view was amazing - I was feeling pretty claustrophobic!
The castle itself is just an amazing sight to behold, built in the 1800's by King Ludwig II of Bavaria - it actually served as the inspiration for the Disney Castle! You can see why, it's absolutely huge - like something out of a fairy tale!

Before we made our way back down the mountain we stopped to listen to a Hurdy-gurdy player, he was so kind and invited Remy over to learn to play the instrument - she was really happy to give it a try!

The next day it was time for us to pack our suitcases back into our roof-box and get back on the road - we split the long drive back over two days, stopping overnight at a hotel in Verdun, France.
Then it was back to the ferry and our cosy cabin overnight back home!