London

For a larger selection of photos go to: https://goo.gl/photos/7sLVqK4vFrr8otQy7

Still a bit behind in being able to upload photos.

Josh says:

London was really nice a little cold and very big. We arrived in London after a 3hr train ride. The first day we went to Harrods which is a very expensive shop. In the shop we looked at the food part and the toy part. Then we went to the Buckingham Palace and took a lot of photos. Then watched the guests of some party come out. After that we went Hamselis is very big toy shop. After we went to Hamselis we went to M&M world. 

The next day we went to the Tower Of London, which was nothing like I thought it would be like like. I thought it would be a tower. It was ok the history was nice and there was a show that you heard people talk about  why they  would capture the tower. In the end the peasants won I was right :). If you read the information in the castle it tells you. We also looked at the crown jewels which were quite nice. Then we went to explore the walls and go and see all the armour and weapons in the main part. After that we went to the Tower Bridge (which is the tallest bridge in London).Which was tall and cool as you could see the cars below you at certain parts. After the bridge we went H.M.S Belfast an ex Navy ship. It was used from D-Day to the Korean war. It was cool seeing how the crew lived and how the ship operated. Then we went to the St Peters Cathedral which was good.  

The next day we went to Westminster Abbey but first saw Big Ben and Parliament. Unfortunately you had to be an English citizen to go up Big Ben. Westminster Abbey was amazing so big and so much history. Saw the chair the Kings and Queens wear crowned in. Were the kings and Queens got burried. Then we went to Churchills bunker. It was cool, if you wanted you could spend the whole day just reading about him. But as I'm not a big fan of Churchills I didn't care. Then went to the Royal Horse Museum which was ok. The cool thing was you could dress up as an army man, royal guards and another one. The actual museum was OK but not the best. After we finished we saw the horses changing which was cool. Then we went to the Natural History Museum. We spent the whole time in the earthquakes and volcano part which was OK. Then we hurried to the Dinosaur part and just finished when the museum started to close. 

The next day we started with the changing of the guards. We were at the start of it as you could see then getting ready to go to Buckingham Palace. Then we went across the river to see another group get ready to leave. After that me and dad went to the guards museum and the girls went to the Mews which is where they kept the horse. Guards museum which talked about all the guard regiments and what they wore. It was very good, talking about what the guards have fought in and stuff like that. Then we met each other at the science  museum. It was ok we didn't see much of it as we saw a IMAX which is a 3D movie on a giant screen. The movie we saw was about the ice age and it was very good. After the that we went to the Imperial War Museum. there was a exhibition about WW1 which was very very good. The rest of the museum was about how conflict affected people. So it had stuff about WW2, 911, ISL, The nuclear bombs dropped on Japan, terrorist attacks, how spies work, SAS and riots in Ireland. It was good never been to a museum like that before. 

The next day we went to Harry Potter world which was amazing. You got to see where they filmed, got to fly on a broom and drank butter bear which was horrible. There was also behind the sceen stuff like how the artist worked and lots more.        

Sorry the images are not on the blog but we are in Scotland with only a couple of days left. The Wifi is not good so they are not going to be on the blog until we get back. 

Alicia says:
In London we saw, Buckingham palace, Harry Potter world which was awesome, Harrods which is a expensive shop that sells lots of thing from toys to food. We also saw the changing of the gaurds and horses, the London bridge and the Tower Bridge. Some other thing that we did was we went to M&M world. We also went to the Tower of London which had all kinds of uses like a jail, fort and in the Tower of London it has the crown jewels the ceremonial crown and the state crown. I like London a lot more then some places but I think Australia is better ☺☺☺

Dad says:

London is huge. We were staying in Tufnell Park, which is just out of central London. It is in Zone 2, which means with their Oyster travel card we can travel anywhere within zone 1 (central London) & 2 for only 6.5 Pounds per day. This was nice as the kids were someone both free (under 12) and we ended up catching a lot of subways and a few buses with no real hassle. The Oyster card is a top up system (at any subway station) and you can get back any money left on the card at the end.

Our accommodation was really nice and had all the facilities that we needed. Even English speaking TV channels and Netflix - the kids were happy about that. There were many restaurants and convenient stores within a 5 minute walk.

We had the "London Pass" that gave us entry to plenty of places, too much to cover in the 3 days it was valid. The pass was expensive, but we would have easily got our money worth. The best thing about the pass was that we ended up going to a few places we would not have normally gone to (similar to that in Innsbruck and Salzburg). We went to the following places, only some you needed the card:

Day 1 (afternoon only and not using the London Pass yet)

• Harrods  - very expensive, they were selling all designer items, eg 40K watches and for a price comparison their blueberries were 7 Pounds a punnet, yet 1.5 in other fruit shops.
• Trafalgar square - no more pigeons! The second day at this square we saw a procession of police cards blocking the roads and a stream of vehicles all with blacked out windows going through - who know who it was we told Alicia it was royalty.
• Regent Street - Again a lot of big brands here we went to a large toy shop Hamsleis & M&M world.
• Hyde Park - This was huge and since it was a sunny day there were a lot of people around. We saw our first squirrels here.
• Australian war monument - this is on Wellington Square just on the corner of Hyde Park. The New Zealand monument is also here.
• Buckingham Palace - Busy as expected. One thing I was unaware of is that there are three sets of gates around the streets of Buckingham Palace, though due to the traffic only one remains up (The Canadian gates). There was also an African gate and an Australian gate. The kids got a photo with a couple of bobbies and we saw many people leaving the palace from a garden party. Buckingham Palace does not open to the public until July.
• We walked around a bit more, then had takeaway tea from Tufnell Park. Food in London is quite expensive, for instance pizzas are around 9 Pounds, Thai dishes around 8 pounds etc. If you don't think of the conversion rate then it is OK.

Day 2

• The Tower of London - A multi-purpose site with a lot of history and was quite interesting. The kids were surprised that it was not "just a tower" and I think they had Big Ben in mind. Used as a prison, fort, zoo (of sorts) and the keeper of the Crown Jewels. The zoo (it was'nt called a zoo as such) held many exotic animals from  around the world, including bears and tigers. People would come (with their cat/dog) to feed the animals.
• The Tower Bridge - We did'nt get to see it open (it was opening at 10pm), however it does have some glass walk overs and a museum. The kids kept on calling it the London Bridge
• HMS Belfast - A ship used in WW2 D-Day landings to pound the coast. We met a fellow South Australian - he was a Cats supporter and was pretty happy with himself and gave us the bad news.
• London Bridge - Boring bridge next to the Tower bridge. It did have a "dungeon" or "torture" museum, but we gave this a miss.
• Brougham Markets - Great markets near the London bridge. Josh in particular was happy as there were many cheese stalls and each giving samples. He was hunting them out. He really liked the goats cheese and was trying all sorts. Alicia was pretty good to at the samples too.
• Shakeshperes Globe - Unfortunately this was closed as there was a performance on that evening.
• Millenium bridge - Not much, just a walkway - but apparently was in the Harry Potter movies
• Saint Peters Chapel - Another big church
• Double decker bus - Caught our first double decker bus, just because we could and saved a few stops of walking.
• China town - This is where I got my tea from - good value for once.

Day 3

I had to go out earlier than the others as I needed to book the Harry Potter tickets. You need to do this in advance (much more than we left it) and need a printer. Lucky for us we were able to get into a reasonable timeslot, however we had to go on the bus tour. Ideally we would have just bought the tickets to the place itself and got our own transport out there. However this was sold out. The bus trip portion was not cheap either.

• Westminster Cathederal - After going to the bus depot and getting the Harry Potter tickets I was meant to meet up with everyone at Westminster Abbey. I was'nt concentrating and went to Westminster Cathederal. I was wondering why it was'nt that busy. Anyhow having realised my mistake it was only 3 blocks down the road, just past Scottland Yard.
• Westminster Abbey - A big line up for this, most likely as it is one of the first attractions to open (9:30), most others are at 10:00. This was a really interesting and good church to see. You could really spend a lot of time in here, but be earned it would have been very expensive if not on your card. Lots of kings/queens and other influential people are either burried here, or recognised on various places. For instance Florey from Adelaide (Penicillin) has a stone on the floor. One of the most interesting stories was for Oliver Cromwell. He was the leader of the Parliment forces who overthrew the Monarchy in the 17th century. He was buried here for 2 years, before the Monarchs returned to power. After doing so they dug him up, hung and quartered him.
• Big Ben - mainly a photo shoot
• Churchhills bunker - the underground base of parliment during the war years. There was a lot of good information on Churchill himself and how he was a polarizing figure.
• Horse Guards museum - Not that interesting, but did happen to see the changing of the horses
• Kensington Gardens - Very nice place
• Albert Hall - Again this was closed as a performance was on.
• Natural History Museum - Only saw a little bit of this as we were near closing time. It is a very big museum.
• Paddington Station - Yes we had to go and see this and there was a statue to Paddington Bear. The kids loved this.
• We had tea out near Paddington station where I got my first serve of English Fish and Chips (no peas). However I was ripped off. The fish was overcooked and the chips were fries!!

Day 4

Got up early to see Albert hall before the changing of the guards. We did a bit of research into the changing of the guards and so had our spots picked out. It was going to be too hectic (and get there too early) to be at the front in Buckingham Palace so we had alternate spots.

• Albert Hall - Heavily booked out - who would have thought. We dont like this anymore.
• Changing of the Guards - We first went to the place where the old guards walk from St James Place to Buckingham Palace to meet up with the rest of the guards about to be relieved. We saw them being inspected and then the band and the guards walked to Buckingham Palace. We could follow them. After following a little but we headed over to the barracks to see the new guards that are to replace the old ones. Here there were many more, again being inspected and after a while set off to Buckingham Palace. I thought we were lucky to get some very good vantage spots and these were not that busy.
• Royal Mews - The girls went here to see the Royal carriages and horses
• Guards museum - Josh and I went here. I found it more interesting than Josh, just as it described the 5 guard types, their age, the ranking order and why they have feathers (or not) in their caps. Grenadiers are top ranked, then the Coldstream (Used to be first but chose the wrong side in some conflict), Scots (oldest, but not in the united division), Irish and Welsh.
• Science Museum - A lot to see, but we really only saw a IMAX presentation which was just OK.
• Imperial War Mesuem - This was a very good museum as it did not just focus on the two world wars and talked about security in general. It talked about ISIS, IRA, had artefacts from 911 and many other minor conflicts and security related issues.

Day 5

Harry Potter and Universal Studios. This was mainly for the kids and it was very good, enjoyable and relaxing day after our very busy time in London. On the way home Josh and I basically went straight home, whilst the girls did some more shopping.

I really liked London as a tourist, though too big for me to live in. We did do a lot in the time here, but we always knew this was going to be busy and we could relax a bit more in the countryside.

Just one thing with the subways, they were always packed. You had to almost push your way in sometimes. With suitcases etc, allow a bit more time as you may be waiting a few trains before getting on.

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Lahr in Germany

For a larger selection of photos go to: https://goo.gl/photos/7sLVqK4vFrr8otQy7

Josh says:
Sorry we are really behind will only do good things and rush a bit again.

Lahr was very nice a little chilly. Our Airbnb accommodation was one was one of the nicest we have stayed in.

The first day we went to the Black Forest and it was nice we went for a couple of walks. We went to 1 castle, water fall and explored some towns. The last thing we did was we went to a toboggan run. It was really fun and you could control how fast you went. I went on my own and Leesh went with Dad. Unfortunately we couldn't race as you had to keep a 20m distance from each other.

In one of the towns on the Romantic road we got gelatti. I got a pasta gelatti.... It was actually vanilla icecream as the spaghetti, strawberry sauce and white chocolate as a parmesan cheese.

Spaghetti icecream

The next day was a surprise for Leesh as I over heard it the night before. We were going to Europa Park which is a German Disney Land. The cool thing was that there was 13 major European countries, Arthur Land which was crap and Fairytale world. Ireland was getting constructed. All the rides wear amazing we could go on them all as well. We all had heaps of fun and a good time. In the end we got to go on all the rides we wanted, before closing time which was about 6pm. Sorry for my language about but I really don't like Arthur the movie. The ride was OK though.

Alicia says:

We went to Europa Park which is a theme park. Well we also went to some other places like The Black Forest and we also went on a Toboggan ride. Yeah they are all great but the really cool thing that I can't wait to tell you about is.... Europa Park. In Europa Park we went on lots of rides like this really big roller coaster, some wet rides. The one that l like the best was the really big roller coaster. The thing was that Josh (brother) and me didn't even know that we where going to Europa Park, it was a nice surprise.

Dad says:
Due to our slow internet connection I will not add my pictures. I hope to upload some, but dont hold your breath.

Lahr is a small town on the western edge of Germany, very close to the French border and is near the Black Forest region and Europa Park. Firstly our accommodation was perfect, it was five stars from me. Not only was the place nice, they provided some extra items like milk, they also supplied some really nice country bread and smoked prosciutto.

My expectations of the Black Forest were for lots of really big pine trees and lots of undercover. There was a lot of woodlands, but also many green rolling hills and pine trees really did not dominate, it was pretty nether-less. We visited a few areas and towns, saw some cascading waterfalls and stopped off on the side of the road to take a few photos. We also saw a old castle tower that was a bit of a ruin. The good thing about this was that there were virtually no tourists there and it was a nice pretty walk to the top. Unfortunately not only I am old, I am unfit and somehow hurt my quad and so I was limping that day. It has been all right ever since, due to my superhuman recovery powers no doubt.

I am sure the kids will talk about Europa Park, but it was a lot of fun. They loved all the rides, roller coasters and just having fun. We managed to get on all the rides we wanted and didn't get too wet on the water attractions.

We have one more day in Germany before making a stay over in Strasbourg. We had a few car issues this time. We were not able to return our car in Strasbourg (or anywhere in France), so our original plan was to drop it off in a town near the border (Offenberg) and do a quick train trip back across (25km or 30 mins). We fortunately realised the day before that the travel company incorrectly booked it in for Offenbach, which is in Frankfurt (220km or 2+ hours by train). I was able to change the car drop off location which in itself was a bit of a story that is too hard to explain right now. After touring Strasbourg I drove back myself to drop off the car. Due to meeting the rep the previous day we struck up a conversation and he dropped me back into town rather than waiting for a bus (or 1 hour walk), which was really nice. I then tried to book the train and got a price of 150EUR. What!!! I tried again and the same price, even for a later train. Forget that, so I went off looking for a bus. I managed to see a train rep and queried about the price of a trip and he said about 8EUR. So after trying again (for the same 150EUR price) he came to help. I was trying to go to Strasburg (Germany), not Strasbourg (France). Oh, yes the difference was an "o", 142EUR, 8 hours and 900 kilometres (near the border of Poland in the North East of Germany). So REALLY REALLY REALLY check the spelling and ensure you spell it out, as they all sound the same to me. Note with the place that I dropped of the car (Offenburg, on the west border), there is also an Offenberg (East border) and Ofenberg (South border).

I really enjoyed Germany. The people were very nice, most spoke English and it was quite pretty and enjoyable where we explored.

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Fussen and Rothenburg (Germany)

For a larger selection of photos go to: https://goo.gl/photos/7sLVqK4vFrr8otQy7

We will be cutting the journals a bit short as to finish before we leave. Only 15 days behind....

Josh says:
Fussen is a very nice place but a little chilly. When we arrived in Rosenhiem we got the car we were hiring. After about a 4-5 hours of driving we arrived in Fussen. The hotel was ok 2 rooms a bathroom and bedroom. After relaxing for a while we went to the foot of the mountain which Neuschwanstein Castle was on. When we arrived we got a small tea and walked to the top of the mountain 20 minute walk. When we got to the top we took a lot of photos of an amazing view and the castle. Then we waited for our tour which was the last English speaking tour. Unfortunately we weren't aloud to take photos inside to keep protect the art work.  The Neuschwanstein Castle is the best castle ever!!!!!. The art work is amazing never been redone. The views from the castle were amazing. Unfortunately the king was found dead by the lake so construction stop, only a little bit of the castle was finished about 14 rooms. After we finished in the castle we went to get some photos of the bridge it was closed due to construction for some reason so we didn't get to go on it.

The next day we started the romantic road which was not that romantic but nice. It would have taken days to see everything on it. One of the things we did was we went to the top of a mountain. We got to the top by chair lift at the top we saw a heaps of  para gliders at the top jumping off.  We watched the para gliders for a wile then went to look at the views. After that we went down with the chair lifts ans I saw a deer going down :) Then we continued on the romantic road. We stopped at a couple of other places along the way but they weren't that good. After about a 5-6 hour drive, we got to Rothenburg. Our a apartment was bad it was like a nursing home. It had 3 rooms 1 bathroom and 2 bedrooms. Then we explored a bit of Rothemburg.  

Alicia says:
When we got to Fussen we firstly went to our hotel which was called Hotel Fantasia. It was very busy in the town as it was a public holiday. That afternoon we went to the big castle high up on the mountain. When we got to Neuchwanstein castle our tour guide said you couldn't take any photos and you had to wear your backpack on your tummy (so you wouldn't bump into anything). After the tour, we walked around the outside. That night I shared pizza and pasta for a late tea.

The next day we headed along the romantic road to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. On our way we stopped at a few stops, my favourite being going up a ski lift and seeing people paragliding.

When arrived in the walled city of Rothenburg we went to our accommodation which was small, old style but wasn't bad for me because we were hardly in there at all except for when we slept. On of the things I would recommend people doing is going on the night watchman tour, walking along and around the wall, and seeing the big Christmas shops. The night watch tour told you the history of the town in a funny, enjoyable way. The Christmas shops were great, as they were very big and had everything from Father Christmas to baubles. I enjoyed visiting Rothenburg.  

Dad says:
After a pretty successful train trip we arrived in Rosenheim one of the first cities in Germany from Salzburg. We hired a car from here to keep the car hire all contained within Germany. Lets just say though, Rosenheim is not geared up for the tourist and there is hardly any maps nor information boards or any tourist office that we could find. We circled the city (literally) a few times just to try to find some info. This is all after we got our car, that was just a bit too small to fit in the 4 bigger bags in the boot, but plenty of space to fit it in next to the kids. Giving in to finding anything, we finally found our way to Fussen. A fairly frustrating start to Germany.

Fussen is the home to the fantastic fantasy Neuschwanstein Castle. Our drive there was easy and fairly fast, zooming along those Germany autobahns. Over the last 20 km to Fussen we entered a flat grassy area full of native flowers with the Alps as a backdrop. It was breathtaking and a real 'wow' factor.

The Alps and the grass lands near Fussen,

Since we still had a bit of the day remaining (approx 4;30), we decided to walk around the base of the Neuschwanstein Castle. However upon getting there (and eventually relenting to pay 6EUR for parking) we enquired and could actually get into the last tour of the castle for that day at 5:50. It is a very picturesque area and an enjoyable walk. Entry is only valid with a tour guide, however no photos and no bags on backs permitted. This was all necessary to retain the conditions of the 14 completed rooms of the castle. The inside decoration seemed to be as good as it was over 200 years ago. No faded materials, original bright coloured paint, it was a real gem. Easily the best interior of any of the castles or homes we have seen, whilst the exterior also wasn't too shabby either.

Views from the walk up to the castle

The bridge was closed for repair - apparently it has great views

The Neuschwanstein Castle

From a balcony of Neuschwanstein Castle

Someone would not let Dad down the short-cut. Someone who is now scared of being told off. The same someone that was very upset in Strasbourg when we were parked in a loading zone whilst I went to get the keys for the accommodation and everyone else was still in the car.

Rare vision of the not-so-intimidating Josh Bear

Even more rare footage of the Josh Bear attacking his victims. His favourite target is the "annoying sister"

We were out that night taking a few photos of the castle

We only had the one night here and since we had already visited the main castle, we had a bit of time the next day on the Romantic Road up to Rohenburg. We did'nt bother with the smaller of the two castles, not sure what it is called, but it really must feel like the neglected castle or as we call it - the second child

The Romantic road wasn't that romantic. There was only the one stop worth mentioning and that is just outside of the Fussen. This was a mountain (Buchberg may be the name?) where we saw at least 10 para gliders in the air and others jumping off the ledge. We caught the chairlift to the top and there would have been around another 30 para gliders waiting to jump. This had a great view overlooking lakes and the flat lands. Apparently they can stay in the air for 1 - 8 hours, depending on the conditions.

The Buchberg

Typical of the Romantic Road

Another castle (Harburg) on the Romantic Road. Warning the 10EUR entry is just for the courtyard, it is another 9EUR to see the inside (slightly annoyed and we could be bothered)

One thing I did notice in Germany is that every village and most homes within the villages have solar panels covering their roof tops. There were also many fields of solar panels. Interestingly in England (we are currently in the midlands) also has quite a few solar farms. Yet in Australia, with ample sun, we hardly have any....go figure.

Rothenburg was interesting in that it still remains very much like a medieval town. The wall surrounding the town is still in place and you can walk on it. Whilst the accommodation was very basic, the city itself was nice and we had a relaxing time there.

Medieval shops in Rothenburg

Two large Christmas shops across the road from each other (photos not permitted inside)

All photos from inside the walls at Rothenburg

This city was a stronghold for the Nazis in WW2 and survived because of a painting. When the Americans arrived in the area the Nazis were holding out in Rothenburg with the orders to fight till the end. The Americans had a lot of air support and one day the bombers went out to bomb fuel supplies (elsewhere), however due to the weather they had to abort, however on return bombed the outskirts of Rothenburg, destroying part of the wall (and killing many people). The next day they were to "demolish the city" with their ground weapons. However, the American secretary of war John McCloy knew of the importance of the city from stories from his mother had relayed and also a painting that was always in his childhood home. He contacted the American commander and ordered that a cease fire be attempted. In negotiations to save the city, the German commander agreed and one night the Germans just left the city for the Americans to occupy without additional fighting. This was one of the stories that was told to us by the "night watchman" tour. Highly recommended by Josh and Alicia was very interested and shadowed the night watchman for the whole tour.

The night watchman and his shadow 

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