After a very long night of driving, some of it rather precarious in the rain too, we all slept in a bit in the very family friendly Novotel hotel rooms. We were back to a double (with a king) and a quad again, so the kids got their own room while we slept with the fan – which we schlepped from France - since the A/C wasn’t working. This made hotel number 4 or 5 with A/C that didn’t work. So we had a rather late start to the morning due to the late night arrival in Freiburg. We headed down to a HUGE breakfast spread (kids free) which we filled up on.
Switching from language to language is a bit discombobulating. We all got very used to hearing Italian, then had to pull out our meager French (which most people, by the way, did *not* appreciate) and then switched to German. The kids can count to six (more in Italian), and say: hello, goodbye, thank you, please, your welcome and “check, please” in 4 languages. They also know the proper greetings in the various languages and at what time of the day to use them. *My* personal favorite is the Austrian “Gruss got” (don’t know about the spelling, but that’s how it’s pronounced) which translates into “Good God” and differentiates them from the Germans (who don’t say it.)
After breakfast, the kids did some swimming with Brian at the hotel pool while I checked some email and putzed around the room, happy not to rush out and get to another tourist sight. It was getting a bit close to the check-out time, which I was more worried about than Brian. “Relax” he tells me. So I climb into the shower to get ready when there is a knock on the door. I climb out and peek around the room door to answer it and it’s the mini-bar guy checking on our refreshment status. He apologizes but it’s clear that he wants to do his job right then. Ten minutes later (shower still isn’t done) there is another knock at the door. It’s the A/C technicians here to fix the A/C. Because it’s 12:02 and check-out is at 12:00 and we are in Germany – home of efficiency and punctuality. We had forgotten this, as we’d spent the last 7 weeks in not-so-punctual Italy and France. So we scrambled out before someone *else* came knocking on the door. And my hair was only partly dried straight. It was a cloudy, rainy, cold day (“Ah, perfect weather, “ says Brian) and by the end of the day, my hair resembled Monica Gellar’s hair on her trip to Jamaica. It drew many (not so nice) comments from the family. Edwin says it’s “frizzante” which, in Italian, means carbonated.
Off to the car we went for our (LONG!!!!!) ride through southern Germany through the Black Forest to our destination of Fussen and the castle on the hill that Walt Disney used as his inspiration. Please don’t make me look up the name. It has 27 letters in it and is unpronounceable (German, don’t you know…) Let’s just call it the pretty castle on the hill. A word about driving through southern Germany: there is not Autostrade (major highway.) No toll road. No major thoroughfare. So it can take a while. Especially when every town seems to be hosting their local “festival” and every other tourist in the region is either in the car in front of you or on a bike riding next to you on the road.
That all being said, we arrived (in the rain) at the castle ticket office 20 minutes too late. We missed the last tour. We settled for eating dinner in a restaurant in (had the sun been out) the shadow of the castle. It was here that the kids started loving German cuisine. It is most definitely kid friendly. Sausages, potatoes, meat… the boys were *happy* campers. Julia and Ed ordered spaghetti Bolognese. Of course. We caught only a few minutes of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics before the wait staff turned off the TV in the back room where we were eating. The wait staff, by the way, was in typical Bavarian garb.
We hopped back in the car (me driving this time) to get to the German/Austrian border for our next hotel – a family run place. We arrived in the pouring rain (Brian driving now, since we *had* to switch on the side of the road… but I won’t treat you to *that* discussion…) and found our lovely rooms (no AC again but we had the fan!) The kids had a small apartment for their room, and Brian and I were in the main building. This trip has stretched my comfort level at sleeping away from my children. They are getting quite used to it, and I think that they have done very well being on their own – but never too far from Mom and Dad. Julia and Edwin had hit their limit sleeping with “the brothers” by now, since apparently, they saved their rough-housing for when they were out of earshot of the parents.
It was a long day in the car. But we made it across Germany with only some minor issues. If the kids *really need* to see the castle, I’ll take them back to Disneyland. Or maybe even Disneyworld.
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