In my ongoing articles about our summer European adventure with our two sons (8 and 10), the next leg of journey I’d like to share with you was our time spent in Southern Germany. We went to visit students we had hosted in our home while they studied English. They had experienced Canada through our eyes, now it was our turn to experience Germany through theirs. After picking up a rental car in Frankfurt we drove to Heidelburg. In Heidelburg we visited the university, which is over 625 years old, the castle, and began our exploration of German food.
At the university we visited an area formerly used as a student prison for infractions such as nighttime carousing or other offences against public order. The walls of the prison are covered with interested doodling, commentary and poems.
You reach Heidelberg’s castle by way of a tram which travels side-ways, which made for a cool ride. One of the rooms visited on the tour of the castle included a vomitorium – which has that cool/grossness factor that my boys seemed to love. The castle also offers great views of the city of Heidelberg.
We found the boys to be very welcome in all of the restaurants and beer gardens we visited throughout southern Germany. In Heidelburg we discovered flamkuchen, which is similar to pizza but with a thinner crust and no tomato sauce. After tasting one flamkuchen, we ended up ordering many more. For my boys, flamkuchen served as a vehicle for tasty German cheeses and cured meats – what could be better. They also discovered a love for potato soup and ate their weight in schnitzel, a good stand-by when we couldn’t understand the menu.
Outside of Heidelburg we visited the Technical Museum of Speyer that has a great collection of a variety of modes of transportation including a space shuttle, submarine and a full-sized Lufthansa plane from which you can slide down from. The museum has a lot of great hands-on activities and encourages exploration by kids of all ages.
From Heidelburg we traveled to Lorrach, which we used a base to visit northern Switzerland. Given our propensity for all things food, we visited two factories to learn more about 2 food items for which Switzerland is famous – chocolate and cheese. We experienced chocolate heaven at the Maestrani Chocolate Factory. For only 7 Swiss francs each we received an excellent guided tour on how chocolate was made and got to eat as much delicious Swiss chocolate as we could handle. Set in the rolling hills of Northern Switzerland, the Appenzeller cheese factory provided us with insights into the art of Swiss cheese making. This experience wakened all of senses as we were enveloped by the tastes, smells and sights that are part of cheese production.
After leaving Lorrach we made our way through the Black Forest stopping in Triburg, the home of all things cuckoo clock related and the world’s biggest cuckoo clock, and took an almost 3km long ride with a coaster down the mountain in Todtnau, an experience not to be missed. We also made a quick stop in Stuttgart for our older son to visit the Porsche Museum.
Our next major stop was Legoland Deutschland, located approx. 1 hour West of Munich. Legoland was akin to a religious experience for our 8 year old who LOVES Lego. In fact, our whole family enjoyed Legoland, how could we not? Not only were there miniature and life-size lego replicas of cities, people, and animals, among others, they were a variety of fun rides. Most exciting for our 8 year old, was the store that sold every imaginable lego piece individually.
Then it was on to Munich, the 3rd largest city in Germany and the heart of Bavarian culture. While we visited the traditional downtown tourist sites we also did a few things off-the beaten path outside of Munich. We all loved the visit to the Berchtesgaden Salt mine which has been in operation for over 170 years. Visitors are outfitted in overalls and taken deep into the mine where you can make your way between the levels via long slides. Also great was our visit to the breathtaking beauty of Konigssee. The town looks like its right out of a German fairy tale and there is great hiking, boat rides and other activities to occupy your time.
Southern Germany was a great experience for all of us. Our Bavarian hosts took great pride in their culture and heritage, which was great for the boys to see. And a big kudos from me to the German government for the Autobahn. It is well maintained, easy to navigate and best of all, there are lots of rest stops with clean public washrooms – as the only girl in our bunch, something I truly appreciated.
Written by LisaTravels
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