Germany

After 10 months of planning, researching, booking and dreaming our next BIG trip is finally under way.  We left Melbourne on the 27th November and flew, via Hong Kong, to Frankfurt.  The 24 hours spent on the two planes went by with out too much angst.  The girls could hardly believe they had to spent SO long on a plane.  Needless to say we watched enough movies for a year, between the 6 of us.  We did manage some sleep, on the second leg, so when we landed at 5AM we had a little bit in the tank to face the day.
Our adventure began with 3 nights in Frankfurt, giving us plenty of time to explore the city.  Andrew and I had not been to Frankfurt before - but had visited other German cities, so it had a familiarity to it.  The new side to the visit (as will be the case in most places we visit) is experiencing the city through the girls eyes.  Their wonder and amazement is so refreshing and rewarding.  They were amazed as they climbed the 328 ancient spiral steps to the top of the Catherdral Tower, they were amazed at the pretty buildings that looked like dolls houses, they were amazed by the Christmas Markets - that each stall looked like a tiny log cabin (one of them said - back home we would use a plastic marquee and a trestle table!).
Here's Frankfurt in pictures:

After our 3 days in Frankfurt, discovering the city and trying desperately to get into the European time zone (sleeping is getting better with each attempt) we picked up our car.  Obviously we need a BIG car - but the one Hertz had for us was a joke!!  It really was straight out of Lampoons Vacation, definitely not a car we wanted to be driving the Amalfi Coast in.  So we traded in the enormous 9 seater for a tighter 7 seater - we only just fit with all our luggage but it is a much better size for the destinations we're headed for.  Here's a picture with our 'band on tour' car in the foreground and the original vehicle in the background - it doesn't even fit in the car spot!!

We headed east toward Wurzburg and then south towards Stuttgart - we hopped off the Autobarn and took the smaller roads following the Nekar.  We drove through lots of tiny, pretty villages along the way - that looked like this:

We arrived safely (thank goodness for the GPS - what did we ever do without it) at our accommodation in Mittelstadt.  From here we explored the amazing castles - the girls are so impressed by them.  Here are some pics of Lichtenstien and Hohenzollern Castles.

From here we continued East to Munich.  We really only had an afternoon in Munich (due to a hiccup with the car - flat battery) but we still managed to have a good look at the city.

Munich marks the end of our time in Germany - from here we head at Salzburg!