Based on the weekend's plans, we decided it was finally time to rent a car. Taking trains would have wasted too much time and there was just no way we would have seen everything we wanted to see being dependent on the train schedule.
We woke up at 5 a.m. that morning to get on a 6 a.m. train to Zurich, where we would be renting our car. By the time we had our car, it was about 7:30. We were planning on meeting up with the gang around 10:30 at Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. We had printed directions, and were naive enough to think we could find our way with that alone. Ha! What were we thinking? We couldn't have been more wrong. We spent about 45 minutes driving in a circle trying to get out of Zurich. By 8:30 we were back at Hertz asking for GPS. Seriously, what were we thinking not getting it in the first place? Once it was hooked up, we were on our way without a hitch. The only problem we had at that point was that we were going to be close to an hour and a half late to our meeting point. Without cell phones or a way to get in touch with the others, we were just crossing our fingers they'd still be there.
I loved driving. The GPS took us on some interesting routes, but ones that we'd never see riding on a train. We would be driving along on the autobahn, and then all of a sudden take an exit that would wind us through small towns, and then we'd be back on the autobahn 30 minutes later.
Finally on the road, headed east to the Germany, Austria boarder
This road was a bit nerve racking - it was about the size of one-lane, but was a two-lane road
We made it to Neuschwanstein just before noon. I'm not sure how it happened, but our timing to run into the gang was perfect. We parked our car, ran into a bathroom and as we were walking out to the ticket counter, we saw them across the way, walking to their car. They had just gone to email us that they were going down the street to the alpine slides.
While waiting for us, they had already looked into going up to the castle, but decided against it because half of it was under construction and was not accessible. Instead, we took a quick picture and moved on. That's the castle up on the hill behind us to the left.
Down the street was a park and alpine slide that we decided would be worth a visit
My slide buddy
Our mini - we actually managed to get a carseat, suitcase and our stroller in the back
After the park, we drove an hour to Oberammergau, a small town near the boarder of Germany and Switzerland. The town is well known for its Passion Play it puts on every ten years
I loved this town. It's also known for its woodworking, painted buildings and spaghetti ice
The spaghetti ice - ice cream in the shape of spaghetti with strawberry sauce and whipped cream
From there, we drove around another small town on our way to Munich, where we found a place to stay for the night.
Taking advantage of no speed limit
Driving out of Oberammergau
Part 4, the final post in this series, will be a day in Munich...
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