Amazing Atzmannig

Last Sunday we went to Atzmanig ( www.atzmaennig.ch/ ). Its a kind of adventure park for kids in the middle of the mountains, but also has an amazing rope adventure section for adults and kids, and converts into a ski resort in the winter. Its about a 45 mins drive from our place, and we were lucky with theweather as it was nice and warm (in early November!). Perfect day to spend outside.

The park itself is beautiful and you could just spend time idling in the restaurant looking out at the mountains.

View from the restaurant

But we had come there for a kids day out, so that had to wait, and we first hit the kids attractions. S loved the tobaggon ride. You have to take a chair lift to reach the top of the tobaggon ride. We rode over grazing cows and S was

delighted to hear them tinkling away as they graze (all the cows herewear bells around their neck so you can hear them a mile away). The tobaggon ride was 700 m and S and I went doubles while the husband waited with A below. And then we reversed when S insisted on going on. She was all set to go a third time when we had to finally distract her with the attractions at the kids playground.

The kids playground set in the middle of the hills.

Apart from the usual slide, swing and rope walk it had trampolines (on which S and I both bounced), a carousel (no I didn't go on that with her), a trampoline jump section (with the harness) and a kids car section where they could drive cars/bikes around a track. S managed to drive a car pretty well ( better than the way I drove on the highway to the park) and the cheapies that we were we put A in a stationery car (without putting in money to make it move) and she seemed happy enough on it.

After that we headed out for the rope adventure park section. This has a series of rope walks connecting tree tops, with varying levels of difficulty. Its mostly for older kids (6+) and adults, but there are two kindercourses for 4+. S is still a few months shy of her fourth birthday but it was safe enough (they put a harness on the child which attaches to a rope on top of the walk so that even if the child loses their balance they won't fall to the ground) so we thought she could have a go. S initially found it a bit tough and was nervous in bits. Part of the walk was simple for her- she can easily jump from one thing to another, but finds it scary to completely let go and swing from the top of the tree to the bottom. A couple of times the harness got stuck on the top- you have to pull ithard at junctions and she found it tough to do that, and either we had to climb up and help her along, or some of the kids behind her would push the harness for her. It was overall a great experience for her.

After all the activities (most of which A slept through), the kids were starving, so we finally went to restaurant and fortified ourselves with fries and chilled beer, while basking in the warm sun.

It was a testing day for S and me though- her on the rope walk, and me driving on the motorway- it's the first time i was driving on a motorway here and the speed limit is 100 km (and they get upset if you go below the speed limit as well) and I found it really tough to go beyond 90 km. The highway was curving and I was scared what would happen if I lost control on a bend. The husband said that the curve was engineered that you could maintain 100 km or they would prescribe a lower speed limit, but I was not convinced. Felt very similar to us telling S not to be scared as there was a harness and she would not fall. And also similar to her having kids much faster behind her, who were giggling at how slow she was (kids can be mean!!) I looked in my rearview mirror and found the driver behind talking on the mobile in one hand while maintaining a speed of 100km. All in good time I say.