Lucca and Pisa

We've been home nearly 4 months now. Life is back to normal, and as we suspected, our trip of a lifetime seems like a faraway dream. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't ordered a single picture of this adventure. We haven't even shared our pictures with our family or closest friends! It's so overwhelming to get them organized into a reasonable amount! But I have a quiet afternoon, and it's raining outside, so what better time, right? Meanwhile, always in the back of my mind I am trying to figure out how we can GO again. Between the falling dollar and rising gas prices, it just isn't going to happen for some time. I long for the quiet Venice mornings though, or the bells ringing across the Tuscan Hills.

This day spent in Lucca and Pisa was one of our best and most memorable days. We all loved riding bikes around the wall in Lucca. In fact, when we returned home, C's birthday present was a bike seat, so we can ride as a family! We have done it a few times this summer, which has been really fun. The kids remember playing on the lawn near the Leaning Tower of Pisa too. It's not something easily forgotten!

Hope you Enjoy!!

A Day in Florence

Siena

Barberino...

I can't believe we've been home a month. We've had a busy four weeks, celebrating birthdays for C (yes, he celebrated for 2 months), S, M, and G. We had Mother's Day and a wedding. And then there's the general running and craziness that surrounds our little life. Joel went back to work on Monday. While I love our life and am so thankful for the joy we have, I find myself going through these pictures (often) and wistfully thinking of our days in Tuscany. Of sandy feet and lemonade in Cinque and cool mornings in Venice.

Two months ago we were gearing up to go to Barberino Val d'Elsa. It was a fabulous little apartment, and our rooftop terrace looked out over all the rooftops in the walled town. We were right next to the bell tower, that woke us early each morning. I always chuckled when the bells started ringing at 7 am. First of all, Italians stay up LATE. They don't even eat dinner until 8pm! The other thing is, nothing, nothing (!) is open at 7, or even 8 in the morning. Nothing- not coffee shops, not grocers, not bakeries. Why in the world the church bells ring at 7, remains a mystery to us!

Anyway, here is Barberino...
(I think you can click on it to get it bigger.)

Thanks, Danielle, for the photo advice. :)

Rome Slideshow

I picked 30 of my favorite shots from Rome (not easy) to make into a slideshow. These are from my camera, so are a little different from the blog.

Can't believe we've been home a week. We are settling back into 'normal' life...although Carter is still having travel dreams. Last night he yelled, "NO PLANE! NO PLANE!"

In His Dreams

We've been home for about 17 hours now. I awoke exactly at midnight, maybe to be able to enjoy today the fullest? (My 30th birthday), or possibly because it was 9am in Germany. (Much more likely) Either way, my little C awoke at 2am, also ready to take on the day. We snuggled on the couch, and both fell asleep for an hour or so. He woke me up with his sleep talking.

"No! Ice cream! ICE CREAM!"

I giggled, and snuggled back in. Then about 5 minutes later,

"All done, choo choo train? All done?"

I can only attribute these little phrases to a 'post-trip' dream because these are things we FREQUENTLY heard on our adventure. (We ate a LOT of ice cream and rode SEVERAL trains!)

We'll laugh about it someday...

Right?
We'll laugh about how a motel room that would be cramped for 3 got us
through the night. (Barely.)

And we will chuckle about how even though we thought we'd done a
practice run for our early morning plan of me dropping J, kids, and
luggage off at the check in counter, then me returning the rental car
and meeting them at ticketing, Gina fouled that up for us and I ended
up on a 15 km wild goose chase.

And I am sure I'll be able to laugh about running through the
Frankfurt airport trying to find my family having flashbacks about
losing my mom and missing my flight in the Honolulu airport 15 years
ago. (Mom- red crocs are easier to run in than gold flip flops, FYI)

Someday it might be funny that an 11 hour flight feels like slow
torture.
It will be a while, but I just know we will laugh about C spilling an
ENTIRE cup of very sticky orange juice on himself, J, and I about 3
hours into the 11 hour flight. I of course had extra clothes...for C!

In reality though, we will probably laugh about a lot of this stuff
once we are home, in clean clothes! The car got returned, we made our
flight, the kids have been awesome on the plane, and we are pleasantly
surprised how quickly orange juice dries. It could be worse...

Sent from my iPhone

Sommerrohdalbahn!!!

By popular demand, I figure I should contribute a post of my own.
(that's not to say I haven't contribted and edited most of my wifes
posts!)

Today was dedicated to repeating our previous luging experience.
We've been stalking the local luge course for the past three days,
eagerly waiting for a chance to ride once again. Our first attempt
was spoiled by rain, the second by the European stereotype for
'flexable timeframes'. Thankfully, our third and last attempt was
succesful.

The day intentionally started off rather slow. We woke up late, swam
at the pool, spent some time at the nearby plaground (while incurring
some bumps and bruises - previous pics) and ate lunch at our favorite
german cafe - 'Hatie's Schnell'. Lunch consisted of fried chicken,
fries, and glass bottled coke.

After lunch we headed for the luge, which luckily was in the direction
of our rouge wifi hotspot. (You may have noticed a slight delay in
email correspondence over the last few days as wifi as not been
readily availabe in our current accomodations. Its embarissing to
admit that we have spent a few hours driving around german
neighborhoods to discover open wifi connections and now have two
locations which we occasionally visit in order to post blogs and
respond to emails. We found two hotspots so we wouldn't be attracting
to much attention, but S is convinced that the mail man is on to us.
Here's to hoping there's no police report when we turn in our car
tomorrow!)

At the luge we purchased ten rides for the adults and ten rides for
the bigs to share. Carter was free, but it didn't really matter
because after S took him down the hill and crashed into the 'tire
stop' on the initial run we couldn't convince him to go again. The
bigs, S and I alternated runs that zigzaged through the trees and
brush as we flew down the hill. This luge course was not quite as
smooth as our previous experience, but it was just as enjoyable and a
treat after we thought we'd left them behind in the alps. Towards the
end of our riding we began letting the bigs handle the stick as we sat
back and held on for dear life. G was fearless as he'd hold the stick
to the floor. S and I had to battle him to slow the cart around the
corners. I swear I'd never raced down the track as fast as I did with
G at the helm. The icing on the cake was on her last run M was ready
to brave the course on her own (previous pic). She handled the course
fabulous and thanks to the operator we each received an extra ride,
which M used on her own again!

After the luge we made our way back home (complete with a stop by our
handy hotspots) and made dinner for the last time in Germany.

Cheers! (as the Germans would say thinking we were British)

Her first solo!

It was a little terrifying watching her race down the course on her
own, but she did so well she 'gave it another go' as G would say.

This didnt end well either!

Guess what's next ...

...flat on his back bawling! (For the record, S was taking the pic)

Final Day

Well, today marks the final day of The Big Adventure. We spent the
morning cleaning and packing, and then we made the drive to
Frankfurt. We made a final stop at our rogue Internet stop that J
referred to in his great post.
Once in Frankfurt, we found our hotel and then made a 'dry run' to the
airport so tomorrow morning will go as smoothly as possible.
After all that, Gina helped us get to the Museum of Natural History.
It was pretty cool, and you know our Little G loved the dinos!
We were pretty hungry for dinner, and I was really wanting some of the
yummy cooking we had when we first hit Germany 2 weeks ago.
Unfortunately that was pretty hard to find in the big city. (We did
find a nearby Starbucks that opens at 6 am! Yes!) Since down home
German cooking wasn't an option, we went for our second
favorite...Chinese of course!
Now we are back at our hotel preparing for a short night, and a
loooong day tomorrow. (Our April 23 will be about 33 hours!)

We are very happy to be headed home. We miss our family and friends a
lot, and we are also really looking forward to mundane things like
grocery shopping, doing laundry, and taking showers on our own turf. I
will say that we were all a little meloncholy packing up this morning.
We have had SUCH a great trip. We have built so many memories- big
ones of exploring castles and ancient ruins, and smaller ones- of
dancing in our train cabin on the way to Innsbruck, of sounding out
interesting German words, and all the little cafes we ate at. It is
hard to believe it's all over. Thankfully J doesn't have to go back
to work for 3 more weeks, so it will be a while before we are 100%
back to real life!
Time to get everyone snuggled in for the night. You should see this
set up. We have a double bed and a single bed. For 5 of us. M and G
are sleeping on the single, with heads at opposite ends, like the
grandparents on Charlie and the Chocolate factory. Should be an
interesting night.
Ciao, Cheers, and Auf Weidersehen

Exploring Rhenfiels Castle

Today we checked off one of our last big 'todos'- the Rhine River.
The sun came out in full force for the first time in over a week and
we celebrated by shedding our sweatshirts and getting gelato!
We had lunch in St. Goar, and then took the little shuttle train up
the hill to the castle. Rhenfiels was the biggest castle on the Rhine
in its heyday in the 1200s-1700s. It is largely in ruins now, but it
wasn't difficult to get a feel for the enormity or importance of it. I
will admit that before going up there I was getting a bit 'castled
out', but this was my favorite one yet. (The sunshine didn't hurt, I'm
sure!) It was fun to explore with the kids because they could run
ahead and check out tunnels and peer over walls. They didn't have to
be quiet, and they could touch whatever they wanted. Best of all,
there were plenty of other families exploring as well.
I had a lot of fun getting pictures of the ruins with my camera as
well. I finally got the "memory card full" message- at 1984 pictures!
Not to worry, though I do have a smaller memory card still, so our
last 48 hours in Germany won't be neglected! There are 700 pictures
on this iPhone too - yikes!
After spending 2 hours imagining Rhenfiels Castle as THE place to be
500 years ago, we took a drive down the Rhine and spotted about 10
more castles. J read us blurbs about each one, thanks to Rick Steves!
Gorgeous drive, beautiful afternoon, fabulous day. Glad to be ending
on a high note. Tomorrow we will be checking off some of the kids
priorities-luging, local playgrounds, and the indoor pool- and getting
packed up. Hard to believe that in 72 hours from now we will be on
the ground in the States.

Auf Wiedersehen!

I love this about Germany.

We have seen hundreds, maybe thousands of these windmills. I love the
huge fields of them silently spinning. So powerful, yet so graceful.

M on the Rhine

Quotables from Garrett

G: "Mom, when I'm a grown up and I'm traveling with my babies, will
you come with me?
Me: "Ok, but, um, can I bring my husband?"
G, shrugs: "You can bring whoever you want."
----------------------
This morning M and I were talking and I said, "We'll just cross that
bridge when we come to it."
G piped up, "But Mom! There are so many bridges! There are
HUNDREDS! How will you know which one?!?!"
------------------------

Sent from my iPhone

MV201 - Misty Mosel

I am a little behind on the blogging front. Yesterday was a transition
day- we moved from the Landal Hochwald Resort to the Landal Wirftal
Resort. I use the term 'resort' in a very general sense here. The
grounds are nice though, and our cabin is cute. The Bigs are beyond
thrilled to have a bunkbed! I am bummed that there is no Internet in
sight- wifi or otherwise. Plus, our data roaming that we used all
through Italy isn't working in Germany, so who knows when this will
get posted. But the biggest bummer is that our cabin REEKS of
cigarette smoke. Reeks. Not my favorite thing. But really, with the
amount of people who smoke over here, and the amount of ashtrays we've
had in our other places, we are really lucky that this hasn't happened
before.
Anyway, we spent yesterday afternoon settling in and playing with the
awesome Legos we scored the day before.
Today we headed over to the Mosel River and Cochem again. We took the
boat up to cute little Belstein, a teeny little village about an hour
up the river. We braved the cold and sat on the top deck on the way.
Hot Cocoa (and cappucino for me) helped take the edge off though. One
of our favorite parts was going through the locks and showing the kids
how they worked. Carter was a little worried, "No up up up!" but he
soon found out it wasn't "Deedee" (scary).
After a cold quick walk around Belstein, we rode back down to Cochem.
We sat inside this time!!!
On the walk through Cochem back to the car we spotted a little cafe
where the desserts looked too good to pass up. We stopped in and the 5
of us devoured 2 large pieces of cake and 1 warm apple strudel with
ice cream. It was all delicious and we ate it in record time.
Sometimes I wonder what people think when they see us!
On our drive home we stopped at a grocery store. It may seem that
grocery shopping is not reportable, but I assure you it is. For weeks
we have been 'grocery shopping' in teeny little stores that are
smaller than the floral section in Safeway. Smaller than half the
entry aisle in Winco. So when we walked in this place, and saw a
store that looked nearly as large as half a football field, we were
stoked! We literally walked down every aisle in the store. My
favorite thing there? AVACADOS!! Anyone who knows me personally
knows that I love avacados! I crave avacados! My kids are the same
way. Our house goes through at least one a day, but it isn't uncommon
for us to eat 2 or 3 a day, (breakfast, lunch, and dinner!). We
haven't eaten any the past 5 weeks. So tonight we had a mini Mexican
fiesta! Tacos, salsa, tortilla chips, and avacados! We are five
happy travelers tonight.
3 full days left and then a loooooong day flying home. Hard to
believe. We are enjoying our last days here, but fuses are much
shorter, and the conversations about home are getting more frequent.
Still on the European agenda- the Rhine River, and The Museum of
Natural History (dinosaurs!!) in Frankfurt. Also, we found a luge
course near here, so if it stops raining we'll do that too!

Auf Weidersehen!

Legoland: Duetschland!

We had such a great day at LegoLand. The park was practically empty,
we had no lines at all. The weather was cool, but it didn't rain, AND
we had several lovely sunbreaks that thawed us out.
Some highlights:
C loved the horse ride (previous pic). He was just barely tall enough
to go on it, but said he wanted to do it. They seat belted him on it,
and away he went! It was a kind of big track and he was actually in
and out of my sight for a minute of two. I was worried that he would
start crying once he realized he was alone, but he LOVED it!! He
ended up riding it 5 times throughout the day!
G, of course, loved everything. He was really into the factory where
they show how Legos are made. He was super brave and even went on a
huge rollercoaster with his dad. It wasn't his favorite though, and he
will probably wait a while before taking on any big rollercoasters!
M, on the other hand, really surprised us. She is usually a little
more careful than her brother. But at the end of the day, she decided
she may regret it if she didn't at least try out a big rollercoster. J
took her on it, and she did great! She didn't love it, but she was so
proud of herself! By then she had up her nerve though, so she and J
raced to the other side of the park to go on the one rollercoaster
none of us had tried yet. (G said, "No, thank you!") Again, she
wasn't sure she loved it, but she was really glad she tried it! She
kept saying, "I can't believe I went on two rollercoasters!"
Another highlight was enjoying warm, fresh crepes that were topped
with Nutella and bananas! Mmmm! We have all grown to love Nutella
over here and will definitely enjoy it stateside as well!
It was so nice to have a carefree day where it was fine for the kids
to be wild and loud- it was all about them.

The drive back to Hochwald was pretty grueling. A missed exit (or 2)
earned us a 40 minute detour, in rush hour. We finally got back to our
freezing cold bungalow around 10. Almost 5 hours after we'd left
Legoland. Our thermostat inside our place said 12 degrees, C. I don't
know what that is in F, but I am here to tell you that it is really
cold. Especially when 4/5 of your group isn't feeling great. And then
since it was so late, the mandatory nighttime control kept overriding
me and turning the heat off!!! We finally got warmed up though, and
I'll tell you- the 5 Gs slept great!
Auf Weidersehen!

Back to Hochwald

We just returned from a very fun, very long day at Legoland, and a
verrrrrry long drive back to Hochwald. We are super exhausted so more
later. Tomorrow morning we check out of here, and head to our last
major destination!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Quotables

We've heard a lot of funny and sweet things out of these kids lately.
Here are a few things I never want to forget...

G:
"Mama? When I have kids, and they have a birthday party, who do you
think they will invite?"

Um...

--------------
G: I'm going to come back to Italy and Germany when I'm a grown up.
And where was that place where your bedroom was upstairs and we
watched the sun set?
Me: Tuscany?
G: Yeah, Tuscany. I'm going back there. When I'm a grown up, I'm going
to travel A LOT with my kids. Like to Italy, Germany, and Luxembourg,
and.....and CALIFORNIA!
----------

Also with G, a few weeks ago we all were having a conversation about
endangered and protected animals. Both of the kids, but particularly G
were interested in which animals were endangered or protected. This
conversation has drug on for weeks, pausing and resuming at the oddest
times. For instance, we are walking across the bridge in Heidelberg. G
says, amid the construction noise, "What about roosters?" I couldn't
hear him well, plus it was SO out of context and I momentarily forgot
about the animal saga.
"What?" I answered as I bent down.
"ROOSTERS!" He yelled, loud so I could hear, but also annoyed that I
wasn't still thinking about the conversation we'd left off on 2 days
ago. "Are roosters still ok?!?!???"
Right. "Oh, yes, honey, roosters are fine."
He was skeptical. "Hens?"
"Yep, lots of hens still."
Starting to feel better about things, he said, "Chickens?", but with
some confidence, like he already knew the answer, and then he stopped
to watch the boats.

In the past 2 weeks we have had about 10 simlar conversations,
covering rhinos, bears (every kind), tigers (white and Bengal), all
sorts of farm and domestic animal, eagles, penguins, and common rodents.

***********************************
M:
This girl is also a little traveler. She has said several times that
she intends to travel when she is in college, and also with her
family. When she travels with her family, she would like to go for one
year. What a goal!
-----------
M: "Dad? Is it too soon to laugh about when a bird pooped on your
head in Venice?"
(S and J burst out laughing.)
J: "A little too soon."
M: "Well, it WAS in a different country!"
-------------------
The other day I checked in with her to see how she was feeling about
things.
Me: How ya doing Sis? Are you still loving the adventure, or are you
homesick?
M: Well, I really miss my friends and our family, but I also don't
want the adventure to be over. I really love it.

I know just how she feels. .
****************************
C:
Our 'baby' has sure changed on this trip as well. In Italy, he was
saying, "Ciao Ciao!" to the locals and answering with, "Gratzie!" to
all the free candy he got. (just for being cute, I guess!) He is a
little copycat to any and everything that comes out of Big Brother or
Big Sissy's mouth- words, laughter, facial expressions, and attitude!
Whenever anything amazes him he says, "Oh MY!" or "Woah!"
He loves to be in charge, "Me do it!", and insists on being the center
of attention.
In the car, if The Bigs are singing, or talking amongst themselves, or
otherwise 'ignoring' him, he will start yelling, "QUIET", at the top
of his lungs. Since he is just barely 2, it sounds like, "CUT IT!" It
always sends the rest of us into laughter, which either tickles him
and he continues to shout, or (my favorite) it makes him mad and he
does this hilarious little old man scowl. Personality PLUS!

Sent from my iPhone

Meet Gina

Our freindly GPS. Ok, so she's only a temporary member of the G
family, but she sure has been a life saver to have around. Sure, she's
led us astray a few times, but nobody's perfect!
When we get in the car, the kids yell, "Dad! Put up Gina!" Once J
finishes programming her for the day and puts her on the window, C
says, "Dootoo! Gina!" (Dootoo means "Sissy" in C-speak.)
Have you ever seen that episode of The Office (Allison E., you know
what I'm talking about!) where Michael and Dwight end up in the lake
from following the GPS? We feel like that sometimes.
Gina: Turn right in 50 meters.
S: Where? I don't see where!
J: Right there!
Gina: Turn right.
S (not slowing): There?
Gina: Turn right.
J: Yes! There! You missed it!
Gina: Recalculating.

This is a common occurence in the G car!

Christmas in April...

In Rothenburg! Today we packed an overnight bag, and drove East
toward Rothenburg, the Christmas capital of Germany. We arrived,
found a yummy lunch (thanks to Rick Steves book!), and decided to do
some shopping (pic). The weather was awful- sleet, rain mixed with
snow, hail...and even when it's not precipitating, it is stinking
cold. That, paired with us being tired, and also Mama G having
different ideas about 'shopping' than Daddy G, lead to a less than
lovely visit to Rothenburg.
We did a little walk around part of the city wall (other pic).
We left Rothenburg, and drove further south to Gunzberg, home of
Legoland, Germany! We found a great little hotel, walked to the
little town center and had Chinese, and now are settling in for the
night. It's the first time all 5 of us are sleeping in one room on
this trip, so it has a bit of a slumber party feeling! Very fun.
Tomorrow, bright and early, we will visit Legoland (praying for decent
weather), and then drive back to Hochwald for one more night.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Walking the wall in Rothenburg

MV101 - Intro to the Mosel Valley

We started out today with some Pirate Bowling! This place has a 3
lane alley that is completely decked out in pirate décor. The kids
have been wanting to visit, and we had some time to kill while our
clothes were washing at the laundromat.
By the way- this week is the first time we've had to pay for laundry
on this trip because most of the time we've had a washer. (But never a
dryer.) To wash a load costs 3 euro, and it also costs 3 euro to dry.
6 euro!!!! That's like $10 to do a load of laundry. Are you kidding
me?
Anyway, bowling was fun, we used the bumpers and even Carter
participated with the help of his Daddy!
After both bowling and laundry were complete, we drove over to check
out the Mosel Valley. The Mosel river is a windy tributary of the
Rhine river. They say most Americans imagine the Rhine valley (busy
and industrial) the way the Mosel valley truly is (sleepy and
quaint). Both valleys are comprised of several hilltop castles and
villages. The original intention of this drive was to scope out the
Mosel river cruise schedules (which we plan on enjoying early next
week), but we also had time to visit the Berg Eltz castle (pic). What
was SO cool about this place was that the Eltz family still owns the
castle, (33 generations now), and they still live there part of the
year! Are you kidding me? Both the interior and exterior were
gorgeous with original furniture throughout and a natural river acting
as a moat on three sides of the castle. The other amazing fact is that
this castle was never in any way damaged from enemy attack. It dates
back to the 14th century!
After touring we had a few hours of sunlight left, so we took the long
way home following the Mosel river upstream by car. We passed through
multiple tiny villages each with dozens of cliffside vinyards. So cute!

Auf Weisersehen!

Pirate Bowling!

Ahoy, Matey!

Destination: Heidelberg!

More cold drizzle in Germany. Thankfully we had a great day in
Heidelberg. We parked at the top of the hill and rode the tram
staight down into town. We arrived there about lunch time and found a
little pub, which was serving schnitzel. We'd been wondering what
the draw was, so we tried it. It was fine, but not our favorite. (It's
thinly sliced pork- breaded.) While we were sitting there, I was
lamenting being SO cold. I said that one thing I really missed from
home was being able to carry a 16 (or 20) ounce hot latte around,
especially when I was so cold. We were talking about how much $$ a
little coffee/wifi shop would do in a tourist town like Heidelberg. A
bit later we were walking around and noticed people with coffee in
paper cups! Like paper latte cups!! We were determined to find the
source, and THEN we saw people with Starbucks cups!!!!! Can you
imagine? I haven't had a Starbucks for 4 weeks. That's 28 days!!!! I
was one happy camper when we found it and I had my 16 oz Vanilla Latte
in hand. The funniest thing was that the kids and J were so excited
for me. So sweet.
Later we walked over the old bridge which was half covered in
scaffolding so we could hardly enjoy it. From the bridge, however, we
had a gorgeous view of the city.
Next we rode the tram half way up the hill and toured the Heidelberg
castle which is partly in ruins. It was simply gorgeous and I had a
lot of fun playing with my camera.
After walking around the castle, we were sufficiently frozen and rode
the tram the rest of the way up to the car. Heidelberg is a gorgeous
town and we'd love to visit again someday!

Auf Wiedersehen!

View of Heidelberg Castle from the bridge. (And my sweet family!)

Saaaaay Schnitzel!

Why Heidelberg is my favorite German town...

Happy, happy, happy, happy Mama.

Luxembourg

We woke up to gray and drizzle, but being the intrepid adventurers
that we are (ha ha NOT), we went on with our plan to go hiking in
Luxembourg. FYI, Luxembourg is a small country next to Germany, and
it's capital is Luxembourg City, naturally. I think they speak French
there, but I am not positve. Anyway, J had read about some cool
sandstone formations in the forests there, so went we hiking to see
them. We got a break in the rain, and had a very nice hike together.
It was gorgeous scenery and a couple of times I had to pinch myself to
see if we were really in Europe- it really reminded us of home!
After the hike we drove a little further into Luxembourg and visited
the ruins of a castle from the 1100s. It was pretty cool too.
On the way home we drove through Luxembourg City just to see it. We
found ourselves in the old center and it was gorgeous.
We headed home then, with the help of the newest member of the family,
Gina. (pictures forthcoming....)
Auf Weidersehen!

Playing Catch Up

We took today off from the long car rides, castle tours, museums and
churches. We needed a day to rest, hang out, and do laundry! We
grabbed some yummy pasteries at the resort store and the kids' and J
played on the playground while I stocked up on groceries and did
laundry. Later, we spent some time at the indoor play area. It is
pirate themed, so G was thrilled! It even has a pirate bowling
alley! G gasped, "I have NEVER been pirate bowling before!"
Unfortanatly we haven't yet had a chance to partake in pirate bowling,
but we did play at the huge indoor playstructure. There was a giant
blow up slide, a bounce house, and a big climbing structure- complete
with a (clean) ball pit! There was a smaller, structure for C, sail
boats to climb on, and lots of riding toys. The kids were thrilled,
and so were we since it was free for people staying at the resort.
The half of the room that wasn't a play area was a cafe, so we sat
there, sipped our Cokes, and watched the kids at play. Best of all the
resort has free wifi! The 1 resort computer costs 3 euro for 20
minutes, so finding wifi was a treat!
In the afternoon we rested, read, started a puzzle, played checkers,
finished up laundry, and made plans for the next 10 days. We also had
a chance this evening to visit the swimming pool. C was miserable and
terrified most of the time, but the bigs were thrilled to paddling
around a pool. Afterwards, we came back to our bungalow, took
showers, and J made us a fire while M read books to her brothers as we
all sat around. What a fun and cozy evening!

It's hard to believe that we are on the final countdown. No worries
though, we have had an amazing time, we have wonderful memories, and
1800+ pictures. (Those of you who have commented about seeing all the
pictures may not want to make eye contact with me for awhile!) We are
definitely looking forward to comming home- seeing family and friends,
enjoying comforts of home, and shopping and eating at familiar places!

Busy Day!

We got up early, packed up the car, and went back to the little
restaurant for some pfannkuchen. Apparently that is a weird breakfast
food in Germany because they acted like we were weirdos for ordering
it, and they would only agree to making us 2 , instead of the 4 we
wanted. That was fine with us, and we also partook in the breakfast
buffet they had. It seems the typical breakfast in Germany is a buffet
of hard (or soft) boiled eggs, some different kinds of ham and salami,
assorted rolls, and cold cereal. The coffee in Germany is not so good
(at least what I've experienced so far). Anyway, between the buffet
and the pancakes, we had plenty to eat, and then we were off!
First stop- Zugspitz. The tallest peak in Germany. And how did we get
to the tallest peak in the German Alps? How any self respecting
tourist would, of course- a breathtaking, heartstopping, gondola ride
to the top!
J is not a big fan of heights, and I don't generally mind them, but
this was really, really intense! Towards the top, the mountain was
just huge, sheer, vertical rocks that made Yosemite in California look
like a kids' playground. J kept his eyes fixed on the horizon, but I
was looking straight down and decided maybe I was nuts to insist on a
gondola ride in the Alps!
When we got to the top (phew), we walked around the platforms and took
in the view. AMAZING. We could see so far- fields, gorgeous mountain
lakes, and Alps as far as they eye could see. I think it helped the
kids understand why the Alps are such a big deal. It was SO cold up
there. Carter kept saying, "Sky bus!! Sky bus!" We didn't stay up
there long, and the descent was not quite as terrifying. Almost
though! I was very relieved to step off that thing at the bottom! We
talked about it later and M and I decided it was the type of thing we
were glad we did, but we were also glad to have it be over!
Next we drove to Linderhoff Castle. It is one of the 3 castles that
King Ludwig built, and the only one ever completely finished. The
castle was really gorgeous, but the gardens and surrounding grounds
(including the faux cave/grotto) were even more beautiful. (pic)
Spring has barely sprung in the Alps, so most things were still bare
branches, but we could imagine how it must look once things get
blooming.
After Linderhoff we drove on the Romantic Road for awhile, and visited
the beautiful Wiess Church. Then we hit the highway, waved goodbye to
the Alps, and drove and drove and drove to our new 'home.' We
calculated the distance correctly, but it took much longer than we
planned, thanks to bad traffic, a TON of road construction, and a
really awful rain storm. We were so glad to pull into Landal Hochwald
at a little after 10.
We are staying at a country resort in the area outside a little town
called Kell Am See. Our place is a small and cute A Frame bungalow.
Downstairs is the living area and 1 bedroom. Upstairs there are 2 more
bedrooms. M and G claimed the upstairs for sleeping and playing- they
are thrilled. They also spotted an indoor pool, so we'll have to check
that out as well. For now though...

Auf Wiedersehen!

More castles!

King Ludwig's only completed castle- Linderhoff.

At the top!

BRRR!

Up, Up, Up!

YIKES!

In front of the gondola

What a day!

Phew, we are 5 TIRED Gs tonight. Great day though. We woke up
stinking early to get ahead of all the (other) tourists, and drove to
Schwangau, home of the famous castles, Hohenschwangau and
Neuschwanstein. While we were getting ready, M and I went out on the
porch to watch the sun rise over the Alps. Wow.
We definitely beat the crowds, and got great times for our tours of
the two castles. Before our tours began though, we had time to eat
some breakfast. We had not gone out for breakfast for a long time
because in Italy they pretty muc
h just eat sweet rolls or focaccia for breakfast. We wandered into a
hotel and when they said they had a 'buffet' our hopes soared. The
hotel looked pretty decent and I was envisioning heaping piles of
steaming hasbrowns, maybe a custom omlette station, Belgium
waffles......
Not so much. Some salami, ham type stuff, SOFT boiled eggs (eww),
rolls, and cold cereal. AND the coffee was yuck! Not impressed.
Anyway, the castles were VERY impressive. Just amazing. The kids were
AWESOME during the tours and I think they really liked them. You can't
just wander around these castles, you have to take a tour. Much of the
original furniture is still there. There are several rooms that you
don't see- I would just love to have the keys and go exploring around
the castles!
After the last tour, we rode the carriage down the hill and found a
brautwurst for lunch. (that's German for HOT DOG) Then we hopped in
our car and went to Tegelberg. It was a cool place- looks like skiing
in the winter, and now that the snow is melting it has a luge course
along with a great playground. It also had a magnificent gondola to
the top of Tegelberg Mountain. We started with the luge. It was SO
fun and each of the kids got 2 rides. None of them are old enough to
go alone yet, so J and I took turns riding with them. After that we
played on the playground and the coin operated motorcycles for a
while , and when we went to purchase tickets for the gondola it was
sold out! Bummer. But the ticket lady was super nice and gave us
instructions how to get to a nearby park/naturetrail in Fussen. We
played there awhile and then went to find some dinner. Near the town
we are stating in, we drove past a cute little place and decided to
try it. We hoped we were up for the challenge when we found out they
didn't have English menus. So with the help of our little German
phrase book and very meager dictionary we took a super long time
deciding. We got through the whole kids' menu and maybe a third of the
dinner menu and we decided that we should change our strategy. Instead
of reading the entire menu and picking the very best thing on it, like
we would at home, we agreed that once we each found something we
liked, we'd just go for that! I ended up with a DELICIOUS mushroom/
garlic steak and a baked potato, J got a petite roasted steak with
fries, M got potato pancakes with applesauce, and the boys got
Eirepfanncuchen! Egg pancakes- they were big and fluffy, like the
ones I (or my mom/aunts) make for breakfast at home! Yum!!! I would
say our first completly on our own German meal went well. Phew.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Riding in Tegelberg-Bahn

Here are our kids, playing on a playground in the Alps. These little
motorcycles were so cool. You could push them, or if you dropped .50
in them, they'd drive around for a few minutes!

We took a carriage ride back down the hill after we toured the castle!

Neuschwanstein

This is the castle that inspired the Disney castles. It was amazing-
inside and out!

M and G...

In front of King Ludwig's childhood castle, 'Hohenschwangau'.

M overlooking Schwangau

Sprechen Sie Englisch???

Sorry that Carter is cut off a little here! We had to show THE ALPS
in the background!!! After our gorgeous train ride to Innsbruck, we
took an even MORE gorgeous train ride to Garmisch. This time we were
on the little local milk train that runs back and forth between tiny
villages in the mountains (the Alps!!!). At times we were on a
trestle hanging on the side of the mountain. M and G would jump back
in shock everytime they peered over the edge only to see a deep gorge
below. Incredible! We wound through woods, next to streams, past
alpine meadows. I swore I was near the set of the movie, "Heidi." Or
the "Sound of Music!"
When we got to Garmisch, we walked around, had a German hotdog, and
picked up our rental car. We will have this car for the next two
weeks, until we come home, and it is nice to know that our rushing
through train stations weighed down with all that gear is over!
We then made our way to the little town of Hopferau (via GPS! So fun
and easy!). According to our noses, the town has a major role in the
dairy industry. Although, beyond the smell, the sights are a feast
for the eyes. The snowy Alps are viewable in all directions and
immediatly surronding us are rolling hills of green pastures. So
beautiful.
For dinner we built up enough nerve to try out the local "home cooked"
restaurant. Luckily the waitress was nice and spoke a little English
(Very little that is), as we ended up with three orders of sparkling
mineral water after repeatidly attempting to order 'non sparkling'
water. The kids were less than thrilled with the water, but they came
out winners because we finally gave up and ordered them a coke to
share! (a big treat - as they usually don't drink Coke) The food
however was delicious! J and I each had roast beef, potatoes and
salad that was soooo good. The kids were happy with chickies and
fries. We also ordered potato pancakes with applesauce to share. YUM!
We will be in this new flat for 2 nights. It is super nice, huge, and
all our beds have these lovely flannel down comforters (No sheets is
how its done here). Very comfy! So comfy in fact that I think it's
bedtime!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Final Day in Venice

We woke up to rain today. It seemed as if Venice was letting us know
our welcome was up. We had a few loose ends to tie up though, despite
the rain. First, we headed a final time to St. Mark's Square and went
to the top of the tower there. Thankfully an elevator took us to the
top so we didn't have to worry about slippery wet steps. It was a
gorgeous view of the Venice skyline.
Afterwards we were pretty cold, so we headed back to the apartment to
warm up. The kids and Joel hung out for a while while S walked to the
train station to make sure of our train schedules and routes for
tomorrow (Incidentally, when you are travelling in Europe, always,
always, always double check your tickets at the station the day before
your departure!!! We bought some of our tickets ahead of time, but
have still had to hassle with schedule changes and such.) When S got
back we all loaded up and headed to the Rialto Bridge for a last look,
and some souviners. We figured the Italia sweatshirts would come in
handy in Germany, where it is currently snowing. Yikes.
This evening we went back over to the Chinese restaurant and enjoyed
our last meal in Italy! Yay for fried shrimp with no heads! Garrett
started getting sentimental during the meal and told us he was really
sad because it was our last meal in Italy. We went around the table
talking about our favorite things from each destination so far. It has
been a busy and fun trip thus far!
Tomorrow our train leaves at 6:30 am. We will be traveling through the
Alps, stopping for lunch in Innsbruck, Austria, and continuing to our
destination near Fussen, Germany. We are a little nervous about this
next leg of the trip. Italy was simplier in that S was somewhat
familiar with aspects of the country, having traveled in Italy
previously. But none of us quite know what to expect in Germany! Plus
we are very clueless when it comes to the language! It will all work
out though and it's all part of the adventure.
A final 'CIAO!'