Wordless Wednesday

Let it snow!

Snow and Pool

We woke up this morning to a nice white blanket of snow! It has been coming down on and off all day long. So nice! After a yummy breakfast courtesy of Shelby we went to the pool on base to let Colin swim. We did good on the roads up until the pool parking lot. It wasnt plowed and I parked my car and when Shelby went to park next to me he slid on the ice right into my tail light and busted it! Guess the big bad Jeep wasn't so tough in the snow...grrr! LOL We had fun in the pool. It was pretty neat to sit inside in the swimming pool watching the snow fall outside through the big glass windows. After some lunch Shel headed in to work and Colin and I came back home.

Day 6 - Munich

Munich

On our last day we decided to visit Munich, which is Munchen (MUN-chen) in German. It is the third largest city in Germany but was surprisingly not bad to drive in or overly crowded on the streets. We knew we couldn't cover it all in one day but decided just to wander around the Zentrum (inner city) and check out the markets and see what we should plan for next time we visit. The Rathaus is GORGEOUS! There are several Weinachtsmarkts that kind of run together in the main Marienplatz. I know I saw everywhere I go is beautiful but this place was extra pretty, lol. The gothic rathaus building with the huge lit Christmas tree and all the decorated Christmas booths scattered around was awesome. This market had all kinds of fun stuff to see. There were many things we saw here that we hadn't seen at the other markets. Loads of handmade ornaments of all kinds, floral decorations for the holidays, hand carved nativity pieces, toys, hats and scarves, wines, cheeses, meats, candles, liquors....I could go on and on. We easily spent the day wandering the market streets and soon it was time to head back home to pack up and get ready to go home tomorrow.

On this vacation Colin discovered Twizzlers. We always have a 5 lb tub in the house and Shel and I eat them all the time. We kept the tub on the floor of the backseat and once time Shel gave Colin a Twizzler to see what he would do with it. Colin is no dummy and he chowed down! From that point on any time we tried to sneak into the Twizzler bucket and grab one out, even if we tried not to let Colin see, he would notice what was happening and scream bloody murder if we didn't give him one. He would practically wake up out of a nap if he heard the bucket move, lol.

For dinner we went back to our favorite little restaurant one last time. We ended up eating there three times this vacation, lol. It's run by a German man and Irish woman and the food is delicious! The inside was done up so pretty for Christmas and the lady loved Colin. She spoke good English and would chat with us when we came in. Everything we are there was excellent. Tonight I ended up having a steak with mushroom cream sauce and Shelby had rabbit leg in a red wine tomato sauce. I've never eaten rabbit before but if it all tastes like that I'll keep an eye out for it on future menus! If you visit Oberau the name is Conlan's or even if you stay in Garmisch it's only 10km up the road and it is worth the trip!

Day 5 - Partnachklamm & Innsbruck, Austria

Partnachklamm & Innsbruck

We started off the day heading over to Partnachklamm which is a gorge in Partenkirchen. Created by water the gorge is 263 feet high and 2,300 feet long. Once inside the gorge the view is amazing and is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. The deep water is crystal clear and blue. Where the rapids calm some you can see trout everywhere along the large river rocks at the bottom. The walkway gets a little narrow at times and you have to crouch down in parts to get through. All of a sudden you come to an opening and the gorge disappears and you are standing in the middle of the mountain forest on a river bed. The whole gorge just pops up out of no where and then disappears right back into the earth. It was amazing. Later in the winter when it is colder the entire forge ices over and the walls are covered in ice formations. They offer torchlight tours at night through the gorge and they say the light reflecting off the icy gorge walls is something not to miss. We will have to visit again sometime to check that out.

After the gorge hike we went back into Austria to visit Innsbruck. It's a large city with incredible views that is set down right smack in the middle of the mountains. It was VERY crowded and busy the day we were there. Sundays everything shuts down so there isn't much to do besides go to festivals and markets. There were lots of Italians visiting too since Italy is only an hour or so away from Innsbruck. The market was huge and there were a lot of cool sights but trying to navigate the crowds with a stroller was challenging. Austria looks a little different than Germany, so it was neat to check out. After wandering around for a bit we headed back to the hotel to let Colin play and have dinner.

Day 4 - Zugspitze

Zugspitze

Saturday was a nice clear day which is what we had been waiting for. The highest peak in Germany is called the Zugspitze and is in Garmisch. It is almost 3 km high. There are several ski slopes all over the mountain and there is an observation deck, restaurant and weather center at the very top. You can get to the very top via a cog rail train or a cable car. We chose to ride the cable car up (an 11 minute ride) which gives a fabulous view but is a little scary. The cable car goes up on an incline until you get about halfway up to the top and then it’s almost like an elevator going straight up the cable. The view is incredible and as you start to rise up above the other mountain peaks and look down on them below you there aren’t words to describe the feeling. When we got to the top we walked around on the observation decks, where it was -9 degrees without the windchill! You can see for miles into Germany, Austria and, I believe on a clear enough day, to Italy.

We ate lunch at the restaurant on top of the Zugspitze and had a booth right next to the window with Alps peaks all around. After lunch we took the train back down the mountain instead of the cable car. We thought it would be a different view and we were right, most of the 45 minute ride back down is underground! Lol. We didn’t see too much on the ride down. Next we drove over to Partenkirchen to the Olympic Skistadion. The ski portion of the Olympics were held here back in the 1936 and it is still used for many large ski competitions. When we were done there we headed back to the hotel to relax and let Colin run around for a bit before we went to dinner.

Day 3 - Oberammagau

Oberammagau & Linderhof Palace

Friday we woke up to snow falling! It wasn’t sticking on the ground here in the valley where our hotel is, but we had a beautiful view of it falling all around us and incredible views of the snow covered Alps from our balcony windows. We got ready and headed over to Edelweiss, the military resort we were originally trying to stay in before we heard about our hotel. They have info about things to do in the area and discount tickets so we checked in there to see what they had to offer first. Colin got his first opportunity to walk around and touch the snow in the parking lot here. He was very intrigued and didn’t quite know what to make of it.

Later we walked around Oberammagau, which is famous for two things, their woodcarvings and their Passion Play. The Passion play is a BIG deal around the area. Apparently many many many years ago the people were facing some horrible plague and to get rid of the plague they promised to spread the word of Jesus and to retell the story of his life every ten years in an elaborate theatrical play. The next Passion Play is to be held in 2010 and if you wanted to get tickets or a hotel you are most likely out of luck, they sell out years in advance! Another interesting note about this is that the city enacts a no shaving law on Jan 1 of the year prior to the year of the play (so Jan 1, 2009 a law went into effect for the 2010 play) and the residents of the town who are prohibited from shaving! The woodcarvings are also incredible and this is the place to come for this type of thing and cuckoo clocks. They are half the price of the clocks in our area! We spent the day wandering the village and taking pictures of the buildings and shops and then had lunch there. The buildings here are all done up in traditional Bavarian style with lots of woodwork on them and artwork painted on the walls. It’s so rustic and looks like the pages of a story book.

Next we stopped off at Linderhof Palace, one of King Ludwig II’s many palaces. This is the one he actually spent the most time living in. We didn’t go inside to tour the interior, just walked the grounds and saw the outside. Colin had a blast running in the snow there and talking to the geese on the lake, who swam right up to greet him. After the Palace we stopped at the Kloster Weihnachtsmarkt. We walked through the market that was all covered in snow with the Christmas and moonlight shining all around, gorgeous. When we got home Colin was pooped. We skipped his bath for the night and let him run around the room for a bit. When we said “are you ready for night nights” he actually walked to his room and stood at the door (which was closed) and when Shelby opened it up Colin went in his room and walked right over to his pack n play which is his bed at the hotel. He must have been tired!

Day 2 of Alpine Adventure Trip

Driving to Garmisch

On Thursday morning we got up early and headed to Ludwigsburg, which is very close to Stuttgart to go to another Christmas Market. I didn’t get too many pics of this one but it was very cool. It is called the Baroque Market because there is a Baroque Palace in the background. We had brats and some potato soup for lunch at the festival before hitting the road to Garmisch. It didn’t take long on the road before we started seeing snow. I figured we’d have to get closer to the Alps than we did before there was snow laying around. Even though Garmisch is in Germany, the shortest way (not necessarily the fastest way we discovered) to get there is to go through part of Austria and come back up into Germany, which is how we went. I was excited to check off another country on my list of visited. That area is beeeeeutiful! OMG I couldn’t say anything besides how crazy gorgeous it was there.
During the drive we figured out that in Colin’s 15 little months of life he’s been to 4 different countries already. We also calculated that he has only spent 7 months of his life living in the US since he was born. The rest have of the time he has lived in Korea and Germany.