Ettal Basilica (Monastery, Parish, and Pilgrimage Church)

On October 22, they day after the boys' birthday party, we packed up the car and hit the road toward the German Alps. We had reservations at Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch for two nights. The drive was an easy 4 hours, except for the small stretch in Austria where our GPS went on the fritz and didn't have a clue as to where we were.


We arrived at the hotel, unpacked the car, and decided to head out on our first excursion: The Ettal Monastery. In order to get there we had to drive up some very skinny roads. Skinny roads are nothing new when you live in Europe, but this one was up a mountain on the side of a cliff. After a few near death experiences we finally made it to the top and I could breath again. We parked outside the monastery, 900 meeters above sea level.



It was founded in 1330 by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in fulfilment of an oath after he returned from Italy. It was built on a strategic trade route between Italy and Augsburg. The abbey's "foundation stone" is the Ettal Madonna, a statuette of the Virgin Mary which was brought back from Pisa and soon became a site of pilgrimage.


Here is the dome ceiling depicting the Benedictine heaven with the saints beneath the Holy Trinity.


Inside the chapel is accented all over with gold and marble.




Ettal Abbey also owns agricultural enterprises, several inns, a secondary school with boarding facilities, an art publishers, a distillery and a brewery.

Today the abbey still brews its own beer, a tradition dating back over 400 years, and also produces a renowned herbal liqueur - made from 40 herbs with no artificial additives - which is widely regarded as very therapeutic.

The abbey is still home to about 50 monks, including on from Compton, California. Before we left made a generous donation at the gift shop and loaded the car with two 6 packs of the Ettal Beer and a large bottle of Blueberry Liquor (just doing our part to keep the monks financially secure).



On our way home we stopped near the pedestrain zone in Garmisch for dinner. I was starving, so we went to the closest place: Pizza Hut. The windows were labeled with thier slogan - "Pizza the American Way". Their pizza was the closest to american we have had, but still not the same. I think the main difference is that they have chuncks of cheese instead of shredded cheese evenly spread and melted. They also served fancy coffee and cappucino, which you won't find in the states. It was still very good and the boys loved the pasta.




After dinner we walked through the shopping zone. All the shops were closed, unfortunately, but we enjoyed looking at the window displays. Maddox found this giant boar statue and spent several minutes running in circles around it.



We eventually made our way back to the hotel, sampled the Curator (the monks' dessert beer which was way too dark for my taste) and called it a night. We have a big day of visiting Neuschwanstein Castle tomorrow!

The Boys' Birthday Party 10.21.11

Mom arrived on Thursday and we had plans to travel to Garmisch on Saturday, so we decided to get the boys' birthday party done before we left. It was Carson's first birthday and Maddox will be three next month. We spent the day doing last minute shopping, cleaning, and reorganizing the furniture so people could fit into this tiny apartment. It was a Sesame Street party featuring Elmo. Ben had to work that day, but thought he would get home early enough to help build all these toys for the boys. There were 2 major projects we had to put together before the boys came home from daycare: Build the Cozy Coup for Carson, and the GeoTrax train table for Maddox.

The clock was ticking, so I broke open the box and got out the directions. After glancing through the multistep pamphlet I decided this had better wait for Ben. Mom and I went to the grocery store and got all the ingredients for the dinner we were cooking. It was getting late, so Mom decided to pick up the boys while I started the cooking. Now, any of you who know me, know I have given up on cooking a long time ago. It's not that I can't cook, I actually used to be quite good at it, it's that I haven't had anyone but infants and toddlers to cook for in quite a few years. I read the ingredients, skimmed the directions, and got started. Unfortunately, skimming the directions was a bad idea because I skipped an important step. Thankfully, Ben came home and decided that taking over the cooking was more important than putting together the toys. So, I was back on toy duty. I armed myself with Ben's electric drill and did my best. The next thing I know, Mom is back and the boys are trying to break into my work room. I couldn't have them spoil the surprise, so I sent them to a friend's house until we were ready.

This was taking a lot longer that planned. I was ready to pull Ben from his culinary duties when there was a knock on the door. It was another friend's husband! Thank goodness! I put him to work finishing up the train table, because after all, dealing with Fischer Price is a man's job.

He got the table ready just in time. Maddox must have gotten tired of waiting for his party because he tried to burst through the door before we were ready.


The train table was the hit of the party and Ben put the Cozy Coup together while we were all eating dinner (the dinner he cooked, poor guy).


The boys had a great time at the party and enjoyed their Sesame Street decorated cupcakes.




I now have a one year old and a three year old (almost). Time goes by too fast.