Oh Triberg...what were we thinking!

While my mom was visiting, Ben and I decided to get away for the weekend. We searched for a place that would not be child friendly. Ben still hadn't gotten his passport, so Rome was out. That was a little too far for only one overnight, anyway. We decided to do the spa in Baden Baden (which I wrote about in my previous blog)and also see Germany's highest waterfall in Triberg.

When I hear the word "waterfall" I think Niagra. I knew it wouldn't be that big, but I imagined hiking through a forest path to find water falling straight down, hundreds of feet, with a strenuous hike up to the top. Imagine my disappointment when I found a path that was pretty much paved, so easy that you could push a stroller up it. Yes, the waterfall was high, but it was more of a series of rocky cascades then an acutal water - "fall".


Nonetheless, it was pretty and we enjoyed our walk in the brisk fall weather. We followed the path up to the top, snapped some pictures, and we were back at the bottom in less than an hour.


Triberg is also home to the largest cookoo clock in the world. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for souvaniers and visiting the House of 1,000 Clocks.


On our way back to the car we stopped at a cafe and had some original black forest cake (a must, since we were in the Black Forest of course.)


We decided to embrace the little, half timbered German town and spend the night. This is where it gets interesting, folks....
We drove up a hillside to the recommended Best Western. We hadn't made reservations in advance and unfortunately, they were all booked up. I asked for a recomendation and they suggested the BergHotel Tannenhof. This was a 4 star bed a breakfast, excellent accomodations I was told.

We drove to a secluded spot on the other side of town. We pulled up and and looked around. The building looked nice, with large flower boxes, and advertised a spa and a sauna. Great! Exactly what I was hoping for.


We went to check in and they had rooms available. They were going to give us a suite for the same price as a smaller room. They even had these old fashioned keys. Super cute!


They led us to our room and it was dated. Everything was peach and flower patterns, but the room big in European standards. We accepted the room and started to relax. Only then did we realize how incredibly dirty it was. There were spiders and webs in the corners, the bath had grass and bugs in it, and the towels in the bathroom were as stiff as wrapping paper. There was a heater in the bathroom that made a lot of noise and a smoking smell when it was turned on.


We decided to walk around to find the pool and sauna that were advertised. This place might be salvageable if it had a good hot tub. We found everything in the basement. The pool was dark and freezing. The sauna was a tiny compartment that had a walkman stapled to the side. There was a tanning bed behind a door that we had to ram into to open. To put it over the top, everything was operated by coins!


We decided to go back to our room and watch our tiny TV until dinner. Liar, Liar with Jim Carey was playing...dubbed over in German.


About a half hour later we headed down to the dining room for dinner. We had a three hour window to eat. The host was a short, hairy, middle aged german man. He didn't speak English, so we showed him our room key and he tried to find our table. After searching the room, it was nowhere to be found, so he simply switched the number cards. We ordered a beer and the waiter (who was the same person as our host) said "Schnitzel? Ya, Schnitzel!" and disappeared into the kitchen. I guess we are having schnitzel tonight! The owner of the hotel, who spoke english, came back a few minutes later with an english menu (the only one they had) and I changed my order to a schnitzel with cream sauce.

While we were waiting I happened to look down at the table cloth. It was dirty, with food stains on it, and you could see the ring of the plates creased into it. Maybe they just didn't clean up from lunch. The centerpiece was an arrangement of fake flowers that looked like they hadn't been dusted in a decade or two. When our beer came my glass had hair along the outside of it. I wiped it off, disgusted, but drank it anyway. Our food came a few minutes later, and thankfully it was in good shape. Ben ordered a second beer and when it arrived he started drinking it. After he took a few sips I realized there was something brown stuck to the bottom of his glass. This time it was inside and with every drink Ben took, little pieces broke off the side of the glass and started floating to the top. It didn't take long before we were completely grossed out. We nixed the beer, paid our bill, and bolted out the door. After a dinner like that we needed some real drinks.


We drove to the main street of town and parked in a lot. After putting 3 euro into the parking ticket maching, a local woman was kind enough to tell us that parking was free after dark. I heard a few snickers from the group beside us. Well, looks like we are able to park here until 3pm the next day! We found a nearby bar and claimed the first two open stools. I was a little uncomfortable at first because we sat between a couple and an old man who were having a conversation, but after my second drink I felt much more relaxed. We spent the night talking to the couple next to us, and I tried my german out on the old man. He had no idea what I was saying and I had no idea what he was saying. Every few minutes he would try to tell me a story and I would look in my German-English dictionary, give him a confused look and a smile. The bartender would come over and translate then run off to deliver more beer to her customers. This pattern continued for the next few hours until he finally went home.

We followed suite shortly after. I tried my best to sleep, but couldn't help to think about the creepy crawlers that were probably all over the place in the dark. We woke up early and went to breakfast. It was buffet style with meet, cheese, bread, cereal with sunflower seeds, and hard boiled eggs. It was in the same room....with the same stained table cloth.

We ate quickly, checked out, and headed to Baden-Baden (which was the only think that saved the weekend.) I don't think we'll be staying at another bed and breakfast for a very, VERY long time.

Ahhh the Spa in Baden - Baden

I have, by far, found my favorite place in Germany. Though it may be reviewed in tour books and over-rated and over priced, I could not have pictured a better place to spend the day then in Baden-Baden.

My mom is still visiting from the states, so we took advantage of having Grandma and got away for the night. We went to Triberg on Saturday to see the waterfall (oops! I was so wrapped up in Baden Baden that I forgot to blog about this. I'll get to it.) Sunday we packed up early and headed to the spa.


Baden- Baden is only about an hour away from where we live, so I'm suprised we haven't been here before or heard anyone talking about it. I wish we would have skipped Triberg and spent both days here. The whole city is just unbelievably relaxing. It's not overrun with tourists or tacky little shops. I actually came here twice in a 4 day span. I liked it so much that I took the day off of work on Wednesday and brought my mom to the spa for the day.

We started the day at the Carcalla Spa (non-nude). There is a parking garage across the street, which is where Ben and I parked the first time we came, or there is one under the spa, which was very easy to get to once we found it.

When you check in you get a wrist band, head to a locker to change, then go out to the bath area. The Spa is a large building with several seperate pools. Each pool is heated by an underground natural hot spring. They are all different temperatures and have jets and air bubbles at different times. Our favorite part was the outdoor pool with the waterfall.

After the spa we went for a walk around town. We found the Trinkhalle, with a natural hot spring that is supposed to be a fountain of youth and heal all ailments.



Next to the Trinkhalle was the casino run by the Russians.




Mom and I tried to go in, but you had to present your passports and I didn't have mine on me. Instead, we wandered around the shopping streets and gawked at the lavish chandeliers and bottles of champagne you could see through the front doors. It was a very enjoyable trip and I am already looking at my calendar to schedule our next visit.

Munich

We checked out of our hotel in Garmisch on Monday, October 24th, and started on the autoban. There was one stop we had to make before heading home: The Hofbrauhaus in Munich! When I think of Munich I picture a village atmosphere with plenty of liederhosen, beer, and oompah bands. These things were all evident in our trip, but Munich is a suprisingly big and busy city. I would have liked more time to explore, but at least we hit two of the hot spots in our quick stop.

Here's a brief history of the city. Munich began when Henry the Lion muscled his way in to the salt industry. He burned down a rival's bridge and built his own near a monestary of monks, hence "Munchen". In the 1200's the elected king of Germany and the holy Roman Empire was from Munich, making it an importan European city, and soon it became the capital of Bavaria. During the Thirty Years War the catholic city was surrounded by protestants. They quickly surrendered and paid a ransom, sparing them from pillage. Soon, however, they were hit with the Boubonic Plague. After that passed they erected the Virgin's Column in the Marienplatz to thank God for only killing 7,000 citizens.

Munich suffered many plagues and that is remembered today when the glockenspiel's barrel dancers do their daily dance to ward off the plague.




The city was left broke and powerless until Napoleon's army arrived in the 1800's. The leaders of the city, the Wittelsbach's surrendered hospitably and Napoleon rewarded him with more territory and a royal title. He became "king" and now ruled the Kingdom of Bavaria, which was bigger than Switzerland. When the king's popular son, Ludwig, married in 1810, it kicked off a two week celebration that became the annual event of .....Octoberfest!

King Ludwig rebuilt the city, established a university and built the first railway, making it a transportation hub. The city continued to flourish with culture, art, and education until World War I. This devastated much of the city and they became poor, hungry, and disillusioned. The city was in chaos and this is when the communist party took over.

In all the craziness, the Nazi party emerged, centered around Hitler - an Austrian who settled in Munich. He gave stirring speeches in Munich's beer halls, the most well known being the Hofbrauhaus. A coup d etat known as Beer Hall Putsch was launched from here and Munich was dubbed "Capital of the Movement."

As World War II was ending it was clear that Munich would be destroyed. Hitler did not allow the evacuation of the town's art treasures and heritage because a mass emptying of churches and civil building would have caused hysteria amongst the people. While museums were closed (and could be quietly emptied over the years), public buildings were not. Instead of saving the treasures, the Nazi's took pictures of everything. Half the city was leveled by bombs and what wasn't destroyed by the bombing was destroyed by the harsh winters.

After the war (with American aid) the people rebuilt the city. All of the cities destroyed by the war could choose between two rebuilding strategies: restore the old towns, or bulldoze and go modern. Munich voted to rebuild the old town. Today Munich is voted one of Germany's most livable cities - safe, clean, cultured.

Any trip to Munich is not complete without a stop at the Hofbrauhaus, so after we parked the car, this was the first place we headed. We found the world's most famous beer hall and ate lunch. The hall had a great atmosphere with the sound of the oompah band in the background.

Yes, the boys are wearing matching outfits...and no, Maddox does not have beer, that is apple juice.



After lunch we found the Marienplatz, which is Munich's main square. The New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) was built in 1867. The building is tall and pointy and is adorned with statues of the city's royals. This building survived the bombs and served as US military headquarters in 1945.




Inside the Townhall is a plaque of all Munich's sister cities and one of them is Cincinati, Ohio. What a small, small world!



After the Townhall, Maddox found a couple of lions, we visited a church, and called it a day.

Schloss Neuschwanstein

So, today is Sunday and everything is closed. What should we do? Visit the most famous castle in the world, of course! Neuschwanstein Castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney's castle in Sleeping Beauty. In the summer time more than 6,000 people a day visit the castle. Thank goodness we are going in late fall.

We drove around the Zugspit (germany's highest point) and through Austria again, to get to the town of Hohenschwangau. On the hillside above this little town sits Neuschwanstein.


The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive King Ludwig II. He built the castle in order to withdrawl from public life. It was opened to the paying public immediately after his mysterious death in 1886.

On the opposite hillside is his family's Hohenschwangau Castle.


You can pay to visit both of them, but we didn't think the boys would last that long. We parked the car and got in the long line to buy some tickets. We could have skipped the line if we would have preordered our tickets online, but you can never garuntee that you'll be somewhere at a certain time when you are traveling with an infant and a toddler. We didn't think it would be busy because it was quite cold outside, but we were wrong. A tour bus full of Asain tourists had arrived just before us. The line was long, but it moved quickly. We ended up waiting about a half hour to get the tickets and another 20 minutes for the bus.

We took the bus up to the top of the hill, then hiked farther up to Mary's Bridge. This is where you come to get the best pictures of the castle. It could not have been set in a more beautiful place.


After pushing through other tourists and quickly taking pictures while no one was cutting in front of us, we headed down a dirt path to the castle. Here we saw many more breathtaking views of the Alpine foothills, lakes, and valleys.



When you buy your ticket you are given a time of your tour. They give you about an hour to get up the mountain and take pictures. If you are there early you spend a lot of time standing around and waiting. When your ticket number comes up on a big screen you get in line and file in to the castle. If you happen to space out and miss your ticket number then you are out of luck. Maddox started getting quite restless while we were waiting at the castle, so he started running circles around grandma.


Finally, our ticket numbers came up. I do not have any pictures of the inside of the castle because no photography is allowed. The tour was short compared to how big the castle is because it is mostly unfinished. These castles cost a fortune to build and when King Ludwig died construction was stopped. We visited 5 or 6 rooms including a cave room, the throne room, and his bedroom, which took 14 woodcarvers 4.5 years to create. The king's bed, dresser, sink, and even the ceiling were intricately carved out of dark wood. We also climbed many, many winding staircases. Enough to make me dizzy and my legs burn (no need for the stairmaster tonight).

Here's a picture of Mom and Maddox taken from the back of the bridge. Behind them you can see the Mary's Bridge in between the to mountains.



After the tour we were hungry, so we bought some giant pretzels. Good thing we bought two because Maddox immediately claimed one.


Instead of hiking back up the hill to the bus stop, we continued down the path and took a horse drawn carraige the rest of the way down the hill. I'm glad I was facing backwards because the path was small and there were plenty of people to dodge along the way.

We did a little shopping and I got a picture of the town's Maypole for Lesley :)


Finally, we headed back to the hotel with two tired and hungry children.

They perked up after dinner, so we went for a swim in the pool's hotel and tried out the underwater feature on our camera.



More castle pics:

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.