Well it's about time I got around to posting these pictures. I can't believe we've been home for almost a month and I still haven't put these up. We've been busy swimming around here that Alden and I both come in and take really long naps during the middle of the day, so not much else gets done. I'll have to post on that later, but since our pool has opened up, I think we go about twice a day and Alden loves it more and more. At first it was me dragging him in and now he's dragging me in :)
Germany recap:
We got to spend 12 amazing days with our good friends Johannes, Jenn, and Sophie. Sadly, I don't think any of us got a group picture, but we had so much fun and saw so many wonderful things. It is definitely a trip that we will not forget.
We started off with a trip to Springfest. It's just a big carnival and looked like a lot of fun, but we were hungry and our kiddos weren't really old enough to do anything, so we opted for getting waffles with powered sugar instead of doing the rides. And then went of a walk to find a real restaurant to eat at. By the way, we loved all the food. Every place we ate was amazing.
On Monday, we went to the zoo. Munich has an amazing zoo with so many animals and it feels like you're right up near the animals. It's just tucked away right in the city and it was so much fun. Alden is in love with animals right now, so this was perfect for him.
The polar bears were one of his favorites. They were playing in the water which was right up by the glass. They were swimming and playing with toys in the water, so definitely the most entertaining.
On Tuesday we went to the BMW museum. Patrick loved it. I found it very interesting and enjoyed learning more, but Patrick is a car lover and thought it was really cool.
Wednesday we took the train for a few hours and headed out to see some castles. We walked by a really green river. It was almost teal it was so pretty. This is on the hike up.
Once we got to the little village/tourist town at the base of the mountain that has the castle on it, we took a carriage ride up the the castle. We got to sit on the front seat and Alden and Sophie loved being so close to the horses. However, the horse that was in front of Johannes, had a little too many beans to eat and made for some fun laughs.
I can't remember the name of the castle at this moment and don't want to get up to find out, but it's the castle that supposedly the Disney castle is patterned after. We didn't take the tour inside but loved seeing the sights and walking around it. It was little cold being so high up in the mountains, but it made so some amazing views. We even got to see a Cloister. Which we had a good laugh about because we played games every night and one game involves a Cloister.
We checked out a toy museum on Thursday. It was not all we thought it was going to be. It was four or five little rooms with older toys and the history of toys in glass cases. It was educational to read all the plaques, but it sure didn't hold Alden's attention, so therefore we didn't last long. We were expecting a different type of toy museum for the kids to enjoy.
Even though the museum was a bust, we found our way over to the English gardens and thoroughly enjoyed walking around and getting away from the busy city. It's interesting though, because they are right in the middle of the city. And the park was huge. We barely covered a portion of it. Alden loved chasing the pigeons around. Everywhere we went he would wave his little arm off and say "hi" to the pigeons. They kept him entertained at the train stations waiting for trains.
Friday we took to the train over to Salzburg, Austria to spend the weekend. Friday afternoon was spent walking the city, eating good food, and playing at a park we found. We absolutely loved Salzburg and had a fabulous time in the city. It seems like a smaller city and was just so fun to explore and wander around.
We tried to take a tour of a castle that overlooked the city Saturday morning, but it didn't work out. We happened to go on a day when admission was free, so it was packed and the tour was only being given in German because of the special occasion of the free day. After hanging out in the courtyard area for a little over an hour waiting for our tour time, the kids had had enough, so we left. But it still had some amazing views and Alden enjoyed playing with the toys during the wait.
And what trip is complete without a soccer game when Patrick and Johannes are together! We spent Saturday evening watching a Red Bulls game. I can't remember who we played, but the Red Bulls won. And Alden even did surprisingly well at the game. He loved all the treats :)
Sunday when we got back to Munich we visited Dachau concentration camp. It was a very sombering experience to walk through a place with such sad history. We learned a lot. The museum was set up on the actual site and many of the actual buildings of the concentration camp were turned into the museum, so the stories we read became very real as we walked through the rooms.
Monday we went back downtown and visited Olympic park. It was huge and beautiful. Alden loved all the ducks in the lake. Next time I want to rent a paddle boat and go out on the lake!
I know there are a lot of pictures, but I wanted to capture the memories. It was so much fun and we loved just hanging out with friends 24/7. After Alden and Sophie went to bed each night we would play games for a few hours. And if you know me, I love to play games. It was so fun to catch up and just enjoy our vacation. This is the way to visit Europe. Thanks Jenn and Johannes for the fun memories!
