Stuttgart Zoo July 3, 2009

ZOO TIME!!!! ZOO TIME!!!!! ZOO TIME!!!!! ZOO TIME!!!!! ZOO TIME!!!!!

We have not been to a zoo in ages...as a matter of fact, Gabi, Emilee and Dominick have never been to one, and Feliciti and Jakob don't remember going to one. We thought it would be a perfect time to go on a "short" drive down the road to see one...the weather was nice and we had nothing else to do that day. So we hopped in the car, and thought that what would be about a 2 hour drive wouldn't be too bad. Well, well, well....we hit every construction area on the autobahn, and that 2 hour drive turned out to be almost 4 hours. Also on the way there Feliciti got car sick and threw up (in the brand new car). So by this point we thought...should we even continue??? But she said she felt better, so we continued.

The weather started looking questionable by the time we started walking to the entrance. But once again, we did not want to come all this way and not go to the zoo. So we paid and went in. We were able to see some penguins (one of them was actually holding an egg, and was very protective of it).

We also saw some birds, monkeys and the tigers before the "bottom fell on us". We ran to the elephant cages and ended up waiting there for an hour...and the rain never let up. We decided to go out and make it to the next area that we could take advantage of. On our way to the aquarium, we made a few short stops (with the protection of trees) to look at some other animals...giraffes, donkeys and more birds. We were soaking wet by this point, so did it really matter how long we stayed to visit some animals. The kids all thought it was a lot of fun to be completly wet. We literally had NO dry spots of clothes!! We ended up staying in the aquarium for an hour, and then decided we have had enough, and started heading for the car.

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!!!

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!!!

We ended up stopping for some Italian food on the way home. It was very good..and we sat and talked about the memories that we just made....what a trip to the zoo!!

Heidelberg, Germany June 15, 2009

Schloss Heidelberg

We decided to take the train this time just to say that we did ~ it cost us about 30 Euros one way (about $45) to get there. It turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour ride vs. 1 1/2 hours by car). It was fun for the kids to ride on the train, but we are not sure how often we will ride a train...it may be convenient and less wear and tear on our car, but you are limited on what you can carry with you. Once we got to Heidelberg we had to take a bus to the Schloss (castle). We were told at the info desk that we could ride the bus for free with our train ticket...hhhmmm??? No one asked us for a ticket ~ so. We then had to take a cable car up to the schloss, or our other option was to walk up 320 stories ~ pregnant and with 2 strollers...NOT!! At this point we were thinking about the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles".

While in the cable car it started to POUR down rain and of course the castle is outside. So we waited in the terminal, had some Cheetos for a snack and waited until it slowed down some. It never really stopped, but we went anyway. We didn't want to come all this way to see the castle from a distance and eat Cheetos in the terminal.

In order for us to see anything in the castle we had to pay to get in...AND pay for a tour. We were able to see about 1/4 of the castle, because everything else was closed to the public or was under construction. This is how big the castle is:

The tour was an hour and we saw a few rooms..the wine cellar which had probably 20 feet tall barrels, some artifacts and were told a lot of history. Overall we thought the tour was ok, but mostly a huge tourist trap (unfortunately).

We also were allowed to see the medicine museum which was the most interesting because it was neat to see what was used for medicine and how it was made....some of the stuff they used is pretty scary.

Here are a few pictures of the outside of the Scloss .

Trier, Germany June 13, 2009

So here we are, 4 days from going to Rome and I never even submitted our last couple of trips...my days just seem to go by so fast. So I apologize for not keeping this updated as much as I have been wanting to...can someone add a couple more hours to each day?

Trier is only about 1 hour away from home. Trier (pronounced Tree-air) is the oldest city in Germany, so there is a lot of history. But beyond the "boring" history, as the kids like to say, we were able to actually see a lot of cool stuff (something else they said about this trip). Our first stop was the Porta Nigra ~ The Black Arch. It was the entrance into the old city. In some places around Trier you can still see original walls from Roman times. We went to the top and had a great view of what is now the marketplace of Trier. The staircase was windy, narrow and steep, and Emilee and Dominick both insisted on being big girls and boys....needless to say that made mommy and daddy very nervous. There were a lot of stone carvings of Roman leaders in the walls.

Our next stop was a bus tour. We toured all around Trier and were able to get on and off the bus at the "tourist" areas. We accidentally got off too early and stopped at a viewing area. We debated whether to walk down to the amphitheater that we could see, but had to walk down about 1/2 mile down a busy, windy and steep hill...or wait 30 minutes for another bus. We could have walked, but were unsure where another bus stop would be and if we could get picked up again. So we waited for another bus and got off at the right stop this time.

The amphitheater had most of its original structure...exlcluding the seating that had eroded over time. We went into the areas where they kept the animals and the prisoners....it was very hot outside, so it was a cool relief to go underground. In the picture below, you can see the kids in one of the cells...pretending to be some ferrocious lions!! Dominick and Emilee had fun running around here, besides there were not too many places where they could get lost, and we were confined within a wall. While we were there looking around, they were practicing for a show that was going to be put on later on that night...it was fun to watch the "prisoner" run around with his javelin.

We got back on the bus, and ended up going back to the start place. We knew where everything was, and it was all within walking distance now, so we were done with the bus. We walked downtown Trier to the Trier Dom. This is a huge, beautiful Catholic church where Jesus' robe is. It was not on display, however, because they only display it every 30 years (to minimize wear and tear). The next time it will be on display is April 13-May 13, 2012 (we might still be here!!) The gown is in a case made of glass behind a big golden gate. We were able to kneel in front of the gate and get a glimpse of the case. I don't think a lot of people realized what was behind the gate because they glanced in there and then just left. Also in this church there supposedly is a pillar that the devil himself tried to destroy, but we never found it. It was very emotional for all of us, but especially me (probably because of my pregnancy hormones).

After we left the church we went to Trier Basilika. There was a wedding going on, so we couldn't go inside. This use to be a throne room for Emperor Constantine ~ it is the only remaining brick Roman structure in Trier. Next to the Basilika was the "bubble-gum pink" Kurfurstliches Palas ~ a former residence for archbishops and electors of Trier, but now holds governement offices. I remember this pink building as a little girl and have a picture of it still. Beyond the gardens of the Basilika was our last stop of the day ~ The Kaiserthermen.

The Kaiserthermen were imperial baths where the Romans came for their baths and "spa" treatments. There were underground passages that use to be the sewer network for the city. It was a huge maze and the kids all enjoyed the freedom to roam around. It was very cool underground, and a welcome relief from the heat above ground. We let Jakob "lead" the way...and he kept going in circles. We actually "lost" Dominick one time because he went around a corner and we didn't see him right away.

We took a lot of pictures and enjoyed ourselves. The kids behaved themselves and had a good time, so we all treated ourselves to some yummy ice cream. We also bought some cherries and Johannes berries from the farmers market ~ yum yum. We ended up putting the Johannes berries into a smoothie. Thom says the Johannes berries are like smaller, tarter cranberries.

Garmish & Berchesgaden Trip May 24-27, 2009

This was a GREAT time!!! When I was a child, I visited a few of these places, so it was interesting to appreciate the different viewpoint as an adult. We hope that you will enjoy our thoughts and pictures as much as we did....oh and Steph...I still could not get the slides to work..it only showed the code on the preview....aarrgghhh...otherwise there would be more pictures than there are..sorry everyone!!!

So we drove for almost 6 hours before arriving in Berchesgaden. We hit a lot of construction and 'staus' (pronounced sht-ow) which is german for traffic jam. When we arrived there on Sunday, we decided to walk around the village and do some window shopping (all the stores in Germany are closed on Sundays). We ate some great food...the kids had hot dogs and french fries, Thom had schnitzel (breaded and fried pork) and salad and french fries, I had roast beef, fried potatoes and savoy cabbage. After dinner we visited a beautiful Catholic church, right across the street from our gasthaus.

We finally made it to the gasthaus, and went to sleep...because Monday was going to be a very busy day.

After a scrumptous traditional german breakfast (brotchen, jellies, meat and cheeses) we headed out. Our first stop was to Kleinhaus (Eagle's Nest in English). This was Hitler's 50th birthday present; a huge house on the top of the Alps. We had to take a bus ride to the top of the mountain; this was a very narrow road...so narrow that the bus was the only vehicle that could fit on the road. Jakob and Feliciti didn't even want to look over the edge because it was that high and we could "tip" over as Thom jokingly told the kids if everybody looked over at one time. Once we got to the top of the mountain we had to walk through a man-made tunnel through the mountain to get to Hitler's brass elevator to get to his house. We were unable to view his house, b/c it was only open to those people who took a tour, and we were not allowed to take the tour b/c we had kids under the age of 6. But we were able to view the outside of his house, and the magnificent view he had. Here are some pictures of what we saw.

After we left here, we went to the Salt Mines. We learned a lot about how salt is actually made. We thought it was just mined, and processed and put into containers for sale. Boy it is a lengthy process. We all got to dress up into mining outfits...Emilee and Dominick looked like little Oompa-Loompas. It was very cold in the mine (about 32 degrees ) but felt good since it was hot outside (mid 70's). OK, so we are not use to hot weather anymore, for all of our southern readers!!! We got to ride a mini train into the mines, and then we got to do some of the things the miners do....travel on a boat (while watching a laser show across the small lake), ride down two 60 meter wooden slides, and even ride on a cargo elevator. It was very interesting, and we all enjoyed the tour and extracurricular activities very much.

Our next stop was Konigliches Schloss (King's castle). It was interesting to see such beautiful architecture and furniture. We got a tour, half in German and half in English (I could understand most of it, and had to translate some of it for Thom and the kids). We learned about how the Augustinian princes and princesses lived (in 1803), and that the Duke of Munchen still visits, lives there and has parties in the castle occassionally. We were unable to take pictures inside because all the furniture is still original, and they want as little damage as possible. There is a Catholic church there too; and they still celebrate mass. There use to be a monastery there as well. I remember this schloss from when I was a kid and even took a picture of the kids at the same fountain where my sisters and I took a picture.

By this time it was 4:30pm, and the kids still wanted to do one more thing before leaving Berchesgaden. They wanted to ride a cable car up to the Alps...they closed at 5pm, so we had to rush to get there (only 5 min down the road). We made it, and we were all happy we were able to take this breathtaking ride. It was a 600 meter ride up the side of the Alps and took us about 15 minutes. Once we were up there, we took a little detour and found a 100 meter metal slide that we rode in. OK, so you are thinking metal slide in the heat (that is what we thought too)....but we actually sat on a mini-bobsled, and went down the twisty course pretty fast...but we had control with hand held brakes. Even Dominick got to ride....we all had a lot of fun. We then had to walk back up the hill probably about 150 meters to get back to the cable car. On the way down we were really able to get some great pictures.


So it was now time for dinner, after a long, busy and hot day. We decided to get some Italian food....and it was very yummy. OK, now we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to Garmisch...because we had reservations at Edelweis (the military lodge and resort). We arrived there at 10:30pm...and went straight to bed again....we were wore out!!!!

So our first stop today was to Scloss Linderhof...one of 5 "houses" that belonged to Ludwig II. His other "houses" include Neuschwanstein (the "Disney princess castle was designed from this), Schloss Nymphenberg, Herrenchiemsee and Hohenschulangau. Once again we were not able to take pictures of the inside of the castle, b/c everything is copyrighted (had to buy postcards)....but we were able to take pictures of the outside. Linderhof was the only castle that he saw completed before his death at age 41 (in 1885). This is a VERY impressive and elaborate castle with 10 types of marble from around the world, a 100% African Ivory chandelier (the most expensive piece in the castle), all but one room had gold leaf (total of less than 10 pounds of gold was used...though with seeing it you would think 100 times more was used) decor and crown molding, oil paintings, a minature version of the Versailles Hall of Mirrors, fountains, beautiful gardens, and even a cave that was built for his entertainment and relaxation. It took 9 years to build the entire castle and area. He never married, and was declared insane and was imprisoned and 4 days later was found dead at the bottom of the pond. Experts are unsure if it was murder or suicide.

The kids were ready for something different to do by now. So we went to a monastery that has been making cheese, bread and their own beer since 1330. We all thought that would be pretty interesting....well, b/c we did not book it with a tour group, we were unable to see how it was all done. We were able to, however, look around the church and monastery grounds. This was a very beautiful church. Thom wanted to try some of the beer so we bought some..both light and dark Ettal beer.

Our next stop was Oberammagau....here they are "famous" for the intricate woodwork; the huge Catholic influence with crucifixes and statues of Mother Mary and saints; and also the site for the Passion Play which is put on every 10 years (next one being held in 2010). We were looking for a store that allows us to see a demonstration on some of the woodwork...but were unable to find it...even after asking around...no one knew where it was...but our 2009 guidebook says it exists. After a long day we decided to treat ourselves to some cake and ice cream...and just in time becasue it started raining after we finished. This was the first time it rained our entire trip...we were very lucky since we were in rainy season in Bavaria Germany.





Our Edelweis hotel was very nice. We had to get back there by 5pm, b/c Feliciti, Jakob and Gabi had 'kids night out'. Too bad we couldn't get Emilee and Dominick there too..oh well...it was still a bit more of a quiet evening of Mexican food at the hotel.
Checkout was by 11am, so we decided to go swimming for the morning before eatting lunch and heading back home. We all really enjoyed our trip. We already realized that there is so much to do at Garmish that we are already planning our next trip there....this Jan/Feb for a ski trip in the Alps. Anybody want to join us?



Our next trip is going to be June 13-15!! See you then!!!!

Our first trip: Amsterdam April 3-5, 2009

We arrived in Amsterdam after a 5 1/2 hour drive. The kids were ready to finally get there, since the autobahn was kind of boring....only trees and farmers fields all the way there. Once we got there we checked into our youth hostel (which was a first and last time experience for us...we'll explain later). After we checked in we decided to take the local transportation to downtown Amsterdam to check it out. We came across the Anne Frank Haus which we planned on visiting anyway. It was a real eye opener to see just how small of an area in the attic her family had to hide in for 2 years. We were not allowed to take pictures in the house, so we took a picture of the kids by a statue of Anne Frank. After the tour we needed to get something to eat. We found a vegetarian restaurant (since it was a Friday during Lent) which was pretty good. The kids had enchiladas, I had a casserole, and Thom had an eggplant and spinach lasagna. Thom's was the best!! After dinner we needed to get back to the hotel to take showers and get ready for our busy day.

Of course the next morning it was sprinkling rain and was a thick overcast. We had to change our plans a little bit. We decided to drive to a cheese factory and wooden clog factory (they were next door to each other). This was interesting to hear how they made cheese....we even got to sample some of the yummy cheese...there were many different flavors, goat and cow....smoked gouda, regular Gouda, pepper (spicy), pesto, garlic, multi spice, and much more. Feliciti did not want to try any of it...I think she was scared, but everyone else enjoyed it, and we all picked out our favs.

Here are all the different size cheeses that have to sit on the shelf for a minimum of 2 weeks..but up to 6 months. We were told the oldest cheeses they have are 2 years....which is kind of disgusting to me....I mean it's not like it is wine...right? This is one of the girls who makes the cheeses.

We then stepped next door to see how the shoes are made. This was very interesting too. After the man put a raw piece of wood into the machine, the shoe was molded. He passed it around, and it was still wet. He said they make about a million shoes every year...wow!!!!! We tried on some shoes, but they were NOT comfortable, so instead we just bought little shoes to hang on the fridge.

We checked out downtown Amsterdam, since the overcast was still heavy, and we did not want to chance going to the tulip fields and waste a trip because of the poor view. So here are some pictures of various things we saw. The middle picture is a "beer bike"....oh and there are a lot of bikes. There are more bike riders than car drivers. The third picture is the smallest house in Amsterdam (the one in the middle)

These are pictures from the city too. The second picture below is the front of Anne Frank's Haus.

We also visited a Torture museum since the weather was still not ideal. Jakob thought this was really interesting. The girls thought it was horrible. Honestly, it was sad to see such a reality that still goes on in some parts of the world.

OK, now we were told to try eatting at the Pancake Bakery...sounds good enough for us. So when we looked at the menu we were a bit scared. They had the normal pancakes with fruit and nuts and ice cream atop. But what caught our attention was the fish, cheese, bacon, meats, vegetables and other "odd" toppings. So Thom and I decided to share a Canadian pancake which had cheese, bacon, mushrooms and onions on it. Out of all the "different" choices, we opted for the least odd one. OH my goodness!!!! This thing was SSOOOO good!!! Even the kids said they would get that the next time we came here. The kids just got a basic pankcake. Actually these pancakes are more like crepes...oh so good.

Well the weather never cleared up and we were leaving the next day. So we decided that we would at least go to the tulip gardens on the way home after church. And we are happy that we did make it. The weather was much warmer, sunnier and no overcast. It was worth the wait. These gardens are called Keukenhof Holland

And just in case you are still wondering about the youth hostel. We were trying to save a little bit of money..and we figured as long as it had a bed and toilet and shower we would be ok...besides we were not there to stay at the hotel all day long. We were there for a total of probably 1 1/2 hours a day (excluding sleep of course). But we were told that we would have the bigger of the rooms since we had kids....oh my....I would hate to see the small room we were originally going to get. There was room for a bunkbed and 2 single beds and a tiny bathroom. We had to walk sideways to get to each bed....it was an experience to say the least....a learning curve. But overall we enjoyed Amsterdam....our first checkmark is made for our list of places we want to visit.

Our next trip is to Garmish and Berchesgaden over Memorial Day weekend. So stay tuned!!!