Category: Germany

Matthew takes a lot of photos. The year we were in New Zealand he took 10,000. Really. Not a lie. He takes less now, but it can still take him a while to look through them and get them to me. This may have something to do with the fact that he works. I say all of this to explain why I am posting photos of Germany when we left there 4 weeks ago.

We spent a weekend in Munich after our time in Bad Kohlgrub. Above are photos of Nymphenburg Palace.

 

Hike at Partnach Gorge in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Day trip to Innsbruck, Austria

 

I don’t know what Matthew is doing to that sausage.

Sites seen while on a walking tour of “Hitler’s Munich”.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

When I  started to plan our year of travel I asked Matthew, Ethan and Logan to choose a country. Logan chose Norway. I vetoed Norway due to the cost. Her second choice was Ecuador, which we loved. Ethan chose Italy (heading there next). Matthew chose Germany and said he wanted to see the castles there. I had passed through Germany once before and really didn’t care that much to return as there are so many places to go in the world. But I ended up loving our time there… castles, Alps and mac & cheese with beer. What’s not to love.

King Ludwig II liked to build castles. Per our guide at Neuschwanstein Castle, he angered family members by spending the family fortune constructing them, and then died under mysterious circumstances.

Above is Neuschwanstein Castle. It is reported to be the inspiration for a Disney’s castle. I read it is Sleeping Beauty’s but I didn’t even remember that she had a proper castle so consider that tidbit of information unconfirmed.

Fun fact (as Logan would say)… one of the rooms inside the castle is constructed like the interior of a cave.

View from Neuschwanstein Castle (above).

Hohenschwangau Castle (above and below) was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II. It was built by his father, King Maximilian II.

Linderhof Castle (below).

 

Above: Logan and Natalie

I took the picture directly above. Matthew noted that I chopped the swan’s head off. This is why he is the photographer. And in my defense, I was too busy looking at the family I love to notice some swan.

I should also note that Matthew has MANY wonderful pictures of statues and close ups of parts of buildings. But this is my blog and I like trees. So… most pictures are at a distance where you can see the trees.

I am still waiting for Matthew to give me the photos of the last castle we visited, but I think Matthew can check German castles off his to do list.

I have had a number of features requested for my blog and am attempting to add them. Comments now function, and as of today you can click on a picture to enlarge it. This was not difficult, I was simply oblivious to the feature. My awesome tech support (a.k.a. Matthew) showed me how to do it.

These photos are from a hike we did when we were back in Oberammergau, Germany.

We rode up in the cable car did a hike at the top. Sounds like a cheat but the hike was still sufficiently rigorous and cable cars are fun.

We were about to follow the kids to a peak when we noticed that the climbers descending were using safety harnesses and wearing helmets. No peak for us.

We arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia a few days ago and so far I love the city. I don’t often “love” cities as they are generally full of traffic and people. But Ljubljana has blocks and blocks of pedestrian only streets dotted with cafes and ice cream stands (happy Logan). Yet the streets are not overly crowded with pedestrians (happy Natalie). The down side to our new home is the pitifully slow internet and broken washing machine (sad/angry Matthew).

My blog has not kept up with our pace of travel. So instead of pictures of Ljubljana, I have a few pictures from a hike in Oberammergau, Germany two weeks ago. It was sunny and we still had clean clothes. Good times.

We arrived in Bad Kohlgrub a week ago and have been busy hiking and touring. Matthew takes the good photos so I will post the castles and Alps when I have them. In the meantime,  here are a few photos from around town.

    

Above: Hiking on our first day… seems we always head to trails and parks first. In fact, I notice I don’t actually have any pictures of the town. Bad Kohlgrub is a tiny town with a market, bakery, grocery and a bank that does not exchange money or give change for large bills (unclear what they do).

Park with chess.

Local park that we visit daily. The kids never bore of a zip line or merry-go-round. And I just discovered that I no longer enjoy a merry-go-round. The kids swear that it was going VERY slow. But I thought I was going to vomit after seconds and it gave me a headache. Feeling old. (Notice sheep in the background… again, a small town)

Random house. Matthew liked the flowers.

View in the morning when I walk to buy fresh bread from the bakery.

     

Ethan turned 14 yesterday while we were here in Bad Kohlgrub, Germany. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted so Logan got him some pens and candy from the supermarket and Matthew and I got him a chocolate bar with a picture of the town on it. I also managed to order a cake from the bakery.

The Chinese / Thai restaurant he wanted to eat at was closed, but we found some tasty Italian.

And yes, if you haven’t seen already, Ethan got a haircut.