Koln, Germany

We arrived in Koln, Germany earlier than our allowed check in time.  We drove around and found our place and then took off to the city center.  We walked around for a little bit and saw the big cathedral.  This was the reason Chris wanted to come to Koln.  It’s a huge gothic-looking church.  It’s very pretty and almost creepy.  Especially with the clouds and rain coming in.

Rain.  That’s been the main consistent thing we’ve had on our trip.  In one breath it’s extremely frustrating….  It’s so hard to enjoy your time out when it’s raining all the time.  But, the next breath you’re thanking God because if temperatures were true to this time of year, it’d be snow.  We actually planned this trip at this time because we wanted to be in the snow.  I’m now glad it’s not because when we do get to get out, it’s pretty pleasant.  Sometimes it’s slightly miserable, but I packed enough thermals and hot hands to keep us happy. 

Our first night in Koln  we ate at what seemed like a little Italian bistro from looking at the sign…but when we got to the actual place we realized it was a pretty fancy restaurant.  Either way, it was fantastic.  I had a spaghetti noodle with prawns and such, Chris had a tortellini with a cream sauce that he loved, Matti had a fantastic spaghetti, and Chrissy at cheese pizza.  We walked around looking for dessert afterwards.  Chris found a bakery where he got this doughnut thing filled with a berry jelly and coated in sugar.  It didn’t have a hole it in, tho.  Chrissy got a chocolate muffin with chocolate icing.  Matti and I opted for nothing.

The next day in Koln wasn’t too much of a success.  I booked us on the hop on hop off bus to tour the city to figure out what all we wanted to do.  When we did this in Barcelona last year it was fantastic.  Even the kids enjoyed it.  This time…not so much.  The driver was horrible at starting the tape when we were actually by the interesting points.  And because of the traffic, he’d start it, we’d get stuck, he’d stop it, and then it’s like he’d forget to start it back up again.  So it we’d be looking for the “building on the right” after we already passed it.  And once we figured out we passed it, they’d be done talking about it and we had NO IDEA what they said because we were too busy trying to find the building and not paying attention to what they were saying.  So unfortunately it was a bust.  And, of course, we went by the zoo.  And they raved about how wonderful the zoo was.  We had gone to the zoo in Heidelberg and it was nice.  24-25 euro for the entire family.  This zoo was 17.50 euro per adult and another 10 euro for the kids.  So we chose to skip that which put the kids in pout mode.  When we hopped off the bus, back where we started, we decided it wasn’t worth really doing much more.  We walked around and found some pretzels for lunch (imagine that) and went through a big sports store.  We were basically killing time because an English tour of the cathedral was coming up around 2:30pm and we wanted to go.  BUT, that was vetoed by the kids and we ended up skipping that as well. 

At this point I think we were all kind of frustrated.  Kids wanted the zoo, parents didn’t, but what else is there to do??  So, I made the command decision to go to the Lindt chocolate museum.  Another 25 euros later we were walking around learning about how to make chocolate.  Let me tell you, when you have a 6 year old who can’t read and has a tiny attention span, this museum isn’t fun.  They have pictures and old equipment, but it walks you through the ENTIRE PROCESS of chocolate.  Starting at the seed, growing into a plant, picking beans, selling beans, smashing beans, cooking beans…coco beans, coco beans, coco beans… UGH.  Even I was having a hard time really getting into it.  I did learn that most of the coco bean farmers in Ghana, and by most I mean over 95% of them, have never even tasted chocolate.  They grow the beans and sell them but can’t afford the final chocolate product.  That makes me sad.  At the beginning of the museum it talks about how some guy said chocolate was the answer to everything.  When I told that to Chrissy she didn’t believe me.  So I asked her if she was in a bad mood earlier.  She said YES!  Then she was given a piece of chocolate when we walked in.  I asked her if she felt better after eating the chocolate.  To which she replied with a huge YES!  SO see…chocolate is the answer.  And these poor farmers have no idea what joy they are bringing to us stressed out moms and overly bored children. 

The second floor of the museum was much more interesting than the first.  You actually got to watch the chocolate making process.  The machines were huge and it smelled soooo good.  It was making milk chocolate and pumping it into a massive chocolate fountain.  And the best part was the nice lady holding all the wafer sticks, dipping them in the fountain and handing them out.  And what’s even better than that is there wasn’t a lot of people so she kept handing us more samples!  After we were finished watching the chocolate fountain the next destination was pretty eat.  You could actually custom make your own chocolate bar!  Of course we had to do that.  Chrissy picked milk chocolate with chocolate chips (chocolate sprinkles). Matti chose milk chocolate with strawberries, gummy bears, chocolate chips, and mini smarties (M&M’s but different).  Chris and I shared one and it was white chocolate with pistachios.  35 minutes and 16 euro later, we can say we had custom made chocolate bars.  And they were yummy. 

After the chocolate museums Chris was pretty tired.  I told him I needed to get pictures of the church so if we could kill an hour so I can take pictures, we could grab something quick and take it home for dinner.  The apartment we stayed in wasn’t all that great.  It wasn’t bad, but it was small.  And the internet sucked.  Going home didn’t sound like too much fun.  We drove across the river and spent an hour taking pictures.  When we left, Chris had his second wind and we decided to go to the brauhaus that was mentioned in the hop on hop off tour.  So I guess it wasn’t a complete waste!

We went to this place called .  They seated us in the back away from everyone and we were OK with that.  Our waiter was AMAZING.  He was the first guy we tipped on our trip.  Here in Germany, you don’t have to tip unless it’s just exceptional service.  I think the US is the only place in the world that doesn’t pay their waiters decent money and make them live off of tips.  This guy teased the kids and was extremely helpful for us.  He immediately asked us if we wanted their house beer, to which I replied, NO because I can’t drink it.  Their beer is actually poured straight from the barrel so it didn’t have any carbonation added to it!  It had a little, but not like a normal draft beer.  And let me tell you, that beer was heavenly!  It’s served in a .2L glass.   And they just keep bringing them too you until you tell them to stop.  Which we didn’t know ahead of time.  But that’s ok.  We spent a lot of time in that place talking and enjoying the night.  We asked the waiter what to get and he suggested a hand full of items.  One of the suggestions is called Himmer und elr, which means “Heaven and Earth.”  It’s a specialty to Koln.  So I ordered it.  It was fried black pudding with sautéed onions on top, mashed potatoes, and stewed apples.  AKA:  Pigs blood cooked down and cool then mixed with ham, sautéed onions, the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever eaten, and homemade apple sauce.  WOAH.  Pigs blood??  Yup.  Pigs blood.  I took a couple of bites before I asked what it was.  The waiter asked me if I liked it.  When I said yes, he said he’d tell me when I was done.  I think he was prepared to take it away.  I ate almost the entire thing.  It was 4 little cakes.  Just a little bigger than the top of a cupcake.  It tasted kind of like breakfast sausage.  But not as bad.  I’m not a breakfast sausage person…  When he told me, I think he was afraid of what my reaction was going to be.  Especially because not only did I eat it, but Chris and Matti both tried it.  Matti actually took 2 to 3 bites of it trying to figure out what it might be.  When he told me he wouldn’t tell me until after I was done eating I pondered on what it could be.  I was in the mindset of cow’s stomach, calf fries (bull balls), ya know… something like that.  I was not prepared for pigs blood.  Do I regret eating it?  No.  It’s a check in the box for me.  Will I ever order it again?  Probably not.  I never felt bad after learning about it.  I did have to “mind over matter it” for about 30 minutes afterwards…but the shot of schnapps and more beer might have contributed to that some.   Not all of it was crazy.  Chris got a steak with a garlic butter sauce and fries.  He says this was the best meal we’ve had on the trip.  And I must agree with him.  The mashed potatoes were spot on.  The applesauce was sooooo good.  And the waiter topped it off.  He pestered the kids so much, but in a cute fun way.  It was adorable.  And they loved it.  Love it so much the found him when we left to tell him bye.

So Koln was interesting.  It wasn’t really exciting but it was a pretty place and another check in the box.

Heidelberg, Germany! Sehr Gut!!!

Heidelberg, Germany was AMAZING.  It’s what I expected Baden-Baden to be. 

We arrived a little early for our check-in.  We actually stayed in a little town in the mountains outside of Heidelberg called Gaiberg.  Our place was nice.  I saved almost $300 by booking this place outside of Heidelberg.  It was a small apartment underneath the house of the people who owned it.  It had heated tiles.  Have you ever walked barefoot on heated tiles?  It’s amazing.  I loved it.  I can’t wait to tile our house and have the heated tiles put it.  I, of course, put those babies on full blast.  In the winter I love my house all warm and toasty so I can walk around barefoot and minimal clothes.  Chris, on the other hand, prefers everything to be slightly cool.  And he definitely didn’t appreciate coming back after a day of exploring to a extremely warm apartment. 

Our first night in Heidelberg, we walked around the city and took in everything.  Chrissy, being the little ham she is, danced around the town center with an umbrella drawing plenty of attention to herself.  We were able to grab some souviners and a couple of necklaces for the girls.  And the necklaces had nothing to do with Germany.  In fact, I’m about 99.9% sure Matti’s is a boy’s necklace.  I tried talking them into something different but then decided, it’s their choice…who am I to push my wants and opinions on them?  Why make them get something they may not like and not take care of?  I can easily let them get those necklaces and hope they cherish them for a long time and remember that they came from a really cool place in Germany!

We ate “street” food for dinner our first night.  Right outside of the outdoor skating rink was a handful of venders selling anything from alcohol to crepes.  I opted for mushrooms & onions covered in garlic sauce with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.  Chrissy had a Nutella crepe with a chocolate covered apple for dessert.  Matti & Chris both had brautwursts for dinner.  Matti opted for a cinnamon & sugar crepe for dessert where Chris chose cinnamon & sugar peanuts.   My mushroom thing was amazing.  Have you ever been to Silver Dollar City??  If you haven’t, it’s a old time, country theme park.  I absolutely LOVE SDC.  It’s like walking into the past.  Cowboys and Southern Belles line the sidewalks prepared to take pictures with you.  It’s one of my favorite places to visit around home.  And the food they have there…amazing.  They have these huge cast iron skillets where they cook up scrumpish foods.  The mushrooms & onions I had reminded me of that.  This guy had this humungous skillet/wok thing where he mixed everything up and cooked it.  Then, for 5 euros, he filled a bowl with it and topped it with garlic sauce and gave you a piece of bread.  It was good.  I could eat that every night.  Except Chris said later on that he felt like he was laying next to an onion in bed.  So then I felt bad and self conscious. 

We went ice skating as a family that night.  It was pretty nerve wracking.  Ha!  Matti is either all IN or all OUT.  She has no middle ground.  I call her my black and white kid.  Unlike Chrissy who is BRIGHT PINK.  Matti expected to get out thre and immediately get to the middle and start pro figure skaing.  I tried to explain to her that she’s not only never been iceskating, but she’s only been roller skating twice.  So there’s no way she could get out there and know what she’s doing.  I tried to give her the basics on how to put her feet and what not, but I don’t think she enjoyed it that much.  And we didn’t have those cool little seal things like Chrissy and I had in Baden-Baden.  Whomever invented those are my hero.  I was able to have a good time and not be terrified of falling. 

Chris and I switched off with the girls quite a bit.  I wasn’t about to get away from the wall to skate.  It had rained off and on all day so the rink had big water puddles everywhere.  And it was close to freezing while we were there.  I didn’t want to fall and get soaked and have to walk back to the car.  Chris was strong enough to take the girls away from the wall and keep them from eating it.  I’m sure I proabably could have, but I wasn’t taking chances.

After skating we took pictures of the castle.  It’s one of those things where you could take a million pictures and still not get enough.  And then 80% of them look the same but you can’t find your favorite one. 

The next day, Chris and I discussed taking the kids to the zoo.  I don’t think this trip has been particuarlly exciting for them.  So taking them to the zoo was a great idea.  It was pretty cheap.  I think it was 24 euro for the entire family.  We saw bears, monkey’s, mini horses, pigs, chickens, sheep & goats, watched a seal & walrus show, and this and that and this and that.  I think the coolest, yet slightly terrifying, thing we saw was the tigers.  If I haven’t told you already, people take their dogs with them everywhere they go in Europe.  Including the zoo.  Well, this family was walking with their little black dog past the fence of the tigers while I was looking through the glass for the tiger.  And boy did I get an eye full.  The tiger was in hunting mode and locked in on that dog.  And the scariest thing to me was there was a chain-linked fence and a wooden fence separating us from the tiger.  I’m sure it was safe, but I’m used to not being able to get that close to a large cat.  I’m talking, put your arm through the fence and touching a tiger.  Maybe not that close, but even talking to Chris, he’s saying 3 maybe 4 feet.  That is way too close to comfort for when a very large, ready to hunt, wild animal has found something it wants to eat.  It was exciting to see, but it gave me chills to my core.  That tiger followed that little dog, watching it, ready to pounce on it.  He was crouched down and everything.  So, I snapped a few pictures and high-tailed it outta there with my girls.  I just knew that thing was going to attack the window trying to get anything and I didn’t want me or my family to be lunch. 

We finished up the zoo in the little play ground and headed off for lunch.  We found Mandy’s Railroad Diner.  They had a big restaurant and then a smaller one that was inside an old railroad car.  Of course, we opted for inside the railroad car!  It took us almost an hour to get seated.  But, we were able to look at all the memorabilia they had on the walls and ceilings.  They played 40’s and 50’s music and had Elvis, The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn, along with cadallic pictues everywhere.  The girls ordered pancakes with chocolate milk and a rootbeer float.  Chris and I both had burgers and fries with shakes.  It was the most expensive burger & fries I’ll probably ever eat, but it was a good taste of home in a country so far away.  Chrissy had a hard time at first, crying because she just wanted to go back to Oklahoma, but then we started discussing opening a bed & breakfast with a restaurant when we got back home.  How we would run it, what we’d cook…  And by the end,  we had two girls dedicated to waiting tables and cooking meals so mom and dad could rest.

After we had full bellies, we headed towards the castle.  The Heidelberg Castle is just amazing.  We opted for the audiotour and walked around learning about where people stayed and why things happened.  I think my favorite part of the castle was the powder tower.  It was attacked and part of the wall fell off.  It looks like it was just cut off and placed right below where it was supposed to go.  You can see how thick the walls were made!  It was very cool.  That and the worlds largest wine barrel…. People tithed to the king in this wine barrel.  He didn’t want money, he wanted wine.  I mean, yeaaah. 

We left the castle and went back to old town where we ate at Coyote Grill.  It was very very good.  I had mentioned arlier that I was craving Mexican and TADAH! It was Mexican night there!  I had a margarita and chicken nachos!  The girls shared nachos and chris had fajatis.  We found out Matti liked guacamole that night too.  She ate a small bowl by herself and would have kept going if we wouldn’t have ran out!  After that, we played “freeze-out” on the way home.  Super fun day, super fun night.

Heidelberg has been my favorite so far.  All our expectations have been dropped and we just went.  And it was great.  We saw some cool animals, amazing places, strolled along the Neckar river, and made future plans with our girls.  All in all, Heidelberg is a MUST SEE if you’re ever going to Germany. 

Expectations

Baden-Baden =  Bust-Bust

I quit doing New Year’s Resolutions back in 2007.  In 2007 I made a resolution to care more about myself than everyone else.  To focus on what I WANTED.  To heck with everyone else.  Within 6 weeks, I had wanted a divorce.  Grass was definitely greener on the other side.  THEN, God gave me a swift kick in the behind and I realized my expectations were beyond anyone’s reach.  The expectations I put on my husband, my kids, my friends, and myself were killing my relationships.  It was slowly (or quickly) turning me into a bitter, depressed person.  And I DID NOT want to be like that. 

So here we go to Baden-Baden.  I was looking forward to this spot in our vacation the most.  Chris showed me a video by Rick Steves of this incredible spa where you experience a Roman-Irish bathing ritual.  And of course, it’s an all-nude spa.  You only live once, right??   I’m totally doing this.  And I don’t give a flying hoot!  I. CAN’T. WAIT!!

We arrived mid-afternoon in Baden-Baden after a quick drive around the base in Stuttgart.  It’s Jan 1 and EVERYTHING is closed.  I knew this before hand, but it didn’t all set in until we were trying to find food.  I’m still glad we decided to travel on the 1^st because, well, with everything closed, you can’t do anything.  Might as well spend 3 of those hours on the road.

 

Our apartment was FABULOUS.  I can’t thank my friend Chrissey enough for recommending this place.  It was HUGE.  It’s exactly what we needed after being stuck with the kids in one room for 4 days.  PLUS, it had a washer!  And we needed to do some laundry.

With everything being closed, we ran to the gas station that was open and loaded up on pretzels (I really think Chris and the girls could eat nothing but pretzels on this trip and be just fine.  Me on the other hand, I have a hard time eating them, so I’m a little more high maintenance when it comes to food) chips, schnitzel, pizza, and spaghetti sauce.  We get back to our place and I cook everything up.  I’m not doing anything but laundry and relaxing for the rest of the evening.  Plus a rainstorm had rolled in really put me in the mood to just cuddle. 

After food, a nice long soak, and starting laundry, we settle in to a puzzle with the girls.  It’s all awesome.  We’re having a great time.  Time to go upstairs and pull the clothes out and hang them to dry.

First, I want to say that EVERYTHING I put in the washing machine had been washed several times before.  And, yes, I’m aware if you put colors and whites together, the whites can turn different.  BUT, I’ve done this before with NO issues.  And I assumed since it was basically underwear, socks, and a couple of shirts, it would be OK.  NOT THE CASE.  This should have been the first clue that Baden-Baden wouldn’t work out very well for me.  All the whites had turned a blue/grey color.  And 95% of the clothes were white.  I did put some of my colored panties in there.  (Why are you talking about your panties Gen??  That’s weird!!!)  No, what’s weird is my pink panties turned purple and my bright green panties turned dark teal.  HOW does that happen???  I still shake my head trying to figure out just what happened to our clothes.  We ended throwing away 2 wife beaters and 1 undershirt of Chris’.  It was just a waste.

The next day we get up and go walking around Baden-Baden.  It was pretty neat.  Very cute little town.  EXPENSIVE as all get out, but you only live once (YOLO! Holla!) so who cares.  We didn’t really see too much that’s worth writing about tho.  We walked past a casino and a beautiful church.  We found a little ice skating rink, too.  Chrissy and I paid 11 euro and had a BLAST ice skating.  I kept asking Matti to join us but she wouldn’t because Chris wouldn’t join us.  And she wanted to skate as a family.  

Matti is such a sweet soul.  She reminds me so much of my sister growing up.  I still think my sister is my soul mate.  I get teary-eyed thinking about how much I miss her.  We’ve had our ups and downs, but when it comes to it, she’s the first person I want to turn to when things are going bad.  Growing up, Shauna was always the shy one.  She never wanted to take a leap.  Me on the other hand would jump into the deep end of a pool without knowing how to swim and pop wheelies on our three-wheeler trying to throw my daddy off….  Poor Matti just sat on the sidelines of the rink and cried.  I tried and tried and tried to get her to skate with us and she just wouldn’t.  Then, of course, when we were done, she cried because she wished she had gone.  Unfortunately, another storm was rolling in and we needed to book it back to the parking garage. 

We headed back to the apartment after that.  Which I was OK with because Chris had a headache and I was feeling sleepy after drinking some amazing gluhwein that Chris didn’t like.  That’s one good thing about me.  I’ll never let that stuff go to waste.  If we pay for it and it’s not good, I’ll still choke it down.  If you ever get a chance, you should ask me about our trip to Epcot and me trying drinks from around the world.  It was fun.  Or at least what I can remember of it anyway!

We had gone to the grocery store before and stocked up on food.  Which is where we found out that our credit card had been shut off.  Which is REALLY frustrating when you took the time to tell both your credit card company and bank all of the different places you’ll be traveling over the next 3 weeks to AVOID this.  Earlier in the trip my mom got ahold of me to let me know our bank was going to shut off our debit card if we didn’t verify our information.  Luckily she knew to verify it and we weren’t left hanging.  MC on the other hand would have left us hanging.  After facetimeing with Chris’ mom and her calling the company, we’re back and going.  Not that it really mattered at that point. 

The next day we get up and I’m soooooo ready for my naked day at the spa.  It was going to be glorious!!  But no.  I had tried to book a couples massage for us earlier in the week and it wouldn’t let me because it was full.  The lady we were renting the apartment from told us you couldn’t book early, it was a walk in thing, so we thought we were safe.  Nope.  They were booked.  And, the only way to get anything else was to pay with cash.  Which normally would have been OK, but we only brought a certain amount of cash with us and I didn’t want to put 150 euro down for just Chris and I.  So I tearfully walked away from the thing I wanted most out of this trip.  AND, it was pouring down rain, so it wasn’t even worth trying to find something else to do.  Oh wait, I did try to find a cool waterfall place for us and failed miserably at that as well. 

The rest of the day was spent in our apartment.  Chris and I worked for over 6 hours on this puzzle.  Our goal had been changed to completing this dang puzzle.  We took a brief break for dinner.  Which actually turned out to be really nice.  We did a yelp thing and found a restaurant that sounded like fun.  And it was.  Chris had a nice house beer, I had a great glass of wine and they had STILL water!  Which has just been so hard for me to find here.  It was over $5 but I didn’t care.  I was so happy I was able to drink a glass of water that wouldn’t hurt to swallow or taste bad!

After dinner, we walked around the town a little since it wasn’t raining.  Of course everything was closed but the kids were able to run around and wear off some energy.

Making a wish!

The place we ate!

Hilarious display in some store

We headed back to the apartment and started working on our puzzle again.  We had so far to go on this dang puzzle.  It just wasn’t going to happen.  So, like everything else in Baden-Baden, it was crumbled and put back away. 

 I went upstairs to take a long hot bath.  I found a bath salt to use.  It was pretty.  Purple.  Nice.  Pour it in the tub.  Turn the water on.  Climb in.  Only to find out that the hot water had run out.  Chris had taken a bath before me and I didn’t give it enough time to warm back up.  So, I got out and got in bed. 

We said goodbye to Baden-Baden today.  I also said goodbye to any expectations I’ve had for this trip.  The first time it almost cost me my marriage.  This time, it almost cost me my happiness on the trip.  No longer will I allow expectations to rule my life.  I will learn to let things come and go as they please and not let thing ruin my mood. 

Here’s to a new outlook on our trip and a new outlook on life….again….

Frohes Neues Jahr aus Deutschland!

It’s only right to start blogging again on January 1^st, right?  New years resolution....  I shall blog more. 

Hahahaha.  Yeah right. 

Saying goodbye to 2013 and Munich, Germany today.  Munich was interesting.  We started out on December 28 at 6:00.  I was really proud of having everything packed and ready to go.  Traveling with my husband and two children can be quite a challenge.  My girls aren’t really as high maintenance as I make them, but I do know how hard it is to deal with crabby, bored kids.  So I try to think of EVERYTHING to take, including the kitchen sink.  Chris is also a “if you’re on time, you’re late” type of guy.  So he wanted to leave for the airport by 7:30 for our 10:15 take off.  We got out of the house at 7:36.  We were packed.  House was clean.  And I was able to get lunch going for some friends with dinner in the fridge for them as well.  To say we started off on a good foot is an understatement.  Expect our two crying children.  Chrissy was crying so hard and so loud you could hear her down the street.  Why you ask?  Pete.  Poor, poor Pete.  (He’s staying with some of our best friends, btw.  Before we went to bed I got a picture of him curled up on the couch with Kevin.  Yes.  Poor Pete.  Poor pitiful Pete.)

 Airport was easy.  Everything went smoothly.  We’ve gotten much better at going through security.  First, we cut everyone going through the VIP lane acting all VIP.  Even though we have nothing that shows we’re VIP.  Plus when you have 2 blonde hair girls with big beautiful eyes, who can say NO to them???  And second, we don’t have as much stuff to take off as we did before.  Put backpacks in, take coat and shoes off, and walk through.  Simple.  Easy Peasy. Flight was pretty simple.  Almost an hour late and a very last minute gate change.  Chrissy and I sat next a very nice German lady who cussed at the flight attendant for not giving Matti a “Welcome Aboard Airberlin” package because she was too big after giving one to Chrissy.  She said it was rude and uncalled for. They’re sisters.  They’re young.  They should both get one. Luckily, Matti could care less and Chrissy shared. 

Here’s something you might not know.  If you book your car rental through Sixt (German car rental company) they make you put down a deposit.  The deposit is the same amount as what you pay for your car.  Before I booked, I enquired about this.  Will I have a deposit?  Yes.  Ok. How much?  8% of the rental price.  Cool.  I can do that.  WRONG.  NO.  NOT THE CASE.  The deposit is the amount of the rental.  In our case that was 1,000 euro.  After paying for the car, the deposit, and tax it came out to a whopping $2780!  Normally I wouldn’t throw prices of things out there, but in this case, I am.  This, I think, is something people need to know.  Especially since I asked BEFORE I booked.  I’ve heard of horror stories and tried my best to avoid them. But in the end, I’m standing at the counter of a rental car company in a foreign airport, with my hand on my mouth trying not to throw up.  But what do you do?  You try to find another car company.  Guess what, almost all of them are like that.  And the ones who aren’t are out of cars.  BAM.  CRAP.  Thank the good Lord, and I’m extremely serious about that, that we had the money to cover it and it won’t hinder our trip.  I did have to do some maneuvering to make it happen, but God willing, it worked. Before all this jaw dropping money revelation happened, we waited almost 45 minutes for a mini van they had that needed to go back to France.  When you’re traveling with a rental one way, you get hit with a pretty hefty fee.  Well, Sixt had a van that needed to go back and we were traveling there.  Unfortunately, it didn’t have snow tires on it so we weren’t allowed to take it.  So they upgraded us from a VW Passat to a BMW station wagon for the same price.  So even tho we got jabbed with a HUGE bill, we are still going to come out on top because we have a much much nicer car for about half the price. 

Finally.  Here we go.  Car is loaded down.  It’s a NICE car.  Very nice.  I mean, we are in the land of BMW, it’s only fitting to drive one.  L-E-T-S-GO. Let’s go!  Let’s go! ….seriously…let’s go.  Ok.  In the car.  No key.  Cool.  Start/Stop button.  Cool.  Keyfob in cup holder.  Go.  Please.  Start.  No?  Push it again.  Definitely turned it off.  Hit the key again.  There’s an unlock button on the gear-shift.  Maybe we need to push that.  Nope.  Hold on, I’ll get out the manual.  Nope.  Can’t even figure it out with the pictures.  Google translate.  NOPE.  No wifi.  Phone doesn’t work here.  Ok.  Seat belts on, unlock button pushed, mouth right….nope.  25 minutes later we finally ask a very nice man.  He explains what all the buttons mean.  Ok.  Put your foot on the break and push the start button.  DUH!!!!  Seriously!!!!   How did we NOT know that?? Break has to be engaged to start the car.  It says it right there on the dashboard.  SMH.  Another good lesson about German cars, when you stop, they shut off.  Yup.  You pull up to a stop sign and it turns off.  You think you need to restart it.  Nope.  You don’t.  Just put your foot on the gas and varrrroooom.  Off you go.

We made it to the bed and breakfast 2 hours late.  Luckily while we were trying to figure out how to start the car, we figured out how to turn the GPS (which was free, yay!) to English and it took us right to our place.  If you’re traveling to Munich, Germany, I HIGHLY recommend Zeevat B&B.  It’s ran by a woman named Fatima from Brazil and her husband Jan who is from Norway.  They had a HUGE dog.  It was like a super giant sized Pete.  She was a Norwegian sheep dog and very protective of Fatima.  But that’s OK.  We kept our distance.  We stayed in the attic room.  It was the top floor and fabulous.  I didn’t think to take pictures of it, tho.  Plenty of room and extremely cozy. 

Our first night in Munich we went downtown and visited Hofbrauhaus.  It was highly recommend from not only all of our friends who have gone to Munich, but everyone else in the city.  It’s number 7 on the top things to see while in Munich.  And boy was it crazy!  It would have been a completely different experience without the kids, that’s for sure.  When you walk in, there are TONS of people.  And you basically walk around and try to find a place to sit.  All the tables are big and seat anywhere from 10 to 20, depending on how many people you decide to squeeze in the table.  It was a very awesome experience.  We sat next to 2 guys who knew enough English to help us order and share a little history.  They were from Germany but one lives in Switzerland now and the other one lives in Stuttggart.  They came to Hofbrauhaus to celebrate. Another couple from Amsterdam joined towards the end of the meal and gave us great tips on our trip to Amsterdam.  Chris and I both got pork.  His was a suckling pig with a potato dumpling.  Mine was a pork steak slathered in caramelized onions and potato salad.  Matti got homemade hotdogs and Chrissy got half a chicken roasted.  And that girl picked at that thing until it was nothing but bones.  Matti helped.  I did order the Hofbrauhaus original beer.  The flavor was amazing but the bubbles got to me and kept me from finishing it.  All in all, worth the trip and happy to put another check in the box.

The next two days we explored the nearby cities of Garmish and Fussen, which included the Neuschweinstein Castle.  What an amazing day we had with the Neuschweinstein Castle.  We had to get up and out the door by 6:40 to make it to our tour time by 10:10.  Glad we did, too.  When we got there the city was just waking up and we had no issues picking up our tickets.  Only downfall we had (other than me forgetting one of Chris’ gloves and him being pretty ticked about that since it was about 27 degrees there) was when Chris went to the bathroom and we didn’t get in the line for the horse and carriage ride and had to wait for the second carriage to take us up the side of the mountain.  It was 21 euro and worth every penny.  From what I understand, Walt Disney based the famous Cinderella’s Castle off of the Neuschweinstein Castle.  So it was extremely neat to take a carriage ride up to it like Cinderella.  Except “this isn’t her real castle and we’re not in a pumpkin, mom” says Matti.  I don’t care.  I felt like Cinderella.

(Garmish, Germany)

I took about a gazillion pictures of the castle.  How can you not?  It’s absolutely breathtaking.  Not to mention the views.  We came in with a very thick fog.  When we talked out of the castle, the fog was gone.  It was so cool to see the sleepy little foggy town turn into a vibrant alive city.   

The castle was never finished.  Ludwig (man who was building it) died mysteriously when he was 40.  He went out for a walk with his lady friend and they were both found dead in a nearby lake.  He only lived in the castle for around 170 days.  He was a loner and they say they don’t think he would have ever allowed anyone in his castle like they are now, but within 6 weeks they opened it up.  Pictures weren’t allowed :(

Exploring the city of Munich was fun.  Lots of little street café’s selling gluhwein (hot wine) and different foods.  We went and watched the noon show at the Glockenspeil.  The kids didn’t really enjoy it much.  Wish I would have explained it more to them before we saw it.  After I explained more, they appreciated it a little better.  

New Years Eve in Munich wasn’t what I expected.  We drove downtown to the square and saw tons of people, gathered together, drinking beer and wine, having a grand ole time.  Then BAM (literally) someone would light off a firework and throw it in an open space.  After driving around for about an hour people watching and sightseeing, we decided to head back to the B&B.  I’ll admit, at first I was pretty bummed that we were in Munich and going back to our room instead of staying down where everyone else was.  The whole point of being in Munich was so we wouldn’t be alone like last year.  But I think last year was harder because it was our first New Years without anyone and my mom & Jim left to go back home that day.  It was depressing and hard.  We vowed to never do that again.  And here we were, alone again, except this time in a different city away from our friends in Sicily.  I laid down in bed and napped from about 10:50p-11:30p.  The sound of fireworks exploding in the distance sounded like thunder and put me in a nice sleep.  I woke up just in time to stick my head out of the skylight in our room.  And what I saw was a city of explosions.  I have never seen anything like this in my life.  It was like the Fourth of July on steroids.  We turned off all the lights, propped the girls up so they could see it all, and counted down 2013 huddled together with all our heads outside freezing as one big happy family watching the city of Munich light up with brilliant colors. 

A knot is in my throat when I think of 2013 ending and 2014 beginning.  I’ve had an emotional rollercoaster of a ride this first full year aborad.  I’ve visited 2 new countries (3 if you could Sicily) and made countless memories with my family.  Being a small town girl, never wanting to travel, this is a HUGE step for me.  I’m looking around enjoying the scenery as we (and for we, I mean Chris) drive to a new destination.  Baden-Baden or bust.  

 Happy New Year!