Planning for my Parents

It dawned on me last week that HOLY CRAP my parents are going to be here to visit at the end of the month. They made the reservations a few months ago, and at the time between school and work I had the mindset of "I'll worry about it later." Later has come, and I realize I haven't done anything to prepare for their visit. Not that I have a lot to do... but they will be here for almost two weeks, and I don't intend for them to simply sit on the couch the whole time. I had told my parents to do some research and figure out what they want to do while they are here (I even sent my dad back to the states with my beloved Rick Steves Germany book to help them research). My parents keep telling me they are up for anything, and trust my opinion. Hmmm. Okay.... So I started thinking of ideas for things for us to go do based upon things I want to see. That sounds selfish, however, it turns out the things I picked for us to do my parents liked/wanted to do as well. As I'm planning all of this out, I hope they are starting to save up their sleep now, because they're going to need it. (Hear that Mom? Start saving your sleep). Or as my beloved Uncle Timmy says, "You can sleep when you're dead."

My parents arrive on a Friday in the mid-morning. My plan for that day is basically to keep them awake (that is a KEY when you travel across so many time zones. DO NOT let yourself fall asleep when you get there unless it is night time otherwise you will NEVER get onto a schedule). Nothing too exciting, and they will probably be pretty tired. The first full they are here, Saturday, I signed us up to go on a Rhein River cruise through the travel agency on base. I'm not 100% sure where we get on the river and where we will get off at (things I'm sure I could look up, but too lazy to care. I'm sure it will be wonderful either way), but it will be an all day trip. Even though I'm not sure what our journey will be, here's a taste of the scenery... Thanks Google for the help.

Right now Sunday is a little hazy... we may just hang out... OR we may go to Floriade. Floriade is something I had heard about, but my mom actually found out about it online and sent me a link for it. It is a huge world horticulture expo in Holland which only takes place every 10 years. It goes from early April til October, has five themed "worlds" and over 100 displays and many "cultural" events such as music and dancing. The website says the "average" visit is 7 hours long. To get to Floride is only about a 2.5 hour drive from our house, so it could be an easy day trip. If we don't do it the first Sunday my parents are here, we will go sometime during the week right before they leave. I just had picked Sunday because Josh will be off work and will be able to attend with us, and he would appreciate it much more than I would as he has a green thumb (whereas mine is black).

On Monday, Josh will get up and go to work. Unfortunately, he won't be joining us on our adventure. He wanted to, however his supervisor will be gone at training, leaving him to run things (and well, they both can't be gone at the same time). It's sad, but it happens. When he leaves for work, we are going to leave and go to Rothenburg. Rothernburg is an old, walled-in medieval city. I have mentioned it before as early in the fall we had planned to go there but never made it. It is something I've wanted to see for a very long time. Again, thank you to Google for providing a visual...

We will spend the night in Rothenburg, and in the morning we will drive the Romantic Road. The Romantic Road is really just a scenic drive for a few hundred kilometers in southern Germany. It is something my mom really wants to do, and I think it will make for some great sightseeing. We will end our "romantic" drive at Neuschwanstein Castle (this was another of my mom's "must-sees"). You know what Neuschwanstein Castle is, I promise you do. Of all the castles in the world it is probably one of the most popular, and is in oodles of photographs. It is, supposedly, the castle Walt Disney used as a model for the Disney castle. If you're still not sure what I'm talking about...

We'll be staying for most of the week at Edelweiss Lodge, which is a military "retreat" of sorts in Bavaria. We have never been, but a lot (a LOT) of people we know have, and we've always heard great things about it. I found a really good deal online, and it made it hard to find a hotel that would be cheaper (even with all of my super online searching skills). We're going to use Edelweiss as our home base and then head out to other locations during the day. One day we will go to Dachau concentration camp (again, something I've wanted to do for a long time and we were going to go to this fall but weren't able to). Another day we're going to take the train (a quick hour-ish ride) into Munich and try to see the "highlights" of Munich. Edelweiss offers "adventures" (aka tours) you can sign up to take. One of the tours they have is called the "Three Country Tour" which takes you from the German Alps, to the Austrian Alps, through Lichtenstein, into Switzerland, and then back to the resort. I thought the tour sounded neat, and like something my parents would like, so I told them about it. They agreed. It will be a long day, but I'm sure it will be wonderful. On Saturday we'll leave Edelweiss and drive to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is where they filmed the Sound of Music. My mom loves that movie, and I know she would really like to see Salzburg (and so would I). We're just spending a quick day there (I'm sure it deserves more time than that, however..).

Then Sunday will be a bit of a loooonnnngggg drive back to our house. My parents won't leave until Thursday, so there are still a few days I could fill... but I'm thinking they will just be day trips if we do anything. By that time they may just decide to nap on the couch, and maybe by then I would let them. They may be Germany/castled out by then too... But I'm getting really excited for them to come visit, especially now that more of our trip is set in stone.