My parents arrived for a 13 day visit and it was oh so wonderful. As I mentioned before, they had given me some ideas about what they wanted to do while they were here, but they left the planning up to me. My itinerary turned out better than I could have ever hoped.
The first day my parents got here the main focus was keeping them awake, which was relatively easy. We dropped all of their luggage off at our house and went on base to get them visitors passes. Melissa and her family came over for dinner and we had a nice evening chatting away. Due to all the company and stimulation my parents were able to stay up until around 9, which is an impressive feat.
The next morning (Saturday) we had to get up early and head to base for our Rhein River cruise. We were bussed to St. Goar which is about two hours away. In St. Goar we had a chance to explore Rheinfels Castle (in ruins) before boarding the boat.
Our boat was an "old fashioned" paddle boat. The cruise itself lasted about three and half hours, during which we saw lots of green vineyards, multiple castles, and cute little medieval towns. Prior to my parents arrival we had nonstop dreary rain and cold. However, for our cruise we had lots of sunshine and weather in the 70's. Going from low 40's to the mid 70's made it feel as if it was 100 degrees outside. I was a bit overwhelmed by the "heat," which is pathetic to say. We enjoyed the nice weather, some beer, and lots of photographic sites. At the end of our cruise we had a chance to wander around the town of Rudesheim. We did some touristy shopping at then ate dinner at one of the most traditional German restaurants I have ever been in. The waitresses were wearing dirndls (read traditional German "beer maid" dress), we had a man playing/singing live polka music, the food was amazing, and beers were served in glass boot mugs (think Beerfest).
Sunday morning started out lazy (which was needed) with a late breakfast and lots of coffee (for my parents, not me. I am going strong on my no coffee campaign). My parents wanted to have a low key day since we were leaving in the morning for our road trip without Josh, but I didn't want them to "waste" a day in Europe. I wracked my brain for a bit, then decided to take them to the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg City, which is where General Patton is buried. I have heard a lot of good things about this place, but have not yet visited (it was on the list of things to do). I wasn't sure what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised (that seems a bit weird to say about a cemetery). It reminded me a lot of Arlington Cemetery with straight, aligned tombstones. Sobering, somber, yet beautiful at the same time.
As I said before, Josh wasn't able to take time off work to travel with my parents and me. We were bummed about it, but duty calls. On Monday when he got up to go to work, we got up and packed the car to take off on our trip. Our first stop was in Rothenburg. Rothenburg is a walled-in medieval village. I had picked our hotel for Rothenburg for two reasons: it was within walking distance of all major sites, and it had free parking. I was a little perturbed when my GPS lead me through the city gates (which is technically off-limits for driving). My stress level quickly rose and boiled over as I had to slow to a crawl to try and inch my way up a cobblestone street (not meant for cars) through throngs of people (who were not paying attention to motor traffic) who walked in the middle of the street. It took us about 15 minutes to weave our way through a distance which should have taken us 2 minutes. It is safe to say I was a little stressed when everything was said and done. However, the stress quickly faded as we started to walk around Rothenburg. Rothenburg is relatively small (especially within the city walls), and we were able to do a fair amount of site seeing. We were also able to climb up onto the walls of the city and walk around the perimeter, which was a neat way to get a birds-eye view of things.
There are two castles right by each other: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. You have the option to tour both, however we chose just to stick with Neuschwanstein. I have heard Hohenschwangau is beautiful and I'm sure it deserves a tour as well. Next time (for me, at least). While we were waiting for our tour to start we walked up to Hohenschwangau to take pictures. The castles are set in a beautiful valley at the base of mountains near a lake. There is a reason why Walt Disney was inspired by these sights.
We also walked up to a bridge above Neuschwanstein to get some other views/pictures of the castle. The walk to Neuschwanstein and then up to the bridge is a bit of a huff - and it was another warm day. However. It was well worth it.
You are not allowed to take pictures of the inside of Neuschwanstein, sadly. I wish I could share the intricate and ornate decorations of the inside of the castle - it was breathtaking. After our tour of the castle we headed towards Garmish and Edelweiss - the resort we were staying at for the next few days. As I said before, I had heard a lot of good things about Edelweiss, and they were all true. The hotel itself is surrounded by the German Alps, which makes for breathtaking views. The hotel is designed and ran like an American hotel, so for me it was a touch of home, so to speak. We settled into our room, rented a DVD, and relaxed.
The next morning we woke up to a crystal clear sky with sunshine. My mom mentioned she wanted to see Zugspite, but she wasn't sure how close we were to it. Zugspite is the highest mountain in all of Germany and Austria, and as it turns out, it was within a close driving distance of Edelweiss. In fact, I was able to buy passes for the cable car up to the top of Zugspite in the hotel lobby. We left the hotel and were on the cable car up the mountain by 8:45. Here is where I will confess I am not a fan of heights. It isn't the height which bothers me. I have never shied away from something because of the height. It is just once I get up to the top of something tall I get bad vertigo and spend most of my time feeling like/worrying that I'm going to fall off/from said height. The ride up the cable car was something wonderful and beautiful for my parents. For me it was nauseating. When we arrived at the top of Zugspite, we were met with some amazing views of Germany, Austria, and the Alps (both German and Austrian). We were able to walk around an observation deck. My mom and dad both looked over the edge and took multiple pictures. I spent most of my time standing in the middle of the deck fighting off my nerves.
The ride back down the mountain wasn't much better. Here is me fighting off a panic attack.
It was hard to believe we had ridden up to the "top of the world" so to speak, seen amazing views, and were back down at my car by 10 AM. What to do next? Luckily the area of Bavaria we were in had lots of things to see. We drove to Oberammergau, which is a small town which hosts a passion play every 10 years. It is also well known for wood carvers (lots of beautiful work to see and buy). We wandered through the town doing some shopping, and then visited the church. It was astounding. From the outside it looks like a small, regular church. On the inside it was a shock to see how colorful and ornate it was.
In the afternoon we drove to Linderhof Palace. The palace is smaller than the castles we had seen, however it has impressive grounds with terraced gardens and a grotto. We took a tour of the inside, and like Neuschwanstein Castle it is elaborately decorated in gold (both were built by the same king, and it was interesting to note the similarities). Like the castle, I couldn't take pictures of the inside.
After the Palace, we decided to drive to Innsbruck, Austria where the 1976 winter Olympics were held. It was something my parents wanted to see. We didn't do or see anything specific in Innsbruck, but it was a beautiful drive and an interesting city.
The next morning we woke up and took the train into Munich. Munich is only about an hour or so from Edelweiss. I didn't want to deal with driving or parking in Munich, and the train tickets were very reasonable. It made for a scenic ride into the city. Once we got into the city we took a hop on-hop off bus tour to "orient" ourselves. After we saw the major sites, we stayed in the older part of downtown, which is where most of the sites are (town hall, cathedral). We wandered a bit taking pictures, and then decided to find some lunch. I wanted to eat at the Hofbrau Haus, which is one of "the" beer halls (an original). According to our map we were close by. After an hour of walking in circles (with me getting more and more frustrated) we finally decided to eat at a cafe we came across. We were able to sit outside, enjoy a beer, and have some good German food. Once we re-fueled, my mom looked at the map and suggested we try, one more time, to find the Hofbrau Haus. As luck would have it, we found it (after we had already eaten, of course). It was every German stereotype rolled into one. The place was filled with large wooden tables and benches, groups of people were drinking beer, and a live band dressed in lederhosen was playing polka music. Hilarious.
Maybe Munich is different during Oktoberfest (that's a stupid statement to make. Of course it is different). I just... wasn't taken with it. I thought I would really like Munich... I was prepared to like it. But I was a bit disappointed. My parents felt the same way.
Friday morning we went to Dachau concentration camp. Dachau is about an hour and a half from Edelweiss, and the hotel provided "easy" driving directions. I had my GPS, and decided I would rather stick with that. Our drive to Dachau turned out to be a bit stressful for me. It was suppose to be mostly autobahn the whole way there. Instead my GPS had me get off the autobahn and cut through the outer part of Munich to get there. What is ironic is the day before we took the train specifically because I didn't want to drive in Munich... yet there we were, driving in Munich. Ugh. Stupid GPS. But. Again, we arrived safe and sound, so I really can't complain.
There are no words to describe Dachau. It is sad. Sobering. Somber. Horrific. Overwhelming. The main entry area is still standing, two of the original 30 barracks are still in place. You are able to tour through one of the barracks and see the old bunks where people slept. We walked along the perimeter of the wall around the camp which still has barbed wire around the top and bottom. The evidence of the barbed wire being electrified is still there. We also visited the crematorium and walked through the old gas chamber (the definition of creepy). The camp has a full museum with lots of information about WW II, the Holocaust, and Dachau. It was almost too much to take in, but it was definitely worth it.
In addition to all of our running around we were able to watch movies, spend some time in the hot tub, and drink wine out on our balcony enjoying the views of the mountains.
Saturday morning we drove to the Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden. The Eagles Nest was Hitler's "mountain retreat" although he only visited there a handful of times. It wasn't open for the season (still too much snow in the mountains), but we were able to visit the documentation center, which is a museum in the parking lot below the Eagle's Nest. This museum offered a lot of information and history about Hitler and the formation of the Nazi party. Within the museum is an old series of Nazi bunkers which were built during World War II. It was interesting to wander through.
We then drove to Salzburg, Austria (the last stop on our trip). Salzburg is where the Sound of Music was filmed, which is my mom's favorite movie (and one of mine). We took a Sound of Music tour which drove us around to different places in and around Salzburg where the movie was filmed. We got to see the gazebo where "16/17" was filmed, the church where Maria and the Captain got married, and wandered through the Mirabu gardens where scenes of "Do-Rae-Me" were filmed. It was a bit cheesy, but we had a really good time. The Salzburg area - like Bavaria - is beautiful. It was also a good way to see the city. After our tour we walked around Old Town Salzburg and took pictures of the sites. After a delicious dinner we walked back to our hotel to relax and try to catch up on some sleep.
Sunday morning we left Salzburg and started the marathon drive home. The GPS said it would take 6.5 hours to drive back to our house - it did take about that long. The drive just seemed longer because we drove through a lot of heavy rain. Correction, we didn't drive. I drove. I drove, at times white knuckled, through the heavy rain while my parents gawked out the windows and napped.
Monday we had a wonderfully lazy day. We slept in, did some laundry, and hung around the house. I took my parents to our favorite German toy store. We shopped around for a bit, and again, little miss Zoey made out like a bandit and she doesn't even know it yet.
Tuesday we woke up early and drove to Floriade. Floriade is a horticulture expo in the Netherlands which takes place every 10 years. I had thought on a Tuesday in May the event wouldn't be busy, but I was wrong. There was easily close to 20,000 people there, most of whom were retired or elderly people. So, easy to say my English speaking American parents and I didn't exactly fit in (when do we fit in?). There was a gondola which ran across the length of the expo, so we took a ride in that first to get an overview of the expo. We then wandered all through the expo which was set up into five different "worlds" which each featured different themes and plants. There were also different areas for different countries. I had thought each country area would show the different plants from that region, but it was more of a world market type of thing. It was still beautiful, and my mom really enjoyed herself.
Wednesday was another lazy day with us watching movies and my parents packing their bags. This morning I took them to the airport for a tearful goodbye. The cats can't figure out where their grandparents have gone, and they keep wandering up and down the hallway meowing, asking for attention. We're all a little sad. However, I feel confident my parents had a very full, fun trip here.
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