I know it seems like this is blog is just turning into my travel log, but I promise there are no more trips on the horizon (okay ... maybe one more!). Anyways, Chris and i just got back from Germany! Yeeehawwww, my first time in Europe and I fell in LOVE!! We had been planning on going to Europe for a few weeks in the summer, but his grandpa was turning 91 in May so we decided to go a little sooner than expected. Any excuse to go traveling is a good one!! I had never met Grandpa Richter even though he and Chris were so close. Chris has been able to spend two months with him over the past few years while working in Munich ~ which is awesome, but I never tagged along for those trips. Unfortunately I haven't convinced my bosses to give me endless vacation ... I'm working on it!! LOL.
the famous "bon voyage" photo
Now to our itinerary ... first stop, Frankfurt. We arrived in Frankfurt around 5pm after flying for what seemed like forever. We connected with Chris' Aunt and Uncle (Beattina and Hano) where a yummy dinner of schnitzel (my new favourite meal), yummy roasted potatos and chilled beer awaited us!! His aunt and uncle were so sweet!! After a long night of catching up our heads hit the pillows like rocks. OUT COLD!!! We didn't have a lot of time to roam the area, but I did get a quick tour while out buying some strawberries and white asparagus (a german specialty).
Next stop ... Chiemsee (where grandpa lives). I can pretty much sum up the whole area with one word ... WOW!!! Its amazing. Grandpa lives on this huge lake (which had amazing trails for me to go running and biking on every day!). Chiemsee is located in the heart of Bavaria so the houses and landscape looked a lot different than in Frankfurt. Narrow streets, beautiful homes, churches everywhere and everything just perfectly manicured, that about describes the area. I gotta say, Grandpa's home topped the cake, though. I think the pictures speak for themselves! I forgot to take pictures of three other floors inside as well as the swimming pool! I swear the house must be about 10,000 immaculately contained square feet.
Now the challenge for Tre ... hmmm ... well knowing that Grandpa didn't speak a word of english, I dug my head deep in the books to try to learn German. With my headset on every morning on the train to work, my stickers all over the house, my evening German study sessions taught by "Mr. Hahn" and my nose deep in the "Learn German in 10 minutes a day" I tried my hardest to pick up and retain a few things. I thought I was a rock star picking up the language like no tomorrow ... until the pressure was on to perform. Talk bout stage fright. It was all in one ear and out the other. I spent the majority of our trip smiling and looking like a deer caught in headlights! I retained hardly ANYTHING! :( I tried so hard ... I practicing memorizing "Hello, it's very nice to meet you" for about an hour of our 4 hour drive from Frankfurt to Chiemsee. I was so nervous that when I got there and blurted it out he didn't understand me; I pronounced it all wrong. Chris thankfully translated and told him to smile and nod since I had been practicing that for farrrrrrrrr too long!! Chris was in full translator mode which enabled us to all communicate. Grandpa told endless stories while we listened and drank far to many beers!
Awwww .......
Grandpa and mousy (Grandpa's baby)!!
Next stop ... Salzburg, Austria. Austria was only a 45 minute drive away so we had to check it out. I suppose it should haven taken longer than 45 minutes to get there ... but since I forgot to mention that people drive mach 200 on the Autobon, it seems like people pretty much fly to their destinations! 200 was no trouble for our standard rental car though ~ an Audi that is! So much for the crappy rental cars you get here in Canada. When we got there I was blown away. The city was incredible even though it was pouring rain. Everything seemed so condensed yet huge at the same time (ie: the streets were very narrow and the buildings seemed very close together but there were so many of them). As soon as we got into the town I saw the castle on the hill. Wow, my first castle; I had to see it! We plugged the destination into the GPS and ended up seeing many other sights before getting there (including Mozart's house and museum)! Alas we found the street that would take us there ... it was literally wide enough for one vehicle to go up but it was a two way street. It was crazy. Given my pathetic depth perception there is NO way I could have driven up there ... thankfully Chris was driving. To make a long story short after only one anxiety attack ... we made it.
Enroute to Salzburg, we stopped off at this church.
That's all gold ... how insane is that?
I wanna go to that castle ... let the hunt begin!!
Check out how narrow these streets are!
The view from above
Enroute to the castle in the pouring rain!
We made it! Yahooo! It was incredible!
The view from inside the castle.
Back to Chiemsse we go for the birthday celebration! Chris' cousin Liisa and her boyfriend Kristian also arrived for the celebration. Mr. Richter has so many friends that I swear he must have received about 50 phone calls not to mention visitors to the house! Liisa cooked up a German dinner followed by some yummy cheese cake! Unfortunately, no one (not even me ~ the neurotic photographer) took any pictures of the evening. All the excitement wiped poor Grandpa out, so when he hit the hay, we hit ... the boogie dance party!
Birthday flowers and one happy grandpa!
oh my ... its swing dance time!
See those vats in the background ... yummy beer!
This beer is brewed in the restaurant!
Liisa really wanted to take me to this restaurant because it had a traditional Bavarian menu and local homebrew! Little did we know it was going to be sock hop!! Nonetheless, a good time was had by all. Although we didn't actually hit the dance floor, Liisa and I busted out all the lyrics to the songs!! Karakoe night at our table! Giddy up!
Another day ... another castle. This castle was located on the lake Grandpa lives on. It was one of three castles that belonged to the King (von Konig Ludwig II). I wish we were able to take pictures of the inside because it was absolutely AMAZING. Check out this link for a snapshot of what we saw:
www.herren-chiemsee.de/englisch/n_palace/tour.htm (just click on the different rooms on the map to see the pics).
Mr. Hahn ... that's more action that she's gotten in 200 years!
Gotta love the self portrait!
On to our next adventure (as per usual, we just can't sit still) - today is hiking day! After our daily morning breakfast and visit with Grandpa, we decided to go on a hike. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day ~ its family time! We would sit, eat and chat (well Chris and grandpa would chat, I'd just eat) for at least an hour every morning. No wonder I feel like I gained 10 pounds! Good thing we went biking or running every day!
Traditional German breakfast .... all fresh
from the deli/bakery every morning. The
bread and the butter are to die for! yummy
Its hiking time:
Enroute to the hiking spot ... all aboard!!
Views from above! A church this high up
the mountain? Hmm?
Finishing the hike with a beer!
How appropriate ... would you expect anything less?
Look at how quaint these streets are! I love it!
Schnitzel ... my favourite!!
(and the only thing I could read on the menu)!
Here's a few pics from our short tour de Munich. I had heard the shopping was amazing in Munich so we had to check it out. Ironically when we got there I was so mesmerized by the buildings and sites that shopping was the last thing I wanted to do. All these pictures are from the shopping district ... unreal!
Look at all those bikes!
Below are a few random pics from around Cheimsse. Bavaria was just so gorgeous I couldn't stop snapping shots:
The Lake Grandpa lives on! This quickly
became our favourite stomping grounds.
That'd be my husband walking down
the street with a beer in hand!
A day on out the bikes! This is a May day tree!
Another German tradition!
The infamous biking shot!!
Pit stop from bike ride (and one empty
beer glass)!
A mousie cuddle session.
The last big tour we did was to the Concentration Camp in Dachau (one of the main camps). It was a powerful, humbling and overwhelming experience. World War II is a part of history that will always continue to baffle me. We spent about 2 hours walking through the museum as well the grounds. Chris and I sat in silence for a good 20 minutes after leaving here.
This is the saying that is on the entry gate to the camp:
"Work brings freedom; work shall set you free"
Memorial walk
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I did it and I'm VERY proud of myself!!+025.jpg)
A metal!! I love it!!+027.jpg)
My running mates! Amber and Susan!!
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