Monday, August 25, 2014

Euro Trip 2014 - Complete!

Ok! I am finally getting around to writing this. I jumped right into a 40 hour work week - after seven months of being a housewife, so I am adjusting to being busy again. Work is going great. Elliott is loving that he's back with his old friends, and he is transitioning really well.

Our trip with Vanessa, Boris and Lili was great! I think we knocked out all the places we wanted to see ... and had a few adventures along the way.

I did not take as many pictures as I wanted, but Boris and Vanessa took hundreds, so one of these days I'll steal some, and put them on here as well.

We picked them up at the airport in Nuremburg and got right on the road to Prauge. We stayed there for a night, and ate some great Czech food, and took them around to all of the sights ...


Over looking Prauge from the castle gardens ...


The guard at the entrance to the castle ...


We left Prauge and stayed one night back in Grafenwoehr so we could get up the next day and head to our awesome mountain cottage in Austria. The views were amazing, and the owner of the cottage was so nice ... a little over-the-top at times, but very nice. Our plan here was to hit several nearby sights while using this as our home base.

This was the view from our bedroom balcony ...


Our first night we drove into a nearby town and ate at a great German restaurant. Afterwards we stopped at a grocery store to get breakfast supplies and plenty of beer. Our hotel delivered fresh bread every morning so we always had a nice little feast in our German kitchen.


The first full day we had planned to head out to Neuschwanstien Castle ... an easy 40 minute drive. We had a minor set back that morning when Elliott fell down in the hotel and required a hospital visit - he was fine, but needed some x-rays, a little TLC and some pain medicine. After that dramatic situation - we were off to the castle, but with the late start - we arrived with about a million other tourists. Apparently we chose to go to this sight on the busiest day of the year ... perfect. We actually never even made it up to the Neuschawnstien castle, but instead settled for the (slightly) less impressive Hohenschwangau Castle ... just across the mountain. We did a tour, explored the gardens, and saw some amazing views. Since we have lived in Germany - I have loved learning about crazy King Ludwig, so this was a very cool adventure for me.


Eating lunch with the castle in the background. Neuschwanstien is the castle that Walt Disney used to create Cinderella's castle!

Neighboring Hohenschwangau Castle ... the was King Luwig's childhood home. He built Neuschwanstien across the mountain as his own personal retreat. He spent tons of borrowed money on Neuschwanstien, and moved in before it was even fully complete ... then he went totally bonkers, and mysteriously drowned in a lake. Both castles remained untouched during WWII bombings because they are so secluded in the mountains.


Hanging in the gardens ....



Neuschwanstien from the gardens of Hohenschwangau ...


That night we went to an awesome wine bar in the town of Lermoos - where we were staying. The next morning we woke up and headed to Balzano, Italy. We were taking a huge gamble here because it was a huge Italian holiday, so I was scared the whole way there that we would arrive and every thing would be closed. We lucked out and most things were open ... except for the wineries - which was slightly disappointing. Either way, it was a beautiful day and were were able to sight see, eat some great Italian food, and pick up some wine!




The castle-side winery that we wanted to visit :(


The drive home ... amazing views. After our long drive we stopped by Edelweiss - which is an Army resort near our cottage. We ate some great American chicken wings - probably not exciting for Boris, Vanessa and Lili, but Vic and I were in heaven!


The next morning we packed up and headed deeper into Austria and visited Salzburg. The traffic on the autobahn was horrible - what should have been a three hour drive took a little closer to five. We were all starving and ready to get out of the car by the time we got into the city. The weather was pretty crappy, but we were determined to see the city.




Headed up the mountain to check out the castle ...


Views from the castle ...




Elliott threw a massive fit not long after these pictures were taken ... it was really his only meltdown of the two week vacation. I actually missed out on a majority of the crying - as I was running to retrieve our stroller, but I could tell from everyone's faces when I returned that it was a pretty good one!!




Group shot at the castle!




We headed back to the hotel with all intentions of relaxing and getting to bed early. Those plans were quickly foiled when we locked the keys in the car. After a couple hours of attempting to reach anyone who could help us - we finally forked over a couple hundred euro to a shady Austrian man, and we were back in business. Luckily, our insurance company has already reimbursed us, so it just ended up being another funny story on this wacky trip.

The next morning we got up early and headed to Eagle's Nest - Hitler's mountain-top retreat. We actually had a lot of luck with this trip - the weather was beautiful, nothing was closed, and we seemed to beat the crowds. It is quite the process to get to the top of this mountain, but it was well worth it. You're able to drive your own car to the base of the mountain - from there you jump on a bus that takes you up the side of the mountain - hair-pin turns and all. Seriously, one wrong move by these bus drivers and it would be really bad news. Once you're off the terrifying bus you walk down this long tunnel to an elevator which takes you up another few thousand feet. They said Hitler only visited this place a few times because of his fear of heights ...

Tunnel leading to the elevator ...



The views were amazing ...





The building behind Vic is the actual 'Eagle's Nest' ... it is now turned into a restaurant ...




Elliott sitting on the side of the mountain ... with blankie ...


My favorite shot of the vacation ...





After that amazing adventure - we started our long trek back to Grafenwoehr. Traffic was even worse than the day before and our 3 hour drive ended up being about six and a half! We decided that we were going to take the next day off from driving and just sit around the house and relax!!

Lili celebrated her 13th birthday while she was here, so I commissioned my amazing friend Vanessa to make her some cupcakes. Lili wanted this Harley Quinn theme (the Joker's girlfriend from Batman), and Vanessa did a great job!


The morning after our day of relaxation we headed out to the Dachau Concentration Camp. This has been on my bucket list, and it was such an interesting and eye-opening experience.

Prisoner entrance gate ... 'work will make you free' ....


Prisoner rooms ... these were for 'special' prisoners ... well-known musicians, scientists, etc ...



Vanessa and Lili taking pictures ...


Prisoner bunks ...


That's Elliott running away from us ...


Looking back onto the camp ...



Crematorium ...



Not an uplifting experience, but it was a must-see, and an awesome sight for Lili to be able to say she has visited ... Elliott, too, I suppose ... even though he won't remember.

After Dachau we made the quick drive to Munich to spend the rest of the day. We lucked out with traffic on this trip ... thank goodness.

Our first stop was to the Hofbrauhaus for beers ... it is a must for any trip to Munich. Afterwards we walked around the city ...


Frankenkirche under construction :(


Lili was such a trooper during all of our sight-seeing and beer drinking for the entire trip, and she did such a great job entertaining Elliott, and he is definitely missing his cousin!!


During our last day we took the train to Nuremburg and spent the day shopping, eating and seeing the sights. We said our goodbyes there - as they had an early flight in the morning. It was so great to have family around and be able to spend so much time together. We are counting down the days until we're back in America and just a quick flight away!

The next morning Vic and I jumped back on the train to Nuremburg and headed to a much anticipated soccer game. We had a blast and the atmosphere was so great.






We are still trying to catch up on laundry and we have vowed to do no more travelling until Oktoberfest rolls around in a few weeks. Our time here is quickly winding down and were trying to figure out where we can cram the last few trips we want to do. We'll have Oktoberfest in September, Amsterdam in October - followed by our cruise a couple weeks later, Normandy in Novemeber and Spain in December. There are a few other close places that we would like to get to, but our big travel planning is done! I'm pretty sure the next five months are going to fly.

Vic found out that he was accepted into grad school at UCF in Orlando, so he's currently attempting to figure out how we can get home a couple weeks early, so we'll be settled in for him to start classes in January! We are so excited to get home!!!