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We received a call at 4am saying that our flight had been delayed. After a couple of hours re-working options with our helpful but clueless NW airlines rep from some office in India, we were re-routed on flights that arrived eight hours later than originally planned. I am glad that we left our phone number when we booked our flights so that we didn't head to the airport that early with two little kids.
The kids slept fitfully on the red eye flight, but we all arrived safe this evening and drove to our friend Edith's house where we received a warm welcome. After some introductions and "Brotzeit", a light evening meal of bread, cheese, and deli meat, we all went to bed.
The kids were both jet lagged and woke up ready to go at 2am. They stayed awake until 7am and then crashed again until noon. It was a great lesson for us that kids sleep when they are tired and this makes it much harder for them to conquer jet lag as they want to sleep at odd hours. I'm glad we planned a few extra days!
In the afternoon, we visited our friend Edith's parents on a farm. Her mom made us veal schnitzel and let the kids help feed the cows.
Today we dropped my dad at the train station so that he could travel to north to Berlin. Then we headed to the Wildpark outside of Schweinfurt. This park is entirely funded by local community donations. It houses deer, elk, moose, wild boar, and various native birds in natural habitats. Among the more interesting exhibits are a completely albino deer and an overlook platform allowing you to look right down on the fierce looking wild boar. They also have a spacious petting zoo and some of the best children's play areas I've ever seen including a 40 foot seesaw that requires at least two adults to get moving. The entire facility is free to enter and has dozens of tree-lined paths winding throughout to allow the local citizens a chance to fit in their daily walks, a mainstay for many Germany people.
Tonight Edith made rouladen for dinner. This traditional Bavarian dish is made from extremely thin cuts of beef. Mustard, pickles, mushrooms, and other fillings are added to the beef and then the beef strips are rolled up and baked with gravy.
Today we took a small car ferry across the Main River. We visited a Weinhaus that was designed by Hundertwasser. This 20th century architect created whimsical designs with bright colors and spiraling natural features. The winery had a fish pond to entertain the kids while we shopped for local Franconian wines. After the winery, we traveled to another impressive "spielplatz" (play area) complete with an in ground trampoline and a zipline swing in addition to the standard swings and slides. We had a traditional Bavarian picnic of mild cheeses, salami, soft pretzels, Krapfen (jelly filled donuts)and Kinderschocolade (smooth chocolate) for dessert.
We returned to pick up Edith's baby from her mom's house and then took the kids to a nearby ostrich farm. For dinner that night, Edith made veal with gravy and wild boar. The boar tasted a lot like very tender beef and was hunted by her husband, Harald. Harald was the local gamekeeper, which meant that he had the only license to hunt in the grounds around the village. He could invite others to hunt with him in his patch of forest and he was also the one responsible for keeping the forest clear of debris to limit fires. Edith's dad was also a gamekeeper in another village and had the additional job of cleaning up any road killed animals around his village. Hunting is also seasonal with restrictions about which animals can be taken during different times of the year.
Rothenburg is a well-preserved medieval town with an intact town wall and many buildings dating from the 1200-1300s. Although it is touristy, it's also incredibly charming and you can't help but feel that the overpriced souvenirs and crowds of tourists are a small price to pay for its picture-perfect medieval feel. We visited Kathe Wolfhart's Christmas store, a multileveled extravaganza of moving Christmas displays, trees, and millions of ornaments. From an overlook in the store, you can look down on a sea of Christmas trees and other holiday fare that is sure to rival the North Pole itself. After shopping, we walked along the town wall and stopped into one of the bakeries to sample the Schneeball (snowball), a local specialty that looks like a dry ball of pastry crust. It is available in a variety of flavors including chocolate dipped and sprinkles. We opted for the more traditional powdered sugar variety. It tasted better than it looked, with a buttery flavor and smoother texture than I expected.
For dinner that night we picked up some fantastic pizzas with a variety of ingredients including tuna fish and ham. Since we were only a few hours from the Italian border, nearly every village had an authentic pizzeria.
We spent a final morning with our friends Edith, Harald, Julian, and Enrico. I went shopping for Strumphosen (something in between long underwear and tights that are worn by children of both genders) for Matthew as the days were chilly and we were all catching colds. Then we returned to Edith's for one more traditional lunch of sausages (Weisswurst, weinerwurst, and bratwurst), mustard and pretzels before heading to Kirchenthumbach to visit our other friends there.
My dad arrived on the train into Pegnitz this evening and we went to pick him up. He was delayed for ~ an hour so Conrad and I went to the local grocery store to pick up a few items for our stay.
It was so wonderful to meet up with this incredible family again. The parents, Helen and Conrad, are from the UK and Germany respectively. Their 3 kids, ages 9, 6 and 3 speak eloquently in both languages. In fact, they can start a sentence in one language and then turn to someone else and finish in the other language. They quickly learned that we were english-speakers, though my dad's German was good enough to convince the youngest, Lily Mae, that he must be a German speaker so she would always change her language to address him.
These friends are vegetarian so we joined them for their own version of Brotzeit with lots of traditional German bread, cheese, and fruit.
Today we all headed to Bayreuth, the nearest small city to their home. We saw Wagner's impressive home and wandered through the nearby gardens that are now a city park. From here, we headed into town for some traditional hot chocolate and then through the pedestrian zone to see some of the cute shops. Most cities in Germany have pedestrian-friendly outdoor shopping areas with few or no cars. These almost always have activities for kids as families are highly valued. Here they had a carousel so we let the kids each take a ride.
With a low population and the need for future workers, Germany has some of the most family-friendly policies in the world. Some examples include 12 months of maternity leave, at least two months paternity leave, Kindergeld (money paid to families each month from the government for each child), free insurance and higher education (something that is in the process of changing with much protest), and kids' entertainment nearly everywhere. They highly value families, both socially and politically. You can't go to the bakery, butcher, pharmacy, etc with children in Bavaria and not receive some little gift for the kids.
After the carousel, we decided to get some dinner. In the winter, they set up some wooden stands with Christmas lights that sell gluh-wein (hot spiced wine), sausages, and crepes to the Christmas shoppers in the Bayreuth city center. We sampled the food. Our friends had arranged for us to stay in a cottage of our own at Conrad's parents house. I was thankful for the privacy as this night both Matthew and I got very ill. Let's just say that I won't be having sausages or gluhwein for a long time.
After our illness from the previous night, we got a slow start today. We headed to Conrad and Helen's for the kids to play in the morning. That afternoon, we drove to the small village of Pottenstein and took a ride similar to a luge. We each boarded a car with a joystick braking system. The cars were large enough to put each of the kids in with an adult. We built up quite a bit of speed racing down the hill along a steel track.
Then we headed to a small village nearby for some traditional German cakes and hot chocolate (and a chance to get out of the pouring rain that had just started).
Today Ryan woke up feeling poor. He decided to rest at the cottage while Helen and I drove up to Bayreuth to search for my camera that I had lost there two days before. Fortunately, some nice person had turned it in at the Stadthaus, near the parking lot where we had parked. I was so grateful to have my camera back that I cried when the gentlemen smiled as he handed it back. We went to Helen's house to take some pictures of all the kids together and then I went back to check on Ryan. He decided that he was well enough to travel so we started the long drive to Fussen.
Enroute we stopped at a typical Autobahn rest area. The rest areas here are phenomenal. The bathrooms were immaculate. After you used the toilet, it automatically flushed and the toilet seat turned a full circle, being washed by a disinfectant as it traveled around. They had a gas station and an extensive food court where we all ordered seafood and soup. Then we found a table next to the kids' play area and let them burn off some energy.
We drove the rest of the way to Fussen and checked into a bed and breakfast. From the balcony of my dad's room, you could see Neuschwanstein on the hillside.
Today we visited King Ludwig II's two famous castles near the German-Austrian border, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. Following the advice of our guidebook, we woke early to be sure to have plenty of time to get tickets. Travellers are assigned a set time to visit each castle and reminded that there are no refunds if they miss their allotted time. The castle visits are spaced two hours apart. Though the tours are only ~ 35 minutes in duration, it was still a bit of a rush to get two young kids between the castles with bathroom stops along the way.
We started at Hohenschwangau, the yellow castle where Ludwig grew up. Our guide spoke perfect english and provided a thorough tour of each room- pointing out interesting tidbits such as the secret door and passageway between the king's and queen's bedrooms. The castle was bright and elegant with much of the original furnishings.
After the first castle, we walked back down one hill and caught a horse and carriage ride up the much steeper mountain to Neuschwanstein. This castle was only ~ 1/3 finished on the interior as King Ludwig had died young before its completion. It was immediately converted into a museum to help pay the royal family's debts. Neuschwanstein had a much darker, Gothic look and had been dedicated to Wagner, a family friend. Every finished room was themed after a Wagnerian opera. The top floor was a theater with excellent acoustics designed for showing operas. Though it never held a performance for Ludwig, it now offers classical musical performances every summer.
After our tour, we had lunch at the castle cafe and then headed up to Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge) for a view of this Disney like castle before catching a shuttle bus back down.
For dinner we went to an incredible Italian eatery and ordered twice as much food as we could ever eat (on accident) to warm us up after a cold day of touring.
Today we had a long drive from Fussen to Pasau via Munich. Munich is not a good city for cars. Streets are erratic, parking is limited and streets are narrow. After ~ 45 minutes, we finally found a spot to park outside the city center. We took the easy subway system into town and found some lunch at the Kaufhaus.
After some minor car trouble, we arrived in Passau and boarded the Amacello. This is a brand new vessel with some outstanding technology (and a few glitches). Each room has a TV/ computer with dozens of movie options (2 Euros each), TV, music, free internet, and access to a camera that takes constant video from the back of the ship showing its position. You can set up a wake up call, read about ship amenities, and watch a map tracking the ship's progress down the river. Overall, its a great system, though the remote doesn't always work consistently and internet access is spotty and slow.
Rooms are comfortable with either two twin beds or one king bed. The single bed arrangement feels larger and it preferable if you are undecided. The room also had a desk, two chairs, nightstands, a generous wall of closets and shelves, and an amazing shower with three different nozzles and exceptional water pressure. Extra blankets, slippers, bathrobes, a hair dryer, soap, shampoo, and lotion are all provided. Tap water is potable in the rooms and they also have free bottled water. Rooms also have safes and telephones (1 Euro per minute to anywhere).
Meals are 5 star with a choice of three appetizers, soups, entrees, and dessert. Special requests are honored and they offered to make special dishes for the kids as long as they had notice earlier in the day. The food is amazing and wine is included with dinner. Service is also top notch. They probably asked me at least seven times during dinner if I wanted more wine, even though I said no every time. They also brought around a few extra entrees so guests could try the things that they hadn't ordered. Meals are open seating at a single time. However, they also offered early and late riser pastries, coffee and cake in the afternoon and a late night snack in addition to three filling meals. It was impossible to go hungry.
Part of each day was spent traveling along along the river. This was fascinating as most rooms have French balcony doors where you can literally reach out and touch the shore at times. There's also a fitness center, lounge, beauty salon, games' room, and hot tub to keep travelers entertained while enroute. Newspapers from the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK were also available each day. The reception is open 24 hours to provide additional assistance and they all spoke perfect english.
There's also an elevator onboard. Laundry services are available at an extra cost. Smoking is allowed only outside on the sundeck.
Took a wheelhouse tour this morning. The ship is actually controlled by a joystick rather the a wheel. Guests were allowed to ask the captain questions. They mainly asked about safety. Regulations are strict and all systems have multiple back ups. Extensive mapping and a radar system are all battery operated so that they are not impacted by any electrical failure.
After the tour, we had another great meal and then headed into Regensburg for a city tour. The city is a UNESCO site with many remnants of old Roman walls as well as dozens of intact medieval merchant homes that are still used today.
We returned from the tour chilled from the cold wind and headed straight for the hot tub. The kids loved a chance to splash around in the warm water and then we bundled them into the Amacello bathrobes and headed back to the room.
After dinner, they had a fabulous Bavarian duo onboard. The kids bounced to the polka music and Matthew was particularly enamored by the Bavarian flag that showed two lions that they had brought along. Ryan was volunteered to play the spoons and he did an incredibly good job, complete with a stylish Bavarian hat.
In the morning we sailed through the Main-Danube Canal. The kids enjoyed touching the walls of the locks as we went through.
We stopped in Nuremburg for a rainy city tour up to the castle. The city was beautiful, but the weather was too cold to enjoy it as much as we might have so we decided to head to the elaborate toy museum. With four floors of toys from the last century, kids and adults were happily entertained. We waited to meet up with grandpa who had the car. However, he didn't show up on time and we began to get worried when the museum closed. It was pouring a drizzly snow when we left so I decided to head to the nearest restaurant so the kids and Ryan could stay warm and dry while I made some calls. I got them settled and then headed back to the toy museum. On the way, I saw grandpa walking on the other side of the street. Our guardian angel was definitely watching out for us! We all went for dinner and then headed by car to Darmstadt.
We drove north to Dortmund this morning to see one of the largest Christmas markets in Germany and arguably the largest Christmas tree (actually a creation of dozens of trees stacked artfully together) in the world. We parked at the train station and walked into the pedestrian zone where we ordered Turkish Doner kebabs, another German mainstay given the large Turkish population. The pedestrian zone was packed wall to wall with shoppers enjoying the first days of the market. The market was absolutely stunning, a collection of huge Christmas displays and personalized booths that seemed to each be trying to outdo each other with decorations, similar to the personal touches provided on a parade float. Four plazas were filled with wooden booths that were elaborately decorated with Christmas themes including reindeer, Santa, and even a little gondola that actually moved tiny passengers from one end of the booth to the other. We sampled some chocolate dipped fruit (bananas, apples, and strawberries) from one of the Christmas booths and looked for the handmade ornaments that I remembered from Bavarian Christmas markets of past years. The wares themselves, however, were uninteresting (except for the food!) with lots of commercial goods including scarves, purses, jewelry, etc. There were several incredible rides, much more beautiful than the typical fair rides at home. There was a swing ride that had a mix of swings, ships, geese, and other creatures to ride as it lifted kids up in the air and spun them around. All of the brightly colored ride was decorated with twinkling lights and detailed paintings. Another ride allowed kids to board an antique car and drive through a Christmas wonderland with beautiful Christmas lights, a tunnel, snowman, Santa, and much more. I've never seen such a pretty ride. It looked like a kids' dreamland of the North Pole. The kids even got to ride live ponies.
