Day 23 - Florence

We drove from Venice to Florence today. We arrived in Florence a little late in the afternoon so we only had time to walk around a bit and have dinner. It rained like crazy and we got a little soaked, but the Cathedral is worth seeing even in the rain!

Tomorrow we are touring the inside of the Cathedral and the David statue.

View of Tuscany from our hotel in Florence.

New umbrellas.

Florence Cathedral.

Ella and some weird girl.

Day 21- Venice

Today we drove through Austria to Italy. We took a boat from the Marco Polo Airport to Venice. It is so beautiful. Our hotel was the last stop on the water bus, so we were able to see several of the islands.

After the 5-hour drive and 1-hour boat ride we took a walk and had dinner. This was pretty much a travel day, but here are some lovely pics:

Jack's absolute favorite. He is in Heaven at the Nutella Piazzette.

Sunset over Venice.

Our restaurant.

Fresh mussels for dinner.

Ready for some Italian food.

On the boat to Venice.

The Venice waterways.

Day 17-19 The Zoo and Dinner at the Hofbrauhaus

Beautiful Munich sunset.

This week I took the kids to the Munich Zoo. It is a large zoo, similar to the Brookfield Zoo, which is spread out over a lot of park land. They had two great play areas for the kids, petting zoos, and ice cream!

At the zoo.

We also had dinner with one of Brett's co-workers at the Hofbrauhaus. 

Amazing apple streudel.

Like father, like son.

Pork knuckle!

On the 22 we take off for Italy! When we come back to Germany, the Tollwood festival will be in full swing. We will be seeing ZZ Top.

Tollwood Festivel concert schedule.

Day 13-14 Salzburg, Austria

The tour!

So, for Father's Day and my birthday we headed to Salzburg to do the very touristy thing of going on The Sound of Music Tour. The kids watched the movie for the first time the day before we went. (Yes, I consider this a parental failing.) 



Salzburg is a beautiful city and the countryside is full of beautiful farmland, lakes, and meadows.  While in the country, the tour stopped for a toboggan ride.

Downtown

Um...a goat.

Kids and Brett coming down the toboggan run.

We saw many of the sites involved in the filming of the movie and had a wonderful tour guide who gave us all a lesson on the real story. The abbey still has nuns. They are fairly reclusive and strict, so the abbey is not open to the public. After the tour, the kids watched the movie three more times and looked for all the spots we visited.

The church where the wedding was filmed.
It is not where they actually married, which took place at the abbey.

Ella wishing she had been a guest.

Jack going in for confession!

The gazebo.

The next morning we spent some time at a local park that was filled with Sunday visitors.

Our hotel in Salzburg.

Day 11 and 12- Fairy Tales and Lazy Days

Marchenwald Amusement Park

On Thursday the kids and I ventured on the train a little farther out than we have so far. We went to a fairy tale-themed park called Marchenwald in Woflfratshausen. It was an old amusement park that was probably a little young for Jack and Ella, but they had fun.

At Marchenwald

As you walked around the park their were various stages with really weird, old fashioned German puppet/dolls telling the fairy tales. Some where a little familiar to the kids, like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but other were not, like The Magic Table. All of them had the creepy brothers Grimm angle. For instance, in The Frog Prince, instead of kissing the frog and turning him into a prince, the princess got angry and threw the poor little frog against the wall turning him into a prince.

Grumpy dwarf

Wild boar ride

They had some fun rides and a cool treehouse that the kids played in, so all in all it was a good day.

Cool treehouse

On Friday the kids and I were very lazy. In the evening we went to a house party with Brett's co-workers. It was lovely and they cooked a lamb all day on the grill.

Lamb grilling, before and after.

Brett tried some homemade Croatian drink, which is like grappa. I was told by the very German man pouring it that it wasn't offered to women!

Tomorrow we are driving to Salzburg, Austria to celebrate my birthday and Father's Day.

Day 9 - Toy Museum

Jack's favorite display.

Today the kids and I took the train into Marianplatz and went to a cute little toy museum that we noticed the other day. It was full of amazing old toys, including tin figures, dollhouses, rag and porcelain dolls, barbies, tin robots, and more.

Barbie.

Day 8 - Deutsches Museum

Day 8- Deutsches Museum

Today we visited the Deutsches Museum, which is the world's oldest museum of technology and engineering. It was so cool. There were sections on machinery, printing presses, textiles, cameras and film, musical instruments, space, ships, and planes. We all loved it. I will let the pictures tell the story!

Jack playing Beethoven.

No guitar is too big for Ella.

Jack and Ella learn about pulleys.

Just a few of the cameras.

This one's for my mom-a replica of the boat in Savannah harbor!

Sails from an actual ship in the museum.

Day 7 - Castles and lakes

The Bavarian Alps and the Alpsee Lake.

We spent all day on Saturday hiking, visiting castles, climbing up countless steps, and relaxing by a lake in the Bavarian Alps.

Ella wading in the Alpsee lake.

The town at the foot of the alps and the castles is a quaint tourist town that caters to the castle visitors. There is a beautiful lake called the Alpsee with plenty of hiking paths, trees, and resting spots. We spent an hour or so just watching the kids play in the water and enjoying the beautiful sunny day. It was about 72 degrees.












After relaxing by the lake, we made a hike up to Schloss Hohenschwangau, a beautiful 14th-century castle that was destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars and then restored in 1832 by Maximillian II, the King of Bavaria. We also visited Neuschwanstein, one of the most renowned castles of Ludwig II, Max's son. He went broke building the castle, was declared mad for spending all his money, and died under mysterious circumstances before it was finished. (He was found drowned in a lake.)

Schloss Hohenschwangau is the yellow building on the left.

Neuschwanstein seen from the village.

BRAT!!!

Now to the food. We have been in Germany a week and this is the first time I had a brat! It was grilled and juicy and meaty and delicious.









And when we returned home, there was a city party happening in the square below our balcony, so we listened to Germany music and watched the dancers.

Party in Pasing.

Day 5-Marienplatz

Goofing around in the Hofbrauhaus.

Today we visited Marienplatz (St. Mary's Square), which is the central city square in Munich. It is crowded with locals, tourists, shopping, restaurants, and churches. It was the first nice day of the spring here in Germany, so a lot of people were out and about.

We hit the square when a lot of church services were going on, so many of the churches were not fully open. We sat for half the mass at Michaelskirche (St. Michael's) and peeked into Peterkirche (St. Peter's), which is Munich's oldest church.

We had dinner at the famous Hofbrahaus which was built in 1589 because the Duke of Bavaria was not happy with the beer brewed in Munich. The dining hall seats 1,300 people! We listened to the band, ate yummy German food, and sat with some folks from Kansas City.

Spaetzle

Jack and a pretzel as big as his head.

The band in the Hofbrauhaus.

The market in the city center has all kinds of wonderful food and crafts. I am on a mission to buy a cuckoo clock while we are here, and I think we will all have a beer stein when we get home!

MEAT!!!

I will have one!