Family

Friday, August 5, 2011

Bavaria Part I

After a boring 5 hour drive to Bavararia, we were welcomed to a comfy hotel room with magnificent balcony view. We settled in ourselves, went to the nearsest market, and had a geman style dinner, which includes, cheese, some cold meats like salami, bread, yogurt and cake, back at our hotel. We also tried out the kid friendly park and swimming pool with the kids after dinner.

The following morning, after a hearty Austrian breakfast, it was off to visit Neuschwenstein Castle and explore the Bavarian Alps. We had the good idea of keeping kids entertained by asking them to help us find public playgrounds along our drive through the Alps. This allowed both kids and parents to enjoy their surroundings and the views.

Hotel Room in Jungholz

Kids Play area in hotel

Hotel Swimming Pool

Hot Tub Time!

Horse Ride up to Neuschwenstein Castle

Posing in front of Neuschwenstein Castle

Grumpy Little Manny.....he's hungry

Getting the boys happy again by filling them up with some grub.

At Neuschwenstein Castle Courtyard

The Real Rapunzel

Oh Romeo, Romeo! Where are Thou Romeo?

Hike down from Neuschwenstein Castle

Hohenschwangau Castle

The views are Marvelous!!!!!

Neuschwenstein Castle

Fountain in Hohenschwangau Castle

King of the Mountain

Bavarian Alps

Lake view in Haller Austria

Park with lake view...very kid friendly in Austria

Austrian Bavarian Alps Horn Blowers

Enjoying the music

Sunset view from our balcony

Monday, August 1, 2011

Heildeburg Germany

Kids enjoying the ride

We went to a Heidelberg Castle the other day. It was really nice but we had the misfortune of lots of wasps, not only buzzing around us, but landing on us every few minutes or so. We had to rush through most of it, luckily there was one part that you could go inside and explore which gave us a break from those pesky insects. Despite the wasps, it was a very nice castle with beautiful views. We made it a short day that day to come home just in time for our traditional beer hour in the evening with our family friends.

(interesting fact .....Beer.de is one of the best sites offering info on various aspects of beer in Germany.
The Germans are known to the whole world as a true beer-loving nation. And there is no exaggeration here!

Beer's history dates back to prehistoric ancient times when the Sumarians discovered the fermentation process (about 6000 years ago). Babylonians and Egyptians developed the art of brewing beer, and passed it to Romans who considered it to be a barbarian drink. The Teutons, the ancient Germans, regarded beer as a sacrifice to the gods. They started producing the first proof beer in the early Hallstatt Period (about 800 B.C.). In the Middle Ages beer brewing turned into a favorite occupation of monks who served it with their meals.)

After our long day trips we usually rest a day or two in between. Our Family Friends, Mike and Nicole told us about a park near by for the kids. The parks here are not your typical parks and are even fun for adults at some, as you will see in our pictures below.

We’re now off to Bavaria to sight see the Neuschwanstein Castle and the Romantic Road (lets see how romantic it is with kids :) ).We will actually be staying in Austria during our Bavarian Excursion.....boy we are visiting two more countries than we originally had planned for (so the kids really have not slown us down, that much ;) ).

Comments encouraged here, I'm really new at this blog thing and not sure if everyone one or anyone is receiving it...

Cable car ride up to Castle

Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg castle windows

Water break.....


Little Man very interested in the views he seeing from way up high

Beautiful view

Can you see the kids crying here, because the wasps kept landing on them.

Alisa and Lil Man trying to smile, but afraid of the wasps.

Little Man pretending to use a bow and arrow and get the bad guys like back in the day.

Family time at German park

Built-in trampoline in German park

Zip Cord line adventure

Slide may be larger than it appears

Tire swing fun (German style)

Park house

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Trier and Luxemburg

We are off to Trier, Germany....one of the oldest cities in all of Germany. There were many Roman ruins to see including Roman baths, amphitheater, basilika and gate (we got to see Porta Nigra and the Basilika since it started to rain as we were within proximity of the baths and amphitheater). We were still able to enjoy the Platz and the palace grounds in Trier. There was a nice park on the palace grounds where the kids were able to expend some energy. Downpour rain cut our Trier trip short and we decided to try our luck in nearby Luxembourg. Luxembourg is one of richest countries in Europe thanks to its financial sector (it is quite easy to open bank accounts here if you want to open an off-shore account), but it also surprisingly has a very picturesque Old City Center. We also visited the City Hall which contained large vases where we took self-portraits of the family.