Days 17-20 - Germany

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Let's talk about Germany - where the men wear lederhosen, the woman carry fistfuls of large beer mugs and the taxis are Mercedes. Germany was our final destination on this trip. We covered a fair bit of ground including;
- Two fun days in Munich
- A beautiful drive down to the Alps
- A nice but brief stay in Austria
- Rapid transit along the famous Autobahn
- The natural beauty of the Black Forest
- And visits to several German towns
Along the we way ate schnitzel and pretzels, listened to German music, gawked over Gothic buildings, admired the vast greenery, thundering mountain peaks and thick forests, and consumed a fair share of German beer. A busy, exhausting yet mostly successful trip by most measures.

Days 1 and part of 2 were spent in Munich. We had a hotel outside the English Garden on the edge of town. The English Garden is a large park with streams, wooded areas, open fields and a Chinese themed beer garden complete with German umpah-umpah music. The kids and I took walks and rode bikes while Ginger fought off a nasty headache (damn her head aches!l). We observed with interest the locals playing the very strange game of cricket. On the second day, we braved the rain and rode bikes in and around several hundred locals running a race. We visited the beer garden which was very well regarded by both tourists and locals alike. The kids played in the nearby playground while I sipped my first proper German brew in a proper stein mug listening to trumpets, baritones and bass drums belt out German classics. We spent most of a day in Munich city center walking along the shops, watching street performers, touring Gothic churches and visiting the open farmer markets. We capped this day off with a good long sit-down at a proper German beer house and clanked our steins to the German tunes with the rest of them. Munich was good fun.

After Munich, we rented a car and headed South towards the Alps. I had splurged for a Mercedes to cap the trip off in style as a surprise for the family, but alas the rental company gave it to someone else when I showed up a bit late. No bother, they put us in a brand new Land Rover which more than made up for it. The Rover had no problem cracking 100 MPH (I capped out around 125), but couldn't keep pace with numerous BMWs, Audis, Porches and Mercedes passing us like we were standing still. I swear I would look in my mirror and see no one and then two seconds later there was a screaming Audi riding my arse. Where did they come from?!? Now that I have tasted speed, I can't fathom driving any other way. Anyway, day 2 brought us the Alps and the Zugspitze (highest peak in Germany). The cloudy skies prohibited us from taking the cable car to the top, but we were impressed nonetheless with the majestic beauty of these mountains. The forests were thick and borderline semi-tropical in parts and the grass was dense and wet. Somewhere near Garmisch, we stumbled upon the coolest kids hotel ever. It had bike tracks, huge forts, bumper boats, you name it. By mid afternoon we made our way to Ehrenberg castle and the Highline 179 suspension bridge. The walk across the bridge was gut wrenching (I have a video of anyone wants to see it) but well worth it. The castle ruins and history were quite fascinating. We had just enough day light to see the Neuschwanstein Castle which is the one Walt Disney modeled the Disneyland castle after. By nightfall, we were in a nice and modern airbnb nestled between Alps mountain peaks in northwest Austria.

While in Austria, we visited Area 47 - the self-proclaimed "ultimate outdoor playground" with rafting, a water park, rope climbs and much more. The kids probably had the most fun time during the entire trip whipping down the water slides. It was time very well spent and the scenery was pretty amazing. Later this day, we made the fairly long drive up to a small town just past Stuttgart at the north end of the Black Forest. Ginger found this airbnb that was off the electric grid and butted right up to the forest. Although our host made us think of every horror film ever made involving a dark, dense forest and an unsuspecting family, our short time here was pleasant. Lying in bed, Ginger and I tried to find scary stories and folklore online to further stoke our imaginations. Ginger loves this kind of spooky stuff!

Our last full vacation day started with a walk in the Black Forest - which wasn't so haunting during the day. Nonetheless, we did see a few fairies, fought off a troll and had a nice chat with the Seven Dwarves. After this, we took a trip into Heidelberg for a castle tour and a chance to see an old, historic part of Germany. The Heidelberg castle is large compared to other castles we saw with parts of it restored to what the experts believe it used to look like. It was destroyed more than once either by fire or invasion. One of its previous occupants made the mistake of removing all the canons, which he later regretted when the castle was easily overrun during some long ago conflict. We ended up at our final hotel in Frankfurt, where we enjoyed some final German food and drink and prepared for the trip home tomorrow.

Bavarian Germany is a place I can imagine living in. It's clean, not overpriced and full of natural beauty and history. It was a nice way to cap a pretty amazing trip. We will send one final summary blog soon. Thank you all for reading our stories.

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Comments

[Grandma Sheila]

Germany
I need to visit my ancestor's home land looks beautiful. wish l liked beer. sounds like a wonderful trip. Are you home know?