The Clarks European Vacation, Part V

This is the last post about our trip...

Sunday morning we woke up, reluctantly, and headed for Dachau. It wasn't that we didn't want to go to Dachau, we did, but that we still weren't feeling 100% and it was rainy. I don't watch the news here in the states, so why would I act any differently on vacation? Because I didn't check the weather, I didn't realize that it was going to be overcast, rainy, and down right cold on Sunday. When we got on the bus for Dachau, it wasn't terribly cold, but it was when we arrived!! Our tour guide left something to be desired (a lot to be desired!) and it was lightly raining the entire time. Abigail started balling about half way through the walk down to the eternal flame, so we left the camp area and headed to the cafe to warm up and grab some lunch.

Dachau wasn't an execution camp, but a work camp, hence the "Albeit Macht Frei" at the gate entrance - "Work Make Free". This was, of course, a lie, but something that the Nazis used to improve morale, if that was possible. Dachau was the first Nazi camp in Germany and was used as a model for many that followed. After the American's raided Dachau, in 1945, much of the camp was destroyed. The barracks that is currently standing was later rebuilt after being destroyed. A lot of what is there is memorials. There is a museum that contains a lot of pictures and Jordan watched a video (I had to stay outside - in the museum - with Abigail).

I had been to both Auschwitz and Dachau before and, have to say that, to me, Auschwitz is much more striking. Of course, Auschwitz was an execution camp, so its story is a lot more inconceivable and heart breaking. I think that Jordan was left wanting more, and said that it didn't hit him like he thought it might (in other words, he didn't have a whole lot of emotions while there). I know that might sound harsh, but it's one thing to look at pictures, and a building that looks fairly new. However, that night he couldn't sleep very well and was up thinking about what he saw. He stated the next morning that it took awhile for him to process everything.

The Holocaust and Nazis are something that has always fascinated me. In my line of work I see hate. Real, true hate. And, I don't understand it. Any of it. What Hitler did and the kind of hate that he had to feel toward another human being is truly incomprehensible for me. I've done research papers on the Holocaust and Auschwitz (another reason I may be partial to Auschwitz over Dachau) and that is something that I always struggle with. The hate.

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Monday we did a lot of hanging out. We made a trip into Garmish to shop and we went swimming again. We ate at an amazing restaurant that had great, authentic, food. It was highly recommended and we would also recommend it!

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After Jordan and Abby were swimming Abigail made a be-line for the arcade. According to Jordan, she headed straight for the flying game and climbed in the seat (I was doing laundry, so I missed that part).

Dada tied her towel around her waist ~ doesn't she look like a big girl?!

Some beautiful things on our walk in town

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Our awesome food at Zum Wildschutz

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Tuesday we went into Munich. We had the greatest tour guide and had a wonderful time. Abby and Jordan got to watch the Glockenspiel for the first time and we learned how the Oktoberfest came to be:
In 1810, King Ludwig I (then only a prince) married {this was a big deal, because he was a major bachelor (bachelor = player)}, and they had a huge celebration. The citizens decided that this should continue every year and it still does today! Kind of a cool story, I thought. I'm not sure how much of it is true, but I like it!

Munich, in a nutshell

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I just loved this picture... you can't get pictures like this around here (with those kind of buildings in the background!)

Wednesday we did some more hanging out and went into Garmish again. We ate at a cute Italian place for lunch and later that day had our family picture taken (I'm still waiting on that 8x10 to arrive). That night we had an "anniversary" dinner at the Pullman Place (I know daring, right? after getting food poisoning there?). We ordered some chocolate fondue for desert and Abigail loved it. She's really gotten into dipping lately and it was adorable!!

Her and her dada (in her dress, which he loved)

Dipping in the chocolate!

Thursday it was time to leave... we took the train into Munich to get on our plane. We arrived over two hours early, but I waited in line to check our luggage forever. When it was finally my turn, the lady told me we needed to be making our way through security because our flight would board in 12 minutes. Seriously?! Needless to say it was a very emotional good bye for Jordan and I. Once we boarded Abigail asked for dada, and I had to tell her (while trying to maintain my composure) that we had to tell dada bye bye. She waved and said "dada?". It brought me to tears and take off was a bit rough. After we were in the air for a little bit, the girl next to me (she had the window seat, and I had the isle seat) moved, so Abby and I had a little "nook". It was great, though we spent most of our time walking the isle. Abigail barely cried at all, but stayed awake for the entire international flight. Once we left Chicago for KC, however, she was out. She slept for that entire flight, but woke as we were taxing and cried and cried, nothing would calm her. Once we were finally in the car on our way home, she fell asleep again and slept until we got home (refused to eat dinner) and slept all night.

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Our trip, if you couldn't tell, was amazing. We miss Jordan like crazy ("dada" is literally the first word out of her mouth in the morning, and the last before she falls asleep at night), but, since it's almost May, we only have 4ish months left!!

The Clark's European Vacation, Part IV

Wednesday morning we checked out of our hotel (leaving a lot of things there, so we didn't have to attempt to travel with everything we had brought) and boarded a train for Salzburg, Austria! The total ride was supposed to take 3 hours and we had to switch trains in Munich and only had 15 minutes to do it. Never having been in a "real" train station before, I had no idea what we were in for. There were lots of people everywhere and we had to almost sprint through the station to make our connection. But, we made it, with about 5 minutes to spare. I had a lot of anxiety about traveling with my adorable babe, and for the most part, it was all for nothing. The people we met along the way were all very kind and didn't seem to bat an eye when she would start to get fussy. The only real issue we had was that she wanted to be down and walking around. And, that's understandable, I think we all did!

Traveling (click to enlarge)

The bottom, middle photo is a child seat in a cab - the regular cab seat just folded into this amazing child seat, and Abby loved it!

Tuesday night we stayed up pretty late trying to plan our trip to Salzburg... trying to find a hotel and figure out what sights to see and restaurants to eat at. We found the perfect hotel through Trip Advisor. We stayed at the Wolf Dietrich Hotel and Residence. It was the picture-perfect European hotel. I loved it from the moment we entered the door. We had a "king" sized bed for Jordan and I (two twins pushed together ~ I love it!) and Abigail had her own nook with a twin sized bed. It was perfect! (Okay, the "king" sized bed things was a little annoying, but it was still cute) It was only a 5 minute walk from the Old Town and the most recommended restaurant was just around the corner. Oh yeah, and they had cake and coffee every afternoon!

Our hotel ~ after they made up our beds with Abigail's stuff

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We checked into our hotel and relaxed a little (Abigail tried to make some phone calls - as pictured above - this happened so much I unplugged the phone) before setting out for dinner. We decided to check with the front desk (and Jordan wanted to grab a cup of coffee ~ apparently the best coffee ever!) to ask about a restaurant that had "authentic" Bavarian food. While we were in the lobby/sitting room we met a great woman named Claire. She is Irish, but from England now, and we had a great time chatting with her, and ended up inviting her to dinner. Dinner was... okay. It was the most recommended restaurant on Trip Advisor and the one our concierge recommended, but it was just okay. I ordered the bratwurst and sauerkraut and the brats were okay, but the sauerkraut was really good.

SIDE STORY: On our way to dinner we let Abigail walk - she was learning that she had to hold onto Mommy or Daddy's hand if she wanted to walk and not be carried or in the stroller. Well, there was another little girl (who we later learned was almost exactly Abby's age) walking, too. The girls locked eyes and ran, literally ran, to each other. They held hands and took off walking down the street!! It was adorable!! We only got one picture and it doesn't come close to doing the moment justice ~ it was so funny!

~ Lily and Abigail ~

Later that night we put Abigail to bed and watched WALL-E (did I mention our awesome hotel had movies you could borrow?!). I had wanted to see this movie since it came out and it turned out to be a really cute movie. Jordan and I both enjoyed it (don't tell him I told you that!).

Thursday morning we started our day with a traditional Bavarian breakfast ~ breads, deli-style meats, Nutella, yogurt and coffee (or in my case juice, and Abigail's milk). Abby really liked the Nutella with bread, and I really miss their rolls now that we're home. {I actually tried to bring two home with me (from Germany, not Austria ~ that would have been pushing it) but they didn't fare too well.}

Once we ate breakfast we set out for a walking tour of the city. Jordan had copied a few pages out of a buddy's travel book that had a self-guided walking tour of Salzburg spelled out. We attempted to follow it the best we could, but we skipped over a few things. For example, Salzburg is Mozart's birth place. Okay, well, we both enjoy Mozart's music, but neither of us have a real desire to dig too much deeper, so we skipped some of the Mozart stuff.

{Side note: We took the Kelty Tour backpack carrier for Abigail and it was wonderful. I can say that because Jordan carried her, but she loved being up high and never whined about having to be in it. I was able to check it as a "baby item" on the plane, too, so it was free. I would highly recommend it ~ I bought mine from a co-worker, so I don't know that they actually make this style anymore, but I do know that Kelty's are the best!}

Here are a few pictures from the beginning of our day. If anyone is interested in all of the places we saw, let me know and I'll try to get another copy of the pages, so I can get the names of everything correct, we gave our copy to Claire on Friday morning.

The city of Salzburg, Austria

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In the morning we explored the city (via the walking tour) and then went  up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. We took the little tram-thingy {yes, that's the technical term :)} up but walked down. The views from the top were amazing and I took a lot of pictures. We took a "guided tour", which translated to "here's an hand-held audio guide, walk around", and Abigail loved it! She loved it because she had a hold of one of the audio guides at all times (or she would scream), and got to learn all about the fortress.

Abigail and Dada at the top (almost)

Hohensalzburg fortress

~ Abigail and the audio guide ~

All of the armor things...

~ Our Family ~

Does this look familiar??

It should if you've seen The Sound of Music!!

On our walk down the hill/mountain from the fortress we found an Amber shop and went in to browse. Jordan found some Amber that had a mosquito in it that wasn't horribly expensive, so we now have an ancient mosquito in our house and I'm thinking of bringing back the dinosaurs ~ anyone want to help me?? :) Anyways, while we were in the Amber shop Abigail fell asleep in the backpack and it was so adorable!

Our Sleeping Beauty

We made it down the hill/mountain, grabbed a pretzel and finished up our walking tour of the city. We wanted to rest up a little bit, and hopefully let Abigail continue her nap, so we made our way back to our hotel. Well, we rested, sorta, and Abigail called home. Don't worry, the phone was unplugged, but I don't think she slept for one minute, and spent most of her time "calling" people.

We realized, after our nap, that we didn't go to the Gardens in Mirabell Palace. It wasn't really near the other sites we saw during the day, so we decided that would be our next destination. I was slightly disappointed because we could tell that in a few weeks the place would be breath-takingly gorgeous. There were tons of flowers planted everywhere, but nothing was blooming yet. Here are a few pictures.

The Gardens in Mirabell Palace

Abigail had her first gelato cone on one of our walks, too. We ordered one scoop for the three of us to share, and sat down to enjoy it. A few minutes later the lady brings a cone that she had just barely dipped in vanilla out to Abigail. We let her go to it. It was really funny because she thought she should eat the point first! There wasn't anything inside the cone, so I didn't think anything of it (she was sitting on Jordan's lap) well... they both ended up a sticky mess and Abby got a new - and very expensive - shirt out of the deal. 

Thursday night we ate dinner at a little cafe that was good, but really slow. We were growing frustrated, because Abigail was getting restless, but it all turned out okay in the end. After we put Abby to bed, Jordan and I watched The Sound Of Music for the first time (for both of us!). It was a wonderful movie, and I'm honestly glad that I got to see the city of Salzburg before I watched the movie. It was so fun to watch it and say "I was there!". 

My two favorite people drinking up!

{notice Abigail's adorable shirt : )}

Friday morning we checked out of our wonderful  hotel (after another great Bavarian breakfast!) and took the train back to Garmish and our resort. We had dinner that night at the Pullman Place (the nice restaurant at the resort) and Jordan and I both ended up with food poisoning, so Saturday was mostly spent in bed.

Phew ~ that was a long post! Can you tell we loved Salzburg?!

The Clark's European Vacation, Part III

We pick back up on Tuesday...

Jordan and I took Abigail to the daycare on post and went skiing, or should I say attempted to ski? Neither of us had ever skied before, so we decided that lessons would be a good idea. I didn't want to commit to too much, so I voted for the two hour lesson, and won : ) It was an interesting experience to say the least. I should start by saying it snowed, a lot. It was those huge clumps of really wet snow, too, which I'm told would have made things slicker for us. I can definitely say it was not as easy as I thought it would be. I'm not sure what I thought, but by the end of the first hour I was getting very discouraged. I learned that I'm very right leg dominant (which meant that turning to the right was difficult for me) and I wasn't very good at going slow (which I'm told was because it was so slick). Our instructor was really nice and told us that we made it farther than some of the 1/2 day classes make it, so that's good, right?

Jordan was much more into it than I was. He skied down the big hill seen in the pictures, twice! I didn't attempt it once. I was afraid I might just die. That might sound a bit dramatic, but I fell so many times, and felt my knee pop at least three times, so I was afraid that at the very least, I might lose my knees.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad we went skiing and it's an experience that I'm glad I can say I've had ~ I skied in the Alps! I'm just not sure I'll be making any trips to Colorado specifically to ski in the near future, that's all!

Our skiing adventure!

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That night, during Abigail's bath, she got a Mohawk ~ mainly to show dada how long her hair is getting...

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That's it for tonight ~ the next three days were spent in Salzburg, Austria, and I think that part of the trip deserves it's own post!!

The Clark's European Vacation, Part II

Sunday, the 13th, we went to Neuschwanstein castle… For those of you who know me well, you know that this is the castle for me. I think the first time I was there (nearly 10 years ago!?) I said "I would live here" and probably meant it. I was told a story (on that trip, I think) that Walt Disney tried to buy the castle to have it moved to the United States for Disney World, but they wouldn't let him, so he used it for inspiration for the current Disney castle. Is that true? Who knows, but it is known as "the Disney castle". Anyways, moving on. :)

Prior to leaving for the castle Jordan saw this:

and decided it would make the perfect Jeep ad, so we had to have a picture!

On the way to the castle we stopped at a wood carver’s shop. It was really neat and we were told about "Smokers", and we decided we had to have one. I'll get a picture of him sometime... basically it's a wooden carved statue that you put incense into and the smoke comes out of his mouth. It's pretty cute. The shop had a lot of very neat and ornate things, most of which were pretty expensive. But, since they're hand carved, they would be worth it, if you had thought to take that kind of cash with you.

 The carved cow... 58.90 Euro

We also stopped at the “Church in the Meadow”. The church is absolutely beautiful and contains a very interesting statue of Jesus. The story that we were told says that some Monks were asked/commissioned to create a statue of Jesus out of other statues. When it was finished it was so life-like that it disturbed people. I'm not sure if part of the requirement was to make it look like Jesus post crucifixion or not, but that's what it was. Anyway, people were so bothered by it that it was put away in an attic of a house in the village. Years later a woman moved into the house and found it. She brought it into her living room and prayed. When she was praying one day it began to cry real tears. When word got out that the statue cried real tears people from all over would come to her home to see the statue. Well, she couldn't have all of these people constantly in her home, so they moved the statue to this church. When we go to the church there was a service going on, so we went into a little restaurant that has amazing doughnuts. They were great and we had hot cocoa (which was not sweet and I didn’t like).

 The doughnuts ~ Abby loved 'em, too!

The Church in the Meadow

Then onto the castle. Beautiful!! There are two options to get to it – wait in line and pay 5euro/person to take a horse and carriage up, or walk. We walked… I’ve been there twice, so I didn't think the walk was too pleasant (especially since it was cold!), and I remembered correctly. It seemed to take forever, but probably only took 20min, and was up hill the entire way. It was good to walk, don't get me wrong, but I was trying to keep pace with two soldiers who are used to taking regular PT tests and work out a lot. The castle was amazing. It was built by "Mad" King Ludwig II and was never finished because he died (a mysterious death) prior to its completion.

 Our Family!

  In front of the castle

Neuschwanstein

We walked back down the hill and ate at a great little restaurant on our way back to the resort. Authentic Germany food, which is actually pretty good. Heavy, though, they like a lot of pork and do a lot of gravies and sauces and spatzel (little dumpling-noodle things, which are great and Abigail loved).

On Sunday we rented a sled and took Abigail out into the snow. She loved it! She cried when we came back inside. We took the bus into town and ate at a German restaurant there. Again, good food!

Sledding!

 Haribo macht kinder fro!

On the way home there were two other little girls, maybe 2ish, on the bus and Abigail started saying “Hi” to them and all three of them were squeaking and squealing by the time we got to our stop. It was priceless! Monday was spent just hanging out and being a family.

The Clark's European Vacation, Part I

I decided our trip was way too long and exciting for just one post, so I'm going to break it up into I-don't-know how many posts.

Part I:

Our European Vacation started March 10th at 1328, when our flight left KCI for Chicago. We landed safely in Chicago and had 4 hours to get Abigail some dinner and get to our gate. That's a lot of time in our world. I asked the United Information Specialist, Joe (I made up his title), where I could heat up food for Abby and he told me about a great play place for her... located one terminal over. I was worried about pushing her stroller and carrying our gear (a backpack, and sling diaper bag, so not a lot) that far, and being in a place I didn't know. But, Joe assured me it wasn't terribly far and that Abigail would love the play place. So, we went for it. And, I'm very glad we did!! There was a play airplane and a maze made of flags. Abigail had a great time and burned some energy.

We boarded our flight for Germany and Abigail cried, I mean screamed, for about 10 minutes, then slept for almost all of the flight. About an hour before landing I changed Abigail into her dress and got ready to meet my hubby!! We landed in Munich about 1000 and were met by a driver, who was to take us to Garmisch to the Edelweiss resort. Jordan and I had emailed and decided we were to wait for 10 minutes for him prior to leaving Munich, because he was pretty sure he'd be able to meet us at the airport. As you can imagine, I was scouring the crowds of people all through the airport, while I picked up our bags, clear until we got in the car (van really, but car sounds better, right?). Well, no Jordan, and we couldn't wait any longer (per our driver) so we were off. Abigail and I both slept in the car on the way to the resort, which means we must have both been tired! For those of you who haven't been to Europe, the drivers there are crazy! Their roads aren't as wide as ours, and they are "zoomers" ~ weaving in and out of traffic ~ I'm pretty sure I'm glad I slept.

Here are a few pictures of our time in the airport and Abby sleeping on the plane:

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Yes, that's puppy on Abigail's back. No, I didn't have to attach the leash ever.

Anyways, we arrived at the resort and went inside to check in. We were too early and had to wait. So we waited, and I asked if we had any messages, "no". Okay. While we were waiting I realized I no longer had my cell phone. Awesome. I knew it wouldn't work in Germany, but it has so many pictures, videos, phone numbers... could I really have lost it?? I had it when I got in the van at the airport, so that's where it had to be. Right? Luckily, I planned ahead and had typed out a sheet with all of the "important" numbers I might need, including the limo company who sent the driver to get us from the airport.

We were finally able to check in and I somehow maneuvered all of our bags and Abby into our room. Phew! We made it! Oh, I should add that when the room was ready and I was able to check in they told me I had a message from my husband (funny, I thought I asked about that initially?! "Sorry" was the answer I got), "he got delayed in Frankfurt, but should be in this afternoon or this evening". Okay, at least I knew where he was, and that he should hopefully be there that night. I immediately called the limo company and they said they would have our driver check his van and they would call me back at the resort.

Abigail and I explored the resort, ate dinner at their buffet, which proved to be fairly difficult. Has anyone ever tried to go through a buffet holding a 17-month-old's hand? Not easy. Anyways, we ate dinner and went back to our room. I gave Abby a bath and I wanted to take a shower, so she showered with me. As we were toweling off, the phone rang (~1800hrs). It was Jordan! He made it! I quickly threw Abby's dress on her and threw some clothes on myself. As I was trying to comb through my hair there was a knock at the door...

He made it! He was there! We were together again!!  I can't begin to tell you how amazing it was to be hugging him... it was wonderful.

Our first "official" day together, Friday, was spent relaxing, catching up, swimming, and doing some "housekeeping" things, like getting diapers (I say "official" because since Jordan didn't get in until 6, his leave didn't start until the next day). No phone call from the limo company, so I called them. Our driver didn't find my phone, and apparently he is very trustworthy. I wasn't afraid that he had stolen it, after all it was no good to him, it didn't work there. But, dang it! There went all of my pictures, phone numbers. Dang! Friday night Abigail decided she didn't want to sleep... about 0130 Jordan and I both called our moms in a panic. Why is this child, who normally sleeps so great, not sleeping?! I know there is a 7 hour time difference, but she slept so great the first night?! Well, at 2, she finally fell asleep... that's 7pm back home. Lovely, were we going to be stuck with a child who refused to change her internal clock for the entire trip?

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from those first moments, or from the rest of the first night, but here are a few from the Friday:

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The view from our room was spectacular!

The resort had these adorable rocking chairs in front of a huge fireplace.

Abigail loved to climb in and out of the little ones and "rock rock".

Okay, that's all for tonight... a pretty long post for 2 1/2 days, huh? I guess I'm going to have to work on that, or this trip will take a whole month to blog about!!