Our Family Site

Germany

We just returned from our week in Germany. We stayed in a little town called Oberammergu in the Bavarian Alps. I was there for work but we decided to stay an extra week to check the place out. The weather was great – half the time it snowed and half the time it was bright and sunny. We initially planned to drive to Switzerland and Italy but in the end we simply decided to stay in one area and get the most out of it without spending our whole vacation in a car and moving from hotel to hotel.
Oberammergau was a wonderful quiet little mountain village known for the “Passion Play” (about Christ), which they perform once every ten years. We really had a great time in this town and totally recommend it for others. The hotel was great and the old lady who cooks all the food took us in like she was our grandmother. We ventured out of town quite a bit. We went to the highest peak in Germany called Zugspitz. This would have been really awesome if the weather hadn’t rolled in and dropped visibility to about 100 feet – but it was cool to take a cogwheel train up the side of the mountain and the Cable car back down. After that we stopped into the 1936 Winter Olympic stadium in Garmisch where there happened to be a number of ski jumpers practicing – very cool to see up close.
We also took the kids to see Linderhof Palace and the Neuschwanstein Castle (the real castle they used as reference for the Disney castle). These were both built for King Ludwig II of Bavaria – he was eccentric, loony and gay – then he drowned. We also took the kids to this “hunormous” (a Zoe word) indoor swimming place called Wellenberg. This place was loads of fun. There were huge Schlitterbahn style slides and a hot pool where you could swim from inside to outside. We actually swam outside while it was snowing – crazy.
We took a train to Innsbruck Austria with no plan other than “Let’s take a train to Austria.” It was freakin’ cold and touristy. We walked around town for a bit but we couldn’t stay long because we made the mistake of mentioning the Innsbruck Alpenzoo. The kids were sold at the word zoo. We walked for many, many, many, kilometers and ascended to quite an elevation. Turns out the Alpenzoo is the highest zoo in all of Europe… YAAAAAAY. The kids were troopers. If I were a nicer dad we would’ve taken the bus, but I figured I would make them earn their day at the zoo. It was a pretty cool place and all the animals were native to the Alps.
We also spent a lot of time relaxing and eating – eating very well. Germans don’t serve small portions. The food was all excellent and natural (free of all the processing and hormones). I ate tons but actually lost a little weight. On our last couple of days we visited the Reptilienhaus (one of the coolest collections of reptiles I’ve seen) and then we milled around Munich for an afternoon.
Our return home was a bit of a challenge. There were some issues with the airlines. Our trip was 26.5 hrs, on four airplanes (five if you count the one we boarded and then de-boarded), three airline carriers, a van, a tram, a shuttle, a golf car and a car. The kids were miserable and we ended up carrying them a bit but they were tough.
Observations – Germans keep their country clean, they are precise and meticulous. They are very focused on their kids and family. They (and Europeans in general) take life slow and tend to enjoy the moment. They weren’t a bunch of zombies walking around on cell phones and playing Nintendo DS. We loved it.

P.S. Race for the Cure is next week. All of us will be participating. Visit the link on the main page if you want to contribute.