Anyways, mamans visit was GREAT. while I was at work, she went on her own adventures. (I'm sure she will tell you all about it, when you ask her) A for US, Jack arrived Friday morning, I believe they went to breakfast and then headed to Idar-Oberstein. Mom and I had been there on Monday (because I got the day off) She decided to take Jack because apparently it is big on mining and rocks and stuff... So after work on Friday, we headed off to Salzburg Austria. It was about a 5-6 hour drive. Jack was shocked that when we stopped for a pee break, we had to pay. It is pretty customary here to pay to pee... or poop....
Unfortunately, I had sprained my ankle apparently that day, while I was putting a wagon away. The poor kids were staring at me, so confused as to why Miss Katie had tears in her eyes. Emily was a dear "ms kadie hurt?" "yes, miss katie needs just one minute, she hurt herself" "ms kadie hurt her foot?"
So we arrived in a suburb of Salzburg around 11:30pm or so. While driving, I vaguely saw the mountains popping out of no where. It was so dark, but I could see the outline they made against the night sky. Anyways, so we arrived, headed down to the restraunt for a beer, or seix for mom and jack, my ankle hurt and I was sleey so I didnt stay up late. BUT When we woke up for our breakfast, we were greeted by a mountain, snow and some clouds, it was beautiful. We headed to inner Salzburg, Shelia (the gps slacked a lot during this trip and had mom driving on sidewalks and going left then right in a matter of 2 seconds, taking us on avalanche prone roads). So we finally arrived to our destination. The "original" Sound of Music tour. Honestly, it wasn't that all exciting, considering we were in a van the whole time, except for about 3 pitstops we made on the way. All in all it was pretty informative, with a little dry humor here and there. But the lake district was BEAUTIFUL. We stopped at some lame lake first, then lake Wolfgang (where Mozart was born) and then finally Mondsee, a small town next to a lake with a church (that was featured in the sound of music... the wedding church specifically). PS mom, put kaylas present on my dresser or something. So we had about an hour there then headed back to the Mirabell Gardens. The morning began and kind of gloomy, but it ended up being sunny and warm :) We then decided not to stay long in Salzburg and decided to head to Garmisch. Basically, we didn't make it there because we were in traffic for about 3 hours or so ... So we just decided to head to Fussen, where our hotel was. Although the drive was ABSOLUTELY amazing. It was some fields and small German towns in the foothills of the Alps, we stopped for a beer and a pee at some random Gausthaus (Inn). Plus the woman called and waited for us there, so we kind of felt obligated to head to fussen since she was waiting for us. The city was small as well, filled with asian tourists which was different in germany. especially the alps... Anyways so we arrived at our hotel "Hotel Jakob" i believe around 8:30. It was small, did its job, with a comp breakfast. I ate some spatzel (soooo soooo sooo goodddd) while mom ate saurekrat and jack ate steak and potato dumplings? or something. Then we visited the two big castles Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. WE did some exploring, picture taking, driving up the mountain to take pictures, (mom was scared to go any further than the back door) and headed back to the hotel.
Sunday, we ate bfast, and headed to the castles. This time, it was a lot more crowded and we couldnt drive up to see them. HA. and there was a lot more asian tourists with a few americans thrown in. We decided not to go on the tour because it would have taken about 30-40 minutes to get to the castle Neuschwanstein (Fairy tale castle, which is not the original, andd which Jack and i found out had traded names with castle Hohenschwangau) then on top of that we would have had to wait some more for another english tour and we wanted to head to Garmisch, so we backed out and bought some postcards instead. Mom and I also bought some traditional hats to yodel in. I like mine better :) But mine was also much more expensive. So we headed to Garmisch... we were 10 minutes away and then we ran into a blockage in the road... it was a lavine... aka avalanche. The detour we needed to take to Garmisch was going to take about 3 hours more.... so ultimately, we decided not to go to Garmisch and decided to ride the "Romantic Road." It wasn't so romantic... that I could tell with my eyes closed (it was boring and not romantic at all. I will quote from mom "Honey (Jack), you better hold my hand because this road is not romantic at all.) We ran into some fields and sidewalks in the middle of the fields and some little towns and random Aldi stores, a church ontop of a hill, called Neresheim. It was probably the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was like what I imagine a church in heaven would look like. It was perfect and white and clean. It was so airy, the lighting was perfect, beaming in from the front above, the pipe organ, casting rays between the pews. The painting on the ceiling were perfect. I'm so glad mom snuck a picture becuase i want to remember it forever.
From there we headed to Dinklesbuhl and walked over the moat to enter a rainbow of buildings. There were buildings painted lime, salmon, turquoise, canary yellow, mustard, crimson.... etc. It was pretty cool. We bought some baked dough balls, basically pie crust with sugar. and stopped into a nice restraunt. After that, I fell asleep until we got back to my apartment. It was a long day of driving, but it was kind of nice because it gave my ankle a break and some time to heal.
And then... monday came and i went back to work... while mom and jack continued to travel. ending with tuesday night and sushi. where the sushi is constantly prepared right in front of you and then put onto little boats that float around and you get to pick what you want, or you can order from the menu. so good.
tuesday was an awful day. wednesday, my project coordinator came and we headed downtown, i was falling asleep and went to bed by 10, i felt good this morning though. and today, we went to the commissary for a field trip to the produce department. (the kids are learning about vegetables this week)I found out that two of my favorite kids are leaving by the end of this month :( I guess thats how they roll though... it comes with the package.
anddd this week i bought 3 pairs of boots... EEK. soo worth it though. anyways. i am so tired. it is way past my bed time. I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE i will add more photos.
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