Remember all the Best

Yesterday, while on the train coming home from a quick 4 days in Rome, I started to think back on all the places we've had the opportunity to visit and sights we've been able to see in our first 19 months living abroad.  My little trip down memory lane, so to speak, all started when I was sitting next to Delilah in the taxi on our way to the train station.  I had asked her what was her favorite place we'd visited on this trip and she immediately told me she liked the Eiffel Tower the best. The one is Paris, she reminded me.

Poor life of a military kid--they mix up all the famous sights they've gotten to see in their wee 3 year lifespan...

No, I told her...what's your favorite thing that you got to see on this vacation...the one in Rome, I reminded her.  The one we're on NOW.  

Oh, she said (with this hilarious look on her face)....THIS vacation.  (Heavy sigh from her, chuckle from me....) I like the building with the big ceiling (The Sistine Chapel). But I like Paris best the most...

(She talks about Paris ALL the time and has this Eiffel Tower keychain that she carries around with her, too)

All of this talking about favorites got me thinking in the taxi and on the way home on the train--how much of all these favorites would my kids remember?  My husband, Steve, grew up in Europe as well and actually remembers it all fondly, but he was older--much older than Delilah and Jackson (my youngest two who are just 3 and 6).  I think Jackson just might, because that boy has a memory like I've never seen before, but what about Delilah?

Will she remember swinging of the swing in the park on the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice?

Or sailing on a pirate ship there? (yep, a pirate ship in the Grand Canal in Venice) Please ignore my mother-in-laws' finger...

Will she remember sledding over Memorial Day weekend on the Zugspitze at the top of Germany?

Or when she pitched a total fit about getting to drive the electric boat on the lake in Zell am See, Austria, so daddy just gave up and let you?

Or on that same trip to Austria, when we went on the Sound of Music tour and I took my all time favorite picture of Delilah and Jackson in the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp really got married?

(I LOVE this picture)

Will she remember playing in sand at the edge of the Mediterranean while we were in Cinque Terre and then begging daddy and I to let her get in the water?

 So we did..

Or will she remember when we went to Sicily and had Aldo Trapani show us around some sites that were built over 400 years BC? And will she remember how tall he was and how much she loved playing with him...

Or when Pope Francis was picked and the all the churches were ringing their bells in our town and everyone was SO VERY excited--even though we're not even Catholic...I KNOW I will!

Will she even remember how excited she was when we found one of the very LAST Rapunzel dolls in Disneyland Paris?

Or when she got to see the Eiffel Tower for the very first time!  

And Daddy carried her all over Paris on his shoulders?

Will she remember when she got to see the Colosseum in Rome...

She probably won't remember the Pantheon, since she slept through it...

But for now, she remembers the Sistine Chapel. And likes it the best. From this vacation, at least.

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Garmisch Day 2-Linderhof Palace

 One of the awesome things about the Bavarian region of Germany is the beautiful castles and palaces that can be found there.  On Day 2 of our trip to Garmisch, we decided to visit the Linderhof Palace.  It was one that I hadn't heard of before, probably due to the fact that the most famous of Europe's castles, Neuschwanstein, tends to overshadow the rest, and is located just down the street.   Like Neuschwanstein, the Linderhof Palace was built by King Ludwig II and it was the only one of his castles or palaces that he actually lived in.  It was also the smallest of all his castles or palaces. He was quite a nut job, to say the least, and you can read about him here. It was obvious as soon as we saw the palace, that its major influence was Versailles. The palace was impressive, but the gardens were amazing! We weren't allowed to take photos inside the palace, but honestly, there really wasn't much to take pictures of inside! The gardens were a different story completely!  

The palace and its fountain

I always love Pansies!

 



    The Palace grounds--the view was breathtaking!

There was even a prayer building that had a Moroccan flair to it

It was extremely gaudy!

 King Ludwig was called the "Swan King", so naturally, there were lots of swans...

I seriously considered having all eight of the children go standrightnexttothisman while he was having his obviously posed vacation photo taken! Can you imagine...

 I loved these vine arbor walkways!

The boys were patient...and maybe a little bored...

Look at how Matt and Jeanne both are
          standing the exact same!

Apparently, King Ludwig was a huge Wagner fan and so he had a special cave constructed on the grounds of the palace so Wagner could come and play his music there in the great acoustics of the cave. After we waited 45 minutes for this tour of the cave that King Ludwig had built for Wagner, the tour ended up being completely in Germany!  The kids have these funny looks on their faces because we are standing in the pitch dark (I couldn't even see them when I was taking this picture) and are listening to a tour in Germany...

Fake cave...how interesting....

All 8 children, and the dads

(This is also the castle where I saw my favorite European sign).  Read the post on my other favorites HERE. 

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Garmisch & The Zugespitze--The top of Germany!

I promised myself that in order to keep from becoming overwhelmed with blogging about vacations from a long time ago, I'd only post about trips we have taken or things we have done it the last year.

We went to Garmisch, Germany for the first time over Memorial Day weekend of 2012, so I'm just getting this one in under the wire!

It was a trip that I was really looking forward to, but also one that I hadn't had the chance to do a lot of planning for. It was also our first trip OUT of Italy and so we were really looking forward to a change of scenery. I was AMAZED at how beautiful the German region of Bavaria was!  Even a year later, it's like nothing I've seen before.

We stayed at an amazing apartment in Garmisch, right across the street from Edelweiss, the American military resort in Europe. We were lucky because our apartment was actually between The Edelweiss and the Zugespitze. Since we were vacationing with some family friends, The Neumeyers, who also have four children, we needed a place that could fit twelve! This place was PERFECT and still remains one of my favorite places we've stayed in the year and a half that we've lived here. It's owned by Suzanne and her adorable little son, Josh--if you are ever in need of a place to stay in Garmisch, she has several apartments and chalets. I won't ever stay anywhere else in the Garmisch area! Please contact me and I'll be happy to give you her contact info! Here's the view from our apartment:

 All of the windows in the apartment--and there are plenty, have this view.  We woke up to this one morning.

We enjoyed watching the sky divers glide down from the top of the Zugespitze.

With my crazy fear of heights, there's not a chance I'll ever be trying this...

Even at the end of May, the Zugespitze was covered in a lot of snow.

View from Edelweiss--very similar, huh?

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, the top of the Zugespitze is the highest point in Germany.  The mountain itself is actually in two countries--Germany and Austria and at the top, you can actually walk between the two countries. They have an awesome webcam that shows a panoramic view of the peak HERE.

In order to get to the top, it was a short walk down to the train station where we could buy tickets and hop on the cogwheel train that would take us to the glacier (not actually the top).  Buying tickets at the station was super easy and much, much cheaper than buying them at the Edelweiss. 

 Pretty little wildflowers that were along the way to the train station

Our families walking to the train station

Picture of the cogwheel train that I got off the Zugespitze website

 The cable car that takes you from the glacier to the top of the mountain.  I was terrified!

The ride from the train station to the glacier was a slow one but the scenery was breathtaking!  We could feel it getting colder and colder on the ride up there but I had no idea there would be so much SNOW when we got to the top!! Everything was still covered with tons of snow and the amazing thing was that people were sledding!  We were quick to jump right in!  I NEVER thought I would be able to say that I went sledding on the top of a mountain in natural snow over Memorial Day weekend!

Panoramic view of the glacier

Chapel on the glacier

                   

Trey at the top of the glacier

We all had an awesome time sledding down the hill!

Especially Jackson!

And ME!

 Jeanne photo bombing!

It was crazy bright up there! And somebody forgot her sunglasses...

 On the cable car on the way up to the top.  This is looking down on the glacier where we sledded, from the top of the mountain.

 The tiny black dot is a climber!

 Looking down on Lake Eibsee from the very top

The very highest point

Being at the top was awesome and the view was breathtaking but I can't say that I didn't feel a little bit better when we were back on lower ground.  Apparently, we were very lucky to have this amazing view because we have been up to the top on a couple more times and never have we been able to see the lake! We took the cable car all the way down to Lake Eibsee and the dads and kids took the paddle boats out on the lake while Jeanne and I drank beer and ate ice cream.  It was a wonderful day and we were lucky to have such a clear day at the top of Germany!

Tory took all these pictures on the lake!

Jeanne and I took these while we were eating our ice cream and drinking our beer.  

People ate these fish right off the stick!! GROSS!! 

Still one of my all-time favorite European signs! If you haven't read that post, click HERE.

Then Delilah wanted to eat some ice cream too, while she chattered away...to herself...

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