Umhausen to Neuschwanstein to Göttingen

Saturday, March 30, 2013

I awoke early and couldn't get back to sleep so sat at the kitchen window looking out over this amazing view.

As I sat there, the clouds slowly started to roll in and began blocking the
view of the Alps. Since we didn't see anything the night before, I opted
to wake everyone up so as to enjoy the beauty. I wasn't sure if they would
get another chance. Jill and Scott had already been out enjoying the views
(and birds) but the boys were thankful to be awakened...maybe not initially
but after seeing the Alps, they were all excited.

Were we to go skiing again, this is where we would come. Umhausen is
absolutely breathtaking! What a great visual on the difference between
being in darkness versus being in the light as John talks about in I John.
We had no idea what we were surrounded by at 9pm the previous night.

Joel is just about to use the binocs to see a bird. We all learned so much
from Uncle Scott this week about birds. What a beautiful part of creation!

I obviously could not stop taking pictures!

Strange, right? And I completely forgot to ask our
hostess about these. Maybe stakes for making a
fence/pasture for the cattle?

Ban Kneissl's offers breakfast at 7 Euros/person, which is why we declined.
That would have been the most expensive breakfast I have ever eaten when
you figure that there were 11 of us. However, this is the barn where the cows
are milked in order to make the yogurts and cheeses served at breakfast.
It might have been worth it to try the fresh treats! Especially considering
that we never did find an open Backerei.

~ ban Kneissl's ~

We searched many a street in Göttingen when my parents were here and
since to find these kinds of antiques. I took this photo to show my parents
that there are some neat old items in Europe...just not in the stores that we
located. This is how all of ban Kneissl's was decorated - so neat!

Because breakfast was not included, we packed up and headed out with the intention of finding another Backerei. As we were preparing to leave, our hostess told us of Stuibenfall, which was just minutes from our doorstep. Stuibenfall has the longest drop in the Tirol region of over 150 meters or around 500 feet. So yes, worth a stop for us. However, by the time that we reached the falls, the clouds had moved in to the point that we could hardly see the falls at all.

Not much of a view. Had we been here just an hour
earlier, we would have been able to see much more.

So what did the boys do with these "lemons"? Made lemonade
via snowballs, of course! Now, instead of a snowball battle it was a
snowball throwing contest. Who could send their snowball the farthest?

All were watching to see where they landed - it's quite a drop so took a few
seconds to follow each throw the whole way down.

We were ready to jump back into the vehicles and find that Backerei, but
Scott suggested that since we were this close, we ought to at least hike down
to the falls a bit. We found another Gasthaus to park at, ate some more pb & js
and started the ten minute hike to the falls. The woman with whom I asked
for parking permission gave the warning that the paths were icy, but we were free
to hike them. Understatement. In fact, it got hairy enough that we put a stop to
all snowball battles while along the falls as there just aren't the same types
of guardrails/fences along such areas in Europe. And we just didn't want
anyone going for an unplanned swim!

Here the hike was fine but closer to the falls, the paths were sheets of ice.

Josiah pegged Joel in the back...where there was snow, there were battles.

At first glance, we couldn't tell that this was the top of
the 150 m drop. That snow in the foreground of the photo
is actually ice which the water was flowing under.

I asked the boys if they dared me to walk across the frozen
part of the falls. The water was just rushing under this thick
ice. I can't imagine in the spring when that thing finally
gives way and rushes down the falls. I'm sure it will be
much smaller then but still, that would be cool to watch.

There were a couple of places that had these suspension bridges over the
falls. It took Jill and me a bit of convincing that these were worth crossing!

This is the point that we ended all snowballs. A beautiful
hike was made even more enjoyable knowing our kids
were acting in a safer manner! The older I get, the more
nervous I become in these kinds of situations....I guess
this comes with age, right?

The suspension bridge that we crossed over is just out
of view at the top of this photo. The drop is so long
that it was difficult to capture even a fourth of the fall.

~ Cousins at Stuibenfall, Umhausen, Austria ~

For a brief moment, the sun peaked out while the clouds were shifting and
we were able to get a glimpse of the Alps around us. Within a minute of
snapping this photo, the Alps disappeared again.

Not too bad for a self-timer photo with a precariously
positioned camera!

~ Tracy and Beth ~

~ Scott and Jill ~

From Umhausen, we headed towards the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. This is the castle from which Disneyworld is modeled. On our way to the castle, we made a stop at Wieskirche, a rococo-style church built in the mid 1700s. It is just miles from Neuschwanstein so we made just a quick pit stop here.

We have seen so many old, old cathedrals this year that this "newer"
church was a very different place to see. The style was so unique in
comparison to those we've seen from the 1200s.

Though not our style, the frescoes were intricately and beautifully painted.

As in any church we've seen, it has always been fun to see what biblical
stories and figures we can find.

The entire ceiling was painted in similar fashion.

One of my favorite parts of the old churches is the
beautifully carved pews. If it would be appropriate
to have pews in our home somewhere, I would!

Joel wanted to buy this hat as a souvenir for his Uncle 'Buck'!

Instead, I had him model the hat for Uncle Tim so that
he would know that he was thought of in our travels!

~ Hohenschangau ~
This castle is where King Ludwig spent his childhood and decided to build
Neuschwanstein as a result.

As a result of too long of a wait to tour Neuschwanstein,
we ended up touring Hohenschwangau instead. We
heard that this is the better of the two to tour anyway.

It almost looked fake! Like we were in Disneyworld rather than at
some one's home, which was used by Prince Adalbert of Bavaria and his
family during WWII. 

There is never a bad time to "bird"!

~ Neuschwanstein Castle ~
[Image taken from the Internet]
This is what we were hoping to see....

And this is what we did see! The heavy fog was so dense that we had
to be right beside the castle before we could get a decent view of it.
Decent being relative.

Though it wasn't the weather we would have chosen,
it was still amazing to be beside these massive structures!

After making the hike between the two castles, we hopped in the vehicles to start the trek back to Göttingen. Opting not to eat dinner in Schwangau, we knew our options would be limited so were thankful after a couple hours to find an open Burger King. Highway rest stops are not at all like in the States. Finding a restaurant along the highway can be challenging. There aren't five or more options of fast food at every exit. Often you can drive for a couple hours and maybe see just a few spots to stop for a meal. We arrived back in Göttingen before midnight and settled in for a shorter night's sleep (daylight savings) with Easter the next day.

The Black Forest and Rhine Falls

Good Friday, March 29, 2013

Birding break on the way to The Black Forest! We saw
a small pond and stopped to allow Scott some desired
birding time. Lots of life birds for him on this trip!

Of course the boys were done birding after a few minutes so entertained
themselves with races to various signs and back.

I threatened to post this photo on Facebook as Nick was sporting his mom's
lavender fleece. But with the shades and cool hat....he manages to pull it off!

We saw these in just about every field as we drove along
the Autobahn. I figured they were protecting baby
strawberry plants.

But they were tulips! My favorite!

~ Triberg Falls, The Black Forest, Germany ~

It was absolutely beautiful!

The German philosophy of "Enter at Your Own Risk" is refreshing. Prior to
hiking the paths around the falls,  we were warned that they were icy. It was
downright dangerous at some places...but we were warned. We all commented
that there was no way the falls would have been open to the public
in the US with this much ice on the paths.

It was obviously still quite cold in these parts!

I thought this was a fitting photo for Good Friday. The
way the sun was coming through the trees made it
look like there was a cross in the forest.

Joel and Andy were convinced that this method would
be a much faster and safer means back down. A few
attempts of pushing Andy on his stomach and that
"method" was quickly aborted. Worth a try though.
Just couldn't quite get the desired speed. Thankfully!

"This is my snowman. His name is Schnee." ~ Andy Bastian

~ Triberg, Germany ~

We did a little souvenir shopping and then visited this tasty little Backerei.
Breakfast was included in our stay at Pension Chloe so this stop ended
up being lunch. A Backerei is a good choice at any point in the day!

Obviously deep in thought and conversation, Tracy and
Scott are not hindered by the riffraff outside the window.

From one set of falls to another - Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, Switzerland

The kids were so excited to watch the large fish...well, I guess there are
more things to see here than just the falls!

We had really beautiful weather all morning but by the time we got into
Switzerland, there was a steady drizzle.

The younger three enjoyed this park along the river. This is one neat thing
we have enjoyed this year. Every place we go, there are little parks for kids!

We walked along the river a ways to get a different
view and found this old waterwheel.

From here, we set off for Umhausen, Austria, which was about a four hour drive away. Being that it was Good Friday, we weren't sure what we would find open for dinner so opted to drive all the way to Umhausen before stopping. I chose Umhausen for our Friday night stay for two reasons. The first is that the Bastians wanted to see the Alps and Austria. I guess that is two reasons right there! The other reason was that it was the most affrodable place for housing a large group such as ours. Little did we know what we were in for! I wish I would have taken some memory pictures of the drive into where we stayed but it was a bit of a white knuckle trip for me. The rain turned to snow as we climbed into the mountains. Then the roads turned to switchbacks. And steep ones at that. I really was starting to wonder if we were going to be able to get back down the mountain the next day. The roads were not all that clear, wind was blowing and all the kids wanted to do was have a snowball battle. Not really on my radar at this point.

GPS took us to a Gasthaus/Restaurant but with little parking (due to all of the snow) and not by the name we wanted to see. We were looking for ban Kneissl's. Were we going to be able to find it?? A kind woman in the Restaurant gave me directions by drawing me a map. We were close. By the time I returned to the cars, a snowball fight was ensuing...doesn't take long for boys! Back into the cars we climbed. Another turn or two and we still weren't to ban Kneissl's. So I stopped in another Gasthaus for directions. 200 more meters! Or so. We finally did make it to our destination sometime after 9pm. Keep in mind that we had eaten breakfast at Pension Chloe, lunch at the Backerei in Triberg, snacks in the car but no dinner. We had some hungry boys on our hands. They were not complaining at all though which was nice. I had packed lots of sandwich stuff for pb&js so Jill and I got busy making many sandwiches for the crew. And then, a snowball battle. How do you say "no" to your kids that want to have a snowball battle with their cousins in the Alps? It was getting quite late though. Each time we would hear them, we'd calm them down from our third story kitchen window....this worked well until just about the time I was going to tell them to come in for the night. A German Frau beat me to it! Oops...should have done that two minutes before I planned. What fun they had though! And ban Kneissl's was a beautiful home. The cleanest place I have ever stayed! When booking the place, I was told that no shoes are permitted in the house. Then in the process of putting down deposit money, I was told again. The day before we left on our trip, another email came reminding me of this policy. Could be considered a little over the top but it sure was nice to have a clean place to stay. And so beautifully decorated. All in all, a great day of memories.

Traveling with the Bastians!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

I will never forget the day that we officially heard the tickets were purchased! Tracy and I determined not to share with the boys about the possibility of cousins visiting over Easter until it was a done deal. That was a hard secret to keep. We told them while on our ski trip in January with the response being much hootin' and hollerin'! We finally had to ask Noah to stop saying, "I just can't believe it. I'm just so excited. I just can't believe it. I'm just so excited..." It was well over 50 times in the span of a few hours.

Scott, Jill, Nick, Andy and James arrived in Frankfurt early on the 28th of the month. We rented a car and met them at the airport where they also rented a car. After waking a couple sleeping kids and catching up in the airport for a bit, we set off for the south of Germany. Sort of. It took us far too long to locate each other outside of the airport, which is the largest in Europe. It should be easier than it seems to find a meeting spot but it wasn't. What a tense time that was! Especially when our vehicle got stuck behind a non-moving bus for over ten minutes. This is not what you want to do your first hours in Europe!

Our plan was to make it to The Black Forest on Thursday as we were spending the night in Rust, Germany, which is just on the border of France and Germany. Little did the kids know that Rust is the home to Europa-Park, a major theme park for Europe. They still don't know. 

Desiring to see as much as we could in the three days of having vehicles, I planned far more than humanly possible for us to see. The only problem is that I didn't plan what to do once we got there. So our first stop was Strasbourg, France. I am thankful that we crossed the Rhine River into France just to see the city, but we didn't really get out of the cars. Let's just say that it is hard to follow each other through a city when you don't really know where you are going. And let's just say that we went down the wrong way on a couple streets or turned into lanes that had oncoming traffic or some such thing. Memories that might not need to be remembered! All of this while my brother and his family were experiencing some tough jet lag. We were all ready to get out of Strasbourg and into a much safer driving situation....so back over the Rhine we went! The city did seem like a neat place though should we ever return.

All of these photos are taken from the passenger seat while Tracy was
driving so not very good but at least they capture a few memories for us.

It was different just seeing buildings that didn't have the red tile roofs.

A poor photo but we wanted to remember the stone balconies.

From Strasbourg, we headed towards Rust as we knew the Bastian crew might be getting tired and ready to stop for the night. Prior to reaching Rust, we did meander along the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse - a road leading through the Black Forest. Absolutely beautiful drive! We ended up at Mummelsee, a small lake high in the mountains. My original thought was that this would be a good hiking area. Well...when it is still winter up in the mountains, it doesn't make for great birding or hiking. But the boys sure enjoyed the enormous mound of plowed snow on which to play. Snowballs were flying. Bottoms became sleds. They were content. I'll have to get some of Jill's photos from Mummelsee and add them as I didn't have my camera out at this point. It was crazy experiencing the difference of spring hitting the lowlands and yet a short climb later, winter was still in full swing in the mountains.

Our hostess at Pension Chloe was so surprised that we weren't going to the theme park the next day that she didn't charge the tourist tax for our stay. I guess there aren't many other reasons to visit Rust! It is so close to the Black Forest though that there must be other visitors like us. She also recommended a fantastic restaurant for the evening. I stopped in to the restaurant to get reservations and found out the wait would be an hour. Perfect. Wanting to make use of all daylight hours, we found a spot for Uncle Scott to go birding a bit before dinner.

Nick, Andy, Joel and Micah - the smiles say it all!

We traveled on a bike path just outside of town to reach this spot near the
woods. I would imagine that anyone driving by wondered at us! No one
dares to take a vehicle down a bike path....except those going birding.

~ Ochsen Restaurant ~
This was one of those kinds of places that if there are spots open at a
table, you join whomever is sitting there. Very good food! And always busy.

Because of having such a large group, they offered to stick us in a walled-in
room in the Biergarten. These aren't used this time of year so they turned on
several space heaters to take off the chill. Just about the time we were leaving,
the room was warming up for us. Still, it was delicious food so well worth it.

Every meal was tasty....as we do at every restaurant, we shared
our meals with each other. Jill managed to have about five
salads "shared" with her!

~ Pension Chloe ~
This is the residence of the family running the bed and breakfast. There are a
couple of rooms available in the main house, but we stayed in a house across the
street. Clean rooms, nice breakfast. I was glad that the Bastians got to
experience a typical German breakfast. Nutella all around!

James, Noah and Josiah - of course, the kids wanted to spend the night in
the same rooms so we dragged mattresses to various rooms to make it all
work. When this photo was taken, James was working on so little sleep
that I am surprised his eyes were still open. Adrenaline was running strong
on this day! They all did so great with their jet lag...made us look like
wimps in comparison!