Sally Gone Walkabout

Wonderful Winter!!

2012-01-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

Normally you wouldn't hear from me during Winter because I'm too busy hibernating ... being miserable and moaning and groaning and whining about the weather and locking myself up inside eating chocolate and drinking red wine waiting for the sun to come out and for the temperatures to warm up .... but this year is a different story!!! I made a conscious decision during October that I had to do something - anything - to help me get through the horrendous winter weather here ... so I started running ... I am not by any means a 'runner' ... I'm not built like a runner, I know nothing about running, I am unbelievably slow, I have no running style and I am definitely not elegant or glamorous ... but I am doing it. I shuffle along and sing away to my fave tunes and I am thrilled to say that I am now, finally enjoying my running!! Yay!! I LOVE running in the snow through all the forests that surround our little village and over the Christmas break the kids and I have been out every day enjoying some laughs and fun times together (ok - the hail, gusty winds, thunder and lightening day wasn't much 'fun' but it was awesome when it over!!) ... the kids ride and I (& Nick when he was on holidays over the break) 'shuffle' along and it has helped me sooooooo much to enjoy being outside and enjoy the snow. With that said ... we have had a very, very mild winter ... there's only been one day that was worth pulling the sleds out - we've been lucky enough to have plenty of blue sky and sunshine and warmer (relatively speaking) temperatures! Yaya!! I still absolutely despise winter but I must say, this year was 100% improvement on last years disasterously depressing winter!!

December was the usual craziness ... Polly's 10th birthday, Henry's 7th birthday, Nick's 41st birthday and all the usual school holiday parties with the kids' classes asking kids to bring 'traditional food from your country to share' ... thank goodness for Vegemite sandwiches!! Christmas was wonderful - Santa spoiled the kids with a gorgeous 'grown up' tea set for Polly and Harry Potter lego for Henry...our days were spent drinking tea and buliding lego, playing on the wii, sleep in, watching movies ... lots of reading (& running) and napping... it was heaven to have a break from the regular routine and we all loved having some quiet, down time.

Ettal Monastey WAY below in the village

On one of the blue sky days full of sunshine after Christmas we actually sought out some snow (!!) in a nearby village called Ettal, so we could try snow shoeing. Snow shoeing is really just hiking with these big frames on your feet to help you 'float' on the snow .... 'float' .... hmmmm... I didn't feel much floating going on but it was loads of fun and a fantastic workout too!! With plenty of water and snack breaks we made it to the hut and back to the car before dark and without incident!

At the summit of Jenner Mountain

Our fun day of snow showing in Ettal encouraged us to book two nights away in a town called Berchtesgaden to do some more snow shoeing!! Berchtesgaden is a small German town, about a 2hour drive from us and there was PLENTY of snow there!! We checked in at our lovely little attic room at a bed and breakfast then set off for Mount Jenner. We took a 30 minute gondola ride to the summit at an elevation of 1.874m (6.150ft) where we could enjoy a breathtaking view over a hundred of German and Austrian peaks. As we stepped off the gondola into blinding sunshine and cobalt blue skies, we could see hundreds of worn out adventurers enjoying their liter of beer at the summit beergarden - what a spectacular sight!! While these Europeans love their skiing and other outdoor activities - they sure do know how to chill out, relax and enjoy good beer and good company and I love seeing that!! Such a wonderful sight always makes my heart smile!!

So ... on with the snow shoes and off we went for a quick snow shoe before the sun started to set and the temperatures dropped ... apart from almost losing Polly down a hole, it was a perfect afternoon!! Back down the mountain in the gondola, watching the last of the skiiers zip down the mountain enjoying the final run for the day. The kids enjoyed a few runs on the sledding hill before dark, then we loaded up the car and found a cozy Italian restaurant where we enjoyed a wonderfully scrumptious meal ... then home to bed to rest up so we can do it all again the next day!!

"Charlie"

We decided to do some cross country snow showing on the next day. We travelled through dense woods, open fields and did a little climb to a hut where Nick built a snow cave and we had a snowball fight and Polly taught us how to make fabulously huge and round snow balls for our snow man ... we never stopped for too long because it was bitterly cold and we were aware we had to be back at the car by 4.30pm at the latest or we'd be hiking in the dark!! According to Nick this was to be a 3 hour hiking day. 5 hours later we returned to the car; exhausted, cold and hungry. Off to the nearest cafe for delicious home made goulash soup and crunchy bread followed by fabulously yummy sweet pastries....ahhhh!! Another wonderful day!!

In our miners gear ready for our adventure!

On our last day in Berchtesgaden we explored the delightfully quaint downtown before heading to the Salt Mines. These mines have been in operation since 1517 and today this fascinating underground world can be explored by visitors. Dressed in our miner's gear we went on a train into the salt mine caves; we then went down long, steep wooden slides, a raft and finally a funicular as we learned about the mining history and techniques. This is a very touristy place and we normally steer well clear of places that accept bus loads of people and have gift shops, but this was a fun morning and it was a welcome break from endless hours of snowshoeing ;-) After our salt mine adventure we headed home - very happy and exhausted - a great trip.

New Year is amazing in our little village. Fireworks are for sale in the grocery store and around midnight there is at least an hour of a spectacular sky show. We had a lovely dinner and all went to bed then at midnight we all woke up and enjoyed the show. We don't set off any fireworks ourselves, the sound of the ambulance siren blaring reminds us why. We are not big New Year people but enjoyed the display then went back to bed ;-)

Snow shoe up the hill ... sled down!! Yay!!

Words cannot fully describe our awesome Christmas break so here are some more photos for you to enjoy!

That's about it from us. Both Nick and I are working on planning our holidays for the year ... so watch this space for our 2012 adventure updates!! Wishing you all a laughter and adventure filled 2012!!

A well earned treat after 5hrs of snow shoeing!!

Nick building a snow cave

Polly showing us how to make snowballs

Finally!! The top!!

Hiking in Spectacular South Tyrol!!

2011-11-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Yet another amazing trip for us!! We spent 6 days in the spectacular province of South Tyrol while hiking in the Dolomite Mountain Range in North Eastern Italy and we all loved every moment!! It was sensational!!

The spectacular peaks of the Dolomites have been named a UNESCO world heritage site. They attract a tremendous number of visitors both in summer and winter. In winter it is a huge skiing location. In summer visitors enjoy hiking, climbing, base jumping, hang gliding, para gliding and cycling. In July there is an annual single day road bike race over seven of the passes in the Dolomites - (not sure if Nick knows about this one yet but no doubt once he reads this it will be added to his bucket list). In the First World War protected paths were created called via ferrate and many people (including us) visit the Dolomites to experience these paths. They are made up of metal ropes, iron ladders and rungs that make it possible to climb a wall of rock. The first vie ferrate were built during World War I until the end of 1917 and recently the via ferrate has been carefully restored and many new routes added for visitors to enjoy...or to suffer through ;-)

Cortina d'Ampezzo

After just 4 hours in the car we arrived in the gorgeous ski town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, the heart of the Dolomites in an alpine valley. Cortina hosted the 1956 Winter Olymipcs and has been the location for many movies. We stayed at a fabulous hotel in town with our own kitchen so the first stop on our trips to Italy is always the grocery store ... we LOVE going to the Italian grocery stores and stocking up on all the delicious Italian food for our hikes....mmmmm...the cheese, salami, bread, pasta, wine....HEAVEN!! Once the fridge was fully stocked, we enjoy an early night before our first big hiking day. Our first hike is to visit the famous Tre Cime di Lavaredo (three peaks). As we approached the car parking lot to begin our hike we are surrounded by snow - lots of snow...it looks like a fairytale ... so very pretty, blue sky, sunshine and a lot of snow ... and then we start hiking - in our runners. We were totally prepared for dry weather hiking. Snow hiking? Not so much. We pushed on - once our feet were numb it wasn't too bad ;-) What a spectacular part of the world. We did a 5 hour hike around the three peaks and it was fabulous. Hiking with the kids always includes lots of rest stops but we never break for too long because as soon as we stop we start getting cold so short, quick stops were all we needed. We are so lucky that the kids enjoy hiking as much as we do - they both did a wonderful job. Home for warm baths and warmer dinner and an early night so we can do it all again the next day!!

Tre Cime di Lavaredo (three peaks)

We decided snow/hiking boots were the first purchase of the day. After we were all fixed up with fabulous waterproof hiking boots - we set off for our next hike. Mostly dry hiking today but almost 8hours - the new shoes were well worn in by the end of this day. Today involved some of the via ferrate. Henry had been adamant that he didn't want to put on his rock climbing harness and clip into the wire cables but once we were there he was so brave and decided to give it a go. Nick roped us all together which provided a challenge for us to even walk together without tripping one of us. Once we made it to the base of the rock face Nick gave us a little lesson on climbing; Polly and Nick make it all look so easy as they elegantly scramble up the rock ... Henry and I on the other hand huff and puff and grunt and groan but we made it eventually and we were having a blast!! We were really out in the elements. The rock face was freezing cold and we couldn't wear gloves because we couldn't grip the rock with gloves on so our fingers were numb ... oh yeah ... and it was snowing and cold but we soldiered on!! Polly was in heaven and was keen to keep climbing all day but it became apparent that there was still A LOT of via ferrate ahead of us and poor little Henry was struggling and we were worried about running out of daylight for us to return to the car so we decided enough was enough and that we should turn around. It took twice as long to navigate ourselves safely down the rock face but once at the bottom we huddled in a cave to warm up and enjoyed a delicious warm hot chocolate which was becoming part of our daily lunch while hiking. We still had another 2-3 hours of hiking to do to get back to the car so off we set ... what a great day ... almost 8hours of hiking and we were all wiped out!! This was the only night we ate out during our holiday. We literally fell into a restaurant, ate whatever we could and stumbled into hot baths and then into bed. Phew ... what an awesome day!!

Lana

Next, we drove 2hours west to Lana, a small town located in between Merano and Bolzeno and is a popular for it's many hiking options. Lana also produces most of Europe's apples and I understand chestnuts are pretty popular in Lana also. Lana has a much more German influence than Cortina d'Ampezzo but with the hillsides covered in vines you could not mistake that you were still in Italy. The day we arrived we did a 4hour walk around the town and discovered some wonderful waterfalls along with seeing our first ever salamander, in fact we must have seen about 10 salamanders on that walk - gorgeous black lizard like creatures with bright orange paint like spots. Gorgeous!

On our second day in Lana we did a walk along the ancient paths of the irrigation channels that were originally built to water fields and meadows surrounding the town. The path itself was built mainly for maintenance purposes and is now a gorgeous walking path that winds through vineyards, apple orchards and chestnut groves - such breathtaking views from this walk! We walked for several hours then caught a bus back to Lana - another wonderful day!

We did not want our holiday to end. So on our last day in Lana we decided to pack up the car, hike all day then drive home in the evening. We decided to spend the day hiking one the many trails around the San Vigilio mountain pass. We cheated a bit today and caught a cable car and then a chair lift before we started hiking. It didn't really feel like cheating though because we still did a lot of climbing in the snow. We were headed for the Hochwart mountain top at 2,608m above sea level ... we didn't quite make it but we were pretty close!! We hiked through the clouds and the weather was starting to look pretty dodgy so after yet another most welcome cup of hot chocolate and some lunch, we headed back down the mountain. A quick change of clothes and shoes in the parking lot and we were on our way back to Munich. Such an exhausting, yet fabulous 6 days in spectacular hikers paradise of South Tyrol!! Ti amo Italia!!!

A long weekend in Prague ...

2011-10-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to ancient city of Prague!! We've been planning to visit this stunning city since last December but we had to cancel our trip due to Nick being hospital bound so we've been trying to plan another trip since then. Nick's parents, John and Julia are visiting us from Australia for 5 weeks so we thought this would be a great opportunity to do our first international train trip and visit the largest city in the Czech Republic. The kids had a long weekend at school so we packed our bags, walked to the station and we were off ... our train left Munich at 9am on Friday and arrived in Prague at 3pm. It was that easy!! Train travel was a very stress free way to get to our destination ... it took a little longer than driving but we'd do it again in a heartbeat - sipping champagne while chatting in our cabin ... what a wonderful experience and a great way to travel when we couldn't all fit in our tiny car anyway! Our hotel, "The Red Chair" was fabulously located in the historic center of Old Town which was a perfect location for us to walk to all of the attractions Prague has to offer.

The best part about our hotel was that it had a cafe beside it called The Choco Cafe ... WOW!! This cozy cafe offers every style of divine hot chocolate you can imagine ... enjoy your decadent hot chocolate with a slice of your favorite cake and you will be in heaven!! If you too are a chocoholic, add "The Choco Cafe" to your list of "must sees" in Prague!! ( I always skipped right to dessert so can't review the lunch options but I believe the lunches and snacks here are equally as fabulous as the dessert menu!!)

A little bit of history for you ... Prague is the capital and the largest city in the Czech Republic; it is situated on the Vltava River and is home to about 1.3 million people. It is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of twentieth century Europe. Prague has more than ten major museums, along with many theatres, galleries, cinemas, and other historical exhibits. Ok, ok ... enough of all that ... here's what we covered in our short time in Prague ...

We arrived late afternoon on Friday so we had a little window of time before dinner so we did a short bus tour of Prague to get our bearings so then during the rest of our time in Prague we walked to all the well known sights - what a gorgeous city! We visited the castle grounds and climbed the 285 steps of the Cathedral tower, saw the changing of the guards, Old Town, we caught the funicular up to Petřín Hill and the observatory, visited the stunning rose gardens and mirror maze all in and around Petřín Hill. We walked through and enjoyed a fabulous lunch in the Jewish quarter of town and across the stunning George Bridge a number of times and touched the St John Nepomuk statue plate for good luck. We admired "The Dancing House" which is a nickname given to a building in downtown Prague. It was originally named Fred and Ginger (after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - the house resembles a pair of dancers) the house stands out among the Baroque, Gothic and Art Nouveau buildings for which Prague is famous. We saw the Apostles and other moving sculptures perform their hourly show at the medieval astronomical clock in Old Town Square. The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the

world and the only one still working. We also enjoyed a wonderful meal with some great friends we've met through the kids' school - it was so fun to catch up on their experience of Prague while we were there! The shopping in Prague is mind blowing ... soooooooo many fun shops, boutiques, malls ... this town certainly offers something for everybody!! The highlight of the trip for us all was the most wonderful performance by the Prague Baroque Chamber Orchestra held in St Climent's Cathedral right near our hotel. Polly has just started learning the violin and Henry is learning about Mozart at school so both kids were so excited to have front row seats for this outstanding performance. If we were to return to Prague one day, we would fill our time with these various concerts that are held in many Cathedrals around this stunning city. While we definitely enjoyed Prague and we are thrilled to now, finally, cross it off our "must see" list ... personally, I found Prague to be way more touristy than I expected. I didn't realise that Prague has 4.1 million international visitors a year! That's a lot of tourists!! All the tourists made it pretty uncomfortable to just walk around town and also made us a bit nervous getting from place to place with the kids. To accommodate the tourists there are many, many little stores selling every tacky tourist item you can imagine - for me this was an unattractive aspect in this gorgeous city and gave it an out of character "Vegas" feel that didn't suit such an ancient city so rich in history. Two and half full days of sightseeing and we are all worn out!! John and Julia continued by train to Vienna and we returned home to Munich.

I couldn't let my October blog be posted without a quick photo of us all at Oktoberfest! Last year, we arrived in Munich during the last weekend of Oktoberfest and we were totally unprepared for this huge festival that takes over our city ... but this time around we celebrated our one year anniversary of living in Munich by dressing up in our dirndls and lederhosen and we did Oktoberfest in style!! Who's coming to visit next year so we can show you how the German's like to party at Oktoberfest?!!

Time to get ready for our next adventure ... we are off to Italy to hike in the Dolomites at the end of October!! Yay!! Can't wait!!

Breathtaking Botswana!!

2011-08-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

WOW!! WOW!! WOW!!

Our big Summer trip this year was a 10 day camping safari in Botswana, Africa. This holiday was a dream come true for me - such magical memories for our family during this spectacular trip of a lifetime. I have been wanting to do a safari for many, many years now and this trip far exceeded my expectations - it was completely and utterly amazing!!

I could try to describe the animals, sunrises, sunsets, waterfalls and new friends that we made but I could never fully explain how it really truly felt to actually BE there - to actually see and soak in these incredible sights ... but I'll do my best here so you too can share in our fabulous memories of beautiful Botswana!!

Firstly, some quick facts ...

Geographically Botswana is flat and up to 70% is covered by the Kalahari Desert. Botswana is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point. The Chobe River lies to the north, providing a boundary between Botswana and Namibia. The official language of Botswana is English although Setswana is widely spoken across the country. Ok – that’s enough of that … here’s a little bit about our trip …

We started by flying the red eye from Munich to Johannesburg with a connection to sunny, warm Maun in Botswana where we discovered one of our bags of luggage was missing... booooooooo!! Thankfully it was Nick's bag. Yaya!! Joke!! It was a pain in the neck actually but we weren't about to let that ruin our holiday!! We were met by our guide and after filling out all the paperwork for the lost bag, our guide rushed us to the nearest store to pick up some clothes for Nick and then we were off.

Our safari guide was Anthony and his apprentice, Joe joined us too. Both really fabulous guys. Anthony is a very smart, knowledgeable guy and is absolutely passionate about his country - he was a sensational guide who we are lucky enough to now call our friend. Anthony and Joe were with us for our entire trip and they cooked all our delicious meals and even better - they did the dishes too ;-) The truck Anthony had been given to use to navigate the deep sandy roads was a 20 year old Toyota Hilux and we bounced around in the back while pulling a trailer that held the camping equipment and food. The kids thought the truck was "awesome" ... no seat bets, no windows, no doors - they loved it!! With Anthony's help we saw every animal imaginable....elephants, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, lions, buffalo, antelopes, impala, warthogs, hyenas, wildebeests, zebras, baboons, and so, so many different varieties of the over 570 species of birds in Botswana ... we saw it all ... no rhinos in Botswana though :( We stayed in 5 different campsites - each day consisted of dawn and dusk game drives with a few hours at the campsite during the day for lunch and relaxation.

The weather was fabulous - cold mornings and evenings but hot days with endless blue sky and sunshine - perfect!! The sunrises were gorgeous and very welcomed but the sunsets were outstanding ... absolutely breathtaking - the colors were mindblowing - so beautiful!! One of our campsites had a waterhole where up to 40 elephants at a time would come to drink and play in the water several times a day - it was amazing. We floated off to sleep to the trumpeting of elephants enjoying the water at the end of a hot day - it was such a wonderful sight to see!

We enjoyed a fabulous boat trip on the Chobe River where we watched elephants swimming across the river and we were chased down by hippos and saw crocodiles up way too close for my liking!! Yikes!! On our last day we left Botswana on the ferry and crossed the Chobe River into Zambia to experience Victoria Falls - WOW!! Victoria Falls are the largest falls in the world located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. What an amazing sight!! We were so sad that our African adventure had come to an end :( We flew out of Livingstone in Zambia, through Johannesburg (where we collected the long lost luggage - yay!!) then home to cold and rainy Munich :(

It was with heavy hearts that we left Botswana ... before this trip we were calling this holiday a "trip of a lifetime" but already we are planning to return to this spectacular country.

Bella Italia!!

2011-06-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

We are just home from the most wonderful trip to Italy. We were about 10kms out of Trieste in Northern Italy and words cannot describe this fabulous trip so I'll let the photos do all the talking.

... there was a lot of this ....

plenty of this ....

tons of this ....

some of this ...

and after 4 gorgeous days it resulted in Nick and I looking like this ...

Ti amo Italia!!

Hiking & Biking in Bavaria!!

2011-05-31T05:28:00.000-07:00

This is just a short little entry today to share with you all our recent fun filled weekend adventures of hiking and biking in Bavaria.

Last weekend we were invited by a super fun family from school to go hiking with them. It's funny actually, this family is from Switzerland and they lived in Pleasanton, California the same time we lived there!! We totally could have crossed paths there but never did and here we are now hiking in the German Alps with them...crazy - it really is a small, small world!! Anyway, we met Michele, her husband and their 3 girls in mountain resort town of Garmisch about an hours drive from our home. We were well equipped with sandwiches, snacks, water and Henry's new walkie talkies that he bought with his pocket money. In fact, the walkie talkies were a great way of keeping in touch when we broke into 2 groups so we can highly recommend taking them on your next group hike!! It took us 3 long hours of steep, steep climbing to reach the top of Stepbergalm and it was well worth the sweat and tears (of which there were plenty of both!!). Our view from the top was simply breathtaking - we overlooked Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain (2,962 m).

First sighting of the hut!! Hooray!! We made it!!

The German Alps have many long distance hiking tracks. Many of the original routes were used by cattle drovers, bandits and the military. Dotted throughout the Alps are huts that offer a warm, hearty meal and a cold beer as a much earned reward after your tiring climb. I believe in some cases the food and drink is delivered by helicopter due to the remote locations of some of these huts. The alpine huts are quite solid buildings that are maintained and staffed by the local alpine associations and some of the huts can accommodate up to 70 people. Most huts are open from May/June through to Sept/Oct. These huts are a wonderful resting spot after hiking these steep, rough tracks and it also means you don't need to pack a lot of food with you so you can treat yourself with a delicious German meal to energize you for the treacherous hike back down. All the kids did fabulously on the hike. The hut was a very welcome site after our challenging 3 hours of hiking in the warm, humid weather and the beer went down way too easily ;-)

It took us 2 hours to get down in the thunder, lightening and heavy rain. A weather change that we were not prepared for at all!! The hiking was steep and long and I couldn't walk for 3 days afterwards ... but I loved every minute of it and would do it all again in a heartbeat - in fact we are already planning an overnight hiking trip where we will stay in one of these huts and then continue climbing the next day. When you all come to visit, you need to do this hike ... here is the link to this hut: http://www.stepberg-alm.de/

From hiking to biking ...

We had more gorgeous sunny weather this last weekend here in Bavaria and on Sunday we all set off to watch Nick race 20 laps of a 3km course amongst 100 other German racers. Nick's race was fast and furious and fabulous to watch. It makes me want to race bikes too ... until I learned of an awful crash and saw two ambulances arrive on the scene .... I think I'll stick to my recreational riding for now ;-)

One huge difference I noticed from Nick's Californian races are that apparently the German fans don't cheer. However, this Australian family does so we showed them how it's done!!! Polly, Henry and I were THE ONLY people cheering out there. Polly had made a sign for Nick, we were ringing bells, screaming and jumping up and down every time Nick rode by. Nothing and no one was going to stop us cheering!!

The kids and I walked the course during the race and yelled out our support at every possible moment. We got many, many strange looks from the Germans but we are getting used to that in our every day lives so that was no big deal ;-) Henry was cheering in full face paint as he wanted to be the tiger from Kung Fu Panda - I guess face painting, too is very unGerman as he was quite the talk of the race, posing for photos in between cheering for Nick. Nick did a great job and had a blast ... it was a long day in the sun but loads of fun too. GOOOOOOOOOOO NICK GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Very happy, sun burned racer post race!!

So much for the 'short little entry' ... haha!! I just have sooooooo much to say about all the fun we are having here!! We really are doing our very best to make the most of this wonderful opportunity of living in Germany and we are enjoying every moment .... while the sun is out at least ;-)

This week we have a long weekend and we are headed to the beaches of Trieste for some rest and relaxation in gorgeous Italia!! Italy, to me, feels like going 'home' ... I love the smiling faces, warmth and yummy food and wine in bella Italia!!

Until next time!!

Ciao!!

Deutschland Road Trip!!

2011-05-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

We spent our Easter break on a 9 day road trip of Germany.

Certainly not enough time to cover it all but we made a good start. We were Berlin bound and decided to break up the trip and see a couple of other towns on the way to and from Berlin. Our first stop was a small town called Marburg about halfway between Munich and Berlin. After about 4.5hrs on the crazy fast autobahn (no speed limits at all!!) we arrived in the picturesque town of Marburg.

After checking into our hotel we set out on foot, under gorgeous blue skies and warm sunshine, to explore the cobblestone streets and alleyways of this University town. Marburg is located on the Lahn River and is well known for its medieval churches and for Heinrich IIs castle, set high up on the hill. We climbed the 150+ stairs up to the castle ... we did stop at a beer garden to quench our thirst, but we made it all the way!! Marburg is a fascinating, Gothic town and we enjoyed sitting by the river, exploring the local farmers market, visiting the churches, eating outside on the cobblestones and wandering the streets while sampling ice cream from one of the many cafes :-) We spent two days in Marburg and as we were packing our bags to get back in the car and head up to Berlin, Polly threw up. Uh oh ... this was not part of the plan. She was a real trooper and suffered through the car ride and only threw up a couple of times before she was feeling better. My poor girl ....

On the way to Berlin, we took a little side trip to visit the small World Heritage town of Quedlinburg. Polly carried a plastic puke bag with her as we explored this quaint town which has been known since at least the early 9th century.

On a hill above the old town stands the architectural masterpiece of the collegiate church of St. Servatius. It's old crypt features a famous collection of church treasures, as well as tombs of the Emperor Henry and his wife Mathilde. After our picnic in the park under endless blue sky and the hot sun we visited St. Servatius, the wonderful treasures and the tombs. In the innermost parts of the town there are a wide selection of half-timbered buildings including the oldest surviving timber-frame building in Germany from the 14th century.

It is one of the best-preserved medieval and renaissance towns in Europe, having escaped major damage in World War II. We would have liked to spend more time in Quedlinburg but Berlin awaits!!

View from the car on the way to Berlin ... reminds me of gorgeous Livermore, CA!!

Brandenburg Gate

Wow!! Where do I start with the fascinating capital and largest city of Germany ... Berlin - a city of 3.4 million people on the Spree River - wow!!!

Checkpoint Charlie

Our hotel was in a central location, right near Checkpoint Charlie. We spent the first day exploring this enormous city with Fat Tire Bike Tours. The bike ride was slow and flat, a perfect family friendly way to see this huge city.

The bike tour took us to the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Marienkirche (Berlin's oldest functioning church), Humboldt University, Red Town Hall, Checkpoint Charlie, the site of Hitler's bunker, Berlin Zoo, Reichstag, Bebelplatz (the site of Nazi book-burning), State Opera House, Museum Island, the Holocaust Memorial, through the stunning gardens, to a fabulous beer garden .... all in only 4.5hrs and 10kms of riding!! It was definitely a highlight of our trip and a wonderful way to see this historical city.

Holocaust Memorial

The Berlin Wall

One of the interesting things we noticed about Berlin was Ampelmann (the traffic light walking symbol). Feel free to google Ampelmann for the whole history but basically when East and West Germany reunified after the wall came down, everything was standardized to one system... but the east couldn't live without Ampelmann, and so Ampelmann was brought back, oh and Ampelfrau too! Yay! There are now Ampelmann stores in Berlin selling everything from Ampelmann tattoos to clocks to Christmas decorations - basically anything you can whack a logo on - Ampelmann has a huge fan club!! He even has a facebook fan page!!

Did someone say 'cake'? ;-)

Amongst all the history and wonderful sights in Berlin - our visit there was also made enjoyable by a few other aspects. Polly and Henry learned how to eat with chopsticks - a huge feat....in fact, after mastering chopsticks, Henry insisted on eating every meal and snack with them ... and I'm being serious...now that was a challenge!! This also means too that our kids actually ate something that was not pizza or pasta - another miracle right there. This, in turn, allowed us to enjoy a variety of restaurants rather than looking for Italian ... again!! Another fun activity for the kids was the pool at the hotel. We are slow learners when it comes to booking hotels but we realise now that regardless of how tired the kids are from a day full of sightseeing, visiting churches and museums that they are never too tired for some fun downtime playing in the pool or at the park...but we've got it figured out now!! The kids loved the pool and there was a park across the road from the hotel so there was something for everybody ;-) Each afternoon, we followed the German culture and enjoyed coffee and cake (or Kaffee und Kuchen) ... who am I kidding? It was ME enjoying Kaffee und Kuchen and Nick and the kids enjoyed sampling various flavors of ice cream as a special afternoon treat ;-) Another thing we noticed about our time in Berlin is that they have a slightly different pronunciation of some words - as if German hasn't been hard enough for us to learn, now we have a slightly different sound to make as we spit and stutter our way through Berlin.

My gorgeous Aunt told me about a building in Berlin that was owned by my grandmother's family many, many, many generations ago called Kaufhaus Des Westens (KaDeWe). It is Europe’s largest department store. It wasn't too difficult to find this building as it is one of Berlin's most gorgeous shopping stores - seven floors of high end items ranging from clothes to saucepans to 1800 varieties of cheese - it offers more than 3million products. It was fun for me to have that link there in our countries capital. I was disappointed to learn they would not offer me a family discount :(

After four days in Berlin, we were all walked out and were quite happy to sit in the car for a few hours on our way to one of Germany's most beautiful cities - the World Heritage town of Dresden. Our hotel was directly in the city center and with all the wonderful historical sights close by we were grateful that our legs would get a rest for a couple of days.

Fürstenzug

Eleven square kilometres of the city centre were completely destroyed by bombing towards the end of World War II. Over time the city was rebuilt and then in 2002, torrential rains caused the River Elbe to flood 9 metres (30 ft) above its normal height. Due to the speed of reconstruction, the destruction from this flood is no longer visible.

We had a wonderful time exploring this gorgeous city. We saw the elegant Fürstenzug (German for "Procession of Princes") mural which is one of the largest porcelain artworks in the world.

We also visited the most famous building in Dresden, a beautiful Baroque structured palace called The Zwinger.

The Zwinger

We walked to the Dresden Gardens and spent half a day there. We caught the miniature railway (run solely by kids) to the palace in the gardens, had lunch at the beer garden, climbed trees, made daisy chains then caught the train back past the zoo, to the main station again ... and all under heavenly blue skies and sunshine!! Yay!! Wonderful memories were made in the Dresden Gardens.

Dresden is a spectacular city and amongst the churches, palaces and gardens, Dresden is a huge shopping city too!! Definitely a must see if you're ever in the area.

Our Easter Road Trip was sensational!! Henry spent the whole week being Batman and made many friends while wearing his Batman cape. We all tried to speak German as much as possible and we did ... okay. Nick only speaks German now when we are out and I am so envious of his understanding of the language. He is doing awesome!!

The speeds at which these German drive on the autobahn absolutely blows my mind. We were driving at the speedlimit and made it home in about 4hours ... home sweet home .... it was a wonderful trip full of fabulous memories ... but it's always lovely to come home.

Now ... where to next??

I'm out of hibernation!!

2011-05-01T02:17:00.000-07:00

Spring is here at last!! Blue sky! Sunshine! Warmth!! No more snow!! Yayay!! This solar powered girl made it through her first German winter and is now loving every minute of Frühling (Spring)!!

From what I'm told, although our winter here started early, it was fairly "mild" compared to other years. For me, it was like a living hell. I thought it would never end - endless snow, bitter cold and miserably grey days .... it was definitely a challenge for me. BUT - it's all over now!! We have blue sky, sunshine and warmth ... HOORAY!! I am officially out of hibernation and ready to update you all on our whereabouts.

Since the temperatures have risen, we are spending as much time outside as possible. We are now officially (finally!!) a bike riding family!! Henry is finally riding his bike confidently (yayaya!!) although on our longer family rides he still uses the trailer bike. We rode the 7kms through the local forest bike trails to Lake Starnberg recently, enjoyed lunch in the glorious sunshine and rode home again. We are loving the bike riding opportunities in this area! Polly rode the 18kms to work with Nick this week and performed like a champion!! Henry and I met Nick and Polly for lunch then came home - a great day!! Lots of time spent on our bikes, at the park, by the creek, at the ice cream store ;-) Munich is divine in the Spring time!! Colorful Spring flowers are everywhere!! Who knew that under the fields of snow were hundred of daffodil bulbs eagerly waiting for Spring to arrive!! The colors and smells are fantastic!! It appears that all the Germans have dusted off their bikes and the bike trails are frantic with locals out to enjoy this gorgeous part of the world. Children's parks and playgrounds are full of families enjoying the fresh air, boats are on the lake, beer gardens are open and in full swing, hundreds of tables full of happy Germans enjoying their liter glasses of beer! Cafe's and restaurants all have their tables set up outside where the locals are enjoying a meal or a quiet espresso in the sun.

Nick spent a week in Marllorca in February for his cycling team training camp. Training 6hrs a day, eat, sleep, repeat. He was in heaven!! He is now reaping the benefits of his training and enjoying the race season with his team. Racing here is quite different from his Californian experience but he loves his team and is learning some key German phrases on the bike ;-)

While Nick was living it up in Mallorca, my Dad came from Australia to visit for a week. It was fun to show him around "our" town so we did some of the local sights in Munich and also visited the impressive Neuschwanstein Castle which was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty's castle. The kids had a blast with their "Pa" and I am so thankful that he was able to spend some real quality time with the kids.

We have also been lucky enough to have one of Polly's dear friends from California, and her family, come for a flying visit too. It was a crazy 24hours but it was so wonderful to see them and catch up on all the news!! We miss all our Californian friends!!!

Also, my dear Scottish friend Ann and her son came to visit for a week. I met Ann about 15 years ago when I lived in Scotland and she is like family to me so it was wonderful to catch up with her and meet her son! So many laughs that week!! We love having visitors here and have a few more visitors lined up over summer too - so if you think you might be in the area, let us know! We'd love to see you!!

I have been enjoying riding the local bike trails with a super fun group of women I met through school. We drop the kids at school, ride all day and then collect the kids after school - such a wonderful way to spend the day! We are far from hard core but there is a lot of laughing, chatting and lunching going on - loads of fun!!

I have made a couple of wonderfully welcoming German girlfriends that are introducing me to some of the local haunts. They are so fun to hang out with and extremely tolerant of me trying to practice my German - it is somewhat discouraging though when they have absolutely no idea what I'm trying to say - and here I was thinking I was fluent!! Ha!!

The kids are doing really well. This term at school Polly is doing tennis and bouldering and guitar and Henry is kicking butt (literally) at TaeKwonDo. Henry lost his first tooth in February and his 2nd tooth fell out 2 weeks later. He looks so grown up now!! They are enjoying school and both have lots of wonderful friends from around the world. They are both thriving at the German language - unlike me. Nick speaks and understands a lot of German and better still, he actually understands the grammar. I am a lost cause. I am trying, but have resigned to memorising as much as I can now....oh....and I smile and apologise A LOT....and I'm getting by just fine ... most of the time ;-) Ha!

We visited Legoland a couple of weeks ago and had a blast! We promised the kids we could go there for their birthdays last December but the park closes over winter so this was a long awaited trip and well worth the wait!!

We have just returned from our super fun Easter break roadtrip to Berlin and Dresden so stay tuend for that update shortly!!

I hope you all had a Happy Easter ... or Frohe Ostern!!

Nördlingen, Bavaria

2011-01-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

Nick has been reading a book on the history of Germany and has been taking notes about towns that would be fun to visit as a family and today we had a wonderful time learning about the medieval town of Nördlingen.

Walking the city wall

Nördlingen, in Bavaria, has a population of about 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War. Today it is one of only three towns in Germany that still has a completely established city wall.

Breathtaking view from "Daniel"

Steps up "Daniel"

In the center of the town is St George's Church and it is regarded as one of the largest and most beautiful late Gothic hall churches in Southern Germany. "Daniel" is the tower of the church which is 90meters high and provides tourists with a fascinating view over the town and the Ries Crater. From the tower every evening, between 10pm and midnight, every half-hour, the watchman's cry can be heard from the "Daniel": "So G'sell, so!" (All's well, fellows, all's well!").

Remember in the final scenes of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when the glass elevator is floating over a gorgeous little circular town? Nördlingen is that town!!

Look familiar? (Pic thanks to Wikipedia)

We left Munich while it was miserable and raining and arrived in Nördlingen an hour and half later in blue sky and sunshine!! We explored the town, walked around the city wall, climbed the tower "Daniel", enjoyed a wonderful Bavarian lunch followed by delicious apfelstrudel then headed home.

A wonderful, adventure filled day - thanks Nick for organising it all!!

Spectacular Salzburg!

2011-01-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

I had the BEST time with my baby girl on this trip!

"Salzburg here we come!"

Polly and I have just returned from a wonderful 2 day trip to Salzburg, Austria. We had a blast!! My super cool friend, Sandi, sent us "The Sound of Music" dvd for Christmas and we have enjoyed watching it over and over and Polly fell in love with the movie and it's one of my favorites too so I decided to take Polly on a little overnight stay to Salzburg where the movie was filmed. We left our little village of Gauting at 9am on Tuesday and we arrived in Salzburg at 11.30am. It was a fabulous train ride with endless snowy fields to look out over the whole way - so pretty! Polly is a great little traveler - she either listens to her ipod or reads which makes for a very pleasant journey. We caught a taxi to our fabulous hotel and then set out on foot to explore this fascinating city.

Still further to climb!

Dominating the skyline of Salzburg is the Hohensalzburg Fortress - which is the largest and best preserved fortress from the middle ages overlooking this gorgeous city. Before the steep climb to this major landmark, Polly and I indulged in some local cuisine; apfelstrudel and topfenstrudel - sure to give us the energy for the upcoming climb....and what a climb it was!! It took us about 30minutes and involved excessive huffing and puffing but it was worth every step! From the top we could see all of Salzburg and the Salzbach River - truly a breath taking view!

View from the Fortress

We toured the rooms of the fortress, the outer grounds and the torture chamber before heading back down in a cable car which took only 60seconds compared to our lengthy climb up!

The sun was setting quickly and it was only 4.30pm but we were determined to find the Nonnberg Abbey which was established around the year 700 and still functions as a convent today. We had already booked 'The Sound of Music Tour' for the following day but the abbey was not included in the tour and we wanted to stand at those same gates where the von Trapp children stood hoping to talk to Fraulein Maria ... here is Polly at those very gates searching for Maria ... in fact, we were searching for the gates in the dark ... we had to climb again to find the abbey but it was fantastic to be there where it all really happened ... and you know we were singing the whole way!!

"Mozart's Birth-house"

When we were told that Maria wouldn't see us, we continued to explore Salzburg. The gorgeous fountains were all covered up, protected from the snow which is a fabulous excuse for us to return to this pretty city another time. Among many fabulous sights, we saw the house where Mozart lived, Polly had fun ice skating downtown before we both enjoyed a delicious meal and then walked back to the hotel to enjoy a scrumptious Austrian vanilla pastry dessert in bed ;-)

"Where's Polly?"

Unfortunately, Polly was in excruciating pain with an earache over night and we thought we'd need to come home immediately but with some drugs and some home remedies from the internet she was ready to roll again in the morning! Phew!! A huge, delicious breakfast started our day off well ... 'The Sound of Music Tour' ... here we come!!

The Sound of Music film was never released in Austria or Germany so the tour was full of international tourists and while we are doing our best to live as a 'locals' during our time here, we were definitely 'tourists' in Salzburg ;-)

The trees the children climb in their curtain clothes

Polly is standing on the frozen lake where the children fell out of the boat at the rear of the von Trapp house. The famous gazebo was built to the left of this building but has since been moved to another location to make it easier for tourists to enjoy.

We visited many filming locations and our guide was very knowledgeable and shared all sorts of fun information about the film. All the inside scenes from the film were filmed in Hollywood studios including the famous "I am 16 going on 17" scene in the gazebo....but we did see the gazebo! We also visited Leopoldskron-Palace where filming was done at the von Trapp house.

The wedding church

Maria and the children ran across this bridge on their way to the picnic in the hills

We saw the trees that the von Trapp children climbed in their curtain clothes, the church where Maria and the Captain were married (well outside Salzburg) and the wonderful gardens from the scenes of "Doe Ray Me".

Famous archway the children run through

You will need to use your imagination with the snow covered photos until we can return to Salzburg in the Spring for some greener shots. Polly and I had so much fun on our first ever girls trip - the first of many!! After our tour, we had one last walk around this gorgeous city before catching the train home to Munich. Such a fun 2 days ... where to next?!?!

"Doe Ray Me" steps in the background

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

2010-12-30T14:52:00.000-08:00

... or ... Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr!! ;-)

What a month!! December is a busy month for most people but our first December in Munich was a particularly crazy month!!

The month started with St Niklaus visiting the house on December 6. This is a German tradition where the kids place a boot or shoe outside for the Roman Catholic bishop, St Niklaus. During the night St Nicklaus visits each house and if the children have been 'good' then he will fill the boot with candy, fruit and nuts ... but if the child has not been good he will leave sticks in the shoes. I was expecting boots full of sticks but much to the kids excitement, fruit, nuts & candy appeared in the biggest boots they could find to leave out for St Nik ;-) Straight after St Niklaus' visit, both kids managed to catch Scarlet Fever which sounds very dramatic but it actually sounds worse than it really was - but it involved fevers, body rash, strep throat, antibiotics, several doctors visits (in German!), days off school and the worst part was that we were THAT family that instigated the dreaded letter that gets sent home from school saying that 'your child has been exposed to Scarlet Fever' ... but we must've caught it from somewhere too, right?? ;-)

Polly's 9th Birthday was December 8. Her present this year was getting her braces off!! Hooray!! Lots of excitement at the ease and speed of flossing now! We celebrated with a fun night in Munich; sausages and kinderpunch (a warm grape juice German drink for kids served at the Christmas Markets).

Polly and I spent one cold December Saturday night out at a local theater to watch some friends perform in an Irish Dancing performance. It was a super fun night full of energetic Irish jigs, singing, jumping - it was a wonderful night - the Irish sure do know how to have a good time!

Christmas markets are held all over Germany and they are truly unique. Selling everything from traditional toys, wood carvings, marionettes, candles, lambskin shoes as well as the delicious treats like hot chestnuts, grilled sausages, marzipan and the traditional German gingerbread biscuits called Lebkuchen as well as other tasty sweets. One of my fabulous new friends here told me about a wonderful Christmas market that only takes place every two years and this was the year! Hooray!! So off we went to experience the magical Christmas market in Ettal which is a small town in a narrow mountain valley at the impressive foothills of Bavaria. The Christmas market is held in the grounds surrounding the Ettal Abby which was founded in 1330 - such a beautiful part of the world! What a terrific day we had - gorgeous snow falling, camel rides, sledding, delicious smells, locally made goods, music, laughter, the warmth of Glühwein (warm mulled red wine) all shared with the wonderful company of our new friends. A truly superb day that screamed "Christmas" in every way!!

Next, Henry was unlucky enough to get Scarlet Fever again...so more of the same treatment which meant Nick's 40th birthday was a celebration at home instead of the initial restaurant plans but that was ok - we were all together. The kids painted a gorgeous art piece for Nick for his 40th which turned out really well - Polly designed it and then they each painted one side. It's a painting of Nick riding his bike up a snow covered mountain - the did a wonderful job!

Henry's 6th birthday next and we headed back into Munich to experience two different Christmas markets - the Children's Christmas Market and the Medieval Market before enjoying a wonderful Balkan meal. A wonderful birthday night!

Instead of birthday parties for the kids this year we agreed to spend the day together doing something fun and different so we all enjoyed a super fun day at a nearby indoor waterslide park - there were several slides, a wave pool, saunas and our favorite part was an outdoor pool where we relaxed in the steaming hot pools, surrounded by snow under blue sky and sunshine - it was heaven! Two days after our wonderful trip to the waterslides, Nick mentioned his foot was sore and me, being the sympathetic, nurse like gal that I am, said "you probably tied your shoes too tight; you'll be fine". Twenty four hours later he is in hospital getting antibiotics intravenously to treat the infection in his foot that was spreading up his leg!!! We are still not sure how he managed to get this infection - he remembers climbing out of the pool at the water slides and scraping his foot on the side of the pool so perhaps that's how his infection started but we are really not sure. Even though I understand an infection can be very serious, I really thought that he might be in hospital ('Krankenhaus' in German) for a day - maybe two .... not 9 days!!! So our frist Christmas in Europe was spent in the Krankenhaus this year.

We did our best to make it special for the kids; Nick had a gorgeous view from his bed and we enjoyed watching the kids play in the snow, Polly brought her guitar and played Jingle Bells for us and we were entertained by the local German band while eating our sandwiches for Christmas lunch ;-)

The kids were really very good about all the trips to the hospital and waiting to open Christmas gifts so we could all be together. We were spoiled with gifts ... but loved every second of it!! Thank you to our family and friends who made the effort to help make our first Christmas in Munich so special!! Driving to and from the hospital in the snow is a nightmare for me - the narrow, country, windy roads scare me so I tried to plan all our visits so I wouldn't have to drive home in the dark - yet another sign of my old age - no more driving in the snow and in the dark for me. It's too scary!! Nick came home today and it is wonderful to have him home where he belongs. We all missed him terribly and today, the kids just want to be with him, play with him, talk to him, show him things ... I think he might prefer the peace and quiet of the Krankenhaus!! He is still having a lot of difficulty walking and he needs to rest a lot so the next few days will be quiet days at home while he orders me around ;-)

Amongst visits to the hospital we managed a super fun afternoon of sledding on a slope of our neighboring village...the kids were so brave - or crazy - and had a blast!!

We also spent a wonderful evening ice skating in Munich under a light snow shower. Ice skating is still fairly new for Henry and I have never seen legs move so fast as his did that night - lots of laughs - lots of fall - but no tears! A wonderful, memorable night!!

We had a little trip to Prague planned in the first week of January but we have cancelled that now because Nick still really can't walk. So will reschedule that for another time.

While living here, my fabulous friend Sandi, sent us the movie "The Sound of Music" and we have watched it over and over and over and we all love it and it's amazing to think that it was filmed only hours from where we live!! So, now that we have postponed our visit to Prague, I think I will let Nick and Henry have a boys day one day next week, while Nick is working from home, and Polly and I will do a quick day trip to Salzburg in Austria to do "The Sound of Music" tour!! Polly seems to think that "the hills" will be "alive" and green like in the movie ... so I sure hope she's not disappointed when those hills are covered in snow and also that Fraulein Maria won't be there to tell us about a few of her favorite things :-)

We are excited and looking forward to an adventure filled, visitor packed 2011!! I just wish time would slow down a bit because our two years here in Munich already seem to be going by so quickly and my list of "places to visit" is growing by the day!!!

Gutes Neues Jahr .... Happy New Year to you all!! Wishing you all a wonderful, safe and healthy 2011 - add us to your list of "places to visit" next year!!!

2 Months In!

2010-11-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

AHHHH!!!! What a crazy ride it's been during our first two months here in in Munich. High high's and low low's and a whole lot in between however I can say with complete honesty and confidence that this move is a wonderful thing ...for me personally and for the whole family. Definitely no regrets. It is such a tremendous opportunity for which I am extremely grateful. So amidst all the craziness that has been this 'transition' - I do love living here in Munich; I am so very happy we are here.

The kids are like different people. Henry asked me to pack chopsticks with his lunch so he could eat his sandwich with them because "Yuto eats his lunch with chopsticks every day". Both kids are learning German and thriving in their new school. Henry has started learning taekwondo after school from Master Klaus (who only speaks German) and Polly is learning guitar - they are learning and growing in this new environment and I have learned so much from watching them here - their worlds change so quickly and yet they adapted almost immediately to their new life here. It has been wonderful for me to watch them go through this experience.

Nick has joined Munich's oldest cycling team, RC "Die Schwalben" (The Swallows), the team has been around since 1894; he is training hard to race with them next season - racing in Europe - AWESOME!! December is usually a frantic, stressful month in the Fitton house with Polly, Henry and Nick's 40th birthday's all before Christmas but this year will be the best year ever. We all agreed that instead of birthday parties that we would do a special trip instead - the kids are thrilled - as are we! Legoland is closed until spring but we will do this with them as part of their 'gift'. There is a huge indoor water slide park nearby so we will do this as a family to celebrate their birthdays this year. Polly really wants a watch and Henry's list is so long he can't seem to narrow it down yet ;-) The life size Hagrid made out of Lego from Harry Potter is on his list!

I have been lucky enough to meet some super fun gals through the school that live in my own little village and we lean on each other and share lots of laughs (& wine) which has been wonderful. I have joined a gym in the town and do my best to struggle through a few classes taught in German each week. During my first week here I was invited to join a fun group of women who walk in the woods for an hour and then enjoy a fabulous breakfast afterwards - so that takes up most of Wednesday morning and I look forward to it each week - I have learned so much from these women and am sincerely grateful to be included. Nick and I have started German lessons every week which is an absolute complete and utter brain drain for me but much needed and although I kind of dread the lessons, I still really want to do them, I want to learn - BUT IT'S SOOOOOO HARD!!!

Our weekends are full on family time - sleeping in, cooked breakfasts, relaxation, bike rides, movies, hiking, eating, trips into Munich, cooking and naps. All the stores here are closed on Sunday's which I am starting to get used to and now I love it! We are spending a lot of family time together and I am enjoying hanging out and chilling with the kids.

My super cool aunt and cousin came to visit for a couple of nights in November and it was wonderful! So heavenly to be able to catch up with them - I haven't seen them in years and years and to have them here (and speak English with them) was such a treat - I only wish they could have stayed longer! :(

We are all very excited about spending Christmas here, exploring all the fun things our new home town has to offer. The Germans sure do know how to do Christmas. The kids had a half day at school on Friday so after school we went into Munich to compile the lists for Santa. Munich is full of fabulous decorations, chocolate, advent calendars, ice skating, crepes, warm wine, roasted chestnuts, Christmas stalls ... the list goes on and on!! We met Nick after work and enjoyed a fabulous Bavarian feast for dinner before catching the train home. I think this might become a weekly tradition during December for us - it was such a fun night - Munich truly is a gorgeous city and even more so at Christmas time. I am in love with this beautiful city!! We were so inspired by our trip to Munich on Friday that we spent this afternoon decorating the house for Christmas ... just need to get a tree now and we'll be set!

There you have it. Two months in and so much happened during this rollercoaster of "transition" ... but we love our new life here and are super excited about what's next to come in our European adventure. When are you coming to visit??

Kids sharing a delicious Krapfen (kinda like a jam donut but better!)

Ti Amo Italia!

2010-10-31T07:48:00.000-07:00

Smiling faces, warm welcomes, friendly people, sensational food & wine - my heart was SO happy in Italy!! We are just home from five glorious days in beautiful Italia! We stayed in the little village of Sirmione located on a small peninsula in the south of Lake Garda and loved every minute of exploring the area. We stayed in a gorgeous little, family run hotel, called Corte Regina situated in the heart of Sirmione, just steps to the lake shore and the city's castle, enjoying the clock tower bells each hour. Nick surprised me with a huge bouquet of beautiful flowers and champagne in our room to celebrate our 12 year anniversary - what a fabulous way to start our Italian vacation!!

The first couple of days were raining and windy, not ideal vacation weather, but we still enjoyed walking the cobblestone streets and indulging in hot chocolate the Italian way ... pure dark chocolate, melted ... hold the milk ... it was heaven in a cup!!

The skies cleared up a bit and we eagerly set off for Venice!! After a slight delay due to Polly getting severely car sick, we made it to Venice just in time for lunch. We parked the car, crossed the street and we were right there!! Such an amazing sight - we were all smiling from ear to ear - so pretty!! The kids were amazed that there were no cars and they were so excited to cross all the bridges, wave to all the people travelling by boat and adventure down narrow walkways. We found a fabulous little restaurant for lunch that appeared to be full of locals - exactly what we were after. After lunch we spent the day exploring Venice which of course included a gondola ride - which we thought we'd do 'for the kids' but we all loved it! Our gondolier grew up in Venice and owned the gondola we rode in - he was full of history and even though he didn't sing, he made sure we all had a memorable ride. Venice was fabulous - we all had an amazing day...we went home very tired and happy after enjoying fabulous Venizia!

The next was a day in gorgeous Bardolino - a small town on the south east of the Lake.

Nick arranged to rent a bike and the kids and I enjoyed exploring yet another gorgeous area of Italy. Blue sky and sunshine and endless views of hillside vineyards made for a fabulous day on the lake. Nick did a fun, challenging, cold, windy ride up the east coast of the lake, beside the cliffs of Monte Baldo then returned through the vineyards back to Bardolino - navigation was the biggest problem but he loved every minute on his rented Pinarello ;-) We drove to Garda for dinner which is the next town north of Bardolino - yet another beautiful lakeside town where we enjoyed more fabulous food.

We spent our final day wandering around Sirmione in the sun before a pleasant 4 hour drive home through Austria....roads that I am sure will become very familiar to us as I am already longing to return to beautiful Italia!!

Oktoberfest & Wasserburg

2010-10-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Oktoberfest

The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, so this year was the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest and 6.4million visitors attended Oktoberfest - it was crazy busy and very, very warm!!

7 million mugs of beer were consumed over the 17 day long festival. We braved the record breaking crowds and caught the train in and out of Oktoberfest along with everybody else in Munich. We were advised to write a cell phone number on the kids' arms in case we lost each other but we only had Nick's USA cell phone and we were doubtful if the German polizei would call an international number to reunite us but we did it anyway ;-) We felt very out of place in our jeans & t-shirts as most of the German crowd, from babies to grandparents, were wearing the traditional clothing of Lederhosen for men and Dirndl dresses for women.

The beer tents were enormous and because we had the kids we headed straight to the family area with fun rides rather than beer tents; plenty of fun for the kids and fabulous German fair type food ... lots of pretzels, sausages, schnitzel, roasted nuts and the fabulous gingerbread hearts with messages written in icing that you hang around your neck and snack on as you walk around.

We did a few rides, ate our fill then headed home. Our German neighbours suggested that next year we visit Oktoberfest mid-week to avoid all the crowds which is when all the Germans go so they can avoid the tourists. So next year we will join the Germans and go during the week!

Wasserburg

This weekend we spent in Wasserburg which is about an hour west of Munich. Our relocation consultant has an 8 year old girl and they invited us to spend the weekend with them. Wasserburg was first mentioned in documents in 1137 when Hallgraf Engelbert moved his residence from the nearby castle Limburg to his "Wasserburg" (Water Castle). It is one of the most historic towns of Old Bavaria – somewhat older than Munich, continually fought over by the Bavarian nobility and, up to the 16th century, on an equal footing with larger cities.

Saturday we enjoyed a delicious Bavarian meal then drove to a small nearby village called Oberreith which is in a beautiful forrest and meadow. There are many unique and fun outdoor structures for the kids to play on, ponies to ride and there is forrest ropes course where we were harnessed up and taught how to use the climbing equipment so then we could balance, swing, climb our way around the forrest on the ropes provided. Henry totally lost it mid-way a tight-rope type of climb and was crying and very upset, but he got it together and braved the remainder of the course. Polly loved every moment and can't wait to go back so she can try some harder climbs. Nick was a pro and I definitely was not - I fell more than the kids but would definitely go back - as they say here - it was "super"! A delicous Italian meal rounded off a wonderful day.

On Sunday we walked down to the river and Nick taught the kids how to skip rocks and to our enormous surprise they both managed to skip rocks for the first time ever! A great way to start the day! We met Kirsten & Anastasia again and we walked around the historic town of Wasserburg before visiting the farm where Kirsten lives; we had lunch & enjoyed some time on the farm before heading home. A wonderful weekend!!

Willkommen in München

2010-09-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Guten Tag!! WE MADE IT!!! After HUGE amounts of stress, grief, tears and paperwork we finally made it to Munich! We left California on September 24 - we are renting out our home there, we sold our cars, put our household items in storage and here we are. What a ride it has been already! We feel so lucky to have this opportunity to see the world with our kids!! We visited Munich for a week in August and fell in love. With the help of a relocation consultant we found a fully furnished house to rent in Gauting, a little village south west of Munich; where young and old get around by bike. Polly & Henry are attending the Munich International School (MIS) in a nearby village of Starnberg and after a rough morning on their first day, they now love school! Phew!

All their classes are all taught in English and they learn German 4 days out of 5 and then they come home and teach us everything they've learned! We are in our first week here and they both already have met some fun friends which is a trendous relief for Nick and I. Henry has made friends with a little German boy who "won't follow me because he doesn't understand what I'm saying but he's still my friend". Polly has many friends already; kids from the UK, USA and another girl from Melbourne, Australia. While the kids have been in school this week, Nick and I are slowly working our way through all the jobs that need to be done ... obtaining resident permits & tax numbers, buying a car, getting a bank account, arranging mobile phones and of course, joining a gym, taste testing the bread, chocolate & beer ... sooooo much paperwork, so many interviews, then more paperwork and more paperwork, did i mention the paperwork? Thank goodness for the relocation consultant! Nick has been so tremendously organised with all the documents required for this relocation so while all these jobs have been tremendously tedious and time consuming, everything has gone very smoothly and we are now ready to enjoy living in our gorgeous little town and experience the European lifestyle!! We are so excited to be here ... it still feels so surreal but we are bursting to get out there and soak up every moment of this wonderful opportunity!! The children here learn English at school so English is very widely spoken however we are trying to learn German and the locals have been very helpful as we struggle and butcher their language - but we are trying!! We are working on it and hope to struggle less and less as the weeks go by! We are definitely learning from our mistakes ... whether it be using the wrong cup at the gym so my latte macchiato totally overflowed all over the place or trying to speak German in a Bulgarian restaurant or trying to figure out household appliances with German labelling ... we are "trying" and we are loving every minute .... EVERYTHING is new and it's such a fun adventure. There is sooooo much history, so much culture that we are overwhelmed that there will never be enough time to soak it all in!! My favourite sight this week in our little village so far is the field we pass on the way to school that is full of blumen (flowers) ... they are sunflowers and gladioli right now and it is right by the side of the narrow road - you pull your car in off of the road, put your euros in the bucket provided and go and cut down the blumen you want and take them home! How cool is that?!

While I believe there has been a heat wave in sunny California this week ... it is cold here - bone cold .... so, yes, I miss the weather but more than anything I miss my peeps!! :( I hope to host many, many visitors here - use our stay here in Gauting as an opportunity for you to experience this gorgeous part of the world too! Please come and visit!! Tschüss!