While in Germany we spent an entire day (the day after going to the Zugspitze) taking in three of the dreamy castles of King Ludwig II. We started in Füssen, at Schloss Hohenschwangau, which was originally the home of Ludwig II’s parents, and then became his when they died. I didn’t get a really great picture of the entire castle, probably because I wasn’t flying over it in a helicopter, but you’ll get the idea. I took a few pictures outside on the grounds, because unfortunately you can’t take pictures inside any of the castles, with a couple of exceptions (I’ll get to one in a minute). We only had…
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The East-West German Pepsi Challenge of 2010
After the seriousness of yesterday’s post, I thought it would be a good idea to post something a little, err, lighter today. One of the things on the schedule during our Germany visit was something Kat set up as a surprise for us: the Pepsi Challenge 2010. I think she remembered seeing how much fun we had with our Kit Kat Taste Test of 2006 and thought we’d enjoy doing a challenge in which we had to identify the East German cola. (She was right: we had a blast!) She told us that she “imported them” from East Germany, meaning she went to the store near her parents’ house on…
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Do You Like Cars? Germany’s Got ‘Em!
The car we rented in Germany happened to be a BMW. It was very, very expensive: not because it was a BMW but because the insurance we had to carry on it for the week was outrageously priced, but mandatory. (On that topic, I think when we go back someday, we will only rent a car for the days we intend to drive to the Alps. The public transportation system in Munich ROCKS and it’s way cheaper than a car rental!) It would have been a luxury for us to rent a BMW in the States; over there, they were a dime a dozen. (Hello, Bayerische Motoren Werke/BAVARIAN Motor Works?…
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Personality Plus
The younger boy cracks me up. Usually. During the last couple of many months, he has been acting the part of a very normal teenager: spending lots of time in his room and not so much with us, attached to one of many technology items (sometimes more than one at at time) we have in the house. We’ve had to make major efforts to have actual discussions that delve deeper than: “How was your day?” “Good.” …and it’s not always easy to find that time, what with four of us running in different directions most of the time. When we can pin him down, though–like at the dinner table, for…
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Shop Til You Stop!
Naturally, part of any vacation is finding cool places to shop and buy souvenirs. We were actually pretty controlled on the spending while in Europe, probably buying waaaay less than the average tourist. But browsing was still fun. We bought lots of postcards to send to Julesie (she collects them) and for the older boy to send to his girlfriend. In downtown Munich, we found this totally cool store called Kare. If money was no object and my luggage weight didn’t matter, I could’ve spent hours (and hundreds of Euros) in there. I loved it! I’ll let the pictures tell the story of how fun this place is. This picture…