Our very last visitors were the Richards family from Milwaukee.  Sadie and Stella went to school with Serena and Emma.









We all headed south for a long weekend in the Alps.  First stop: Oberammergau - home of beautiful, intricately painted homes and the famous Passion Play which takes place every 10 years.

We took the Zugspitzbahn to the first of two plateaus.  45 minutes, change to a cable car, then another 10 minutes.  At 2962 meters high (9717 feet), it is the highest peak in Germany and is sandwiched by three glaciers.

We were surprised how warm the summit was. All the mittens and scarves stayed in the backpack.

From the German side, you can walk a bit across to the Austrian border.

Just relaxing in the clouds...

Afterwards we headed to the Partnachklamm in Garmisch Partenkirchen.  It's 700 meters long and the deepest point is 80 meters.  Very loud and wet!  Although it was really cool to see how violently the water had cut through stone, the kids were so tired from the day that ice cream was the only thing that could lure them to the Klamm.

Just down the road, we discovered the Olympic ski jump built in 1923 and used in the 1936 Olympics.

We stayed at the most perfect hostel we've ever been to in Mittenwald.  This is the view from our window.  Austria is just to the left.

See all the little shacks dotting the field below?  A local informed us the each farmer uses that to store his straw harvested from his little plot.  Wooden spikes are used to dry the straw and it's gathered by hand. No resource sharing?

On our last morning, we visited the Geigenbaumuseum in Mittenwald.  The kids tried their hand at woodworking in the workshop.  We all gained some appreciation for the number of hours put into every handmade violin.   Maybe someday Emma....

 


Scenes from the beautiful town of Mittenwald

Finally, the most famous castle in Germany.... Schloss Neuschwanstein!  It takes a lot of effort to get there, remember to preorder tickets to avoid the 90 minute line, then hike 40 minutes up the mountain.  Your ticket allows you exactly one 10 minute window to enter the castle for the guided tour.  Just over 6000 people visit it PER DAY in summer!

Crazy King Ludwig II of Bavaria had this castle built as an homage to Richard Wagner.

The view from the castle...

The line was too long to ride the carriage up but it sure added to the magical atmosphere.  And yes, our children had ice cream on this day too!