Christmas in Germany

For the first time ever, we had Christmas with just our family and without me having to work. We had a really nice and relaxing day here in Landstuhl. On Christmas Eve, Mary made a nice dinner and we opened a few presents, including the new pajamas that made Abby absolutely ecstatic.

On Christmas morning, Abby and Olivia found their new dolls and stroller waiting by the tree, then opened up their puzzles and movies and toys. When we were done, Abby said "I need more presents. I'm bored." Gotta love kids.

After lunch, we went up to the Burg Nantein, Landstuhl's small castle up the hill that was built in the 1100s. Abby and Livvie had a great time climbing all the stairs. The views were beautiful and we all had a lot of fun.

For dinner we ventured out to Zur dicken Emma - which translates to Big Emma, or Thick Emma, or Fat Emma depending on your translation resource.

Anyhow fat Emma's specializes in giant portions of schnitzel (fried pork chops that are similar to chicken fried steak). I ordered a half portion, which meant 17 ounces of pork that filled my entire plate. We had fun at dinner and then headed home to play with toys some more and watch our new movies.

Rothenburg was our next stop. We drove from Garmisch to there mostly along the autobahn... I (Mary) was driving but it's all in kilometers so I couldn't decide how fast I was going (people were still passing me...) but later realized I was averaging 95 mph! There's no speed limit on their freeways... it was nice. :) When we got to Rothenburg, we drove through a gate to get inside the city wall and found narrow, cobblestone streets and very old buildings mostly from the 1300s. Our room had a patio looking out from the city wall into the Tauber Valley, which was a winter wonderland, and the hotel itself is built into the original city wall. That night we browsed the Christmas Market and got half-meter long hot dogs for dinner, and crepes for dessert. Ben stayed out to go on the Night Watchmans’s Tour. It was a really funny, witty tour about the life in medieval Rothenburg and Europe in general. I did it the next night.

In front of our Burg Hotel

The next day we did a lot of walking and looking within the walls and went into shops and bakeries. They have the coolest Christmas store, Kathe Wolfhart, where there’s practically a Christmas city built on the inside (along with a mini villiage with animals running it which the girls loved). We hit the Medieval Criminal and Punishment Museum, which had lots to see—instruments used to torture for a confession or punishment. They had certain punishments depending on what was done and what profession you were. If a baker sold bread that was too small, he could be placed in a cage and dunked in water until he couldn’t hold his breath anymore… or killed if they thought he could hold his breath longer when he couldn’t. Two ladies who fight can be put in a double headed vice where they face each other. They would have parades where those at charge would wear silly masks and bells (sign of degradation) for bystanders to watch and laugh at, or cage people up outside for the same purpose.

Olivia, the flirt, caught this Australian's eye, who was with his friends. A girl from the group asked us if we were American--she heard Abby talking and said she loved her accent! We told her we all like theirs!

The next morning, we checked out and took a stroll along the old city wall. It’s not hard to imagine what medieval times were like in a town like this. Excellent stop!

Olivia's favorite past-time

Going up to the wall

And that concludes our 2 week vacation portion of the Germany trip. We're now settled in Landstuhl where Ben works in the ICU at the military hospital. We are in an apartment right in the town of Landstuhl, and are enjoying our surroundings. We're trying to catch up, so we can put regular stuff on here again... so Merry Christmas, yesterday!

Day 12

Today, we took the kids sledding at the local ski resort. We rented a plastic toboggan that had metal runners on the bottom. The sledding hill was pretty small, but the snow was packed down hard and we actually got going pretty fast. Abby had a great time. She went down once on her own and did fine. The second time down, she decided to turn around and wave at us. Bad idea. The sled flipped upside down and she went flying. After that, she wouldn’t go alone, but had tons of fun going down with one of us. Livi sort of liked it, but didn’t want to go as much as Abby.

After sledding we got lunch for Abby at the ubiquitous McDonald’s (Abby calls it Old McDonald’s) and went back for our afternoon siesta. In the evening, we ventured into town and found a traditional Bavarian restaurant for dinner. Mary and I had ham hocks and dumplings with bacon dressing cabbage. The girls shared a sausage hot pot – literally a pot of hot water brought to the table with three different kinds of boiled sausage in it. We went back to the resort to go swimming and hot tubbing for the last time. Abby had made a little friend named Isabella the day before, and she was ecstatic when she found Isabella at the pool. We stayed until almost ten o’clock and the girls had a great time. Isabella’s eleven year old brother played with Olivia most of the time, so we just relaxed. Olivia has become a real flirt, and she seems to especially like teenage boys already.

Hanging out in the Lobby before we leave for Rothenburg

Really likin' that lobby...

I heard everyone around saying "S'gott" instead of the usual "bitte" or "hallo" so I asked a local and found out that it's a Bavarian saying meaning, "God's greeting". Now you know some Bavarian trivia!

Day 10 &11

Day 10, "Ben's Day"--Snowboarding was great today. I realized when I got to the top and was a bit rusty, that it had been three years since I last went. After a few runs, though, I was feeling back to my old mediocre snowboarding self. The place was called Classic Valley, just below Zugspitze – the highest mountain in Germany. Due to lack of good snow, only about a third of the resort was open. The weather was absolutely perfect – sunny all day with perfect blue sky, which made for great scenery. The niceness of the views made up for the less than stellar snow quality and iciness. It was fun being by myself for the day, after 10 days of the girls clinging to me at every move. I pushed myself to the point of exhaustion, then walked back to the lodge through some picturesque farmland in Garmisch. Every muscle I didn’t know I had was sore by the time I got back and the outdoor hottub was really nice after dinner. Hopefully I’ll get to go snowboarding before three years passes by again.

Riding up the gondola, with Garmisch behind me

Nice view of the Bavarian Alps and beyond

German soldiers getting ready for winter ski training

The lodge at the top, with the famous Zugspitze (the tallest mountain in Germany) in the background

Day 11, "Mary's Day"--

I went to Linderhof Palace today, by myself, and it was quite nice! The girls have been troopers, but I think they’re a little “toured” out. It was a freshly fallen snow morning, and as we drove through the mountains and meadows, I had the strong desire to Cross Country Ski! But the palace was pretty, and there was a nice scenic walk to get there. This time, his place was dedicated to King Louis XV (plus or minus—I never was good at the details in history). …BUT there was a piano there he included for Richard Wagner… eh? (If you’ll remember my idea on those two from the Neuschwanstein trip…)

Anyway, after that tour, I went to Oberammergau—the woodcarving capital in Germany. Of course I was abliged to buy a pyramid (one of those Christmas decorations with a “fan” on top, and the candles underneath fuel the spinning…), and some other things-- like the European scarf/shawls they all wear, and other woodcarved goods.

The center one is mine!

View from drive home

*Fun fact on this town for history people: So several centuries ago, this town was spared lives from the Black Death infecting everyone around them. In their rejoicing, they struck a deal with God and performed a “Passion Play”—an all day dramatic story of Christ’s crucifixion—lasting 100 days in a row. They still do this, every 10 years, seeing 5,000 per day during their shows! Anyway, I finished off my “day of alone time” with a heated stone massage at the lodge. Thanks, Ben!