Long Weekend in the Alps

After landing in Munich after a business trip to Nova Scotia, Eva and the kids picked me up at the airport. We headed south to the Alps for a long weekend of family time.
The weather was absolutely perfect, and it was clear that spring had arrived. The locals had mentioned that is was very rare that there was no snow on the ground - even at the higher elevations.

The mountains bring out a certain feeling, which is hard to explain...but is very peaceful and refreshing. My friends from Colorado know what I mean.

The Alps are definitely different than the Rockies, but beautiful in their own way (above the small wooden houses that the farmers use to store their hay for the winter).

The kids had lots of time to stretch their legs and RUN!

We found a few great hikes, that had lots of stuff to climb on...

And things to push...

...and to jump from...

At the end of each day, Eva and I were pooped ... and the kids were filthy from all the playing outside. They were tired to, but with the days getting much longer, they didn't even come close going to bed at their normal time. Around 9 when it finally got dark, the kiddoes finally succumbed to sleeping.

Another trail had different 'things' for the kids to experiment with, which made the hikes much more interesting for Quinn.

...and Emily took catnaps...

We even did a bit of geocaching. Quinn found this cache near the base of a tree.

...a small chapel along one of the trails...

No hike (or trip in the Alps for that matter) is complete with out the obligatory stop for a snack at a Biergarten. Quinn knows that there is usually Apfelsaftschorle and Pommes (Apple juice with sparkling water with fries) in store for him: things he almost never gets at home ... so he is usally the first one to spot the darn Biergartens.

Eva and I love them two. Especially with kids, Biergartens are especially convenient because they are outdoors (for the food that gets dropped), are casual (no fancy napkins here), and usually have a playground.

The food is usually hearty, inexpensive ... and the cake (for Eva) and beer (for me) are usually fresh and local.

There tends to be lots of stop at ice cream parlors (also something that Quinn can usually spot quickly). Emily doesn't want to share ice cream with Quinn anymore. She wants her own scoop...and Quinn has upgraded to two scoops.

Thankfully, we can eat outside as well. Ice cream creates such a mess ;-) ...

Emily is looking for the cookies. She knows that Eva always packs goodies.

At the end of our last hike, before we went home, we went into the 1936 Winter Olympic stadium in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

We even got to ride a few gondolas to save us a few vertical meters of climbing.

We stayed at a youth hostel (below) for the weekend, which was nestled at the foot of the Alps.

Emily making sure she gets every bit of her scoop of ice cream.

All in all, it was an awesome weekend (except for my speeding ticket in Garmisch): we had great weather, good hikes, and lots of fun together as a family.

Walking...and the Alps

Emily is walking now. It (her newfound mobility) started a few weeks ago with her standing on her own and then taking a few steps. While she is still unsure while on her feet, she tries to walk all the time.

She is definitely stubborn (like her mother ;-) and is bound and determined to walk and eat like us. While I love her determination, it does make a mess while eating. A dog would be helpful in this phase.
After landing in Munich after my trip to the US and Canada, Eva surprised me with a short road trip into the Alps for the weekend.

We took a gondola to get to a 'children's hiking trail' with little wooden huts lined along the way that explain the forest and mountains. We were a bit surprised to see snow already.

We never really got to the huts...Quinn was too busy throwing snowballs and making snowmen.

Emily went along with the whole thing. She didn't really like the coldness and wetness of the snow...but I'm sure this will change.

...at least we had her bundled up...

Our Bed & Breakfast had a small playground...

...with lots of leaves that Quinn heaped on the slide before he slid down...

Who needs fancy toys where there are leaves around. I love fall and the crunching of leaves under your feet!

Quinn reading to Emily before going to bed...He is such a loving big brother.

Before we went home, Quinn, Robin (friend of ours) and I went on an old steam train. This coal powered steam train was originally build in 1889 and served the mountainous Alps. On the steep sections, the train uses a cogged wheel and a special cogged middle track to climb up the mountain, which was around 16% in some places.

Quinn wasn't too thrilled at first (it was cold), and I had to bribe him with a cheap pinwheel to get him to smile for the camera. After the trip (about 16km total), all he could talk about was the super cool train ride.

This was truly an impressive piece of machinery...and a great time.

Mountains...

A friend of ours, Robin, celebrated his 30th birthday last Saturday. Since he lives south of Munich, we took the opportunity to play tourist and to visit a good friend.

We ended getting up around 6am on Saturday. After Quinn's feeding, we hit the road and were on Chiemsee (one of the larger lakes south of Munich) in time for breakfast...on the lake.

After breakfast, we headed a bit deeper into the Alps to go for a hike. We found a nice trailhead and took the gondola up and planned to hike down. I was wanting to hike up and down, but (in hindsight), I think the 1200 vertical meter climb would have been a bit tough carrying Quinn. Maybe next time when we have a bit more time.

Quinn was a bit skeptical of the gondola ride - his first ride on a gondola.

At the top, we found the first overlook and the first mountain refuge, or hut. There are literally thousands of miles of trails, and these huts are all over the place.
...and with a moutain peak, comes a Berggipfel (cross at the peak)...also very common for the Alps.
...to the right of this mountain face, you see Chiemsee.
During our hike down, we ran across this small chapel next to another mountain hut. We had some great weather (a bit cool and windy though) and even better views. Every time we do these sorts of trips, we say that we need to do them more often. After all, we can get in the Alps - traffic pending - in 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

After we were most of the way down the mountain, we stopped at this refuge...similar to the huts that are in the mountains (Berghütte), this is a hut in the fields in the mountains (Almhütte). These are especially cool, because the owners tend to have cattle (with bells around their necks) that are walking all over the place.

We had a great, yet simple lunch...and I splurged and had a beer...you can almost do no wrong ordering soup and beer at these places. The food is almost always great, it is not too expensive, it is usually homemade, and the people are almost always very friendly...

...but hard to understand. The deep Bavarian dialect is not easy to follow and can cause difficulties for those native Germans that were raised outside of Bavaria.
After the hike, we headed to the hotel...we were close to Robin's place, but still pretty much in the sticks. Here's the view from our hotel room (above) to the main hotel.On Sunday, we headed back home, but we headed to a nearby lake - Simsee for Quinn's feeding. Unlike Chiemsee, Simsee seems to be much lower key and has less tourists. You still have the Alps as the backdrop. All in all, it was a great two day break from our reality of 'home'.