Castle Trip with Grandma

The last trip we took with Grandma Hoopes was down to South Germany/Austria so we could enjoy the amazing castles from King Ludwig, Neuenschwantein, Hohenswangua, and the Lindhof Palace. We stayed in cool Hostel in Garmisch and our room was on the top floor and there were plenty of beds situated in 4 different rooms, a little kitchentte, and one tiny bathroom. The boys favorite was the "avalanche" room where there were 4 twin beds on the floor. They spent about 20 minutes jumping around on the beds yelling "THIS IS AWESOME!! THIS IS AWESOME!!" Needless to say we enjoyed our little adventurous stay here and so did the boys.

Our first day we planned on seeing Neunschwantein and Hohenschwangua. It was foggy and bitterly cold, but making the climb up the hill ensured that we were not frozen by the time we got there. Also Connor was a little stinker during the tour, it was harder to hold onto the little boy when he was insisting on getting down to explore, and then he would protest with yelling quite loudly.... well, somehow we made it out of there without disturbing too many people or interrupting the tour guide too much :)

We then made our way up to Neunschwantein on the trolley bus. For being off season there were sure a lot of people crammed on the bus. Connor had fallen asleep in his stroller ( no wonder he was so cranky during the first tour) making it a little precarious loading onto a crowded bus, but we found a little spot where the stroller would fit and Cael and Brecon stayed by Grandma on the ride up to the top on the mountain. We were so sad that it was foggy, we really couldn't see the entire castle in all it's glory, only the walls that were right in front of us.

This is Grandma trying to control the boys after they were bouncing and hanging from a wire-like fence during some inbetween time. Cael is getting a little word of advice while Brecon watches from the side. I was entertained watching the people nearby observe the "crazy boys" on the fence, but Grandma didn't think it was appropriate behavior :) Good times :)

The very next day it was sunny and clear and beautiful which was such a contrast to the day before. We made plans to visit the Linderhof Palace which is only a short drive from where we were staying through some beautiful countryside. It was a fun little stop that I had never visited before and I was sad that it wasn't spring or summer time because all of the fountains and statues in the gardens were covered for the winter! I guess that means we will just have to go back again, right?

Our tour was very interesting. I couldn't believe all the fancy and gold for just one person who only stayed here maybe 10 days out of the year! It was beautiful and very extravagant. Connor was giving me a hard time again during the visit, but there really wasn't anywhere else I could go until our guide was finished with the tour. So we made it through and the boys were free to run anywhere they wanted through the gardens, up the stairs, and even inside the empty fountains. I was very happy they were NOT full of water.

Mother and Me at the end of the day. Such a fun trip and we will most likely be back when the gardens and fountains are uncovered and in all their glory.

On the way home we spotted a huge flea market in the Olympic parking lot in Munich. It was the biggest one I had ever seen. We made our way back to find a parking spot and spent a few hours looking for treasures, I just kept saying "One more row, I'm sure we will fnd something in the NEXT row"... but there really wasn't anything that jumped out at us. We shared a couple of banana and nutella crepes and then made our way back to the car. It was a fun little pit stop to break up the drive, but it was pretty cold while we were out there walking around.