We did it and it was GRAND!

Wow were do I start...at the end I think.  We had a wonderful action packed 10 days of travel.  But the best part was of course the trip to Zugspitze that I blogged about doing.  We had a beer in heaven.  We drove to Garmish-Partenkirchen and found our way to the Cog wheel train.  Up we went to Germany's highest mountain. I couldn't believe we were in the Alps and honestly my legs were shaking with excitement.  Little did I know the shaking would continue for then next two days!  It was awesome.  I do mean AWESOME We took the train from Grainau up the mountain past the Eibsee (a wonder all it's own) and then into a dark tunnel.  We got to the Zugspitsplatt at 2600 m  and took a look around.

Zugspitsplatt

cable car going down 

The snow that had come down so heavy the week before was disappearing but there was enough to make it cold and wonderful.  I had added layers in the train to make sure nothing stopped me from enjoying this one. Then we took take a cable car up to the top, 2962 m.(almost 10,000 feet)  I would have loved to hike it, yes really, only 8 hours or so, but we did not have time if we wanted to continue on this glorious trip. You can see Austria, Switzerland, and Italy from here. I could have stayed up there all day. The sky was clear and we could see everything.  We stopped for lunch and a COLD beer.

My daughter and I sitting on the edge enjoying a cold beer in heaven!

And believe it or not the food was great too!
 Kent, Jordan's fiance

Then it was down the mountain in what can only be described as a sardine can.  See the photo and you will know what I mean. It wasn't a small cable car but they shoved so many of us in it you wouldn't believe it! 

The only advice I have if you go is to spend a little time on the platt before heading up to the top.  We were so anxious to see the world that we kind of hurried.  I would have enjoyed a coffee on the platt and a beer on the top.  But hey I have no complaints.  Beer in Heaven a friend of mine said. Genau!  (Exactly)

We headed over to the Olympic Ski Stadium...wow another cool site.  Parked the car and headed into the Partnach GORGE. it is about 2,305 ft in length and the walls rise to 263 ft.  It is fanominal.  Be prepared and wear good shoes with traction as the paths are very very narrow, wet, and in some place in complete darkness. Not a good idea for a women with eye problems. But hey I hung on and snapped pictures NOTHING keeps this women down! Guess i well end this for now and pick up with the Stadium and the gorge after lunch!  If you ever get the chance don't let it slip away....this WAS a gift of a trip.

Time to travel again!

So as I sit here waiting to plan another wedding, our oldest daughter is now engaged, I search the internet to make the perfect itinary for our next trip.  "Two daughters engaged at the same time and I am halfway across the world!"  Yikes. ...okay then...to the Alps!  

I didn't know that this updated but when I posted it  - it was all in snow!

I hate to write about it before hand because today the summit of Zugspitze is in white out condition.  Not good if you want to go to the top of Germany's tallest mountain to take photos.  We have a little over a week, so I am praying hard for good weather and planning away.

 As I was saying, The Germany Alps is on the list.  First we will stop off at Neuschwanstein Castle to hike up around to get, well yes, a good photo!  I have been there before but not having the best information did not get the photos that I have been drooling over here of late.  After hours of digging, I found the path past the Marien bridge to get some great shots.  When I was there the last time the Marien bridge was closed due to snow so to hike up past it was not even an option.

This photo of Queen Mary's Bridge (Marienbrucke) is courtesy of TripAdvisor

this is my shot when we were there in April 07 grrrr

 You should know from my earlier post, I have the boots!  I do love the German shoes they are made for walking, hmmm go figure!  I do, I do, I love the shoes! I think half of my "shoe collection" is German now. Anyway, thank you for indulging me on my rant. Snicker snicker. After a day of up and down at the castle we will head to Garmish Partenkirche to spend the night and attempt ZUGSPITZE.  I am so excited it is going to be grand.  I loved hicking around Pottenstien (another gem I found online that most people don't go to - but oh so worth it)  We are not serious hikers but that is not to say we don't enjoy the thrill of a hard days hike, and the reward of a cold beer at the end.  I think given more time I might scare my husband and become a real live hiker!  But for now the hills around the Bavarian towns we encounter are my training ground.  (When we are in the US, we live in the Midwest and you know there really isn't much to climb there!)

You will have to check back to see if we do indeed make it to the top!  Oh and I found amazing "Socken",  I love the German socks almost as much as the shoes....they have a sock for everything!  And unlike the States you can buy them anywhere, even in the grocery ha ha.  So with..."meinem Socken and Schuhen bin ich fur die Berge bereit!" (with my socks and shoes I am ready for the mountain)

It won't be long now....

Since I have been in Germany I haven't really had to think about the upcoming wedding of our youngest daughter.  A winter wedding in January. Snow, diamonds, pine cones, Winter Wonderland. When she announced her engagement, Germany was not even on the horizon...After paying for two college tuitions and knowing we would have two wedding to pay for I decided hey I have nothing but time I can Do It Myself.  After all, with my art and design background it should be a snap....move ahead and here I am sitting in German while everything I had worked on is sitting back in the US of A. I will return in a couple of weeks to meet (and make final payments UGH) to the caterer, the band, the photographer (nope I can't do it myself the girls and husband refuse it), and the florist.  So far I have all the church and reception flowers done, Mercury glass pained, rhinestones set, ribbons threaded, table decorations, invitations, bells, table cards (1/2 done), chairs covers and sashes......hmmm what am I forgetting?  But so much more needs to be tended too.  We are hoping to be back again in December to "finish  things up". Am I panicking yet?  Why no, not at all. A ha...just  a little...well only on some days....okay yes, yes I guess I am.

Unity candles

pew bows...needs fluffing

large tree for escort card table

Mercury glass vases...with many hand placed rhinestones ugh!!

1/2 the tables will have these candles on a brown satin runner with snow on white table clothes

extra mercury vases for gift table, etc....

1/2 reception tables will have this (with candles and aqua lites) with snow and a satin brown runner on white table clothes

invites, table cards, save the date, and the other 1/2 table decorations

bells to ring for the the new couple when they  leave

two of these large arrangements for the church

Okay then Bring it ON....still so much to do but I think I have rested long enough let's get it going.....fire up those irons we have a lot of chair covers and sashes to iron!!!!

New shoes and a guest for breakfast

Okay so I got some new shoes, for walking, well sort of, you can walk in them and they look really good, but they aren't boots.

 hmm I tried them out this morning as I walked into town for my groceries.Not so good on the big cobble stones but I made there and back. I think if we in the US had to carry all of our groceries home in bags we would probably not eat so much!  Not to worry - I did get the Lebkuchen, and chocolate   I mean after all ,with all the walking why not ha ha.

David has been gone most of the week, so I ventured out and found a lovely art store. I bought some colored pencils and decided to draw again. It has been a while but why not.  This morning I was all set to draw when I thought a cup of coffee for breakfast would be good.

Oh first let me digress....I think I have mentioned in an earlier post that Germany does NOT have window screens!  Nope they don't think they have bugs here or something.  When we lived her for years we found some screening and velcroed (is that even a word) it to the windows, but this time being shorter (we think) we decided to save a little money and not put them in.  The windows here are the sizes of doors.  And actually it is quite lovely on a nice day to have the window open.

Okay so back to breakfast and my "guest"  As I walked past the kitchen. The size of your pantry, I noticed what I thought was a brown brush of sort stuck in the ivy right outside my kitchen window.  I had a closer look and it was my own personal Squirrel.  Yupe right here in my kitchen.  Thank goodness I had not gotten around to opening the windows as i do every morning.  Grrrrr, One more thing I can't do now.

Oh and the noise I have been hearing scratching around in-between the floors, I am pretty sure it is my breakfast guest.  All morning I have been trying to think of how to tell them here that there is a squirrel in this apartment complex.....Not something I learned in my German learning! However; yesterday I learned that animals frisst and people isst!  ha ha so maybe I could say something of interest ha ha

If you don't laugh you are gonna cry!
Es ist Eichenhörnchen fressen außerhalb meinem Küchenfenster - there is a squirrel eating outside my kitchen window....somehow I am not sure that is correct.  Oh bother

I need NEW German boots already!

view from our room

We just got back from a couple of days in Bad Salzdetfurth. It is a spa area but that is NOT why we were there. David had some work to do so instead of sitting in the apartment I went along. I think it was to keep him company on the 4 hour drive, and after work. It was nice; however, now I need a new pair of boots.

This country loves their hills and I just can't seem to get away from them. We got in around 19:30 and headed into town for a late dinner. The whole town seemed desereted. Summer pause of something of the sort. The next morning Dave headed out and I headed, well, up - the street. There are numerous paths throughout the town. Again being a Spa community I was not surprised. It was about 8:30 and a bit quite. I walked up a very long street and came to the trail head and headed in.

I must admit it was a bit creepy that early in the morning and as I walked deeper into the woods I got a creepy feeling that this is NOT a good place for a lone woman, from another country to be walking into. However, in the back of my head I heard David say "and you are not going to sit in the room all day, right?" Okay so we have already established I am a bit of a, well for lack of a better description "delicate flower" And I don't mean "pansy" as I am very able to try new things just a bit - sensitive, I guess! But I was determined, so with camera in hand I kept going. I crossed over another trail, at least I think it was and then made a right and went in ....I found a really cool tower and decided to climb up.

202 meters up 

 The whole time I kept saying, "What if someone is in the hut below and they follow me up? I bet I have no cell reception up here? I have my room key in my bag they could take all my stuff...." So get this, I hurried all the way to the top and took a few pictures, of course it was till so foggy I got bunch of cloud photos ha ha and then, yupe I tip toed down very quickly. Like they won't hear me on the metal stairs in the middle of nowhere, where even the falling nuts on the trees make you think they are HUGE falling branches...  I am so silly it is ridiculous I know. But they say admitting it is the first step. I figured my heart rate was up pretty good from both the hiking and the talking in my head, so I head back to the paved saftey of the path. I almost missed the turn too. Good grief.

 Back to solid ground I started the long haul down the hill, through the beautiful park and into town for a coffee. Which I could not find. Weird town shut up tighter than a drum for some reason. I snapped a bunch of photos and head back to the room. They have a beautiful main street. All the half timbered homes have sayings and years carved beautifully into the thresholds.

 You can see more at


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.2278336645147.129844.1450685849&l=bfa8bcba11&type=1

I got back to the room and did a bit of resting up, cooling off and reading. Then hearing the voice in my head..."not staying in the room...." I thought I would find the next trail and have a bit of lunch.

ein kleines Pils und Currywurst...hat gut geschmeckte!

I tried the first place that looked open and there wasn't a table to be had. I got nervous and left...found another little place and headed in. Good choice, I could read the menu and sit for a bit. Then it was off, and yes up the hill on the other side of town. I made it about an half hour up and then headed in on the trail head. I started to hear things, no not in my head this time. I got a good way in and thought, okay I proved it to myself now let's get out of here. You might laugh but one is always much taller and much braver when one is not one at all but two! I got back, showered and waited for- yes you got it, dinner! Another good day :)

over 4 hours of hiking, a good lunch and lots of internal dialogue - I was done!

Just Another Sunday Afternoon in Franconia Slideshow

Just Another Sunday Afternoon in Franconia Slideshow: TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Just Another Sunday Afternoon in Franconia Slideshow ★ to Ansbach. Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor

I fell in love with Ansbach...

nothing a little mystery will do for the soul!

This past weekend wanting to get out of the Wonung (apartment) and do something, I took out the map and started looking up the towns that are around Nuremberg. The ones most people don't talk about.  Jack Pot.  The town of Ansbach intrigued me.

The most interesting thing was a story of a young boy, Kasper Hauser.  I had never heard this story but apparently it is quite well known and the phrase " a real Kasper Houser" has been used many times to convey the meaning of a mysterious child with an unknown past. hmmm He is mentioned quite often even on our side of the pond; In the book Fahrenheit 451, the show Smallville and even Susan Vega wrote a song in 1987 about him. Thousands of books, poems, studies and songs have been written in German as well.

The monument, dedicated in 1981, shows the “European Child” in two different versions:
Once as the person that surfaced in Nuremberg in 1828,
and once as a young gentleman who was murdered in the castle gardens in Ansbach in 1833.

A small boy was found wandering the streets in Nuremberg in 1828 carrying an unsigned letter addressed to the captain of the Calvary. The letter talked of his upbringing in solitary confinement and secrecy. He was later brought to Ansbach to live...mystery surrounded him all his life and he died a very mysterious death.  Many believe it was from a self inflicted chest wound other and assassination attempt, he was believed to be the crown prince of Baden and legitimate son of the grand duke Charles, kidnapped and lead off to secure succession ob the crown to the offspring of the morganatic wife of the grand duke, the countess of Hochberg. To really understand the story have a look http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser.  I spent hours reading all the accounts.  Who doesn't enjoy a real mystery?

the letter he carried with him

the spot in the Hof Garten where he was mortally stabbed;
                                the inscriptions
"On this spot an unknown was murdered by an unknown"

Despite DNA tests and numerous books and studies, his real origin will remain an enigma, and probably will stay a mystery with no answers.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon, wandering the streets where this mysterious child lived.  I myself think he was a fabulous storyteller (a hem...liar). Okay maybe a bit of doubt.

The town of Ansbach itself is full of History and one could spend more than a day wandering the streets and gardens.

We visited the Hof Garten to see where Kasper Hauser "did himself in " and found an amazing Orangery and gardens.  I think I need to have a Orangery when we return the US of A!

The Herb Garden caught my attention right away.  I do love gardening and the art of the perfectly arranged shrubbery and herbs of the old English Gardens has always been of great interest.  Who knew that right her in this garden We would find the Good Ole Dr. Leonhard Fuchs.  He was the personal doctor of the Margrave Georg von Brandenburg right here in Ansbach from 1527-43.  At that time medicine were based mainly on what was found in nature. He did extensive work on healing and his information was collected and put together in a book, which made him the 'father of botanic"  In the year 1696 Charles Plumier the royal botanist to king Luis XIV discovered a plant in now Haiti and named it after Fuchs...Fuchsia! hmmm good to know.

Fushia plants for Dr. Fuchs 

The Orangery forms the Architectural focus of the Court Gardens Built in 1726. an orangery was a building frequently found in the grounds of fashionable residences from the 17th -19th centuries. Very similar to a greenhouse or conservatory, the name reflects the original use of the building as a place where citrus trees were often wintered in tub under cover, surviving through the harsh winters. Here there is an assortment of lemon, Seville orange, olive, pistachio, and laurel trees all in the white tubs.