Roadtrip

Recently, we took a roadtrip while the kids were on fall break. First stop--Fussen, Germany, and the castle of the "mad" King Ludwig II: Neuschwanstein. We explained to Taylor and Dylan that "mad," in this case, means crazy. Little things such as this are misconstrued from time to time in our family, only to come out later, causing a "where the hell did that come from" moment. I envisioned Taylor saying, "you can get arrested for that," the next time I became angry about something. Anyway, this castle inspired the castle at Disneyworld as well as being part of the Disney logo. If Walt Disney had been alive in the 1880's, King Ludwig may have been considered a genious. Instead he drowned (along with his doctor) under mysterious conditions, within a few days of being taken prisoner for his insanity. Were these the "good old days" some people talk about? The tour was a family friendly 30 minutes with an hour wait between ticket purchase and the start of the tour. While the average tourist would have preferred a longer tour and a shorter wait...that's not us. A short tour for 2 year old patience levels and an hour to get 5 of us organized and up the hill...perfect! The horse buggy ride to the castle may have been the best part of Dylan and Taylor's day...and for once we were early! The castle itself provides amazing views of the surrounding lakes and mountains. Since it's less than 150 years old, it is well preserved, something one doesn't find in ancient midieval castles...time and wars, those pesky things, take their toll on castles. Built after the American Civil War, the castle was impractical...just an expensive home. Back down the hill, the kids waved "bye-bye" to the horses, and we were off.

We drove through the Alps to Innsbruck, Austria, home of the '64 and '76 winter Olympics. Our hotel, in the "old town" area, was in existence prior to Columbus' arrival in the "new world" and boasts it's most famous guest as Mozart. Dylan's metal Magnetix balls were bouncing and rolling all over the hotel room (so noisy we put them away). Taylor and Dylan enjoyed boiling their own eggs at breakfast and asked if they were done just moments after putting them in the water. Whoever rode in the tiny elevator with Mackenzie (to/from fourth level) found themselves in a race with Taylor and Dylan who ran the ancient stairs. Other than entering a fantastic church near our hotel, we viewed most of the old town from the outside. Taylor and Dylan caught snow on their tongues as we walked about, and Dylan lugged around his lego creations (click the picture). The first night Amy crashed early and I went to a pub, had a few beers, and talked politics with the guy next to me. Eventually, the owner/cook was involved and was pleased enough with our political views that he felt it necessary to buy us shots. We agreed, and he poured three shots of something that was strong and apparently made from pears. Luckily, I had eaten a few of the guy's homemade pretzel sticks for added base (fresh baked pretzels were quite common on this trip). Soon thereafter, I made my way to the hotel room, kissed Amy good morning, and went to sleep. The next day, or later that same day, depending on how one looks at it, we walked from our hotel to the Alpenzoo...the walk and the zoo itself can be described as "hilly," to say the least. We lunched at the zoo, it was sausage again for most of us, as it seemed to be every other meal, for this trip. After lunch, Dylan had his favorite ice cream bar and, as he always does, he immediately licked the entire outside chocolate coating so anyone watching would be disgusted...his way of protecting his territory. Ice cream is pretty much his favorite part of any trip. We took the bus back to the hotel and fizzled out a bit until we decided to do a touristy stroll and look for a place to eat dinner. The reality of being a tourist is that you walk a bit, eat a bit, walk a bit, eat a bit...Anyway we went to a good restaurant with a memorable waiter who was genuinely friendly, liked the children, and was clever enough to recommend something fast and easy so we wouldn't do too much damage. The result was a large tray of meat that went well with the Dunkel beer. As was true of most of this trip, I ate all of my sauerkraut. Hopefully, someday I'll understand that it's not wise to do this. We had a few beers chilling on our window ledge, but this last night in Innsbruck ended early, and those beers would have to tag along to the next stop. On the way out of town, the next morning, we visited the Olympic ski jump stadium. People who do that are crazy! We put our next destination into the GPS and...

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Heidelberg (built well after Columbus sailed) in time for a swim and room service. The swim was short but eventful. After a half an hour, or so, the cold water drove us to the hot showers, by the sauna, where a woman walked out...nude! Soon she was followed by her boyfriend/husband in the same state. Things can be quite different in Europe, even at a Holiday Inn. Amy mentioned that the people were naked, as if I hadn't noticed, but the children didn't say anything, although they peeked. Room service was the perfect thing after three days of going out and our startling visit to the pool. The beer that had traveled with us from Innsbruck to Heidelberg would now make the trip to Belgium because, once again, we were tired. We saw the naked couple...with their clothes on, the next morning, at breakfast. Then, the last tourist stop of the trip, the famous castle in Heidelberg. The French destroyed much of the castle a few centuries back but it was still impressive. It also contains the world's largest wine cask, NOT the one you see in the picture with Amy and Mackenzie. The largest holds about 54,000 gallons of wine and takes up it's own room, thus blocking out much of the light, making it hard to photograph. The barrel that Amy and Kenzie are in front of is about half the size of the bigger one. No surprise as to how the French were able to destroy their castle. My favorite moment of the entire trip happened near the wine cask. More than once our children have become part of the tourist attraction. Every time I've noticed this it has been Asian people taking pictures of my kids...I have no idea why, but it's hilarious. As we were walking into the castle a man focused and clicked a picture of Dylan. The best moment came later, however, when Amy was taking the picture to the right (with the children pushing on the wheel). Amy was inadvertently in the way of a woman taking a picture of her boyfriend. I happened to be standing directly behind this woman, and as she was waiting for Amy to move, I noticed her boyfriend pointing at Taylor, Dylan, and Mackenzie, telling her to photograph them. I watched from behind as this woman turned her camera to my children, I saw them on her camera view screen as she focused, and took a similar picture of them as Amy took. The best picture of the trip, if it could have happened, would have been of this woman, from where I was standing, taking a picture of Taylor, Dylan, and Kenzie. Heidelberg is halfway to Antwerp from Innsbruck so we were were home after just a four hour drive.

In a few days we'll be spending the weekend in Dublin with Amy, Doug, and Joey. More to talk about soon...as well as an eventual update on this past summer's visit of Rosie, Gary, Gail, Nolan...I've got catching up to do.