Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Jodi Came to Visit!!

We always love when people come out to visit us, it’s a nice excuse to abandon all responsibility and have a fun time traveling around Europe.  This time one of my best friends from high school came out to spend a week with us and I really wanted to do something that Nate and I hadn’t done before so we decided to head to Oktoberfest 2010.  Jodi came in on a Thursday and it worked out perfectly that I was able to drop Reese off at school and head straight to the airport and I would’ve been there right as she walked out of customs if it hadn’t been for my ridiculously far away parking spot and the fact that there’s no way I was going to walk that extreme distance without using the bathroom first (gotta love pregnancy).  We had a nice car ride home and since we only had a week with her we didn’t allow her any rest time when we got back to our house.  Nate was able to get off work early so after some food we headed to Trier to show her one of the oldest cities in Germany.  We had a great night and even got to go to our favorite sushi place for dinner.

DSC_0386DSC_0389The next morning we got an early start on our trip down to Munich.  Jodi had told me the only things she cared about doing were eating German  food and going to a concentration camp so our first stop was Dachau concentration camp which is just outside of Munich.  This was Nate and I’s third trip to Dachau which worked nicely because I was able to play tour guide and give her a little information that I’d remembered from previous trips.  After Dachau we drove an hour and a half south to Garmisch where we’d be staying for our weekend.  I had decided to stay further south at the nice military resort there instead of trying to stay in and navigate Munich during the festival.  By the time we got to Garmisch we’d been in the car so long that we were all tired and ready to relax.  We ate dinner at the hotel and made our plans for our trip in to Oktoberfest the next day.

DSC_0397 DSC_0406Saturday morning  was the official opening of Oktoberfest so we took the train from Garmisch to Munich, which was actually a great deal with special weekend pass they offered, and headed over to the festival grounds.  We hadn’t left as early as had been suggested to us but we ended up getting to a spot right as the parade started going by.  There were lots of marching bands and then the horses pulling the carts with all the kegs of beer to the beer tents.  Reese enjoyed the parade at first but then the horses began to lose her interest, unfortunately there was no place to go so we were stuck until it ended.  When it finally did we just followed the floats and too many other people over to the festival.  When we walked in it was crazy with people, we could hardly move there were so many people filtering in to the area.  The beer tents hadn’t opened yet and we were starving so we happened upon this restaurant that was set up like the beer tents but we were able to get in so we went in and enjoyed our “beer tent” experience.  Reese enjoyed munching on the little pretzels and the waitress even gave her one of those cookie necklaces so we had a very happy little girl on our hands.  

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After our lunch  the beer tents had opened up so people had filtered in there and the area was easier to move aro und in.  We decided to let Reese pick a few rides to go on so she went on a little flying ride and then she got to ride the ponies, she loves horses so I thi nk the pony ride was the highlight of the day for her.  The rest of the time we spent wandering around, getting snacks and watching Reese devour her cookie.  Towards the end I finally found the giant pretzels I was hoping for, in my opinion nothing says Oktoberfest like a pretzel that’s larger than your head.  After we’d had our fill of Oktoberfest we went in to the old part of Munich and wandered around for a little bit and then caught the train back down to Garmisch.  All in all it was a very enjoyable time at Oktoberfest and I’m glad that Nate and I were able to make it to Oktoberfest during our time here in Germany.

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On Sunday it was time for us to head out so we took a leisurely morning at the hotel.   Jodi and I went for massages (prenatal massage = ahhhhhhhhh) while Nate and Reese rode the little carousel in the basement far too many times to count.  Our plan had been to stop by Neuschwanstein Castle on our way home so we headed that direction but somehow the GPS sent us through Austria and I, having not planned to drive in Austria, didn’t bring my International drivers license or our passports and I usually wouldn’t have worried but we were stuck in a major traffic jam that I did not want to end with some time of police check so we turned around and decided to head the other way and go straight home.  We stopped at some restaurant for lunch and I ended up ordering what we can only guess was boiled bacon encased in some kind of gelatin, it was cold and it looked like fake vomit.  Luckily Nate stepped up to the plate and Nate nearly all of the disgusting pile he saw in front of him, I was quite proud to be his wife in that moment.  After lunch we began a different route home which ended up taking us by Neuschwanstein so we stopped and wandered around the town for awhile and ate delicious desserts before we began the rest of the long ride home.  Despite the traffic and construction we made descent time on the way home, which means we got to City Grill just before they closed so we were still able to get some Doners for a late night snack. 

On Monday my baby carrying body was pretty tired out from the weekend so we took it a little slower and just did some shopping and wandered around our town.  I was glad Jodi was up for a down day because I don’t think I could’ve kept going at the pace we had been.  On Tuesday we dropped Reese off at school and went to see some local places.  We stopped at Abtei Himmerod and then went to Manderscheid castle before we picked her up and headed to Marksburg Castle which is near Koblenz.  Marksburg is one of my favorite castles to take people to because to me it’s exactly what I would’ve imagined a medieval castle to be.  Jodi agreed with me that the castle was amazing and I was glad that she enjoyed her final sightseeing day.  For dinner we had some traditional German schnitzel and then came back to our place to play Rock Band until it was time to call it a night.  Sadly, the next day I had to drive Jodi to the airport.  Reese was sad to see Auntie go bye bye but we were all glad that she made the time to come out and spend a week with us.  

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