Leggoland

Yesterday The kids and I went to Leggoland to celebrate Zac's friend's birthday. Paul had to work so he unfortunately missed the trip. It's ok we still had tons of fun without him..ha-ha-ha!!!

I have to admit I was leery about Leggoland. I mean this is the same family who had season passes to Disney last year so how could anything else compare. I have to say we were not disappointed for a single second. We had a BLAST!!!

The great thing about Leggoland was it satisfied the amusement park fun for my two kids who are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to rides. Zac is my son who has no fear at all on rides and will ride Space Mountain the entire day at Magic Kingdom if we would let him. Sydney on the other hand is a huge chicken who is so scared of most rides that she wont even get on the People Mover at magic Kingdom. Anyways, the rides there were exciting enough and mild enough to satisfy both their needs.

It was a hot day yesterday and another great thing about Leggoland is the water play area. I swear the kids must have played there for at least an hour and half. This gave the parents times to chit chat and relax while the kids were wearing themselves out.

Overall it was a fantastic day!! A huge thanks goes out to *A*'s parents for inviting us. We had a BLAST!!!


Zac and *A* spent a great deal of time panning for gold....





Syd just loved this Lego version of Neuschwanstein.

Zac was so thrilled to see they had a Bionicle ride :)

The Romantic Road

On the way back from our trip to Garmisch we decided to take the Romantic Road. The Romantic Road is a stretch of road between Wurzburg and Fussen that is suppose to be the most picturesque road in all of Germany. Many of the towns still have retained their Medieval Character. The Romantic Road encompasses some of Germany's most toured cities such as Rothenburg and Schwangau, the home of Schloss Neuschwanstein. We didn't stop at every city but here are a few we did stop at.

DINKLESBUHL

There are several cities we stopped at along the Romantic Road but Dinklesbuhl was our favorite. Dinklesbuhl was established in the 8th Century and is a completely unbroken medieval city. In July every year the town has a festival known as the "Kinderfest". This festival is in thanks to the children of Dinklesbuhl who in 1632 pleaded with the Swedes not to pillage and destroy their town. The children were successful in pleading with the Swedes and this festival is in thanks to them. The festival is currently going on now and we hope to make it out to Dinklesbuhl next weekend.

Dinklesbuhl was such a delight. We didn't get to spend as much time there as we would have liked. We hope to head back there very soon to explore some more.



The Altes Rathaus built in 1361

Center of the Marketplatz

The Rothenburg gate.

The "Deutsches Haus" dates back to the 16th century.


HARBURG

Another stop on the Romantic Road was Harburg. Harburg was first mentioned in records as early as 1150. Harburg Castle is one of the most well preserved castles in Germany. This castle has been in the possession of the same family for over 700 years.





NORDLINGEN


Nordlingen's earliest records date back to 898. In 1219 it was known as one of the most important trade fairs in all of upper Germany. During the Thirty Year War the town lost much of its political and economic power. Today the town's wall is still in tact. Nordlingen reminds me a lot of Rothenburg only without all the tourist which I enjoyed quite a bit.

The Altes Rathaus built in the 13th Century as the center of the trade market.


Löpsinger Gate built in 1388


The Winter's house. The corner post is protected by an original modern corner-stone called "Hundsbrunzer".

Above the door of the Winter's House is written "Soli Deo Gloria"

St. George's Church

Three Castles and a Kloster....OH MY!!!

While Paul's mom was here we couldn't let her leave Germany without seeing the granddaddy of all castles Neuschwanstein and it's sister castle the Hohenschwangau. We also took Mom to go see the Linderhof another one of King Ludwig II castles and of course Kloster Ettal. I think Mom was on complete overload by the end of the day.


Now for those of you who have been following our blog you know that Paul and I don't care much for Neuchwanstein because:

A) It is ALWAYS crowded
B) It's a fairly new castle dating back to the last 1800's.We prefer the OLD castles even if in ruins. We had seen all this before so it was nothing new and frankly I was soooo dreading Neuschwanstein because I HATE hiking up that hill to the top. None the less it is something you HAVE to see when you come to Germany.

For those of you who don't remember about Neuschwanstein and the Hohenschwangau you can read up on our past adventures here:
NEUSCHWANSTEIN

Now I didn't take a bunch of pictures this time since we have been there several times before and it was nothing new. I did however take lots of pictures of the lake by Neuschwanstein because of how beautiful it was. I also did take more pictures of the Hohenschwangau because the last few times we have been there it was under construction.








The one thing that was different this time was we got to see the gardens of the Linderhof. The last time we went to the Linderhof it was March and none of the gardens were opened yet. I have to admit the gardens is what makes the Linderhof because without the gardens the castle is a complete disappointment.






After all of this we went to see the Kloster Ettal. We never get tired of going to see the Kloster because it is such a beautiful church.

You can read about our past adventures to the Kloster Ettal HERE

Dachau Concentration Camp

I know it's long overdue but as promised here are some pics of our trip to Dachau two weeks ago. Paul's Mom left on Wednesday but I have been swamped since then getting caught up on things here at house.

There isn't much to say about Dachau. The pictures speak for itself. It is a very emotional experience visiting a concentration camp and even more of an educational experience for the kids. I was amazed at how well the two behaved. They really took everything in and asked so many questions.

Dachau was opened in 1933 and is Northwest of Munich. It was the first concentration camp open by the Nazi party. You can read more about Dachau here...
DACHAU

I think the pictures speak for itself...

This gate entering the camp reads "Work Brings Freedom"



The Jourhaus (the gate house)



Roll Call Yard.

They would line the prisoners here to do roll call. If not everyone was accounted for the prisoners could stand there for hours and face harsh punishment for hours until everyone was accounted.


A memorial that was built in the middle of the roll call yard in the late 1960's



Prisoner Barracks.

There were 32 barracks that could hold upwards to 200 people in each building. After the war they were all torn down. Later on two of the barracks buildings were rebuilt as a reminder of what the living conditions were like for the prisoners.



These rows are where the 32 barracks use to stand.


The most sombering part of the tour was visiting the Crematorium area.

The old crematorium. This crematorium was built in 1940 a year later it was already working beyond capacity. It remained operational until 1943.



The large crematorium known as barracks "X" was built between 1942 and 1943.



The gas chamber...




Behind Barracks "X" is the Memorial gardens. This is where the ashes of thousands were buried.








Also behind Barracks "X" was an area where the Nazis would execute the prisoners.
They would line the prisoners up here against this wall and kill them.


This was known as the blood ditch where they would throw prisoners in here and start firing.



More pictures from our day at Dachau. Even though we spent the entire day there we were still not able to see everything.