BUILDING BL(ayl)OCKS: Rothenburg, Salzburg, with Grandma & Grandpa

Monday morning came with a bang! Jay was up early and opened the darkening drapes to get us all out of bed on time and early. Jay soon found he could jump from his sofa bed to our bed and that was way too fun to pass up. We started our morning with breakfast from McDonalds and a train ride to Rothenburg. We were blessed to make all of our connections! The first thing we did was play at the park, hoping to get the wiggles out of the boys after the train ride. They loved the park and there was water which made Hugh very excited! I tried to keep them as dry as possible, but they did get wet. Jay loved having M to play with on the slides and climb. After they wiggled, we met up with Grandma and Grandpa at the Christmas Museum. I went through the museum and learned a lot about the history of Christmas, including that the tradition of Christmas trees came from Germany. They would send little trees to soldiers at the front during WWI and other people thought the trees were a beautiful idea and it went across the world from there. I also learned December 25th was chosen as the day for Christmas around 400 AD on the day of the Winter Solstice according to the Roman calendar and was known as the Day of the Invincible Sun. I think that's super cool! I always wondered why December 25, and now I know! I met up with Grandma in the Christmas store and wandered for a while looking at everything. It was like an IKEA of Christmas ornaments and decorations! It was very beautiful and much of it was very expensive. Matthew and Grandpa walked around the city with the boys so we had fun just looking at things together. Grandpa bought us all a Schneeball to try, they were everywhere in Rothenburg. They weren't that good, but it was fun to try. We wandered up the streets, admiring the old midevil architecture and going in and out of shops. We ate lunch at a bakery and got some gelato on our way out of town. While we were eating lunch, there were a lot of bees. Matthew waved his shoe and said, "Come at me, bro!" Jay has now started to say, "Come me at bro!" and it's so cute! We got a great laugh together. The wooden nativities in Germany are very expensive, I was so excited to find a little wooden ornament of a nativity, it was the last store I stopped in per Matthew's suggestion. The boys fell asleep during our stroll through town, which was very nice. We barely caught the bus home, we were at the wrong stop originally and had to run to the next stop on route and were blessed to find it. The boys were pretty excited Grandpa and Grandma were already on the bus!

Entrance to Rothenburg

Jay thought all the stairs to the wall areas were super cool! Plus, a door to knock on!

Very cool, castle themed park right by the Midevil city

Hugh enjoying the park

Jay testing the slide

Matthew and Hugh

Water + Sand = Happy Hugh

Can you see Matthew and Jay up there?

Walking through the city!

This was the central square

Grandpa with the Schneeball

Me up on the city wall, you can see it wrapping behind me

Christmas in the Christmas Museum!

Beautiful city!

Me and Matthew

We purchased this ornament, and I'm so excited about it!

Hugh loves his bread and pretzels

Hugh sitting with Grandpa on the way home

Hugh likes to find places to sit that are just the right height, he loved the armrest in the train

Jay helping Daddy get the stroller up to our room

We got to go to a few more parks with Grandpa, including park number 50! I chose this certain park because the space looked open and I knew the boys could wander far. Grandpa was again my saving grace at chasing Jay and following him to explore the nearby parks and areas. While we were playing at the park, I saw a deer! We wandered over and we saw even more! It's like a little deer sanctuary in the middle of Munich. I even got to feed the deer, they are very friendly towards people so you know they've been there a while. The plants along the edge of the pen were very pokey and hurt my hand and Jay's toes, but with some water felt better.

Grandpa joining the fun at the park!

Wheeee!

Jay is getting to be a professional navigator of playgrounds!

I loved this elephant slide with the tropical theme!

German kids love to swing standing up, the first time I saw it I almost panicked but realized I was the only one with any concern.

Water slide! Literally!

Jay sticking his head into the water.

Playing games with Grandpa!

Check out the deer!

Hugh with the deer

Jay with the deer

Wednesday evening, we went to Hofbrauhaus. It's a beer hall that can feed over 3000 guests! They have 100 waiters on staff every shift, wild! We had our first traditional German food and we all were very satisfied. It was bread, meats, and brats. All of it was okay, but nothing amazing. The lemonade was definitely sprite, and the orangeade was definitely watered down Fanta. We found some super good gelato and wandered through a little bit of old town Munich on our way home.

Outside of Hofbrauhaus

Chug a chug that orange juice, Jay!

Daddy and Grandpa

Marienplatz, Matthew, Jay, Grandpa, and Hugh

Our family with the Glockenspiel

Trying one more time, it was a struggle!

Daddy and Grandpa

This photo was taken by Matthew's Grandfather during the war.

We found a new water park on a hot day and it was really fun! The water system was easy for Jay to turn on and the playground was nearby. The best part was when the trash man came to collect the trash from the garbage cans in the park. He had a trash grabber he could use to pick up the random pieces of trash around the park. Jay was immediately interested! He watched intently (and closely) as the man worked on the first trashcan. I stayed back, observing and making sure Jay didn't get in the way. The man pretended to grab Jay with the grabber and Jay jumped back and ran towards me laughing and giggling. He said "more!" and returned for more. The man humored him a few times, then let Jay use the grabber. He kindly showed him how to use it and even let Jay grab his leg and pretended he was stuck which Jay thought was hilarious. I helped Jay pick up some trash around the park and then we returned the grabber. The man then brought Jay a tennis racket and said he could have it. Jay was beyond excited to have a "paddle"! I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this man's kindness. He stopped his busy work and paid attention to Jay. He saw Jay for his curiosity and goodness which I feel like recently has been hard for others to see. These 5 minutes made Jay's day and I hope it brightened this man's day, too. We pray every day for Jay, and I think this was a little answer to prayers for me that day.

Hugh with his muddy sandy hands wanted cuddles, I had mud prints all over my back

Water fun! I love when they can turn the water on themselves

The kind man helping Jay

Cool old building in Munich near the park

Jay with his paddle!

Salzburg was our big weekend trip. We headed out Friday morning on our own because Grandma wasn't feeling too well. We pushed our time and had to run to the train stop. As we were approaching, Matthew asked about the weather. I said it was supposed to rain, and then realized I'd left all the rain gear at home. We had 3.5 minutes until the train arrived, and Matthew sprinted home. He took a wrong turn, wiped out on a puddle, tried the key at the wrong door on the wrong floor, got our gear, and made it back to the crosswalk in time to see the train pull up and leave. There was too much traffic to cross the road, and we missed it. We were talking proudly about our ability to save time by cutting it close and still catch trains, well, this time we didn't. We waited for the next train, ran through the station to find our platform to the train to Salzburg and we had no luck. We wandered everywhere. Eventually we found it and had to take the train that was an hour later. It worked out okay because we found a simpler way for Grandma and Grandpa to get on the train with less walking for Grandma. The train ride was smooth and we were grateful to be in Salzburg. The rain kept coming, but we hit the town on foot. Our rain jackets came on and off several times throughout our afternoon and evening stroll. We got to see the cemetery where they based the cemetery scene off of in the Sound of Music. I walked through Mozart's home where he grew up and saw some of his first instruments and music. We all took a cable car/tram up to the castle, Hohensalzburg Fortress. We walked through the armory and looked at the beautiful views of the city. One cool thing we did as we walked around was look for the same places that Matthew's Grandpa had been when he was serving in the Army. He was in Salzburg for a while, and we found several of the spots he took pictures of over 70 years ago! We got some pizza on the way to the hotel and after we ate the boys played on the little playground outside the hotel to get some wiggles out. We were so grateful they went to sleep quickly, and they encouraged the rest of us to go to sleep very early too! We had a hotel room that slept all six of us, which we all thought was very fun!

Me on the Salzach River

The Salzach during War time, different angle than our picture

Beautiful Cathedral

Check out the fortress behind us and the giant gold lobe (that's modern art)

Cemetery from Sound of Music

Just a small view of all the shops on the streets there

Lego Mozart

Tram up to the fortress

Jay, found another door to knock on!

Jay relaxing, he thought this was very fun

Jay shooting (well, pretending to shoot) the cannon

View of the Castle

Salzburg in the War time period

Salzburg 2024

Check out the castle!

Matthew and the boys

Another picture from the war time

Jay resting his legs like he saw Grandma doing!

It's always a party on the top bunk!

Small kids area we looked at for a few minutes at the hotel

This was a very fun easy way to calm the boys down for bed.

Saturday in Salzburg was an awesome day! The morning was chilly and rainy, but it turned into a gorgeous day. We woke up and went on this cable car to Untersberg, a huge mountain near Salzburg. The cable car ride was several minutes with beautiful views. We were a little worried the clouds would block our view, but they didn't! We were very blessed. It was breathtakingly beautiful up there and peaceful. Pictures can't even do the views justice. Sometimes people would oooo and awe along the ride, and Jay caught on thinking that was very fun. From there, we went to Hellbrunn Palace. A long time ago, a rich guy built these gardens with what are called trick fountains. They use the natural flow of water to run and they play tricks on people. One is a table with chairs surrounding it, and then water randomly with fly out of the seats. Deers made of stone will randomly shoot water from their antlers. The water powers and organ that makes music and moves over 100 figures in a village scene. We loved it and the boys thought it was very fun as well! I toured the Palace itself and Matthew took the boys to a nearby park on the grounds. The park was awesome and Jay especially loved the zipline! He thought it was so fun! And, it was! We had a hard time leaving the park. We walked by the Gazebo they used in the Sound of Music and then walked to the Zoo. It was a beautiful zoo! Such natural surroundings, the animals were so close, several areas you were allowed to pet the animals too. Jay actually engaged with looking at the animals, which is the first time ever! Hugh loved looking too, but we kept him in the stroller so we only had to chase one kiddo. We loved our time and enjoyed seeing new fun animals. By the time we finished at the Zoo, it was time to hit the train home. We met up with Grandma and Grandpa and rode home. Jay and Hugh were so tired and wiggly during the ride home it was a little hard. We let them roam a little free and everyone they visited loved their giggles and smiles.

Cable car to Untersburg

Matthew climbing to a nearby peak

Me and Hugh!

Happy Hugh while waiting for Dad to climb to a lookout

Jay and Me and the lovely valley

Jay soaked himself in these misters, before we even started our Trick Fountain tour

Hellbrunn Palace

He would actually feed guests around this table and then the fountains would go off in the middle. All the chairs have fountains except for his.

Villagers moving to music, all powered with water.

Cool moving fish and see areas.

The Gazebo

Hugh's really started to figure these things out and loves them!

Daddy riding the zipline, Jay cheering him on!

Random stuffed Unicorn in the palace.

I think these were warthogs, all the signs were in German, so it's hard to know for sure.

Zebras!

Fish!

Flamingos, so cool!

Petting the goats

Check out those antlers!

Brown Bears

Jay was very unsure of the licking from the animals.

Sunday came quickly, and it was a beautiful day. We enjoyed going to Church with Grandma and Grandpa one more time! In the afternoon we walked through Olympiapark and then came back to our nearby playground. I got to do dinner preparations all alone while the boys were at the park with Grandpa and Matthew, it was a treat for me! Usually when I'm making dinner the boys aren't very happy because they are hungry, so I was grateful for some quiet on a Sunday afternoon. We were very grateful the boys went to bed early so we could play Pandemic. It's a family favorite game we all enjoy and we won this time! We also had time to visit, which was really nice.