Wed. July 8th: Most Famous Castle

We got up in the morning and drove about an hour from Garmisch to visit Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. Neuschwanstein is one of the most famous castles in the world. Walt Disney used this castle for inspiration for the Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World. Hohenschwangau was King Ludwigs parents castle. The castles are within walking distance. Both castles were amazing...we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the castles.

It was a 30 minute walk up to the first castle.

Lots of steps for Raphaella...she really wanted to walk too!

View from Neuschwanstein to Hohenschwangau.

Neuschwanstein

From far away the catle looked like it was floating on the clouds.

Hohenschwangau

Tuesday June 7th: off to Garmisch, Germany

For most of the 2nd half of our vacation we had our home base from Garmisch. It is located in what they call Bovaria in the southern part of Germany. We stayed 5 nights at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. It is a resort for military families.

The autobahn means highway. And yes there are parts of the highway that there is not a speed limit. However there is so much traffic there it is very difficult to travel too fast. This sign means go as fast as you want...no speed limit.

Are we there yet?





We did manage to go 110mph in a Mercedes!!

We stopped to eat at a Bovarian restaurant called Restaurant Cafe of Lechblick. Here the kids are playing outside.

This geranium was HUGE!

The restaurant was right off the lake. The food was very good!!

We had a 2 bedroom loft style room. It was very nice.

These pictures are of the view off of our balcony.

Mon. June 6th: Trier, Germany

After spending a wonderful week with my sister Kari and her family, we spent the next week with my brother Coy and his family.

The first thing we did was a short day trip to this fun German village. It was about an hour drive from my brothers house.

This is a photo of Porta Nigra. It was once guarded by the Romans. It was built as the entrance into the village.

Jake, Kacie and Gabriel



We took a self guided tour inside of Porta Nigra.

Here is a vendor who made these objects out of wire...from birds to bicycles.

Outside of the Dome there was a computer writing scripture...pretty neat!

We stopped for lattes and gelato many times during our trip...yummy!!

The kids really wanted to light a candle inside the Catholic Church. We had to pay 25 cents to light one. Here we are saying a prayer...yes we reminded the kids you don't need a candle to say a prayer to God.

This was one of the Domes we went into. Each of them were magnificent in their own way.

Each village with at least so many people have one protestant church and one catholic church.

Raphaella loved holding Kacie's hand...too cute!

Like I said before, everywhere you look it was like looking at a cute little post card.

Fri. June 3-Sun. June 5: Camping in Switzerland

Camping in the Swiss Mountains...really? We spent two nights tent camping at Jungfrau. It is a very popular vacation spot, even for the Europeans. It was so awesome to experience this with my sister Kari and her family.

One evening we ate at a Hotel in town. Ben and I shared this potato loaded with swiss cheese...YUM!

Kacie had a highlight here as well...she lost a tooth!




Waiting for the tram to go back down the mountain.





Nothing like swinging with a view like that!

Train ride to the tram.

Our campsite.

Chef Ben

Waterfalls inside the mountain.

Gideon was such a trooper!

We finished the trip by visiting this amazing lake...it was crystal clear.