Random August and September Happenings

Lots of things happened in September that weren't really travel related but I like to document them anyway!  First... we had the first day of school!  

First, the "nice" first day of school picture on the front steps.

Second, always a funny first day of school picture on the front steps.

What?  What is this?  Where did these babies go?  Who are these big kids?

One day, the kids and Todd went on a hike in Pottenstein (leaving Mommy at home to GSD.)  They did a pretty decent hike!

They hiked so hard, Grant had to take off his shirt!

But the views in Pottenstein were amazing!  Kind of wish I had gone!

This was a pretty cool tower that you could climb and get really pretty views of the Swiss Franconian countryside.

See?  Super pretty!  Little boy and little girl have their walking sticks.  Isn't Bavaria pretty?

There's a spot in the grass where you can place rocks and make your name or a phrase out of it.  I think you can see what my family did with the rocks that they spent 30 minutes collecting!

Then the cuties went over to the Pottenstein mountain coaster and took a ride!

Cool pic of Grant doing some jumping in Pottenstein.

Nat getting some major air in Pottenstein.  They love doing this!

We also had a tornado come through near Vilseck and Sorghof when we were on our trip to Liechtenstein!  Thankfully, there wasn't much of any structural damage, but the trees got tore up!

The tree damage was so bad on this section of SR2166, that they had to close it for a period of time while they got all of the trees out of the road!

I also went to see my sweet friend Jessica in the (female version) of the Odd Couple at the GPAC.  That's her on the far right. She was SO funny!  Such a good performance!

Natalie also got a mega haircut!  Isn't she lovely?

THEN there was Hurricane Irma.  My parents had to evacuate, which meant my dad had to take his traditional "drinking the Wild Turkey" picture before the storm hit.  It's one of my favorite things that he does!  It's so him!

At one point, this was the track of Hurricane Irma. RIGHT. OVER. MY. CITY.  I stared at the radar for hours, and as it made its turn toward the Florida Keys, it was supposed to head northwest but began instead to take a more northerly turn.  Frame by frame, I watched as the storm stayed on a northward path. It was the best situation for Tampa Bay, because it would have more land mass to chew it up before it got there, weakening it significantly.  And that's what happened!  In the end, my parents had a lot of landscaping damage and about $1500 worth of damage to the roof.  They were definitely lucky to avoid major damage.

I might have had a birthday in September, too.  My husband sure knows how to decorate a cake!

OK forget the darn cake.  LOOK WHAT HE MADE ME! Seriously!  He made this!  That's one of my Makers Mark bottles! He's like MacGuyver! I can't tell you how thrilled I was with this gift.  Seriously thoughtful and he put so much hard work into it!  (Now I told him he has to make more and sell them so we can do more traveling!)

Now we're on to October!

Nuremberg, Germany (Take Five!)

We went over to Nuremberg for an afternoon when Todd's old roommate Jen and her husband David were in town briefly as a stop on their whirlwind tour of central Europe working on some things for their super cool company Approach Guides (check it out here!  http://www.approachguides.com/)

Walking through the original walls of Nuremburg.  They were built sometime between the 12th and the 16th century.  Funny story... we were watching the Patriots game recently and a commercial came on that advertised a beer that had been brewed since 1925.  Natalie actually laughed at this!  She said, "1925? Really?  Please."  HA!  I told her this was a "European kid problem. EKP."

The Frauentorturm is located in the Handwerkerhof, a little area where people sell handmade crafts in little shops.

Our little family with Jen after we ate at the Mauthalle in the Barfüßer restaurant.  The building (not pictured in the photo) was built around 1500 and was originally a grainery for the city. The brewery has only been here since about 1994 (when I graduated high school!)

Since we were already in Nuremberg, we wanted to go see something we hadn't already seen.  Jen suggested the DB Museum, which was a great suggestion if you have kids.  You know I love superlatives, both large and small... this is the oldest train wagon in the DB Museum and it is a coal car from 1829.

There are plenty of examples of railroad cars throughout the years.  This one was from early on in the days of the railways.

I literally have no idea why there was a goat in the DB Railroad museum. What's up goat? Say hello to your mother for me!

There's even an ICE train in the museum!  Not that this is super exciting since we've actually been on ICE trains before, but I think this was Grant's favorite.

Grant inside of the ICE train.  First class, only the best for my baby!

Ludwig II is everywhere in Germany.  An example of one of the train cars he used was on display here. Love me some Ludwig!  (This just tells a small part of the history of his reign.)

An example of Ludwig II's train car.  There were sleeping quarters, a living area, and an office.

THIS was hilarious.  What is this thing mommy?  It's a rotary telephone like the ones that we used when I was a kid.  I had to show them how long it would take just to dial Nana and Pop Pop's number.

If anyone knows where I can get this in poster form, I want it!

This kid rides the Kühlwagen.

My first thought when I was in this museum and noticed that there was a "history of trains in Germany" was - what about the trains that deported Jews to concentration camps?  They did have a small section dedicated to this.  This was a suitcase brought by someone on a train to Auschwitz.

We tend to let our kids wander a bit in museums (not far from us, just near us) but this museum was a bit tough to do that with because there was literally nothing in English.  Didn't bother Grant though... he found a little presentation in German and plopped right down on his jacket to watch!

There's a new section in the upper floor of the museum called Kibala, and it's entirely for kids!  Of course, my big kid had fun "driving" a train.

There's another room where you have a little speed shifter that you can push forward to go faster, and pull back to slow down and that was reflected on the screen.  The simulation is really cool, and Grant didn't want to leave!

The Kibala area also has a mock swanky old tyme train car.  Natalie felt RIGHT at home here with all of her princess sass.

There's also a little train you can ride (they will give you tickets for this when you buy tickets for the museum).  Natalie was eager to ride but Grant didn't want to!  He's too much of a cool kid these days.

One more simulation room is that of the DB Bahn ICE train.  Kids (and parents!) can "sit" on the train and watch the scenery go by on the screens/through the window!

Until next time, DB Bahn Train Museum!

Munich, Germany (Take Four!) - Therme Erding and the Munich Airport Observation Deck

Our brief visit to Munich kept us up by the airport this time.  We took the kids to the INCREDIBLE Therme Erding, a fantastic indoor and outdoor waterpark.  Not super cheap at 32 Euros for a full day (yet, still cheaper than Adventure Island in Tampa which is $55 per day).  We got there at just after 10 am and stayed until 9 pm.  11 hours of great fun!  

And these were the only two pictures I took.  Welcome to the biggest therme in the world.

Good news, folks.  You know I love me some superlatives.  (What?) The giant orange slide above us is the ending of the WORLD'S LONGEST CLOSED TUBE WATER SLIDE (the Magic Eye). I rode this probably a dozen times, mostly with Grant who loved it.  Viel spaß!

Whenever we go to the Munich airport, we always pass this really neat little area that has some airplanes for exploring, an observation deck for watching planes take off and land at MUC, a biergarten and a HUGE playground.  So we decided to stop in for a couple of hours on our way home!  The zipline was a HUGE hit.

How cute is this playground?  Go Grant, go!

One of the airplanes you can explore is this Lufthansa Lockheed L-1049 G Super Constellation from 1955!

Heading up the stairs to check out the Lufthansa plane.

Can you guys tell me what these are?  "Yeah, a place to put your bubble gum!"

OK please be normal for one picture.

OK, you're free to do whatever.

Ma! I found a Delta sticker on a suitcase!

Touching the propeller of the old Lufthansa plane.

Another plane to explore is the Lufthansa Junkers from 1937. It could only fit 14 passengers.  Carl August Heinrich Adolf Freiherr von Gablenz became famous for being one of the first people to explore the route to the Middle East on this plane.  It was important due to the very high altitude that was required because of the mountains they encountered en route to China via Afghanistan and India.

This was one of the two planes that Carl August and his crew took to China.

I'm not sure this is any less comfortable than the current coach situation on today's airplanes!

The third plane to explore is a Swiss Air Lines Douglas DC-3 from 1946.  It held 28-32 passengers.

Evolution of man statues at the airport likely represent how far we have come as a society with the advent of air travel!  Or that's my interpretation of it, anyway.

I can't remember how many steps we counted to the top but it was a LOT.

I seriously could have stayed here ALL DAY watching the planes take off and land. I imagine myself traveling with them.  Where will we go?  What will we see?  Are these people happy or sad to be leaving or arriving back in Germany?

Munich airport is the second busiest in Germany, behind Frankfurt.  It didn't become operational until 1992.  Interestingly, the largest foreign air carrier here is Air Dolomiti!  (Admittedly, one of the best low budget airlines I've flown here in Europe!)

It's like a playground of airplanes!

But the airplane playground is next to a real, super cool playground!  After we checked out the airplanes, we got a quick lunch before hopping in the car and heading back home.

Until next time, Munich airport and Therme Erding!