Garmisch and Munich, Germany (take ... oh I don't know, I've been here so many times!)

Grant won a *MAJOR AWARD* from the PTA's Reflections program this spring.  He wrote a poem titled, "Climbing a Tree Within Reach" for his enrichment class (which is the precursor to the gifted program - they don't put second graders in the gifted program.)  Well, he wound up winning first place in all of Europe for all elementary school submittals!  We are SO proud of him!  They had an awards ceremony at the Edelweiss Resort down in Garmisch that we went to so we could support our little buddy!

T-shirts from all of the represented schools!

EEEEEK!  How handsome are these two?!?! 

He's such a ham walking the red carpet!  Isn't it awesome that I got two uses out of this white suit!?!

This one though... am I in trouble, or what?  She's dying to walk the red carpet, anywhere and everywhere!

So they call Grant up to receive his first place award for his poem, and they have a photographer there who was taking some pictures and of COURSE he cannot be serious.  The child has no idea how to be serious. He had the room in stitches!

OK that's a little better, but he still looks like he's up to something!

Getting all of the kids up on stage with their awards was like herding cats.

He knows Daddy is taking his picture so of course, he makes this face.

If you want to know what exactly it was that won him FIRST PLACE in the Reflections contest, it was this lovely poem written Dr. Seuss style.  He wrote it in his enrichment class (which is the precursor to the gifted program.)  I had to ask him... Singapore?  Really?  How does he even know what or where Singapore is???  And of course, in typical boy style, he just shrugged and said, "I don't know!"

One of my two bright and shining stars.

Mrs. Lockhart was his kindergarten teacher a couple of years ago, and she is pretty involved in the PTSA so she was there with her sweet husband.  We made Grant and Billy Overton snap a pic with Mrs. Lockhart.  See?  He smiles nice sometimes!

Aaaaaaand then we are back to this!  Where does he get this?!?

That's my boy.  We are so proud of him!

We clean up pretty nice!

After the ceremony, we went back to our room for some lovely views of the Alps at dusk.

Under the Alps and moon and stars.

Here is what it looks like in the morning, panorama style. I never get tired of the views in Garmisch.  I think I've actually said that line here on this blog before, but it's so true.  We snapped a few pics after breakfast and sped off to Munich because our friends Kern and Dorothy were flying in from Seattle in the afternoon.

PLUS, we wanted to get to Munich, get checked into our hotel and find a place to watch the royal wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry!

I actually bought a day package of unlimited data so I could just live stream the wedding from the BBC website.  Quick!  Let's go to the English Garden and sit under the Chinese Tower and watch the wedding!

I'm obsessed, leave me alone.  My kids were pretty into it, too!

If you can't be AT the actual wedding, I'm pretty sure this was the second best place.  With a Maß of beer on a sunny day in the English Garden in Munich!  I love that I captured the moment Harry was putting the ring on Meghan's finger.

He truly insists on doing this!  Hey Meghan Markle, are you ready for this?  This is what happens when you've been together for 15 years!

OK that's a little better!  Also I just realized... did you know that a Maß is as big as my head?  Maybe bigger!  Pro tip: Don't forget to return those massive mugs and get your pfand back when you're done!

We have been to the English Garden many times, but we have never actually gone down and watched the surfers on the Eisbach River. It's in the southern part of the garden on Prinzregentenstrasse and it's great fun to watch.  (Google Eisbachwelle if you're in Munich and want to see this!)

Who says you need to be near the ocean to surf!?  There is a pipe under the bridge we are standing on that funnels the water through very quickly and spits it out on the other side, making these great waves.  Surfers stand in line and go one at a time, alternating from each side of the river. If they manage to stay up, it seems like everyone was really respectful of the other surfers and would purposely fall so that everyone got a chance to surf in the cold, fast moving water.  They float down stream a bit and hop out on the concrete side of the river embankment and get back in line for another try.

The area is pretty famous, so lots of people come out to watch the surfers.  I really wanted to be a judge and give them numbers based on their performance!

After we watched the surfers for a bit, we went back to the hotel to pick up our friends Kern and Dorothy who had just arrived after a long trip from Seattle.  The first stop (naturally) was the Hofbräuhaus! 

My husband is a bad influence.  Kern thought it was funny that Todd does this to me and now had to do it to Dorothy!

Having fun at the Hofbräuhaus!  Prost!

The next morning, the kids and I had to get back home to get ready for the week but Todd, Kern and Dorothy stayed in Munich for another night.  Todd took them down to the Marienplatz and they were having a rally for FC Bayern München!  Todd said that the rally wasn't for another hour or so, so they didn't stick around because he didn't figure Kern and Dorothy wanted to. Hence, he did not get any pictures of Manuel Neuer for me! Boo.....  But he did get me a flag!

Oh my word... Grant has been randomly obsessed with the Illuminati lately and Todd found THIS in Munich!  Did you know that in 1776, the Bavarian Illuminati was formed?  It's was a real, secret group that was formed to oppose the influence of religion in government.

This looks about right.

Their time in Munich was capped off by yet another trip to the English Garden for another Maß of beer.  Next it was back to our home for a few days of traveling around local cities, like Nuremberg, Regensberg and Bamberg!  Meanwhile, I had to work...…..

The Hermitage, Bayreuth, Germany

It has really been a beautiful April, so we decided on a really pretty, warm, sunny day to head up to Bayreuth and visit the Hermitage.  The Hermitage (or Eremitage in German) is the home and seat of the (former) Margrave of Brandenberg-Bayreuth.

I'm sure you're wondering what exactly a Hermitage is because I was wondering the same thing!  It's basically a small retreat, typically purchased by and used by the aristocracy.  It was a beautiful day - but I think if we could have visited a few weeks later and the greenery and flowers would have been even more beautiful!

There are two main buildings at the Hermitage - the Old Palace and the New Palace. The Old Palace was originally built in 1715 by the Margrave Georg Wilhelm.  The New Palace (shown above and below) was built in around 1750.  The tile work, which is really more like colored rock work is striking. 

Isn't this something?????  I just couldn't get over it!

The flowers were in full bloom at the Hermitage!

I love catching them in their own little worlds.  I could watch him for days.

Strolling through a trellis without any greenery.

Two sets of glasses twinsies at the Hermitage in Bayreuth.  A few weeks later, the fountains would be running!

A nice panorama of the New Palace at The Hermitage.  The Orangery and the Sun Temple (in the middle) were severely damaged in April 1945 by American troops.  We did not visit the inside of either the Old or the New Palace because the day was too nice and we only had a few hours to explore.  We thought we would save the palaces for a cold winter day.

Back in the 1700s when the Hermitage was built, there really weren't any of these types of gardens in Germany.  It was one of the first of it's kind in the country (although in the 1700s, Germany wasn't really Germany- it was a bunch of really small territories sitting amid the Holy Roman Empire.)

There was a peaceful man-made waterfall among the trees.  When the Hermitage was built by Margrave Georg Wilhelm, it had originally been a zoo owned by his father as far back as the mid 1600s.

Unfortunately, the Lower Grotto was under construction with some renovations going on.  It was originally built in the 1740s.  The building on the left in the background is actually the real Hermitage of the Margrave Friedrich.  He took over the property in the 1730s and really built it up for his wife Wilhelmine.  The biggest expansion happened during his reign.

He's a stud, what can I say?  I've always enjoyed those biceps!  Notice the tree to the left - it looks like it's flexing an arm, so he decided to do the same!

The gardens were in full bloom!  Ich liebe Blumen!

It's a rainbow of fruit flavors, folks.

Among the tree hedges in the portico at the Hermitage.  I'm not sure what kind of trees these are, but I have one at my house that similarly must be cut WAY back every few years because they overgrow too quickly.

There's a little restaurant on the grounds and it was lunchtime, so why not?  It's also time for beer.  Which is pretty much anytime in Germany.

The Water Tower and a pretty flowering tree behind me in the sunshine.  Sunshine makes me happy.

After an extensive lunch, we went for a hike in the woods.

The sunshine was warm through not-fully-filled-in leaves.

On our hike, we came across some stinging nettle.  Todd was pointing out that it wasn't the leaves that get you, but the thorns beneath the leaves.  When you get stung, it feels like an electric shock (or pins and needles) down your arm for hours afterward.  He should know. He got into a patch of it in our garden!

It was so quiet and lovely among the trees of the Hermitage.

A lovers walk among the sparse trees of early spring.

The Chinese Tower was built on a little mound.  It was originally built in the late 18th century but this one was installed in the 20th century.

You can circle the Chinese Tower as you climb to the top.  You can probably guess one half of my offspring complained about this. (But mommy, there are BEES!!!!)

This is the lovely Schloss Monplaisir.

So many shapes and colors!

Triangular trees and flowers in the gardens at Schloss Monplaisir.  Interestingly, I think this building might have been offices or something more private because there were jackets hanging in the doorway that we were peering in.  It weirded me out as I felt like I was peeping into someone's house!  But that's not possible because it's managed by the Bavarian Administration of State Castles, Gardens and Lakes.

Auf Wiedersehen, Hermitage!  We really enjoyed your gardens!  What a great, quick little trip to a neat little palace!  Next time, we will definitely check out the inside of both the Old and the New Palaces!