A German Christmas Roadtrip

For our first trip out of the Kingdom we decided to go to Germany for 10 days in December 2013. Knowing we'd be traveling with a two year old and a two month old we wanted to go somewhere that we knew we would have an easy time getting around and we didn't want to deal with too many time zones either. Germany is also known for their Christmas markets, great beer, pork, and driving. This is pretty much the opposite of Saudi Arabia, so it was perfect for our first getaway!

Since this was also our first adventure as a family of four, I want to spend a little time discussing how we did it. First, here was my packing list:

Don't worry, those items not crossed out got packed too!

I made this list about a week before we left. I don't think this trip would have been possible without my latest favorite invention, the packing cube. If you don't already have packing cubes and you have plans to travel in the near future, especially with little children, you should buy some right now. They were AMAZING at helping to keep us organized. I loved them so much I immediately ordered a second set for Travis' parents to bring to us at Christmas, as well as some for them as Christmas presents. Since this was a roadtrip, I organized our suitcase and the cubes by location instead of clothing article. Then I planned to put clothes for the first half of our trip in one suitcase and the second half in the other. I regret not taking a picture of our beautifully organized cubes and suitcases, you'll just have to visualize that yourself. Each cube was labeled by location and packed with outfits accordingly. This way we only needed to bring the suitcase holding that location's cubes into our hotel.

We arrived on Sunday, December 2nd about 18 hours after our originally scheduled arrival. Sadly a canceled flight due to some extremely intense fog delayed our departure but we didn't let that dampen our spirits too much (See my last post, "Waiting... so much waiting"). The first thing we did was drive to Muhlheim, the small town I lived in for three years as a kid when my dad worked for the DOD in Frankfurt. We found my old house quickly, but unfortunately Lucy had fallen soundly asleep in the 15 minute drive from the airport, so we couldn't get out and walk around. This is where it's good to have pretty low expectations when traveling with kids--while I really would have enjoyed spending more time in my old stomping grounds, it was far more important for Lucy to get some sleep!

Entertaining Ellie in the car on my old street. Recognize the Klein Garten wall, Mom?

We decided to drive around to find some breakfast before hitting the highway. Unfortunately since it was Sunday nothing but McDonald's was open, but we didn't really care since we weren't in Saudi, an airport, or an airplane. I was so proud of myself for being able to order us some food even though the clerk only spoke German. I also relished the opportunity to use a clean public restroom stocked with toilet paper.

It was so refreshing to see the green countryside once we were outside of Frankfurt. One of the first things we noticed was there were wind farms and solar panels EVERYWHERE! In fact you could hardly look out the window without seeing a visible reminder of Germany's dedication to being green. This was also a nice contrast from Saudi, where I have yet to see a single recycling bin.

However, our first "This is going to be a fun trip moment" happened as we were driving into Rothenburg, our first destination. Our GPS told us to drive across a small stone bridge that looked impossibly too tiny for our Kia Carens. We looked at each other and said "Is that the road?" Sure enough, it was! I apologize for being too enthralled by the charm of the old city to take pictures. We spent a few minutes driving around the narrow one way streets looking for Guesthouse Edith.

Once we were parked and Travis had taken our luggage up the three flights of stairs to our room, we settled in for lunch at the restaurant in the guesthouse. I had been looking forward to this schnitzel for years! It did not disappoint.

Lucy was thrilled to have a whole plate of fries.

After lunch it was family naptime. Since we'd only slept about 5 of the previous 36 hours, it was more than necessary. I was rather proud of myself for finding a guesthouse with a two room suite so Lucy could get her best sleep.

Reading a story before naptime. Lucy LOVED this bear in her room.

After everyone took a two hour nap we headed out for the Christmas market. There was excitement in the air as we approached and seeing what looked like the whole town in the main square told us we were in the right place.

Just looking at this brings back the smell of Gluhwein and Lebkuchen!

Now if you've never had the chance to experience a German Christmas Market, I hope this can inspire you to go see it for yourself some day! We sampled the Gluhwein, nibbled some lebkuchen (a gingerbread cookie) enjoyed a brat on brotchen for dinner, and walked around enjoying the festive atmosphere. It was so cute to see Ellie craning her head out of the carrier to see the lights. She was mesmerized! Lucy declared she wanted some 'chips' and magically when we rounded a corner a vendor was selling apple chips. How perfect! At 8:00, we took the "Night Watchmen's Tour".  It was an excellent walking tour of the city and we (well, Travis and I) enjoyed both learning the history as well as the theatrics of our tour guide. Can't say I recommend late night guided tours for a toddler, but Lucy did ok thanks to the iPad.

The "Night Watchman"

The next morning after a delicious German breakfast of meats, cheeses, breads, a hard boiled egg and some tea we headed out to tour the town.

Ms. Independent thought it would be best if she led the way around.

Rothenburg is a beautiful medieval city surrounded by a wall. Sadly a large portion of the wall was destroyed during WWII, but thanks to some generous patrons it has all been rebuilt. There are some treacherous stairs at some of the gates you can climb to walk along the top of the wall and get beautiful views of the city.

Being a tourist is hard work.

But we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves!

It was a beautiful morning for a walk among the rooftops! St. Jacob's Church is in the background.

After about 30 minutes of wall-top walking/toddling/examining-every-rock we decided it was best to move on to something else to keep the toddler entertained. St. Jacob's church was a highly recommended attraction on TripAdvisor and it did not disappoint! There were many beautiful wood carvings including a Reimenschneider altarpiece from the 1500s.

Touring cathedrals with a toddler means seeing things from a different perspective

A stone Tabernacle dating back to 1448

Lucy was so mesmerized by this work of art she fell down the stairs in front of her about 2 seconds after this picture was taken. Some may call this poor parenting... but at least we got a cute picture!

Making faces always makes it easier to wait for lunch

After nap time we wandered around some more and happened upon this lovely nativity on the back side of a church. Having been in Saudi for several months has made seeing nativities (or any expression of religious freedom) particularly poignant for me.

On closer inspection, this nativity had a surprise character:

It's the long lost Christmas bagpiper!!

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John clearly forgot about the role of the bagpiper in their accounts of Jesus' birth. I'm so glad this church decided to honor his memory.


For dinner we headed to Zur Holl, ("Hell" in English) per the recommendation of the Nightwatchman on our tour the night before. (Yes, he quite literally told us to "go to Hell".) The restaurant itself was fascinating and we especially enjoyed being seated in our own private little cavern at a table made from a giant bellows.

Travis and I split the pork tenderloin special for dinner (you know we couldn't pass that up!) and it did not disappoint!

This was good. Very very good. And this was only half! I can't imagine trying to eat the whole thing.

After dinner we continued walking around at a toddler's pace and enjoyed the scenery. While Rothenburg is charming during the day, it is almost magical at night

Beautiful gate to the city

Lucy loved running around this park outside the city!

 We loved the view of this tiny village church and bridge just over the walls:

 Sadly I had only booked two nights in Rothenburg (next time we will stay longer! There was so much more to see!) so the next morning we had to pack up and leave for our next destination. We decided to go 'off autobahn' and follow the "Romantic Road" through a few other picturesque medieval towns, most notably Dinklesbuhl and Nordlingen. It was another beautiful day for a drive! Dinklesbuhl and Nordlingen were adorable. I also wished I had planned longer stops for these towns!

Downtown Dinklesbuhl, complete with horse drawn carriages!

Nordlingen all ready for their Christkindlmarkt

Loved seeing all the quaint German towns along the highway!

The weather turned grayer and colder the further south we went. We made it to Ulm in time for lunch and found this great Italian cafe to eat at.

Signora Maria in Ulm, Germany

Sitting next to this wall of glass bottles of olive oil was a little treacherous, but we  managed to not break anything.

After lunch we walked across the street to the Ulm Minster (Church), which in fact is the tallest church in the world.

This plaque is inscribed with the year 1388. Doesn't that just make you feel like a spring chicken!

And though we tried, I'm afraid our amateur photography does not do it justice.

Conveniently there was another Christmas market happening on the grounds of the church. I was disappointed we couldn't go inside the church due to construction because I had heard it was beautiful, but the Christmas market was a lovely alternative. Travis sampled more Gluhwein and candied almonds, I tried to warm up with some cider, and we bought Lucy a small wooden top.

As we were leaving I was struck by the contrast of the old frescoed building right next to the modern art sculpture and parking garage and thought it made for a good picture:

Back in the car we continued South hoping to make it to Fussen before dark. Watching the snow covered Alps grow in the distance was a lot of fun!

We turned off the highway to head into Fussen and encountered this fascinating snow-fog:

We made it to our vacation rental before dark and then went to Aldi's to pick up some breakfast and snack food. Our condo was very clean and spacious and Aldi's had a bread dispensing machine that made it way too easy to get delicious fresh bread!

The living/dining area and snow-covered backyard in our vacation rental

Mom and Dad--do these stairs look familiar?

After getting settled in our condo we walked into Fussen for dinner.

Pork Schnitzel stuffed with bacon. Yes please!

Why don't all highchairs come with an abacus? This entertained her almost the whole time we waited for food!

The next day we set out to tour Neuschwanstien and Hohenschwangau castles. The drive to the castles couldn't have been more picturesque!

I'm a sucker for a canopy of snow covered trees... from the warmth of a car with heated seats!

Strollers weren't allowed inside the castles, and it was hard work toting two babes and bags up the hill but the experience was worth it! Photography was also not allowed inside so you'll have to use google images for pictures. Or your imagination.

View of Neuschwanstein from the grounds of Hohenschwangau

Yes, we climbed up that hill! Via a path and staircase, but regardless we earned our lunch.

Getting from Hohenschwangau to Neuschwanstein required a really really really long walk up another steep hill or a 6 Euro horse drawn carriage ride. Totally worth the 6 Euros, but the horse drawn carriage sounded much more romantic than it actually was. The green canvas did provide a nice windbreak though.

Inside the carriage. Lucy was (as usual) unimpressed.

There were some beautiful views from the grounds of Neuschwanstein. We had about 30 minutes to wait before our tour, and took our time taking it all in.

I would love to come back in the summertime to explore the lake!

And smashing EVERY.BIT.OF.SNOW along the path:

 We posed for the family photo in front of the castle:

Lucy if you'd wear your hat your lips wouldn't turn blue!

And then finally, about three hours after leaving our rental, were finally able to take the tour. Here I found it fascinating that each room was full of opulence yet all the corner rooms had a prayer room off to the side. Again no pictures were allowed inside.

After our castle tour we ate lunch at the Hofbrauhaus outpost that sits conveniently below the castle. I'm sure they have a booming business from tired and weary tourists who can't imagine making the trek down the hill before getting some food!

She was a lot more interested in the horses after lunch!

That evening we went to the neighboring town of Hohenschwangau and found a great brew pub that had a--get this--PLAYROOM in the basement. In my opinion this is by far the best type of restaurant to find when you're traveling with children regardless of the cuisine :)

That opening led to a slide that Lucy went down over and over and over and...

Our second day in Fussen started out with a self-made German breakfast of deli meats (of course of the pork variety!), oranges, cheerios, and bread from that fun bread dispenser.

Orange slices and cheerios! What more could you want?

Our agenda for this day included a drive to the nearby town of Ettal to visit a Benedictine monastery we had been told was worth the trip. After an accidental detour into Austria, we turned around and found it was another beautiful day for a drive in the Alps!

I couldn't get enough of these beautiful snow covered trees lining the road!

How do the trees grow out of the side of the rock? 

The Ettal Abbey seen from the road as we approached the town

Obligatory family photo

While the outside of the Monastery was impressively large, nothing could have prepared us for what was inside!

The alter

Pictures cannot do it justice...

Looking Up... in Awe

Looking back

Even the pews were ornately carved!

It was absolutely breathtaking.

Naturally all of this sight-seeing had made us hungry again, so we walked across the street to the restaurant and brewery run by the Abbey.

Cheers!

On the leisurely drive back to Fussen we took a detour through Oberammergau to see the frescoed houses:

And then just for fun we followed the signs to the Wieskirche (White Church)

We were equally unprepared for the inside of the Wieskirche.

Lucy's favorite part were the horses just down the road:

And Hallelujah we had FINALLY convinced Lucy to wear her hat and gloves!

We went back to our vacation rental for naptime and Travis went to a local hotel for a massage.

That evening we again headed into the center of Fussen for dinner, this time at the #1 TripAdvisor rated Fussen restaurant. We walked through a different gate into the center of town and found a beautifully picturesque street.

We were a little afraid the restaurant would be too fancy for some weary travelers with two small children, but they were incredibly friendly and accomodating, even suggesting a place to store our stroller! The food was superb.

Pasta in a white wine sauce with salmon.

The 6th day of our trip started off with a trip to Lech Falls, a man-made waterfall in a popular hiking area. As we arrived a local was salting the bridge to counteract the terrible freezing-rain weather. Had the weather been nicer I like to think we would tried hiking around some more!

Breathtakingly beautiful scenery!

Lucy, finally agreeing that it is in fact cold and wearing both her hat and hood, standing in front of the falls.

For lunch we had leftovers we'd been stockpiling for a few days.

That afternoon we headed out to tour the Museum Der Stadt, where I had heard a collection of historical musical instruments was housed. The museum had once been a monastery and they were still excavating part of the structure while we were there. In addition to the musical instrument collection, there was an exhibit on the movie "The Great Escape", which had been filmed in Fussen, and several rooms dedicated to the history of the monastery.

The beautiful monastery library

While the movie and monastery exhibits were interesting, as a bit of a classical music nut I thoroughly enjoyed the musical instruments on display. If you are not as much of a music lover as I am you'll just have to bear with me through these next several pictures. This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me!

Can some of our orchestra friends identify this for us?

A Harfenzither

Looks rather uncomfortable to play.

An incredibly ornate sound hole

An incredibly ornate case!

Such a beautiful instrument!

Some complicated kind of lute

The Picasso-inspired Cello

Sadly there were no english translations on the instrument displays so we didn't get a great understanding of what we were looking at. That didn't slow us down too much because these antique instruments were amazing and spoke for themselves!

We finished off the day with a perfectly prepared schnitzel one town over in a quaint German restaurant. This was one of my favorite meals of the trip!

The next day we packed up and headed out for our next destination, Lupburg Germany. Some family friends who live there had graciously offered us a place to stay. Since Munich was about half way between Fussen and Lupberg, we thought it would be a good idea to try lunch at the Hofbrauhaus. We decided again to take a smaller highway instead of an autobahn, which seemed like a great idea while we were looking at beautiful views over mountain passes... Up until we hear a small voice from the backseat:  "Mommy, I spit up." Travis immediately pulled the car over and we see that Lucy appears to have gotten car sick. Obviously Travis was having a little too much fun driving on these mountain roads :) I was so thankful that we would be staying with friends that evening so we could wash her carseat!

Once Lucy was cleaned up (and we took the iPad away) we continued on flatter roads to Munich. We enjoyed driving through the city and would love to go back with more time to explore someday! By the time we arrived at the Hofbrauhaus Parking Garage it was cold and gray outside. It took us about 5 trips around the parking garage to find a space, and at this point we started to realize that trying to get a table at the Hofbrauhaus on a Saturday at noon was not one of our smarter ideas. We ventured on and sure enough, there was standing room only inside. This is another time when being flexible is really important. We had passed several restaurants between the parking garage and the HBH, and decided it would be best to go find a less-populated place to eat. We found a cafe and ordered Lucy a hot cocoa and Travis had a burger. Surprisingly it was one of the best burgers Travis had ever eaten! Lucy LOVED her hot cocoa and I was a bit jealous I didn't order one for myself.

Cutest whipped cream mustache I've ever seen

The drive from Munich to Lupburg was accompanied by a beautiful snowfall. The first order of business was throwing Lucy's carseat in the washing machine (along with a weeks worth of clothes). After settling in we set out on foot for Lupburg's Christmas market. We did not realize until we arrived we had planned our visit for the only weekend the little town of Lupburg was hosting a Christmas market! Lucky us! Lupburg's market was in held in the town's castle at the top of the hill. Which is just as romantic and adorable as it sounds. It was a small market, but had a lot of local artists featuring their work. The snow was big and flaky and beautiful and added a lot of charm to the market.

Travis climbed the castle wall to get this bird's eye view

The whole town was at the market!

The next day we had plans to attend the Regensburg Christmas market. Before leaving that morning Lucy became best friends with the Casey's dog, Max.

Best dog ever.

Regensberg actually had four different Christmas markets all within walking distance of each other. The main one had a lot of the traditional Christmas market offerings we had seen at the other markets, but here I finally found my new hat and some pretty ornaments. They also had some of the best food I had seen at a Christmas market, including this hot vanilla sauced apple dumpling dessert!

We found three markets and we were crossing the bridge to go to the fourth when this beautiful sunset happened:

Growing up in Kansas I've seen more than my fair share of beautiful sunsets, but this one was absolutely stunning.

Walking back to the car after dinner we happened upon Krampus. Thankfully he didn't attempt to scare Lucy so no ill-effects came from the encounter.

If you aren't familiar with "Krampus", I suggest watching the episode of The Office called "Dwight Christmas"

 Legend has it that the Krampus costume is passed down year after year and each generation must improve upon it.

On Sunday morning we went to one of our host's favorite breakfast places for croissants and coffee and then we headed out for Frankfurt. I had happened upon a great deal for the Jumeirah hotel in central Frankfurt, which was in a great location at one end of the Christmas market.

We spent the next day trying to finish our Christmas shopping at the Frankfurt Christmas market. The definite highlight of the day was Lucy's first Carousel ride:

After a full day of shopping we walked to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We both agreed at dinner that we were indeed ready to go home. We had a lot of fun, made a lot of great memories, and did our best to make up for 5 porkless months. If you are considering a December vacation in Germany, I can highly recommend it! We hope to go back ourselves!