...Not to be confused with Pop-Up Video

The trip with the family came to an end. It was really tough saying bye to the little ones because children change so fast. I knew the next time I see them, they will be so different. By far the hardest thing about living abroad is missing so much of them growing up. 


That said, I had some random video clips on my camera...mostly of my nephew and my niece...but I thought it would be nice to put it together as a sort of "wrap-up video" of our trip. I can't lie, every time I think "wrap-up video" in my head I think of the 90s sensation Pop-Up Video. I have heard from some friends back in the States that VH1 has brought it back. Good decisions. My video isn't nearly that awesome and has no bubbles that pop-up. 


It does, however, have music and wrap up the trip with my family. It also concludes these posts about the trip. 


Enjoy!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Last day. Last day? 


It was a good thing we were going somewhere great because I was a little sad. 


I don't always LOVE tourist towns, but Rothenburg is just so darn cute...you can't help but be charmed. It is an extremely well-preserved medieval city complete with gates, walls, curvy streets, towers, and wonky buildings. The whole nine yards. 

One of the biggest priorities of the day was to visit THE Christmas store. Wendy and Justin have visited this "chain store", for lack of a better term, on several different trips and in different towns. Apparently this one is the mac daddy of them all though. The place is seriously massive. I was blown away. I have never seen so many Christmas decorations in one place. And let me tell you, if you have ever seen my mother decorate for Christmas, you know just what a statement that is. The woman is obsessed. Anyways, the one place that has her beat is in the heart of Rothenburg, right off of the town square. 


Käthe Wolfurt's Christmas Village. 

This Christmas pyramid was so big, getting a proper picture of it proved unsuccessful. 

Every hour on the hour, the town hall building in the square pays homage to a lovely local legend.

According to the legend, the town was seized about to be ransacked by some outside enemy when the conqueror dared the mayor to a small challenge. The conqueror agreed to leave the town alone if, and only if, the mayor could successfully chug a large amount of wine...around two liters.

Well, he DID IT! Hooray! Town saved! (FYI, this cute story probably never happened and it was more likely a bribery situation, but I like cute stories...so let's just go with it, ok?)

To commemorate the event, the town hall opens its windows when the clock tower strikes to reveal the onlooking challenger in one window and the brave mayor throwin' it back like a frat bro in a boat race in the other. What a fantastic thing to celebrate 24 times a day!

More shopping was done at a store that came recommended to us by good ol' Rick Steeves. What was extra neat to my sister and I's ultra travel nerd side, was that this shop owner lady has known Rick Steeves since he was a teenager! He sends her Christmas cards for cryin' out loud! My family gave her plenty of business (including the purchase of a cuckoo clock) and got the Rick Steeves book discount, naturally. 

Of course, there was also plenty of street wandering. We even managed to get a view of the place from outside the wall.

Arguably one of my favorite things about Rothenburg ob der Tauber is that you can climb some stairs to walk around the perimeter of the city actually ON the wall.

 Then, my niece and nephew were really cute. But what else is new?

 Big brother kiss

We found this and had to take a picture for the simple hilarity factor of a confederate flag for sale in Rothenburg ... and were praying no one saw us and took us seriously.

We had some yummy dinner at this place (the green building) after walking all over town realizing that the concept of an early dinner is completely lost on this town seeing as how pretty much every restaurant was closed. They had really good potato soup though!

Some good lookin' people

Come back tomorrow for an extra special blog surprise!

A lot of adventure for two days

After a day in my "Austrian hometown", we had a lazy morning and then took the train over to Lindau for a little while. Lindau is such a cute place. You may remember it from my Christmas market posts. 

We walked down by the water, spotted some cute old buildings and streets, and saw some old churches. The weather actually cooperated well enough for us to see the beautiful mountains all around us from the edge of the lake. We found a little secret garden type area with some benches overlooking the water and the Alps. We sat there for a long time soaking up the sunshine and not wanting to leave.


But as always, there were more places to see, more pretzels to eat, and more beer to drink...


Speaking of...


After packing up and leaving Bregenz, we headed to Andechs. Andechs is a monastery located in Bavaria that has been the home of some beer-brewing Benedictine monks since 1455. Many people regard it as the best beer in Germany. You know that is saying something. It was a good thing the food and beer were good because that evening seemed to be fairly trying children-wise. The little ones apparently weren't fans. 

The next day we were back in Munich.


We all took the S-Bahn from where we were staying but split into two groups. My dad was on a mission along with my stepmom to find the Harley Davidson store, while the rest of us headed to the Viktualienmarkt near Marienplatz. I loved it there. I am always a sucker for markets and this didn't disappoint. Being so close to Easter, there were all these cute bunny and duck decorations for sale. Fresh vegetable stands and flower stalls were everywhere. Of course, the nearby beer garden left a nice scent of hops in the air. So, it didn't take long for Justin and I to insist on having a beer. 

 Yes, that is green cheese. No, the moon isn't really made of it. But, if it were made of BBQ spare ribs...would you eat it then? I know I would.

 Wendy scoping out the goods.

 Just beautiful!

 Piggies!!!

I love this so much! They have names. I can't even. It's too much.

We met up with my Dad and Leslie back in Marienplatz to watch the Glockenspiel do it's thing before returning to spend some more time and money at the market.

 Clear skies and a famous clock

This place had the most perfect food I have ever seen. It was so beautiful, colorful, and organized that it almost seemed unreal.

If I lived in Munich, I would have bought this lemon tree. How cool is that?

If you are ever in Munich, especially in springtime, a stop at the market is a must!


We then spent some more time in the sun having lunch at a restaurant in view of the Neues Rathaus. 

Mmmmm, Obatzda...nom nom nom! 

Later in the afternoon we stopped by Nymphenburg palace to see the ducks and the swans. Watching Kaiden play with them was precious. He was a little bossy and kept telling the birds to get in the water. Clearly he succeeded.

We finished our day having dinner at Hirschgarten, which is properly named. Hirsch means deer in German and on the grounds of the beer garden is a giant fenced in area with, what else, deer. They also have rams and bunnies, too.

Kaiden was initially a little freaked out when we had our first visitor come over to us.

He quickly changed his tune and was loving it! He fed all the different "longhorns" as he calls them.

Here is what we learned: 

1. Deer don't like french fries.

2. Rams do like french fries.

3. Deer like cucumbers.

It was a definitely a fun place to eat.

Holy really long tunnel, Batman!

The next day my family was here, we took a little excursion to my neck of the woods. 


Bregenz, Austria


In order to get there we had to drive through the Pfänder tunnel. Now, I had heard of this tunnel having lived here a while. In fact, I had been through it's sister tunnel the City tunnel just a week prior. What I didn't know, was just how loooooooooooooong of a tunnel it is! I mean, you guys, it was super long. I am not exaggerating for effect. I don't really get claustrophobic or freaked out easily, but after about 5 or 6 minutes  in that thing the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" has a new and very literal meaning.


So after that, we rushed to my good school first to see some teachers so they could ooh and aah over my adorable niece and nephew. I got to show my family the school I love working in so much, which was really nice.


Since, originally I thought I was going to have to work, we all thought it best to stay in Bregenz for a night. Regardless of the work thing though, it was nice and a bit more relaxing...maybe because I got to sleep in my own bed. 


Essentially, we spent the early part of the afternoon getting everyone settled in and situated where they were staying for the night. Wendy and Justin stayed with me in my apartment while Dad and Leslie stayed in a hotel. 


Then up the Pfänderbahn we went! There is this gondola type deal that takes you to the top of Bregenz's "mountain" which is, truthfully, not that big. However, once at the top you have beautiful views of the whole Bregenzer Wald (the part of the Alps in my area), some German Alps, and some Swiss Alps too! There are lots of hiking trails up there too, but we did not partake in any of that.


We played on the playground, took pictures, and visited the animals in the Wildpark.

After playing on the mountain, we came down and walked back through town and down by the water. We had a beer and a snack at this cute little place by the water where we saw two really big dogs and made jokes about strangers kissing. Afterwards, we walked by the Seebühne, or floating stage, which is an important sight in Bregenz. 

 We found yet another awesome playground that I had been dying to take Kaiden to. Mainly because of this train.

You see, Kaiden has this rockin' train set at home that was given to him by friends of Wendy and Justin after their son had outgrown it. Everyone in the family has a train in this train set. I think Wendy's is a blue train. I know my dad's is a brown train (UPS, duh!). The thing is Kaiden has it all straight. He knows which train belongs to which person and there is NO FOOLING him. Well, my train has always been the black train. I saw this train a long time ago in Bregenz and smiled because it reminded me of my wonderful nephew. So getting a picture with him next to "Addie's train" was a highlight for me.

I really enjoyed showing them around my town. 

We had dinner that night on top of a mountain. I don't want to talk about it, but the view at sunset was nice.