The final leg - Garmisch, Germany

With two days remaining in our Germany-Austria tour, we scheduled two nights near Garmisch, Germany.  We were more than a little heart-broken to leave this treasured part of Austria.  Thursday morning we were greeted with yet another beautiful day.  Jason wanted to take a few pictures of Hallstatt so we stopped by a park with a great view of the village.  It was the perfect way to end our stay in the Lake District.

The kids enjoyed playing on the park equipment while Jason went about his photography.

Hallstatt, Austria...anyone want to go in together to open a B&B here?!? 

 With the assistance of the tri-pod and some fancy footwork by Jason, we were able to get this family photo at the park.  The kids thought it was hilarious to see Jason and me hoist ourselves up! 

This is probably one of my favorite photos and favorite memories of the trip.  Fun family time together, no strict schedule and beautiful scenery made for the perfect spring break.

After an hour or so, we had to pry the children and ourselves away from the park and climb back into the van for the four hour drive to the Garmisch area.  On our way to the next destination, we took a bit of a detour to drive the German Alpine Road. It runs nearly 280 miles between Lindau and Lake Constance, east to west along the German-Austrian border.  Jason and I drove part of this route in 2002 and wanted to share the beauty of this drive with the children.

Our main stop along the route was Ramsau.  Anyone who has been to our house before, might recognize the picture above.  It is the same photo we took 9 years ago when Jason and I visited this spot.  However, at that time, there was a big, unsightly crane in front of the church and most of the mountains were covered by clouds.  It felt like redemption to be able to go back and take a near perfect photo of this enchanting church nestled among the Alps.

And boy has a lot changed in the Burgin house over the last 9 years!!

The only way to get a good family photo is to promise a silly pose after. 

On the way to our final destination for the trip, we made a quick detour into Innsbruck, Austria.  This town has hosted the winter Olympics a few times, but several guide books had not given it shining reviews.  I was pretty much ready to skip it and head straight to our hotel, but the day was beautiful and Jason said he had always been interested in stopping there because he grew up on "Innesbrook Way" (Though spelled differently).  In the end, I am so happy we stopped for a couple of hours.  We found Innsbruck had a charming old city that was easily walkable against the backdrop of the Alps. 

It was market day and the cafes were packed!

The small building pictured on the left boasts the "Golden Roof".  It was built in 1494 for the emporer to view the medieval spectacles in the city square.  The roof has over 2,500 gold covered copper tiles. 

We toured through Innsbruck for less than two hours, but with ice cream in hand we thoroughly enjoyed our time.

Just before dinner, we arrived in Reutte, Austria.  It is a small town only 10-15 km from the main sites in Garmisch.  We quickly unpacked, ate a casual picnic dinner in the hotel room while the children enjoyed the equivalent of America's Funniest Videos in German on the T.V.  That show translates in any language for children!!

Friday was the last full day of our grand German-Austrian tour.  First on the to-do list was Neuschwanstein Castle.  This castle was built in only the 1800's by "Mad" King Ludwig, who had a romanticized fascination with all things castle and medival.  It was the inspiration for Orlando's Walt Disney World Cinderella Castle and one of Germany's top tourist attractions. 

When we arrived, we had to hike up the mountain from the parking lot where this photo was taken all the way to the castle!

This was Drew's preferred mode of transportation!

We poked around the castle courtyard for a bit and then headed to Mary's Bridge for the best view.

If you look far in the distance of the picture below, you can see the bridge we had to walk to.  The bridge was constructed to give the best view of the castle and surrounding countryside.

On the path to the bridge, we stopped at an overlook to catch this view.

Finally, we made it!!  After at least 45 minutes of hiking, it was worth it.

The bridge was too crowded to set up the tri-pod for a family photo, so I'll put in both family shots just to show we all made the hike!

Thankfully, the walk back down the mountain was a little more enjoyable than the journey up.  Also, we met a young guy who was just finishing college at Appalachian State in Boone, NC!  He saw Ethan's UNC t-shirt and asked if we were from North Carolina.  He was just graduating from school and was slated to start work up North and came to tour Europe for a month before his job started.  I had quite a bit of admiration for the guy, as his travel partner apparently backed out at the last minute, but he still came on the trip solo!  At the end of our conversation, we found out he grew up at the church were Jason's brother has attended for over 10 years!

For the second part of the day, we made our way to Zugspitze, which is the highest peak in the German Alps.  Thankfully, no hiking was involved this time, but we did take a pretty nerve racking ride on the cable car pictured below.

 Here you can see me gripping the bar for dear life, all the while smiling to the children to ensure them that this it is totally safe to be hanging in a box, dozens of feet over a mountain by two cables.

The kids favorite part was the snow mountain on the observation deck.  It was at least 30 degrees colder on the top of the mountain!  I was so thankful I had insisted on everyone wearing their jackets.

Doesn't it look like a painting?  Even being there, the scene somehow does not look real!  So breath-takingly beautiful. 

Our final family photo of the trip, taken by another North Carolinian we met on the cable car ride to the top of the mountain.  He works in RTP and was traveling for a couple days at the end of his business trip.  What a small world! 

And with our descent down the cable car, we began our farewell to this beautiful country.  We headed back to Reutte, grabbed an authentic German Chinese dinner (more than enough sausage and schnitzel by this point) and packed up our belongings to prepare for the eight hour drive home on Saturday.

Although Jason and I both had reservations about making the 500 mile journey from Garmisch to our house in one day, it went amazingly well.  We arrived home in time for dinner and a decent bedtime to prepare for Easter Sunday the following day. 

This will be a trip that Jason and I will treasure in our hearts for the rest of our lives.  We pray that the children will continue to grow in their appreciation of this rare opportunity to explore so much of the world at such a young age.