To all you Father's out there!

Especially to my sweetheart- Happy Father's Day honey!

Garmisch again!

This weekend we went back to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. Again, just Ann-Marie and I went on this trip. The drive was about 3 or 3 and a half hours. The mountains are so pretty. We got there Friday night and it was very hot all day. But there was snow on the mountains. Then Saturday morning we had to buy sweatshirts at the Edelweiss tourist shop because we weren't expecting it to be so cold that morning. We enjoyed our weekend with a tour on a tour bus and swimming in the hotel pool.

We took the Edelweiss tour bus to the http://www.neuschwanstein.de/english/index.htm Neuschwanstein castle and then to get to the actual castle you have 3 choices. You can take a shuttle bus, a horse and carriage ride or you can walk. Ann-Marie and I decided to pretend to be princesses and take the carriage ride. LOL....I laugh because while we were in the carriage pretending to be a princess...one of the horses had a horrible case of GAS. It didn't make the air smell bad but it sure was loud...and almost non stop for a good 10-15 minutes. Everyone on the carriage couldn't help but stifle back laughter. There was a British lady and her child on the carriage with us (among other people) and once when the horses and carriage stopped pulling for a brief moment the lady said, "he must have run out of wind!" It was perfectly hilarious. 

Not the Sistine Chapel, but still a painting on a church ceiling! This post is out of order, but I wanted to include it. This church we visited after the castle and you will read about further on in the blog. 

I love looking for just the right photo opportunity. 

We took this while in the courtyard of the castle waiting for our tour. Of course, we got separated from our tour group and got stuck with a group of French tourists. But the tour was still in English. The French had little hand sets that translated. 

Here is one view from the castle wall. 

Neuschwanstein Castle. The clouds briefly rolled in before we entered the castle. The horse and carriage took us up most of the way but then we walked a short distance further to get inside. 

The castle again. We couldn't take photos inside. I don't know how much the entry fee was because it was included in the fee for the bus tour (which was 32 euro for an adult). Inside was actually never completed. Bavarian King Ludwig II was found mysteriously dead in shallow water prior to it's completion. Inside were some huge and beautiful paintings, wood carvings (the King's bed was FABULOUS---carved with wood!). The interior has not yet needed to be restored. 

Neuschwanstein Castle up close!
 

Here is tourist Ann-Marie with the castle up on the hill in the background. 

A goat! 

The tour bus stopped here at what they called "The Church in the Meadow". There were a few tourist shops and restaurants near this church. It was quite pretty. 

The inside of this church is baroque style. Everyone was busy taking photos. Too bad I couldn't take any photos inside the castle! 

A section inside the church. 

You can't see the beautiful church picture behind her but you can see the beautiful face! Ann-Marie was very good on our trips lately. We've been having a nice time together. 

The last stop on our tour bus was this wood carvers shop. Beautiful stuff here but NOT CHEAP!!!! 

The mountain we've come accustomed to saying good-bye to. (We always get gas here before leaving the area) 

Here is Ann-Marie with her souvenir from the castle. A knight and his horse. She was allowed to pick out something and chose this.  

Here is a black forest hedgehog. Yes, I actually purchased this thing. I found it surprisingly cool. I am assuming that it is constructed with black forest wood? 

Weekend in the Black Forest

Hi everyone! Just wanted to send an update and some pictures of our weekend. I drove to the Black forest on Saturday and came home on Sunday. It was a very nice weekend and Ann-Marie and I had a great time. It was just the two of us out touring this time. The Black Forest is actually a very large area of beautiful woods with many towns in it. It is the land of Black Forest Cake and coo-coo clock region. The town we went to is called Triberg. It hosts the largest waterfall in Germany, which we visited. Of course in looking at the photos that I took, none of them show the true beauty of the area. From the pamplet (in English!) that I got from the waterfall area..."Foaming and thundering, the water masses take a headlong plunge into a depth of 163 meters. Bordered by high spruces and jagged granite rocks, the Gutach river forces a course over seven cascades into the valley. A spectacular natural phenomenon: The Triberg Waterfalls" Very beautiful area. It actually reminded me of the Smoky Mountain area (where Jake and me got married.) In particular the waterfalls and the big rocky creeks that run everywhere around Gatlinberg. I hope you enjoy the photos. Let me know when you visit the blog, please! Oh and I wanted to add that it was about 3.5 hour drive to get there. Also before we left the region we drove around in a town nearby Triberg. The town is called Rottweil and was recommended to me by a guy at work. Rottweil is where the dog Rottweiller originated, supposedly. Anyway, I didn't take any pictures in Rottweil and we drove around there for about an hour (read: got lost). But it really was a nice town and we might have stopped and gotten out if we could have found a parking place but nothing jumped out at us so we kept driving until we got lost and then of course had to find out way back to the Autobahn.

On our way to the Black Forest we stopped for a picnic at a rest stop along the autobahn. We've finally started getting some warm and sunny weather and so this was the perfect day for it. 

Here we are again at our picnic site. You see there is a perfectly functional picnic table right behind Ann-Marie, but since we had this picnic blanket...well it was just mandatory that we sit on it. (got a free picnic blanket with a new bank account). 

Another view of some houses and hotels in Triberg. 

One street in Triberg. There is a very touristy area if you turn right past the German flag. Even the shops were open on Sunday, which was the first I've seen here. See the big white umbrella? That is where Ann-Marie and I ate dinner last night, right under that. She had the schnitzel and I had fish. 

Ann-Marie is showing off a tiny doggy that she got as a souvenir in one of the shops. We did lots of looking. And in case you are wondering, no I did not buy a coo-coo clock yet. I am waiting for just the perfect one. Those things are very expensive too. All sizes and types.  

The Ketterer hotel in Triberg. This is where we stayed overnight last night.