Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss,Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever.
We started our Spring Break on Friday, April 4, heading to Garmisch, in beautiful Bavaria! We settled into our super comfy sweet at Edelweiss and spent the evening on the grounds just relaxing after a long car ride.
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| dinner at the hotel |
This crazy chicken was roaming the halls knocking on random hotel doors!
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| bedtime sillies and Momma's margarita! |
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| she's growing up so fast! |
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| we are having a "rocking" good time! |
The mountain air was cool but the spring sun was doing its best- so Saturday we set off over the Alps to King Ludwig's Linderhof.
Wikipedia summary- Although Linderhof is much smaller than Versailles, it is evident that the palace of the French Sun-King Louis XIV (who was an idol for Ludwig) was its inspiration. The staircase, for example, is a reduction of the famous Ambassador's staircase in Versailles, which would be copied in full inHerrenchiemsee. Stylistically, however, the building and its decor take their cues from the mid-18th century Rococo of Louis XV, and the small palace in the Graswang was more directly based on that king's Petit Trianon on the Versailles grounds.[2] The symbol of the sun that can be found everywhere in the decoration of the rooms represents the French notion of absolutism that, for Ludwig, was the perfect incorporation of his ideal of a God-given monarchy with total royal power. Such a monarchy could no longer be realised in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. The bedroom was important to the ceremonial life of an absolute monarch; Louis XIV of France used to give his first (lever) and last audience (coucher) of the day in his bedchamber. In imitation of Versailles, the bedroom is the largest chamber of Linderhof Palace. By facing north, however, the Linderhof bedroom inverts the symbolism of its Versailles counterpart, showing Ludwig's self-image as a "Night-King." The location of the palace near Ettal Abbey again presents another interesting point. Because of its architecture Ludwig saw the church of the monastery as the room where the holy grail was preserved. This fact connects the idea of a baroque palace to the one of a "medieval" castle such asNeuschwanstein and reminds of the operas of Richard Wagner whose patron Ludwig was.
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| Ludwig had a thing for swans! |
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| Annabelle took this one |
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| really not as big as we had thought |
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| sometimes raisins are more interesting than castles |
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of pools and water elements |
The drive was short and it was easy to find. We purchased our annual family castle pass for 65euro- good for over 40 castles in Bavaria for 12 calendar months (pretty good deal!). Parking was cheap and a breeze- plenty of room for American sized "autos". The grounds are astounding- paved or gravel paths made this outing pretty stroller friendly (not allowed inside the castle tho). This isn't just one castle and a fountain- the property is littered with all kinds of structures, as well as, gardens and pools. Even though the gardens are not yet in bloom the imagination takes over and you can easily see why Ludwig called this is real home!
We found this great pizzeria and cafe our last visit and knew it was a place worth going back to! So it was Italian for dinner! Pizza primavera and noodles for the chickens, Jonathan ordered the lasagna, and I had the white asparagus soup (highly recommend). It was a very relaxing day and we ended it with an evening dip in the pool:)
Sundays in Europe are somewhat limiting to tourists- our plans were to visit the Zugspitze and enjoy the majestic view from the tallest mountain in Germany. Unfortunately the weather was grey and overcast making that plan null and void! So we found a flyer in the lobby for a crystal museum in Innsbruck, Austria (only about and hour away). This place sounded right up our ally- I was happy we were taking in something educational while the girls were thrilled with the nine pictures that looked a lot like the mines on Snow White. So we are all channeling our inner dwarfs and singing Hi-Ho Hi-Ho its off to Innsbruck we go!
Upon our arrival I knew this wasn't what we were expecting- but after making the effort and drive we figured it was worth a walk through. So we paid and made our way into the Giant's mountain. The map shows 14 chambers that you pass through- so chamber 1 was pretty dull, chamber 2 was odd in a Tim Burton kinda way but with sparkling crystals, chamber 3 was ok, chamber 4 is when my optimism had run out! Yes, we had been duped! This was not a crystal museum but more of a modern art display of oddities that shine and sparkle! FAIL! We laughed about it, and tried to answer the questions that kept coming up as best we could, but all in all we were board. On the upside there was a terrific playground outside! I think we spent more time playing then inside the exhibit. So it's true- not everything you read on the internet is correct! Tourist trap!
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| climbing the Alps |
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| AB trying out the zip-line! |
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| Zippppp! |
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| Super Sam takes off |
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| make way for Lulu! |
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| tiptoe through the tulips |
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| Callie Bird |
Well our not so exciting day wound up with a nice dinner at our hotel and a stroll around for these fun photos:) We really enjoyed our stay here- the accommodations were super! Truthfully I was kinda sad to leave but in Austria, I heard, the hills were alive with music! So we set off on Monday morning to the land of the Von Trapps!
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The girls were hot to have their picture taken by each Edelweiss mural...
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| …therefore Sam wanted his picture taken and this was his chosen sign!!! |
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