We spent a long weekend in Bavaria visiting our friends Wendy, Frank and Luke. Susie and Wendy met as part of UMA (Unconventional Mothers of Austin), when Gabriel and Luke were babies. They moved out to Munich about the same time we relocated to Cambridge. We’ve met them in Amsterdam and they’ve visited us in Cambridge. They’ve decided to go back to the states. So, we decided to fit in a long weekend, before they left Germany.
Wendy took us all over Munich. We saw the city museum, the Jewish museum, and the various markets/ churches. We had a snack near the Marienplatz, saw Feldherrenhalle and walked through the Hofgarten. We ended our tour of Munich with seeing the Frauenkirche and “devil’s step.” Having Wendy as a tour guide was completely awesome. We ended the day with a bike ride for dinner at a traditional bavarian restaurant.
We joined them the next day at Luke’s school for Fruelingfest (Spring Festival). It was an elaborate setup with various student performances (music, karate, dance, and so on), arts and crafts booths, games, and great food. Pearl picked up a Furby for real cheap. We found out later it only spoke German and Furbish. I guess Pearl will have to learn a bit of German. We met up with friends of their’s for dinner at a village next to their town. Frank and I road bikes through a forest. On our ride back, I could imagine the wolf from little red ridinghood jumping out and having us for dinner. Later that evening, we went to Summer Solstice celebration. They had a huge bonfire with a straw witch at the top. There was an Umpa band along with food and drink. It was very cool to see and experience firsthand.
On our last full day, we went up into the Bavarian Alps to Mittenwald. With it being Sunday, most of the village shops were closed. I did want to see the violin museum, but I guess we’ll save that for a repeat visit. Nevertheless, we came up to go hiking. We took a single chair lift up the mountain and hiked around the upper lakes. We had lunch midway up the mountain and hiked the rest of the way down. The mountain air was divine and the people very friendly. It was an awesome trip and one we will cherish.
