Friendship Festival

Every year we go to a local festival put on by both the Germans and Americans called the Friendship Festival. They have rides, food, and games just like a typical carnival.

It always falls on the the weekend and usually the day of Kaelyn's birthday so this is the second time she was able to spend her birthday riding rides and eating yummy carnival food.

This year we were able to have Grandpa and "Grammy" (Aunt Penny) with us to join in the fun. It was a great thing because the kids love the bumper cars and there was no way I could have done it this year. Instead Grandpa got to enjoy William's crazy driving, just about giving him whiplash.

It was a great was to spend the day with my beautiful girl on her birthday. We stayed up way too late, ate too much sugar but it was completely worth it.

Ettal Monastery

Our last Bavarian trip was to the Ettal Monastery.

It has really amazing details inside, probably one of the most beautiful chapels that we had seen in our whole time in Europe.

The monastery is completely self sustainable, they have their own live stock, farms, and everything they would need. In order to make money, they make and sell beer and cheese. Beer making was actually started by the monks and considered a very sacred thing. For quite some time, they only people allowed to brew beer were monks. At first, water, malt, hops, and yeast were the only ingredients allowed in beer. 

The cheeses were amazing, and the kids really loved watching the process of making it. They showed us a short video then you could go look through windows as the machines and people were busy at work. On the way back we stopped at another traditional wood carving shop. This one was much more impressive because it was only one man who made everything and we got to peak into his workshop. A great way to end a beautiful trip.

Innsbruck, Austria

We took the short drive to Innsbruck Austria one day and found a carriage ride that would take us through town to see all the sites.

We passed by the golden roof was built be the emperor Maxamilian I with 2,657 fire-gilded copper tiles. It is quite a popular tourist site, but it was not what we had imagined.

This is a picture I got online of it close up.

The other cool thing that we saw was where the Trapp family lived.

It was a pretty town with some awesome architecture, especially in Old Town.

Not my picture

Partnach Gorge

My Dad and Aunt went to a local concentration camp so the kids and I decided to hike up Partnach Gorge. 

The Partnach River, a lusty mountain stream, has cut a 262 ft deep crevasse into pure rock, creating one of the most beautiful gorges in the alpine region. Therefore the Partnach Gorge is about 2.305 feet / 800 metres in length and its walls rise to 263 feet / 80 metres. It was declared a natural monument in 1912. 

(taken from a handy tourist site)

It was pouring down rain that day, so we grabbed our jackets and umbrellas and headed up. We decided to take a carriage up to the start of the hike since it was about two miles. Once there we still had another roughly two mile hike till we even got to the official entrance of the gorge. 

The water was this strange icy color and rushing faster than I've ever seen. We were all amazed at the view, walking through tunnels and caverns, seeing waterfalls and beautiful  rock creations.

Not too far in William said he was cold so I pulled the extra socks out of the bag to cover their hands and we headed back down.

Fortunately it stopped raining by the time we got back to the entrance because all of the carriages and gondolas has stopped running so we were hoofing it back to the car. 

William found a slug on the way down and decided to bring it back to Nick as a pet (only after I vetoed the desire to bring a dead squirrel back instead).

By the time we made it even half way he has 3-4 in his hands so being the awesome mom that I am, I found something in my bag for him to carry them in and we took them back to the hotel with us.