Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Family tree Germany trip: Part 1 of 4

For those of you unaware, last Friday I left for Munich with my sister and grandma for two weeks in Germany. The main purpose of our Germany trip is to visit little towns where we have ancestors, since after years of family tree research my sister has traced us back to the 1700's here.

The first quarter of our Germany trip has already come and gone. A brief summary follows, updated with pictures.


Friday July 20

We flew to Munich, picked up our rental car, ate at Hofbrauhaus, then drove to Königsbrunn where we'd be staying in a hotel for the next 3 nights while visiting friends of my grandma.

Highs: Saved over 100 euros when the rental car lady waived the fee to add me (an under 25 driver) to the list of drivers, getting a nice Opal as our rental, arriving just on time to see the glockenspiel go off for 10 minutes at 17.00.
Lows: Leaving our umbrellas in the car while we walked around Munich only to discover it was raining by the time we finished lunch, being cold and wet.

Lunch in Munich at Hofbrauhaus


Saturday July 21

We met Anja and her sons Manuel and Julian (6 and 8), then took a bus to Augsburg with them. That night back in Königsbrunn we had dinner with Michael and family at an Italian restaurant.

Highs: Hotel breakfast, the Polish guy we met at breakfast telling us our accent was very clear and understandable (yay Wisconsin), seeing Mozart's father's house (says the sister), snacking on a pretzel with butter and chives, learning basic German words from an 8-year-old at the Roman museum, the sister planking on a Roman bath in the rain, 6-year-old Manuel saying to Anja about us (in German), "Mom, when they talk all I hear is 'bla bla bla!'".
Lows: The sister leaving her umbrella on the bus, accidentally keeping Michael up late at the Italian restaurant due to an ESL miscommunication (we thought he was waiting for his card or change back after paying the bill but he actually had been ready to go for quite some time).

Spending the day in Augsburg with some cute German kids


Sunday July 22

We went to a children's mass for Manuel's class in the morning, then took a taxi to Augsburg for the sister and grandma to attend a violin recital that was part of Mozart Fest.

Highs: Eating yummy baked goods at a bake sale after mass (those kinds of desserts don't really exist in Spain), Manuel and Julian making us each a drawing, the sister and grandma getting better seats at the concert than people who had bought tickets in advance, drinking apple juice that was 55% fruit.
Lows: Not knowing where to buy tickets for the concert, not speaking German, being ignored by the security woman on the concert grounds, being terrible at frisbee on the Wii at Michael and Anja's house.

Day 2 in Augsburg, Concert grounds at Mozart Fest (right)

Monday July 23

We had breakfast with Michael and Anja at 9 o'clock before leaving Königsbrunn and beginning the next leg of our trip.


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