Germany has ruined driving fun.
Unlike in previous years, we had given no consideration to an end-of-school-year holiday this time around because we and our passports are a little travel weary at the moment. But then Anna Grace asked if we could take the end-of-school long weekend to enjoy Zugspitze and to see Schloss Neuschwanstein again. The former has long been on her personal to-do list after Jack posted a snap from atop the peak during his Boy Scout Camp Counselor summers in Garmisch; and weather prevented her from an Instagram atop Germany’s highest peak on a previous visit. As for a Neuschwanstein return visit, well, aren’t most teenage girls princesses at heart?
We have never been a family big on sitting around the house; it just isn’t what we do. So, it should be of little surprise that a day after Jack returned we packed the Volvo and headed to Bavaria for a long weekend. Our home base was a cottage in Munich that could have been a workshop for Santa’s elves. Though it had modern restoration and conveniences, the ceilings of this former guest house were perhaps a little low for the taller members of the family. Small matter!
Every stereotype you might have about Oktoberfest played out before us in Munich this weekend. The beer “tents” ranged from small to large to fire-hazard size.
Observation platforms atop Zugspitze, Germany’s tallest mountain.