Paestum!

Paestum is two hours south of Naples.  We had heard that Paestum has the best Greek ruins outside of Greece.   Well the ruins did not disappoint.  I had no idea that there were three temples to see.  They were so well preserved.  It is amazing to think this was built without modern tools!!  These temples were built around 550-450 BC.  Just unbelievable to think that they are here today!!  Back in WWII when the allies invaded Italy, they landed on the shores of Paestum.  The GIs used the temples as shelters and even hung rope to use as clothes lines between its columns!!  It wasn't until they found pottery buried that they called archeologists from Britain to examine the area and declare it a historical site! (We learned this at the little museum that is nearby!  Fascinating stuff!)  It was a beautiful day and we had fun exploring the ruins with my parents.  Daddy stayed home since he was sick and still tired from his trip to CA.

climbing an olive tree!

This is part of a tomb found in the area.  It is one of the first painted tombs to be found.  They had never been know to paint the inside of a tomb.  This is a famous picture of the man diving into the after life.

Downtown Naples!

My parents came back this May and thank goodness the weather was nice this trip.  The first weekend they were here we headed to downtown Naples after Delaney's t-ball game.  We took the train in from the JFC.  We walked to Piazza Plebiscito and to the waterfront.  We went to the Galleria and walked into the Castle Nuovo.  It was fun to wander the city on such a nice day.  We had fun people watching and observing all things Italian.  We got to show my parents Christmas Alley, with all their precepe (traditional mangers).  I was surprised that they are still out this time of year.  I guess you never know when you want to start on a new one for the next Christmas.

We topped our walking tour off with some gelato!!  YUMMY! 

We had to save room in our stomachs, we were headed to Mama's for dinner.  It is the restaurant in our parco that serves a 5 course dinner with nine different appetizers!  It is delicious but you have to come hungry.  So we skipped lunch and just opted for gelato! 

Linderhof Castle

This morning we work up to snow.  We went from 80 degrees in Legoland to snow five days later!!  This is another castle built by Ludwig II of Bavaria.  He is referred to as Crazy King Ludwig since he commissioned 4 castles in the area.  This is the only one that was completed.  It was also the smallest.  However, it had beautiful gardens surrounding it.  Well I am sure they would have been beautiful later in spring with flowers.  The snow did add a magical quality to the place!!  King Ludwig also had a grotte made in the back.  He pretended to ride in a boat and had shows performed inside!  I wonder if this is where Hef got the idea for his!  The girls were unimpressed and asked to see real stalagmites and stalactites.  I told them with a geologist for a dad, it was bound to happen=) 

The hills are alive!!

 This was a great way to end our trip!  The castle was neat and seeing everything covered with a dusting of snow added to the beauty!  The girls loved playing in it even though we really were not prepared for it!

Thank you Germany for showing us a wonderful time!

You are a beautiful country! 

 I am sure we will be back!!

Munich

It was rainy in Munich, the first bad weather day on our trip.  But we were determined to enjoy the day. We found the famous hofbaurerhouse.  How was excited to see his initials everywhere.  Since it was not lunch time yet, we headed to Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel.  It is a big mechanical thing on the side of a huge church.  We got there to hear it chime and see the life size statues rotate.  It was pretty cool to see!

We stopped at a market and looked around for a bit.  We got a bit wet and cold and headed back to the hofbrauhaus.  It was really neat on the inside.  There are little cages of beer steins that had locks on them.  They must be for the locals for when they come, they get to use their own personal steins!  We had some more Germany food, pretzels schnitzel, and sausage!!  We were happy.  I think the one liter beers helped too!  We have found that looking at the building and architecture is really cool but eating the local food is the best part of traveling!!

One liter and a half liter steins!

Lunch music!

Garmish

 After all that excitement, we make it to Garmish.  This is the MWR rest and relaxation base in Germany.  We got settled in our rooms and headed into the town of Garmish.  We were looking for some more good Germany food.  As Blythe said when we told her we were going to Germany," Germany Yum!!  I like their food!"  We found a cute beer garden and had a nice dinner.  We took pictures so you could see what their plates look like!  The food was yummy!

Neuschwanstein Castle

So as we continued to Garmish we wanted to stop at the Disney castle.  We had heard that Disney modeled one of the princesses castles after this one in Germany.  Neuschwanstein Castle was up on the side of a mountain.  We drove to the parking area and we were going to catch a bus to the top.  But we all were impatient so we started the walk up.  It was a windy walk up the mountain, but since we had been in the car for an hour and a half, it felt good to get out and move around.  The castle was so impressive!  It was amazing to think this was built over 200 years ago!!

ULM, Germany

After two days in Legoland, we were heading south to Garmish, Germany.  We first stopped in Ulm.  During the living museum at school, Xander was Albert Einstein.  He was born in Ulm so we had to stop.  We looked for places about Einstein but we didn't find anything.  We did find an amazing cathedral.  And come to find out it has the world's tallest church spire at 161 meters.  So it was a really neat pit stop on our way to Garmish.

A cuckoo clock !