The weekend of July 31st, we decided to head on down to Bavaria and check out the action. Soenke’s folks joined us, and we made a merry fivesome. It was my first proper trip to Bavaria, and I was looking forward to Alps, lederhosen, dirndls, and Bavarian fare…. I was definitely NOT disappointed. Our photologue chronicles the weekend fun (and surprises…):

Sophie settles in for an hour of opening & closing the tray table (note Oma in the background..)

Once happily installed in our rental car (with Oma & Opa tailing), we settle in for some serious weekend traffic… and entertaining ourself with the camera:

(yes, that’s a McDonald’s french fry… we were desperate and hungry…)

Traffic, traffic, and more traffic:

En route, some fabulous Bavarian scenery (yup, those are the Alps back there!):

We took the “Alpenstrasse” route..

We arrive at our apartment/hotel in the Bavarian town of Ruhpolding; really, ALL the windows have flowerboxes in Bavaria!:

We are welcomed at our vacation apartment with a refreshing “Radler”, a mix of Bavarian beer and Sprite:

Sophie chats with Opa from our balcony:

Later, dinner on the terrace at the hotel restaurant:

And a little video from our dinner (where I inexplicably lapse into German, as if I have scores of German blog readers.):

According to Hauke, every Bavarian town has a “town pole” that advertises its services/activities:

A closer look at Ruhpolding’s town pole:

On Saturday, we day-tripped it to the town Berchtesgaden, known as a favorite summer haunt of Hiter’s (I can see why!). There was a local festival in full swing when we arrived:

In full evidence were lederhosen, dirndls, and plenty of beer and pretzels:

And pretty Bavarian window decor:

A small video of the oompah band sounds:

Happy Oma & Soenke check out the scene:

In the plaza fronting the church, there was a very interesting series of paintings on the buildings, depicting the town’s sadness and suffering from losing their sons, who were pressed into service in both World Wars. There were also pictures (not shown here) showing the sons coming home dead.

World War I:

World War II:

But Sophie just enjoys the sun!

Later we head to the base of the Eagle’s Nest (we didn’t make it up to the top)…

Oma & Opa enjoy some Bavarian refreshments:

Soenke then has the Most Brilliant Idea of 2009: go to the Rodelbahn! (little go-carts, that go very fast down the mountains in luge-like tracks..):

Here goes Soenke:

Me too!

The #1 experience for me that weekend was being pulled back up the mountain on the go-cart ascension cable,
looking backwards over the spectacular Alps. This picture from the top just doesn’t do it justice!

After a fun-packed day, Soenke and Sophie unwind over an Elmo book:

After a wonderful weekend, things start to unravel a bit when we get to Munich airport and discover ALL flights
that day back to Hamburg are full, with 30 other standbys hanging around! Soenke eventually re-routes us all
back to Berlin… BERLIN!

Here we are in Berlin Sunday evening renting a big car and a car seat, for the 3+ hour drive back to Hamburg:

Sophie isn’t troubled by the detour…

Here’s our snazzy VW bus:

Nice sunset in Berlin:

Eventually, we found Hamburg…