Road Trip – Day 10 (Stake Conference in Hamburg and home)

Oh, it feels good to be home. Walking into an apartment that was clean and fresh was a wonderful feeling (I go cleaning crazy the day before we go on vacation; we’re talking “spring cleaning” crazy). I am so looking forward to everyone sleeping in their own beds tonight as last night was an adventure. We checked into the hotel to find they decided to put us in a room with one king size bed with a baby cot instead of two queen beds with a baby cot. That meant we had one very active toddler who likes to practice his dance moves in his sleep in bed with us. Between that and Milayla waking up 4 times, none of us got very much sleep. And boy, did that lack of sleep come through at Stake Conference this morning….

On the bright side, our breakfast was wonderful. Near the end of breakfast, Atticus apologized to me and when I asked him what he was apologizing for he said “I think I found a new home; I really like this hotel.”. Wow. It’s really hard to compete with these buffet breakfasts they offer. Guess I’m going to need to step it up a notch. Thankfully, once we arrived home this afternoon Atticus was pretty grateful that he decided to keep this home and said “I’m sure happy to be home. It smells good.”. Both kids were super helpful pitching in to get everything unpacked while Jason cleaned out the car. Yet, before we even finished unpacking, Milayla was busy packing things back up and saying goodbye. I think we certainly have a little traveler (or two) on our hands.

It was a great trip. It felt good to spend so much uninterrupted time together as a family. And it feels great to be home. Looking forward to picking up our family runs again tomorrow. Not looking forward to doing the grocery shopping. We have lots of fun family days on the calendar and with the holidays coming up we are highly anticipating some memorable family traditions. We’ll be doing a little Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend (which will be a weekend that has already passed by the time that this is posted on the blog) and after that my attempts to convince Jason that the time is now appropriate for Christmas music commences. Wonderful days!

Road Trip – Day 9 (Hamburg, Conference with President Monson in Germany)

We woke early in the morning without the aid of the alarm (and even before the kiddos!). We were pretty anxious to get on the road and start our trek toward Hamburg to listen to the prophet – President Monson. It was certainly divine intervention to wake us when we did as things took a little bit longer to get loaded up than we had anticipated, then the journey was slowed multiple times due to construction and vacation travelers (it was the start of the school vacation in the particular German state we were driving through and everyone was headed off for vacations with their cars packed to the brim) and I certainly cannot forget the quick reactions that Jason was blessed with as we narrowly missed two accidents. Though the journey was longer than we had expected, awaking early allowed us to make it to the conference location with just enough time to park and head for the door, the only problem was that there were no parking spots to be found. Having booked a hotel for the night in the area we decided to pull over and key in the hotel address for the GPS, we would then go and park at the hotel and walk over. After we typed in the hotel address we realized that it was quite a bit further than we had realized, parking there would surely make us late. Then we looked up and noticed that we managed to stop our car right in front of an empty parking spot that we had somehow missed when we drove by the first time. I know parking spots are fairly trivial, but after being in a car for 5.5 hours with two children anxious to see the prophet, a parking spot within reasonable walking distance was certainly a prayer answered for this mama.

We approached the building just as everyone was heading in. The next task was to try to find a spot where we could be certain that the kids would be able to see the prophet (after nearly 3 weeks of Atticus praying to meet the prophet, I felt it my duty to ensure he had a good seat). That part was generously taken care of by a friend who spotted us looking for a seat and offered us to sit by her. Oh, how great those seats were. I only hope our friend did not second guess her decision of letting us sit with her when the second hour rolled around and both our kids began getting a bit restless. We were certainly grateful for her generosity.

Being in the same room as, and listening to, the Prophet was an incredible experience. He is such a calm, witty and jovial man who exudes the spirit. He spoke primarily about choices and it really hit home to both Jason and I. The choices we make define who we are and what we will become. The talk has certainly helped provide the spiritual guidance for many choices that we were considering at the time. I am so grateful that we got to go there, that the kids could feel of the spirit in that room and hear the words of a living prophet so directly (and not just over a computer screen like we watch General Conference). It was an experience to be remembered and pondered upon. I am grateful and glad that we could all experience it together. The prophet even looked right at us and smiled. Or maybe he was looking only at our general area, but even still it was awesome. So blessed. 

Road Trip - Day 8 (Frankfurt LDS Temple)

After nearly 6 hours in the car this morning (thanks to a few road delays) we arrived at the Frankfurt temple. Thankfully, we had followed an impression we had to cut out an additional stop we were going to make or we would not have made it to the temple in time to do a session each. 

the gorgeous view during the drive

The kids were pretty excited to arrive and so were we. We checked into our room on the grounds and I rushed off for a session at the temple while Jason unloaded the car and organized the room. Unfortunately, we could not find someone to watch the kids so that Jason and I could attend a temple session together but it turned out quite nice for the kids to each have time with each of us on the temple grounds. I miss living closer to a temple. We were certainly spoiled when we lived in The Netherlands with a temple only a 20 minute drive away as it made frequent trips to the temple a lot easier to organize. Though I suppose ‘close’ is relative as I know there are still many people in the world who must drive further than we must in order to visit a temple. No matter how long the drive though, I always feel a deep sense of gratitude as I step inside the temple doors and the comfort of the temple washes over me. I love the temple. It has been the setting for many important life decisions, inspiration and guidance. It is where Jason and I were married; where we began building our family on an eternal foundation. I am grateful for the blessings of the temple and eternally grateful for the restoration of the gospel that has made priesthood authority and temples possible to bless our lives. Today was certainly no exception for insights gained and I felt a deep yearning to have my other half there with me to discuss the things I learned. I suppose it is only natural, while sitting within the walls of the temple, to yearn to be with my eternal companion and our children. It certainly strengthened my resolve to teach our children the gospel so that we can be together forever. As I walked out of the temple doors, I walked out with a deeper dedication to my Savior, to my family and to seeking God’s will for me and our family and following after it. And I walked out to big smiles on the faces of my family waiting outside for me. I love this magnificently crazy bunch. They’re awesome.

As luck would have it, I actually got to use my poor German skills to help out a girl in the temple who was visiting Germany with her husband. Yay! We enjoyed talking with them both outside the temple after the session.

Then it was time for us to quickly hurry off to make sure everyone had some dinner and send Jason off for his session at the temple. Then it was my turn to enjoy the stillness of the grounds with the children before sweeping them off to our room and getting them ready for bed. 

And now, with the children having finally drifted off to sleep (after staying awake to see the temple lit up at night time), I get to sit and ponder on the things that I learned while I await Jason’s arrival from the temple session that he was able to attend. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow; we’re going to go listen to a prophet’s voice – President Thomas S Monson. There has been a countdown in our home leading to tomorrow and a certain little boy who has been praying that we will have President Monson over for dinner. I love the sweetness of a child’s love for the gospel. And, who knows, it could happen one day.  (he even asked if we could invite Heavenly Father and Jesus for dinner so that President Monson would definitely come.)

Road Trip - Day 7 (Fuessen, Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau)

Road Trip – Day 7 (Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein Castles and Fuessen)

We are sitting at midafternoon resting our feet in our hotel room. This is the quaint view outside our hotel window. Nice, isn't it?

Atticus requested that Mommy and Daddy talk and plan our afternoon while him and Milayla play together and crawl on the floor. I love how much they enjoy spending time together. 

The morning was incredible. As soon as we finished breakfast we headed for the Hohenschwangau Castle. 

The weather was not the most accommodating to allow for the spectacular views of the mountains and castles that we were hoping for, but we were just grateful that it wasn’t raining. Besides, all that fog sure did look beautiful settled on the lake and around the foot of the castles. 

(And it certainly helps that we also got to see the castles lit up in the nighttime sky as we drove into Fuessen last night in search of our hotel. It was a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, the camera was packed away in the trunk, so no photos.)

After doing what was supposed to be a 30 minute climb up to the Hohenschwangau Castle in a little over 10 minutes (with a stroller), we checked out the fountains around the entrance. 

Certainly not the most beautiful castle gardens we have been in, in fact they are nearly nonexistent, but we’re pretty certain that the view (when it isn’t foggy) would certainly make up for that.

Because we made it up quicker than anticipated, it gave us plenty of time to relax. The kids were pretty excited to head in though and Atticus watched the ticket numbers on the screen with high anticipation. Milayla clung to the tickets as tight as possible.

At the first sight of our ticket number on the screen, Atticus ushered us up the stairs and into the castle.

Inside the castle was stunning, and surprisingly homey. Well, as homey as excessively expensive ivory and gold birthday gifts, extensive wood carvings, gold light fixtures and secco paintings adorning every wall can be. Not too shabby for a remodeling of a former Knights Castle that was in ruins when the king decided to purchase and remodel it.

It was a little strange to be surrounded by so many English speakers as the tours were grouped by language selection. As a result though, we did chat with quite a few people, typically with them commenting on the kids (“look at her eyes!”, “wow, he is a chatterbox.”, “she is so well behaved”, “wow, he has a lot of energy!” etc.). It was a great tour through the castle due in a large part to a very good tour guide. Sorry, no inside photos allowed.

After the tour ended, it was time to descend from Hohenschwangau and ascend to Neuschwanstein Castle; it was a trek that was to take an hour and we did it in 20 minutes (with Milayla sleeping soundly in the wrap on me. I love getting in extra cuddles.). And we even stopped enroute to take some pictures of the lake and some rather stunning light filtering through the trees. It was gorgeous!

I can't believe how many people were just walking by this gorgeous light without even taking notice of it's breathtaking glow, and the soft colors bouncing off the leaves. Maybe they forgot their cameras.... :)

We’ve decided that the time allotment that they list is allowing for a very leisurely stroll up the mountain, and we were trying to go quickly for fear that we would miss our assigned tour time. By this point, the people traffic was really starting to pick up and I felt very grateful that we were not here during peak season. No thanks. Even as it was our tour time was quite full. We waited in the castle courtyard and snapped some photos before heading in.

Once inside we climbed plenty of stairs, and just when we thought we were done climbing, we climbed some more. All the while Atticus was counting the stairs and dancing up them. I really need to start working a little harder to help him count past 11 as I can’t imagine counting to 11 that many times in a row is all that interesting, though he didn’t seem to mind. He was a very big ball of energy today. I will not forget the happy dance he did when we left the first castle and we told him that we were going to another castle. “TWO castles!?!?”, he exclaimed. Yes, Atticus, two castles. And then there was a dance, followed by Atticus relaying the itinerary for our day being sure to emphasize how lucky we are because we get to see "TWO castles". He is a very organized little boy.

The inside of the Neuschwanstein castle was certainly more ornate than Hohenschwangau, even verging on eccentric in some places. It is a little sad to think that Ludwig died before he was even able to finish his castle. Even unfinished though the castle is still quite the spectacle, at least in the finished areas. That said, the guided tour inside is quite short and it felt like we wound our way through more of the castle in order to exit than we did during the actual tour. Very strategically, you must wind through two souvenir shops and a café before exiting the castle. I regret to report that the souvenir shop got me; they had a beautiful Christmas ornament with a handpainted Neuschwanstein castle on it (Jason was very happy to oblige me and we will be adding two decorations to our tree this year as we picked one up in Salzburg as well). And we gave in to an overpriced viewfinder with photos of the castles on it for the kids (we have a 4.5 hour drive in the car tomorrow during which time I fully anticipate that view finder to give us a complete return on our investment.).

A model of the castle as part of your journey out

And with that, we ate lunch on our leisurely decent back down the mountain and to the car. I shared an interesting moment with another mother as we were heading down the mountain; coming up the mountain towards us was a young German family, situated very similarly to us with a child in a stroller and a small baby in a carrier on the mother. As we passed this family the mother and I smiled as we both seemed to simultaneously note our similar circumstances and then we nodded. It was a small moment, but for me it was a reminder that no matter the cultural differences there will always be common threads that knit us together as mothers and there will be times when finding those common threads will be important to buoy one another up instead of tearing one another down. After all, we are all trying to do our best for our families. On our way down we also met a lovely couple from Canada. And no, they were not lovely simply because they were from Canada, that was just a coincidence. They were quite eager to learn about the kids and talked to us about their own kids and grandchildren. It was a very pleasant, laid back, enjoyable conversation. When the time came for us to depart ways, Jason remarked about how nice it is to meet other people while traveling as everyone seems so much more laid back and social. As I thought about that, I wondered if that is just our perception or if people really are different when they have left the daily stressors of life behind them. Are we different, too?

Speaking of leaving the daily stressors of life behind, we are really looking forward to having absolutely no agenda this afternoon, just wandering around the quiet, charming, little town of Fuessen, before coming back to the hotel to finish watching the last session of General Conference. For now though, the giggles of my children in the other room beckon me to go and enjoy a world of wonders from their ever-curious perspective. An adventure awaits.

And you can check out a few photos from our afternoon in Fuessen below.

Atticus took a photo in the post office and wanted it preserved :).

These two shots are easily some of my favorite photos from the entire trip. These guys are awesome and so incredibly charming (and handsome, to boot!).

We passed this cute little church at least three times before we finally noticed it when coming up from another street. Just goes to show the importance of a new perspective :)