Our trip to Edelweiss

(written while we didn't have internet. This week I'll catch up to current events, including our trip to Bamberg!)

This past weekend Z and I took a trip to the Bavarian Alps. We were given the opportunity to attend a marriage retreat through the Army at Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. We were very excited about the opportunity to explore a different area of the state, especially since Garmisch is so close to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (Walt Disney’s inspiration for the Magic Kingdom castle).

I was a little bit wary about heading BACK to a hotel after just escaping weeks in a hotel, but that’s just how the timing worked out. We headed down on Friday and had marriage strengthening sessions on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The rest of the time was our own, so we headed out into the town of Garmisch for a delicious Italian lunch (you guys, the Italian restaurants here are AMAZING…probably by proximity to Italy alone) and then to the castle.

As we were approaching the Alps, Z commented that there’s really no way for pictures or words to truly capture the things we were seeing. And it’s true. I truly wish that I could simply bring all of you with us, that we could see these things together so we could just have a mutual understanding of the experience. I would hold my umbrella high like a good guide so you could keep a visual on me as you trailed behind me while touring all of these beautiful, historic places and I would give you interesting facts and trivia about each location. I would make up most of those facts and trivia, but you wouldn’t know…you would just think it was the best tour you’d ever been on. I’m confident of this. Then we would go eat way too much food at some adorable restaurant in a quaint German town and we’d have a beer and sit for a few hours talking about how amazing the day was and sharing the pictures we took. Wouldn’t that be the best? I think yes.

Sigh.

Anyways, the scenery was just…breathtaking. I'm so frustrated to not have a way to upload pictures to the blog right now! (Follow me on Instagram or Facebook to see our pictures.)

I will say, I was VERY disappointed to see the castle covered in scaffolding. They’re doing construction to restore the castle, but it completely covered the tallest turrets so it was hard to get the full effect. BUT, we have timed our German residency perfectly because construction is set to complete in 2013. It began in 2001. So, you see, we are on the right side of this timeline. We’ll go back and get to grasp the full magical essence of this fascinating castle.

One of the most exciting moments of our road trip, minus the castle and Alps of course, was when we came across a handmade German furniture store. One of the things we really want to do while we’re in Germany is purchase a big, sturdy, wooden, German-crafted farm table to use as our dinner table. We may have found just the place to get ours, so we’re looking forward to that sometime in the next three years. We’re all about making the most of this cross-cultural experience!