Liechtenstein

Geography fact of the day: Liechtenstein is one of two double landlocked (landlocked by countries that are landlocked themselves) countries in the world.  The other is Uzbekistan. 

Once we moved to Europe, we set a goal of trying to see as many European countries as possible. In doing so, that means going to as many of the microstates as possible. Before this trip, I'd gone to Luxembourg and Vatican City and Mike had gone to Vatican City and Malta.  It's pretty cool to travel to these microstates and see how the larger, surrounding countries affect these little guys.  For example, in Luxembourg, the food and culture is great mix of German and French influence, while Vatican City feels like a part of Italy. We were curious to check Liechtenstein off of our microstate list and see how it's surrounding countries of Austria and Switzerland impacted the culture. 

Melissa, Ryan, Mike and I headed out early on Wednesday and arrived in Liechtenstein around noon.  The drive to Liechtenstein is gorgeous....when you aren't in a tunnel.  You drive through so many mountain ranges that you spend what seems like the majority of your drive in a tunnel.  It takes about two hours to get from Innsbruck to Vaduz, the main city and capital of Liechtenstein. We parked and went to check out the history museum where we learned all about the monarchy in Liechtenstein.  Always a good time!

After the museum, we were ready for lunch.  Unfortunately, one thing we didn't realize about Liechtenstein is that dining is extremely expensive.  Melissa and I both got soup and split a salad while the guys each got a main course. When we split the bill, we ended up paying about 60 euros a couple! Taking after their Swiss neighbors in cost of living, I guess! I think this was the moment that we all decided that we'd be eating dinner back in Austria.....

Once lunch was done, we headed to the Treasure Chamber, which is the museum that displays all of Liechtenstein's national treasures.  I didn't think there would be that much to see, but I was definitely wrong! Not only were there the crowned jewels, but there was a collection of Fahberge eggs, as well as moon rocks!  The moon rocks were definitely the biggest hit of our group.  The moon rocks were given from the United States to every country who contributed to getting the men on the moon.  Liechtenstein produced some of the plastic on the outside of the spaceship, so they were given some moon rocks! Pretty cool!

We had plans to meet up with Claire and two of her friends for some wine tasting to cap off the evening, but we had a little while before our reservation, so we took a little detour to a brewery.  The brewery wasn't even really set up for tasting but we met the master brewer and he told us all about the beer and let the rest of the gang sample a beer before they walked away with beer to call their own. 

We made one last stop before wine tasting at this humble abode, also known as the royal family's castle.

After snapping a few photos, we piled back in the car for wine tasting! 

Vineyards and the castle in the background

The wine was decent (I had my own personal spit bucket so I could at least try the wine) and it was fun to cap off our little jaunt to Liechtenstein with a drink of the same wine the prince drinks!

It was a fun day and excursion from Innsbruck.  There isn't a ton to do Liechtenstein, but definitely enough to fill up an afternoon. The museums we went in were interesting, the wine was good and the scenery was beautiful. Worth the stop!

A Few Days in Innsbruck

Mike's winter break started the day he left for Kyrgystan.  Unlike last year where we did a four week non-stop trip, this year, we broke it up a bit.  It didn't make sense for me to go to Kyrgystan and hang out in a yurt all day while the guys were skiing, so Mike came back to Berlin for a couple of days to do laundry, get reorganized and pick me up before we hopped in the car and drove down south (all while saying a little prayer that our car would make it) to Innsbruck.  We stopped at the airport in Munich to pick up our friends, Melissa and Ryan, (Melissa is the scholar in Rabat, Morocco and Ryan is her husband) and headed on our way to Innsbruck.  We checked in to our hotel and met up with another scholar, Claire, and a friend of hers for dinner at an Italian restaurant before calling it a night. 

The next day, the rest of the gang hit the slopes for skiing while I hung back in town. I enjoyed a few hours at the hotel, lounging around before working out.  Then, I ventured out to explore Innsbruck, which is a super cute mountain town. 

There is a palace and a cathedral which are the main sight seeing highlights. I didn't go in either, but they both have received phenomenal reviews.  After spending a couple of hours, it was time for a nap, so I headed back to the hotel to nap and wait for the skiers to return. 

After showers and a little rest, we all headed out for dinner and trivia at a local Irish pub (we manage to find an Irish pub in every town we go!).  Despite our lackluster performance, it was a blast.  We laughed at the fact that most rounds we got less than half of the questions right, while the team next to us were semi-professionals, wore head lamps to see the questions better, studied in between rounds and rarely missed more than two questions. To each their own...

The next day was a skiing bust.  After much debate over whether to drive to the further slopes which were better or to stay closer.  They decided to drive to the further ones, only to find out the weather conditions were pretty terrible, so they ended up not skiing that day.   They were back at the hotel by two, so Mike and I went out for a late lunch while everyone else rested.  We went to this sushi restaurant where I had the best vegetarian sushi to date.  Mango, avocado, and cucumber make the perfect vegetarian roll. After lunch, we met up with Melissa and Ryan for a stroll around the town before stopping for a snack at a burger joint.  Ryan had a burger and we all devoured macaroni and cheese.  We ended day two at this awesome beer bar that had delicious pizza.  Basically, it was a successful day of eating and drinking, even if there wasn't any skiing involved.

Wednesday we headed to Liechtenstein and I'm going to do a whole separate post on that, but we ended the day back at the burger joint for dinner where we enjoyed more macaroni and cheese, burgers and I had a milkshake while everyone else got beer.  I wasn't jealous because that milkshake was life changing.  They should be jealous.

Still dreaming of this milkshake

Thursday was a day that was always up in the air.  Melissa and Ryan eventually needed to make it to Munich because their flight left at some ungodly hour Friday morning.  In planning this trip, Mike and I decided that it'd make sense for us to just stay in Munich Thursday night to help break up the drive back to Berlin since we were going to be dropping the Dombrocks off there anyways.  The question was, what to do all day on Thursday.    

Wednesday, we tossed around the idea of them skiing in Innsbruck, as well as skiing in Garmisch, which is kind of on the way to Munich.  No one really seemed dead set on skiing, so we decided to head to Garmisch for the day and do some sight seeing.  If the ski reports were amazing, people could spend the afternoon skiing, too.    Ultimately, everyone decided against skiing and instead, we took the lift up to the top of the mountain for lunch and to say we have been to the highest peak in Germany.  Ryan and Melissa try to hike up to the highest peak in various places, but it was not possible in the winter here, so on the ski lift we went!

Mike and Melissa with the Olmsted coin at the top!

Me, Mike and Maximus

Couldn't resist taking a selfie!

We walked around for a bit, ran into some Coca Cola polar bears and stopped for lunch.  Warm soup never tasted so good!

Little did we know when we were planning this trip that another Olmsted family, the Stevens who are in Kiel, Germany, were planning a week at Garmisch. Luckily, they had the afternoon free to meet up with us for some drinks and a snack after our venture to the top of the mountain. I always love meeting up with other scholars and hearing about their adventure.  The Stevens put our travel to shame! Man oh man! Anyways, after a couple of hours of catching up, we had to hit the road, so we said farewell and headed on our way to Munich. 

Ryan Stevens (Kiel, Germany), Melissa Dombrock (Rabat, Morocco) and Mike (Izmir/Berlin).  Three Olmsted scholars!

We made it to Munich around nine, ordered Indian food and hung out at the Dombrocks' hotel before saying goodbye.  It's gotten to the point in our Olmsted adventure where we know that we might not see each other for a little bit longer since our adventure is coming to an end, so it's always a little sad to say goodbye, but I think the greatest gift of this Olmsted experience is the friendships.  Moving abroad isn't easy and knowing that there are 17 other families who are going through the same thing definitely forges a bond like no other.  So, until next time Dombrocks! Can't wait to see you stateside!

We ended our trip with a stop at the Commissary on the drive home to stock up for some post-baby rations and treats. Mike ended up getting food poisoning from the hotel continental breakfast, so the drive back was less than delightful, but we made it back in one piece and were glad to be home after a fun week away.

This was my last trip pre-baby since I'm not allowed to travel after TODAY!!! Mike is currently at a wedding in South Africa, but once he returns in a week, we'll both just be hunkering down in Berlin until Baby Maximus makes his debut!

Visitors Galore!

We hope you had a very merry Christmas and start to a happy Hanukkah this past weekend! We're rewinding to the beginning of December where we had two weeks of visitors!

The beginning of December was jam packed with visitors and Christmas markets and, looking back, it was perfect.  It was a great distraction for me to keep my mind off the fact that we weren't going home for Christmas and it was a great way to show off our new home!

The first week of December brought the Bryants!  They're the Olmsted family in Florence, Italy and we've tentatively been planning their visit for a while.  They were our first Olmsted visitors and we were so excited to show them our city since they showed us around Florence last February on our big trip.  Plus, their girls are a blast to hang out with.  There's something about being with kids at Christmas time that adds some extra excitement to the air. 

Autum, Matt, Elle and Emma Claire.  I would post the picture of all of us from Instagram, but for some reason, it's not letting me save it....

We spent most of our time eating our way through Christmas markets while taking a break every once and a while to do some sight seeing.  It's such a good time to visit Berlin because the city is decorated for the holidays and there is always a Christmas market to go to, but there is also the history and sights that can keep you busy for a week (or a year!) if you want!

The day after the Bryants left, the Dombrocks arrived!  This was a last minute trip for them, but we welcomed them with open arms and were so excited to see them! We visited them in their home of Rabat, Morocco last February as well and Melissa came to Ramstein while I was there for a few days and stayed with me last May.  The four of us had a blast sight seeing around the city, hanging out at our house, and, of course, hitting up a few Christmas markets!

Olmsted Scholars and their Olmsted coin in Berlin!

Imitating penguins

We headed out to Spandau, which is a suburb of Berlin one day, since it was supposed to be a great Christmas market and a cute suburb.  It didn't disappoint.  The Christmas market was huge, the town was picturesque and the sights were interesting.  I'm not sure I would do it if there weren't Christmas markets to add to the itinerary, but they had a citadel and museum that were worthwhile.  The museum was of all of the Berlin monuments, which, at first, I thought was a little strange.  Why wouldn't you just go to the monuments themselves? But, it was arranged in chronological order of the monuments and was actually really interesting.  Spandau for the win!

We also celebrated my birthday! Hooray! Mike had class on my birthday and I had a doctor's appointment (Baby Maximus was kicking up a storm in celebration!), but Melissa and Ryan made me breakfast when I got home and after a few hours of sight seeing, the four of us had dinner at Kim Chi Princess.  Mike and I went right after we moved to Berlin and loved it, but it's definitely a place to go with more than two people. You order a dish off of the menu and they bring grills to your table to cook it in front of you.  There are lots of sides, fillings and food to go around.  Afterwards, we headed to a bar where I enjoyed a very delicious birthday mocktail while the rest of the gang had some true cocktails. We ended the night with a game of Phase Ten and drinks at home. Overall, not a bad way to ring in twenty eight!

Hi Ryan!

 We love showing off Berlin and our new home to visitors.  It's only taken a few months for us to truly appreciate all that the city has to offer.  There is always something going on or a sight to see and there is history on every corner.  It doesn't have that old German charm like some of the southern cities do, but there are definitely some spots that can take your breath away.

Bucharest, Romania

After a day of castle exploration, we headed to the capital of Romania for the night.  There is an Olmsted Scholar and his family who gladly opened their home to us for the night.  We love staying with fellow Olmsted scholars because it gives us a chance to meet so many great people and swap stories.  Taylor is a class behind Mike, so he and his family just arrived in Romania about the same time we arrived in Berlin. We arrived after the kids were in bed, which gave us a chance to chat with Taylor and his wife to hear all about their experience in Romania thus far. 

The next day, we were greeted by two little smiling faces (the third was already at school) who were excited to have people staying at their house.  We hung out with them for a little bit before Mike and I headed out to do some exploring.  We spent the morning wandering around the town, not going inside anything and instead, just taking in the feel of the city. For the most part, it felt like another big city.  There were glimpses of the communist past, but as always, I think Mike and I were both impressed with the recovery Bucharest has made.

We met up with the Francises for lunch before we had a tour to explore the most impressive building in Bucharest, it's parliament building.  It's the second largest government building in the world, after the Pentagon.  We opted for the hour long tour based on the timing, but there is a more in depth one that goes into the basement. Unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed inside, but let me just tell you, it's impressive.  In one hour, we saw 3% of the building. 

My dad's dream job....not!

After the tour, we headed back to the Francises house for dinner before catching a late flight back to Berlin.  I'm not sure if Romania will be high on our list of favorite places we've traveled, but there were definitely some cool moments and experiences.  I'd give it five or ten years and Romania will have a booming tourist industry. It's definitely worth consideration if you are looking for a more off-the-beaten-path destination.

Freiburg with the Foglers

The great thing about living in Germany is that there are three other Olmsted families, one being the Foglers in Freiburg.  I met Kelly last spring in Croatia on the Ladies' Trip and knew that we would have to make a trip down to visit her and her husband Warren at some point.  When we realized we had to get the car in Wiesbaden, which is only a couple hours away from Freiburg, we jumped on the opportunity to make a stop there.  It turned out to be some much needed relief from a stressful car retrieval.

On Tuesday, after we rented the car and made the decision to continue on to Freiburg, we stopped in Triburg to do a little hiking and check out the world's largest cuckoo clock store.  Triberg is the perfect afternoon stop, but could also be a great home base for a few days of travel in the Black Forest.  There are a ton of hiking trails that one could spend days exploring, but they are also a great way to stretch your legs after a long morning. Neither of us were dressed for serious hiking, but most of the trails were pretty easy and only involved a mild incline.  Perfect for a quick walk.

After our hike, we stopped for a beer (Mike) and some goulash soup (me) at a nearby restaurant, while trying to figure out the best place to purchase a cuckoo clock. The Black Forest is known for it's cuckoo clocks, all of which are handcrafted and made from wood originating in the Black Forest.  We have tried to get a souvenir from each place we go.  Some souvenirs are as small as a magnet or ornament, while others are larger (and more expensive) like our Turkish rugs or our new German cuckoo clock.   After checking out three different stores, we chose Oli's because of the great reviews it received online and because we loved their clocks.  They looked more authentic than some of the bigger stores, but had a large selection that we could tell had been carefully designed and crafted.  We spent about 20 minutes deliberating on which clock to get and decided on the one below.  We wanted bears because they are the unofficial mascot of Berlin.  Plus, this was a more traditional design, which we both surprisingly liked. 

 

After the purchase of our cuckoo clock, we were ready to get on the road and get to Freiburg.  Since we had made the choice to come at such last minute's notice (aka less than 12 hours before), our hotel was outside of the city and essentially the upstairs of someone's house.  That being said, the owner was so friendly and helpful in getting us downtown via the tram.  After checking in, we took his advice and headed downtown for dinner and a beer.  

The next morning, we headed outside of the city and up the funicular to see the Black Forest from high up.  It was beautiful and breath taking.  There were tons of opportunities for actual hiking, but we had a lunch date with the Foglers and only got a chance to walk around a little bit. 

After our ride down the mountain, we met up with the Foglers and Kelly's parents who were in town, for a bratwurst and a little tour of the city.  The Foglers have definitely acclimated to Freiburg life and were able to tell us all sorts of little fun facts about their city.  We ended the afternoon at a biergarten before making plans to meet back up in a few hours after they ran some errands and we did some more sight seeing.   

Mike, General Lorenz (Kelly's father), Warren, Kelly and myself enjoying a bratwurst at the local market. 

While the Foglers ran some errands, Mike and I explored the city.  There is a beautiful cathedral in the center of town that we popped into.  I think the cathedrals in these smaller towns are often the most beautiful.  They still have the stained glass and Catholic ambiance, but there is a simplicity that makes them seem more welcoming and down to earth.

After the cathedral, we wandered around the town and enjoyed the beautiful weather. People kept telling us that the weather was changing on Thursday (this was Wednesday) and that we should enjoy the 85 degree weather while it was here.  They were right.  Thursday brought rain and the days following had cooler weather. 

Couldn't go to the Black Forest without getting Black Forest Cake!

That evening, we met back up at the Foglers' apartment for a drink and appetizers before heading out to dinner.  We had such a great time with Warren, Kelly and her parents.  Her parents were so supportive of the Olmsted experience, which meant a lot since her dad is a retired Air Force General.  They wanted to hear all about our experience in Turkey and the transition to Germany.  We had such a fun time and are hoping Kelly and Warren make it up to Berlin at some point this fall!  Thanks Kelly and Warren for showing us around your new home.  We're big fans!