Weekend and baby update

After a few days of actually visiting relatives north and west of here (in Germany), my mom and dad were back for the weekend. On Saturday we went to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (near Salzburg, Austria about 1 1/2 hours from here). There are not a lot of Nazi or WWII things to see there, but you take a beautiful bus ride up the mountain and then Hitler's elevator ("shiny elegator") to the very top. The views are amazing! It was a great day to go, you could see forever. All of the pictures are from the top, but none really captures how amazing it was!

On Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa stayed home with Gianna while Doug and I took in one last Munich sight that we hadn't visited yet: The Residenz, which is the downtown residence (what a surprise) of the royal Wittelsbach family. It was nice to navigate downtown without a stroller. And we got to see a little bit of Oktoberfest revelry. (That's right folks, Oktoberfest starts in September!) The city is definitely different with the start of Oktoberfest on Saturday. Everything just seems busier...especially on Sundays which are usually insanely quiet! And it's neat to see all the locals in their traditional German outfits. Apparently dressing up is the thing to do. Families with kids all dressed up are the cutest! We ended the weekend with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. This was a very refreshing change of pace and we learned 3 things: 1) Gianna likes virgin margaritas, 2) German burritos have green beans in them (WHA?!?!), and 3) due to #2, get the fajitas.

Next is the baby news. First of all, we have decided to name him Mark Thomas. Mark because it's the only name we agree on for a first name and Thomas because it's my dad's name. Gianna already calls him Baby Mark. It's really fun to have a name for him. I had an appointment today. I am 32 weeks and everything is going well. Mark looks good, is average-sized, and is head down; all good things! We have decided to attempt a VBAC rather than schedule a C-section; unless I go past my due date (Nov. 18). So keep us in your thoughts for a successful attempt at labor and normal delivery! We cannot believe how soon Mark is coming!

Grandma and Grandpa visit!!!

A week and half ago, we welcomed my mom and dad to Munich. They will be in Europe for 3 weeks and will be in and out of Munich during that time. We were lucky enough to have them around for their whole first week. They did lots of sight-seeing and Gianna and I were happy to join them when we could. We were really happy to have them around last weekend while Doug was in Amsterdam for work. On Saturday we took the short trip by train to Dachau to visit the site of the concentration camp there. It was a rather grim place to visit, but very interesting and moving. On Sunday we had a relaxing day, morning in the botanical garden, afternoon napping or at art museums, and evening in a biergarten. The biergarten was nearly empty...I wonder if people are resting up for Oktoberfest?

At the botanical garden fountain with Grandma and Grandpa in her cute little outfit from them.

Sharing in a "Prost" ("Cheers") with Grandma and Grandpa at the biergarten.

Gianna in her favorite "present" from Grandma and Grandpa a give-away crown from some kind of event downtown. She mostly likes to wear it over her face and/or upside down.

After Daddy finally came home, she discovered she likes wearing his ties...especially with her crown and "queen dress" (aka bubble wrap).

Swans and palaces and playgrounds (oh my)

It was a beautiful fall-like weekend here in Munich. And for once, we stayed home! It was very relaxing, but we definitely kept busy around here. On Saturday we went downtown and did some shopping and snacking. I'm sure there were mostly tourists there, but it felt like a very German thing to do. In the Viktualienmarkt, we tried the famous weiss wurst for the first time...yuck. Actually, the taste was fine, but the consistency was gross. It did come with a delicious mustard though! We also tried warm honey wine which was FANTASTIC! (I only had a sip or two!)

On Sunday we went to, you guessed it, another castle, more of a palace actually. This one was the Nymphenburg Palace on the outskirts of Munich. It wasn't all that exciting as far as our castle experiences go, but the grounds were beautiful and Gianna loved the swans. As a side note, you may have noticed Gianna's pigtails. She has let me do them 3 days in a row and I'm so excited. It takes some bribing, but she does actually leave them in. We just think she looks so cute!

After our self-guided tour we went to a biergarten nearby. The food was much the same, but the biergarten was in a huge, really nice park. It had a place to feed deer, which Gianna kind of liked. And more importantly, this park was was chock full of dangerous playgrounds for us to laugh at. So the rest of this blog entry will be devoted to pictures and descriptions of all the danger. (EG, Yentz this is for you!)

Below is basically a slide, and your eyes are not decieving you, the only way to get to the slide is to climb this concrete rock wall or cargo net. Needless to say, Doug had to go up first and I just handed Gianna to him.

This little house isn't especially dangerous, but there was one nearby that was much higher up (about 6 feet or so) and the only way to get to any of them is to climb sand covered wood planks. So I saw a boy slip on the wood planks, hit his ribs on the way down, and then fall the six feet to the ground where he smacked his head. He was quite upset, but his mother didn't seem too concerned...and he did seem fine. But, phew, it all makes me nervous! Oh well, survival of the fittest I suppose!

And now, drumroll please, this is our favorite so far. That's right, this playground is being sprayed, or rather drowned, by water. Why? I can only assume to make it more dangerous. How else will the climbing things be super slick? And how else will the rocks to get up to the slide (that's right, there are no stairs) be as slippery as possible? I should also point out that there is no one at this playground because it was about 60 degrees this day. Seems to me, the water shouldn't even come on when it's that cold.
Doug and I agree that it would be super fun to be a kid in Germany. These playgrounds rock compared to the watered-down (no pun intended!) playgrounds in the US. The only problem for us is that there is no alternative for toddlers really. So, a day at the playground with Gianna is no relaxing trip for Mom and Dad!

Switzerland and Liechtenstein

This past weekend we went to Switzerland (the close part) and Liechtenstein. There really wasn’t a whole lot to see or do in either place. So why go there, you might ask. One (big) reason is so that Doug can add those countries to his list of places he’s visited. Another, and probably more accurate reason, is that despite their lack of excitement, both places were beautiful and since we’re this close we might as well visit.

We started off in the town of Appenzell, Switzerland, a small town basically known for its cheese. So we went to a cheese factory first. (The picture of Gianna looking excited has cheese being made in the background.) It was fun to see the cheese getting made and it was complete with dangerous playground. (This one actually has a pretty nice slide. Most of the other slides we saw in Switzerland looked like rusted pipes. Yikes!) Unfortunately, this slide was too wet to attempt even with Daddy’s help. Then we strolled downtown Appenzell and went in the shops. Doug has been looking for schnapps. So he was so happy to find this ½ meter of Schnapps…his new pride and joy. After a delicious cheese-heavy lunch, we drove to Liechtenstein. While Gianna napped, our car ride was interrupted (we literally had to pull over) by a herd of cows complete with old men and little girls in traditional garb with sticks to keep the cows in check. It was classic! We were hoping this would happen (we read it was a possibility in our guide book)!

By the time we got to Liechtenstein, the weather had cleared. So we had a nice evening strolling downtown Vaduz (the capital). It is VERY small. So we saw it all pretty quickly. We went in some shops, sat and danced around some benches and artwork, and went in a church where Gianna renewed her obsession with church bells. (“I hear church bells…in the window…by the clock…can’t fly up there.”) By then, we had done it all so we went to our hotel room and were too lazy to leave again for dinner. So Doug got us some (expensive) takeout pizza. I’m pretty sure that’s traditional Liechtenstein fare.

On Sunday we got up and made the very tiring, steep hike to the Prince of Liechtenstein’s castle. From this fortress he rules over his vast country of 35,000 people. You can’t go in the castle, but the views were very nice. We took lots of pictures because it was quite an accomplishment for us to make it up there, Doug with Gianna in the stroller and me, 29 weeks pregnant. (For those of you who are interested, I've included the requisite belly shot. How many people have belly shots in front of castles? So many firsts for us!) We also took a lot of pictures because, well, there was nothing else to do up there! Then we walked back down and drove the 2 1/2 hours home. It was definitely a fun trip.