I have travelled to a lot of different places, stayed in many hotels and rental homes. There are a few that stand out in my mind as favorites, and we are adding another one to that list. We stayed at the Bürgenstock Wald Hotel overlooking Lake Luzerne in Switzerland. Magical.

Jay and I arrived on Friday evening. We drove up a windy mountain road in dense fog. We could barely see beyond the front of the car, but we could tell that we had arrived at a very special place. The walk from the parking garage to the elevators to get to the main lobby gave us a pretty good clue about the quality of the hotel. And then the elevator doors opened up to a beautiful reception area, fire burning in a long fireplace. We went to our room to find a dog bed, food and water bowls, a toy, and treats for Kaycee. Our room had a sliding door out to a grassy area, perfect for Kaycee.

The room was beautiful, high tech, and so comfy. It had a bidet. I am a fan. :).

We were able to get last minute reservations to Spices, which happened to be a Michelin Star restaurant in the hotel. Jay and I had our 18 year anniversary last week, so this was our one night without the kids to celebrate. It’s like the restaurant knew – they had flowers on the table that were part of our wedding bouquet.

Shortly after we sat at our table, the couple next to us had a Peking Duck delivered to their table. And, as luck would have it, despite requiring pre-order, the restaurant had one left. Sold!!!

Saturday morning Jay picked up Ty from the hotel where the rugby boys were staying at. The dense fog was still hanging around, but we were hopeful that it would disappear. We took Kaycee for a hike around the resort and checked out everything. It was kind of every with such a thick fog, but peaceful in that we could hear the Swiss cowbells jingling off in the distance. Along the way, Ty expressed extreme annoyance that he is not able to whistle. Jay explained his way. I explained my way. Neither was successful.

Sunday morning we woke up and the fog had FINALLY lifted!!!

Huge thank you to the Geiser’s for letting Lily stay with them this weekend!

We went to an Oktoberfest tent in Frankfurt with a bunch of fun parents from Lily’s school. Wowzer. Germans LOVE Oktoberfest. Jay said the tents in Munich are 4 times this size – I cannot even imagine. Those benches that people are sitting on in these pictures. Yeah, they are only for sitting when you eat your food (typically an entire rotisserie chicken), then for the rest of your night they are for standing on. We all drank way too much beer, but a good time was had by all.

Lily’s 16U softball team, the first 16U team in the Main-Taunus Redwings club, made it to the Deutsche Meister (German National Championship) in Karlsruhe. The girls lost all of their games, but they scored in every one and for being a new, young team, they played really well!

We attended our first Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball (soccer) game with friends. The atmosphere in the stadium was awesome. Lots of goal attempts, but only one went in the net. Thankfully the good guys won!

Ty’s rugby team travelled to Zurich for a rugby game against ISZL. He looks so handsome in his rugby travel outfit. FIS lost, but the ISZL team is made up of boys that mostly play club rugby and are really good. They had fun!

I do not have any pictures of our stop at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. I was too far into feeling all the feels to stop and pull out my phone to take a photo. I found one photo online that is worth resharing.

We asked the kids how they felt about visiting the memorial on our way home from Austria. Both of them agreed that it is something that they should see. We warned them about what we might see, that we might cry and it was OK if they did as well, and that if they felt like they wanted to leave, we could.

We listened to an audio tour to make our way through the area that is open to the public. We walked through a museum that was full of horror stories about how prisoners were treated. At one point Lily felt a little overwhelmed so we went outside. I asked her if she wanted to stop and she said no. She was very interested in seeing where the prisoners slept. She stopped and read every poster in the bunkhouse.

Ty wanted to explore on his own. He went through all of the buildings, including the prayer memorial buildings. We caught up with him at the crematorium and he explained what he had learned the first time through. Lily questioned why the people didn’t get suspicious as they were waiting for the “showers.” Who could they express concerns to? Who was going to help them escape? Where would they go? A very big question from a small human – one that does not have an answer that is fathomable in today’s world.

It was a cold, rainy, miserable day. While it made our visit a little bit unpleasant, it was perfect for forcing us to think about how awful the conditions were for the prisoners.

I was not sure if it would be a good idea to take the kids through the memorial. I know how much of an impact touring Auschwitz had on me 20 years ago, in my 20s. However I do believe that part of history needs to continue to be a story that is told so that it never happens again. We are living in a town that is full of stumbling stones marking the last known residence of Jews that were sent to concentration camps. Being here, living here, we feel the history. I want them to try to understand, even though it is nearly impossible to fully comprehend. Never again.

We decided to head north after spending so much time south over the past few weeks. We thought Riley might enjoy exploring Amsterdam, so we piled into our car (including Kaycee) and started our 5.5 hour drive after dropping Jess and Jason off at the airport. Unfortunately there was a wreck on the Autobahn that added an hour to the trip. Has anyone ever driven in Amsterdam? I don’t recommend it. lol. Props to Jay for navigating us through a million bicycles, trams, and pedestrians to arrive at our hotel – The Hoxton Amsterdam. I have to admit I was a little anxious when we arrived. It was a Friday night and I had done zero planning for this leg of the trip. Everyone was starving and a restaurant that the hotel recommended was booked. They directed us to another restaurant that served traditional Dutch food. Everyone loved their meal.

Between the walk to the restaurants and the scent of you-know-what from pretty much everyone wandering around, I finally was able to settle my nerves and relax. Once I adjusted myself to the hustle and bustle of an energetic, eclectic city, I was able to really enjoy it.

Clog Challenge!! Who wore them better?

I didn’t grab any photos but Jay and Riley went on a Heineken Experience Tour in an old factory. They no longer produce there, but the boys enjoyed the tour.

I am glad we saw Amsterdam, but I couldn’t imagine living there. I’m definitely not a city girl. We had beautiful weather, the sun was shining, not too hot or too cold. We loved wandering along the streets, window shopping, buying tulip bulbs in the Blaumenmarkt, trying new foods, seeing some historical sites (although my lack of planning was a problem for Anne Frank and the Van Gogh Museum). I would like to go back to The Netherlands when the tulip fields are blooming.

And with that, our Fall Break comes to an end. Riley leaves on Tuesday so he has a day to rest up before flying home.

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been. I decided I am going to start ranking places. Here’s my list for Fall Break (plus).

Kitzbühel

Regensburg

Amsterdam

Füssen

Salzburg

Salzburg, Austria was about a 1.5 hour drive from Kitzbühel so we decided to do a day trip. We watched The Sound of Music the night before to prepare ourselves – Lily loved it! I was kind of expecting to be surrounded by singing nuns. We didn’t plan things very well, but we didn’t see a single SOM site…. We improvised by listening to Lily sing her way through the Old Town.

We had one day in Königstein with Jess and Jason before they had to fly back home. It was a holiday so not much was open other than restaurants and cafes, so we took them on one of our favorite hikes. Jay swore it was only 4 miles round trip, but he was off by about 50%. We had a yummy lunch at a forest restaurant to refuel ourselves. We had one final dinner at our favorite restaurant, Valentinos.

Jess & Jason were our first non-work visitors. We all loved having them here, showing them our little world and exploring new places together. So many memories. THANK YOU for making the trip!!

After leaving Füssen, Germany we drove 2.5 hours through the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. Sorry, Big Horns, you will always hold a special place in my heart, but holy moly the Alps are mind blowing. We drove 2 km UP a mountain on a narrow little path – my hands were sweating. We arrived at our Air BNB in Kitzbühel, Austria, just as the sun was disappearing for the day. We knew there was a good view but had to wait until morning to see what was in store for us.

Whenever we go somewhere, we ask ourselves “could we retire here?” Kitzbühel is in the “absolutely” list. It is located between Innsbruck and Salzburg, both larger cities with everything you need, but plenty of shops and restaurants in town to keep us entertained. There are trails to hike, amazing scenery, winter and summer activities. What more does a person need?

Time for Ty’s U15 German National Championship baseball tournament in Füssen, Germany. This little town is in southern, Germany, in the state of Bavaria. It is in the Alps, and is home to the famous Neuschwanstein castle. This castle was the inspiration for the Disney castle. It was built by King Ludwig II, also known as the Mad King. Call him crazy, but the guy had an eye for building a gorgeous castle!

With all of the rain cancellations I am not entirely sure where the Redwings ended up. They won 1 game and lost 2. Not a great baseball weekend, but I am so thankful that Ty had family there to support him!

This is going to be a very short blog post, and I am breaking my unwritten rule about writing about somewhere that I didn’t visit. I think the pictures will do most of the storytelling.

Riley arrived!!! Jay and Riley drive to Munich to meet up with Jess and Jason, who had spent a couple days in Prague. Unknown quantities of beer was drank, arms were sore from “PROST-ing” their way through 8 different Oktoberfest tents, lederhosen and dirndls were put to good use, and a good time was had by all.

Did you know that Oktoberfest started as a celebration for King Ludwig I’s wedding to Therese in 1810? He was a favorite of his people and invited everyone who could travel to Munich to attend the festivities.

Next year I am going.