Bavaria: Days 19-22

With the few days that Matt and Amie had left in their trip, we decided to relax and visit a couple of sites in the area.

On Tuesday we drove to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a well-preserved medieval town.  It was great, but I bet I would have been more impressed if I hadn't just come off a 10-day tour of quaint towns in Switzerland.    There is such thing as too much...

Anyway, a few highlights included a Christmas shop (it felt like a labyrinth through Santa's workshop inside), walking along the top of the city-wall, and taking an hour-long tour of the city to find out some of its history.

We saw a shop selling "snowballs" that looked SO good.  We all went in, and spent so much time picking out which flavor we wanted... butter, cinnamon and sugar.... or chocolate with coconut... etc.  Then, to our disappointment, they were gross!  I don't think anyone finished theirs because they were dry and didn't have much flavor.

view of the area around Rothenburg

Wednesday Jeff left, and the rest of us relaxed around Vilseck.  (The washer and dryer were running non-stop all day.)

Not much can be said for the few days we hung around home, but the food was exceptional.  One night for dinner we made "Mexican Hotdogs"-- they're wrapped in bacon and topped with mayo, tomatoes, guacamole, lemon, and cheese.  Matt made cookies for dessert which didn't last long.  I made him write down his recipe before he left and I made a batch within 24 hours.  (Ate them within another 24).  In an effort to be healthy one night (after 10 days of heavy cheese and pasta) we went to a German restaurant that serves delicious salad.  It might have been one of the best meals of the trip.  Another meal we ate home-made pizza so I could prove to Amie that it can taste good.  And we went out to a Mexican restaurant where Amie got a huge nacho platter for 6 euro!  Mix in a few movies with all that food, and it was a relaxing two days.

hotdog time

Our last adventure was on Friday.  Hyrum had the day off, and we all drove down to the "Disney Castle" --Neuschwanstein, built by King Ludwig not that long ago.  (1860's to 80's)  We did a tour of the neighboring castle--Hohenschwangau-- built by Ludwig's dad Maximillian. The weather was miserable, and at one point we were getting hail and snow, but we stayed relatively dry and got the pictures we wanted.

View of Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau.

On our way home we left Matt and Amie at a hotel near the airport.  They flew out the next day.  Hyrum and I returned home exhausted, and set to work washing sheets and towels, figuring out where all the pillows came from, and unpacking suitcases.  It felt great to get the house back to 'normal.'  And its taken since then to document the 3-week family vacation!  Thanks everyone for visiting.  Let's do it again sometime.  In a few years.  At your house. :)