Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest)

This is very delayed, but none the less we wanted to share with you some more of our trip that we took several weeks ago.  We left the castles and drove to a Hitler's Eagles Nest.  The views were incredible.  From there we drove into Austria and a small campground for the night.

The Eagles Nest was given to Hitler on his 50th birthday in 1939.  It was incredibly constructed in 13 months.  It was meant as a retreat for Hitler which he only visited the area about 10 times.

The view of Hitler's retreat from above.

Enjoying something to drink and the view at a small cafe at Eagle's Nest.

Great views.

This fire place was inside Hitler's retreat and was a present from Benito Mussolini.  If you look close you can see that it is chipped (in 1945) when the US troops captured the retreat.

The van has been named the mystery machine (from Scooby Doo) by some people in my unit.  This was our camp site just over the border in Austria.

This was the view from our campground.

That night we drove into the small town that was near our camp spot.  We ended up eating dinner in a small restaurant that was packed with people.  Soon after we started eating a yodeling accordion player started performing as the people sang.  It was quite an experience.

The following morning we went back to the same restaurant for breakfast.  It was a neat little town.

Shanan enjoying a coffee.

Neuschwanstein

At the end of the conference we traveled over to Fussen, Germany and the Neuschwanstein and Hohenshwangau castles.  Neuschwanstein is the fairy tale castle that the Disneyland castle was modeled after.  It was built in 1869 and commissioned by King Ludwig II.  Hohenshwangau was the childhood home of Ludwig II.  We left Garmisch with clear blue sky, but unfortunately by the time we made it to the castle it was foggy.  Regardless, it was a great visit.

The gate into Neuschwanstein.

Shanan's new home.

This castle was less impressive from the outside, but alot of the interior was decorated.

We noticed that the crown in this stain glass was the same crown that we saw on display in Vienna.

This was our campsite for the night, that is a styling campervan!

We had a great view right behind our site.

Garmisch Dental Conference

A couple of weekends ago I (Matt) got the chance to go to the local army dental conference in Garmisch.  It is located in the German Alps.  The weather ended up being perfect.  I guess I can't complain about getting CE in a place like this.

This is the hotel that the conference was at.

A view of Garmisch from above town.

The view of the Alps out in front of the hotel.

I went on a bike ride above Garmisch and came across this picturesque lake.

I also went golfing with some guys from my unit.  It had the best views of any golf course I have ever played.

We had a Bavarian dinner with accordion player and cow bell ringer.

I finally figured out how to put video into this this blog. This was at the bavarian night dinner and these guys were using there whips in tune to the accordion music.

The food was great.

The last night Shanan made it down so that we could spend the following weekend traveling.  Those pictures will be soon to follow.

Oktoberfest - Munich

Hello everyone.  Two weekends ago we got the chance to catch the last day of Oktoberfest in Munich.  We have been traveling alot and we will post those pictures soon, but in the mean time here are some pictures from Oktoberfest.

But first, for those of you who don't know some of the history of Oktoberfest here is a little background . . .

The first Oktoberfest was held on Oktober 12th, 1810 in the very same place that it is held today. Originally, Oktoberfest was held as a celebration for King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen's wedding.  It is the largest festival in Germany and 30% of the beer produced in Munich every year is consumed during the 16 days of Oktoberfest.  Now it is a huge carnival with rides and tons of food and beer where everyone wears their dirndls and lederhosen. 

This is one of the 6 breweries found in Munich that serves beer at Oktoberfest.

Enjoying some Augustiner beer.  This beer was first brewed in 1328.

These are some friends from Grafenwohr.

Matt and Brett.

 The waitress carries the beer to the table stacked like this - it is really heavy!

Not only are the beers big at Oktoberfest, so are the pretzels.

Not only are the pretzels big, but some people wear them on their heads.

In Germany, instead of buying a corn dog on a stick you can get fish on a stick. (sick)

Inside the Augustiner beer tent. The tents were so full that we had to find a fest table right outside the tent which was great because the weather was so nice. 

Inside the Hacker beer tent. If you look closely you can see people standing on the tables in their lederhosen. 

Working

Hey everyone! This is my first post so bear with me!!!! I started working on Monday and it is really nice to have something to do. I feel so blessed to have a job here because I guess it is really a huge issue here for all of the spouses. Some spouses even move back to the states to work so I am glad that I had a job waiting for me when we got here (not like I would move back or anything anyways!) I LOVE it here. Every time I am driving from Vilseck/work to our house (40 minute drive) I am just so overcome by the fact that we are here and that we aren't visiting - we live here now. It is so incredibly beautiful I don't know why more people live here. We are in the country and there are a ton of farms, tractors, fields and cows ... I feel like I am back in Ellensburg sometimes ha, ha. 

The weather has been kind of rainy and I think it is going to snow soon. I can't wait to have all of the seasons again. We haven't lived in a place with all four seasons in so long and I am really excited to have a real Christmas.

Well, we are going to Oktoberfest tomorrow and I will post pictures of our experience this next week. love, shanan