Todd & Abby in Munich!

Todd, Abby, Missy & Steve

My brother Todd and his wife Abby were our next visitors.  What a fabulous visit we had with them! It was so great that they had the opportunity to travel as a couple. Their two sweet boys were well cared for back in Atlanta by my parents and Abby's parents.

We started them off with dinner at one of our favorite local German restaurants. It's cozy and full of Bavarian charm and the food is always delicious!

Abby, Todd, Rachel, AJ, Stefanie, Missy & Steve

Abby & Todd

Any trip to Bavaria in September of course includes Oktoberfest. We first did a guided tour learning about the oldest rides and exhibits. A fun fact, the two old rides were originally powered by men pushing a wheel underneath the rides. They were paid in food and beer. This meant that the rides didn't often run past lunch because the workers were too drunk!  It was a beautiful day to explore Oktoberfest, and through the guided tour we found out only 20 percent of Oktoberfest visitors actually visit more than the tents!  And there is more to see; rides, games, food and the Alte Wiesn. The Alte Wiesn is arranged how Oktoberfest looked many years ago and has historical exhibits. It also has a special beer only served there.

Gorgeous Day to be outside with a bier!

After enjoying the Alte Wiesn we had tickets for a table in the Marstall tent. While you can often find a seat in Oktoberfest tents, you are guaranteed a spot for 3-4 hours if you reserve tickets ahead of time. We had a table for eight so some of our good friends joined us for a fun afternoon of eating, drinking and dancing. Although they did keep making us get off the benches!

Steve, Missy, Wendy, Denise, Lana, Dorothe, Todd & Abby

Bavarian kids!

Abby, Todd, Missy & Steve at Marstall

Afterwards I convince Steve, Todd and Abby to ride the ferris wheel.  I have been wanting to ride it for the last three years. Ferris Wheels scare me (thanks to my cousin Andy) but I love the view! And the view was well worth it, especially on such a beautiful day!

The part of Oktoberfest many visitors never see!

The Oktoberfest Tents

The next day we explored Linderhof, Oberammergau, and Ettal Monastery. Todd also brought some "friends" on the trip. They appear in various pictures. If you know my brother than you aren't surprised that Han Solo and Spiderman were the lego friends that joined him.

Todd & Missy

Han Solo uses the Force (even though that's not his thing)

Todd & Abby at Linderhof Palace

Todd and Abby did some exploring on their own. Of course they didn't miss out on Neuschwanstein. That evening Todd and Steve headed back to Oktorbefest for guys night and Abby and I had girls night with my girlfriends. Of course this was a good night. 

Abby and I ran several times while they were here. I was training for the Munich Half Marathon and she had a big triathlon the same weekend. Our best run was a 10 miler to Andechs Monastery. This is Steve's favorite place in all of Bavaria. Our run was tough after a fun night out but we made it and the reward was excellent. Not only did we enjoy our post run meal and rehydration in the biergarten, it was also the Andechser Dreihostienfest. This is the ONE day of the year that the relic room is open to the public. We were there in time to see the procession from altar to altar around the grounds of the monastery. The three holy hosts were carried throughout the grounds. To learn more about the relics, click on the Andechs Monastery link.

Dreishostien Procession

Relic Room

We went to a concert that night, Aaron Lordson, a Munich street performer who has found great community support.  Han particularly enjoyed it!

Todd and Abby did some Austria exploring on their own. Visiting Salzburg and Berteschgaden. All credit for the following photo captions go to Todd.

Family von Mowinski 

I am 40 going on 41...

We spent their last day in Munich touring churches, seeing the highlights and of course lunching in a brewery. Such a great visit, we are so glad they could visit!

Beautiful temporary exhibit at the Holy Ghost Church

Han enjoyed lunch!

Oktoberfest Visitors

Oktoberfest is a fabulous, fun time in Munich.  There is no doubt about it! We happened to have two groups of friends visiting on the same Friday. They really wanted tickets for a tent but I wasn't having any luck. Then at the last minute eight tickets became available.  PERFECT, just enough tickets to put the two groups together!

Nancy, Missy & Jane

Before we met at the tent Steve and I met Jane and Nancy in Munich. Jane is one of Steve's friends from work.  She recently retired and has been doing an incredible job of seeing and enjoying the world! We gave them a little walking tour of Munich before heading over to Oktoberfest.

Debbie, Missy & Joel

Steve, Jane & Missy

Steve and I joined Joel & Debbie and their sons Stephen and Danny and Jane and Nancy. Debbie is daughter of good friends of my mom's family and my cousin's best friend and as I found out at our lunch also my uncle's God-daughter! Things you don't know about someone you've "known" your whole life! Debbie and Joel had been traveling Europe for about three weeks. I had met them earlier in September for lunch and had also give them a little tour of Munich.

I'm all in, tour guide and bier server!

We had tickets for the Hacker-Pschorr tent. It was great, a little more boisterous than the Marstall tent that we were in earlier in the week. It also has a cool ceiling decorated to look like a beautiful blue sky floating with clouds.

Viehscheid

Here in Bavaria the cows are driven up to the mountain pastures in the spring. They graze there all summer long. Come September the cows are driven back down the mountains. This is called the Viehscheid. (nouns are capitalized in German). Several small towns have mini festivals to celebrate these days throughout September.  There is usually a tent serving chicken and bier and sometimes groups of vendors selling their wares. Another reason to drink bier with friends in Bavaria.

I went to two different ones.  At the beginning of September, Steve and I went to a small Viehscheid in Rettenbach. We were surprised that it was just a parade of cows through the town to a little pasture. It took about 15 minutes. We were also surprised by the cow bells.  They are HUGE. Each cow wears a bell that is almost as big as her head. They are incredibly loud and it is very cool to hear. Strangely melodic. Some of the cows are also decorated with fancy headdresses or wreaths.

A week later I went with some friends to Kranzegg. I think this is the biggest Viehscheid in Bavaria and it always takes place on September 15th. Well unless the 15th is a Sunday, then it takes place on the 14th. Anyway, the center of this little town is intersected by many streets.  Every 15 minutes or so another group of cows is driven down one of the streets and through the town. So there are more opportunities to see the cows and hear the bells.  The town is quant with a lovely biergarten as well as many vendors and a biergarten tent for the day. There is even a bit of hiking to be done there.

SIXTEEN!

Kevin, Lucas, Tasha, Julia, Stefanie, Caroline, Joep, Adam & Eric

Today Stefanie turned 16!  For the first time, one of our kids wasn’t with us on his or her birthday.  She had an overnight canoeing and camping trip with her school. Maybe not Stefanie's first choice on how to spend her birthday, but as usual she found a way to make the best of it and had a great time!

Since she wasn’t home we decided to have a surprise dinner party for her.  We enlisted the help of her two BFFs to decide the guest list and to keep her busy after school. Her friend Julia's mom wins the prize for most unique stalling tactics.

Chocolate Silk Pie Birthday Cake

She was surprised to find her friends at our house and very happy too.  We made a Mexican feast for them.  They seemed to have a great time and then after dinner they headed down to the lake, the favorite teenage hang-out spot.

Unfortunately most of the pictures have disappeared but at least we still have a few!