June 26, 2018
Today was the first day that Alex was able to travel with us
on our European adventure. While we love
staying with the Vigliottis, we also like seeing new places. I have never felt a real pull to see Germany
because there is so much to do and see in France and Switzerland when we come,
and I had only made a brief stop in Munich many years ago, but there are some
castles that I had heard were pretty cool.
So it was a possibility as we began planning the trip. It was really Zac and Katie that pushed the
decision to visit Germany, and I have to say that I am very impressed with
them.
Katie, who just finished 6th grade read two young
adult level novels about the Holocaust this year at school – they read Number the Stars as a class, and she
read The Boy in Striped Pajamas on
her own because she was interested to learn more. Zac finished a World History class this
school year, and he had also studied about the Holocaust as part of the unit on
World War II. So both of them actually
asked about visiting a Concentration Camp.
I have never been to one myself, but as a history teacher, when my two
teenagers (Katie is actually not quite a teenager yet) asked to visit a
Concentration Camp memorial, I had to plan that into our itinerary.
So this morning, we drove up toward Munich and stopped in to
see one of the castles on the way. We
visited Neuschwanstein Castle which we had heard was the inspiration for the
castle at Disneyland. It was pretty darn
amazing to see both the inside and especially the outside of castle and it’s
picturesque setting – especially from the bridge built over a series of
waterfalls behind the castle in the mountains.
It was a good stop, and put off the more serious visit until
tomorrow.
We checked into our AirBnb tonight, and it may be our
favorite so far. It was right on the
edge of a little village between Munich and Augsburg and overlooked a farmer’s
field and a forest behind that. It was a
remodeled little farm house with an adorable yard. There was a bedroom, kitchen and a good-sized
couch where someone could have slept on the ground floor. But they also had a loft room with several
mattresses on the floor accessed by a ladder.
The kids loved it! This may be a kind
of irreverent, but the kids called it the Anne Frank room – at least it shows
that they have some historical understanding, right? Anyway, we were happy that
we chose this place to stay for two nights.
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