I loved taking pictures of the girls asleep, because they were so exhausted each day

Where we rested our heads.

The first place we stayed was in Garmisch Germany. It is a small town that feels like the town Hansel and Gretel would have grown up. There are window boxes on every home and business. We even noticed that the closest thing they had to the "rough part of town*" even had them on the apartment buildings. They were beautiful.We stayed at a military resort called Edelweiss. (link added in case some military families want to look into it) It is at the base of the German Alps and the setting is wonderful.
We stayed in room 3062. I have this freaky habit of taking photos of our room numbers of hotels we stayed in. We learned something about Caroline on this trip. She only needs to be shown once our room and will always find it again. On the third floor with over 80 rooms with all the doors that look exactly the same she can get off the elevator and find the exact room. She was always the first one to the room, running down the halls. I always feel bad for who sleeps next to us with our little feet running down the hall and the crying that inevitable happens at night.

lobby of the hotel

You had to have your car and ID's checked to even get on the grounds of the resort, which I loved because I am always so freaked about security in hotels and such. view from balcony

Thanks to Jill and Michelle I got the idea of taking photos our of the views of our rooms to remember what we saw when we looked outside. We could see the Alps out our window. I had wished I had taken the photo on a clear day. The balcony added a nice little space for the girls to run around.One of the greatest things they had was a TV mounted to the wall in the lobby. This was so helpful to keep the girls entertained while we were checking in, checking out, getting things ready for the morning and it was next to the restaurant so they could watch the movie while we would finish eating. A few of the nights we would get their jammies on and then go downstairs to watch a movie before going to bed. The rooms had American t.v but only a few stations. There were no regular commercials but military commercials on information on military security, Iraq updates and military benefits. So that was kind of interesting.

They had a international buffet restaurant that really saved us on many levels. One it was so cheap! The two little girls were free and AK was $4.95. Adults were either $7.95 for breakfast or $14.95 for dinner. They highlighted a different country each night. Any surprise my favorite was Mexican. Eating was our biggest challenge on the trip and this saved money, decisions and lack of variety. They always seemed to have french fries and cold cereal so it was a winner with the kids. By the end of 7 days we were a little ready for a change and Switzerland provided that for us.
They had a pool and hot tub which was one of the girls favorite part of the trip - so kids. The hot tub was huge and outside and you were just looking at the Alps - it was amazing. I bet this place is great during the winter.

I can't believe i am putting a photo on my blog in my swimsuit - don't hold it against me!

The other cool aspect of staying here was everyone there was somehow associated with the Government, military to the State Department. So you got to meet some really interesting people who have done some amazing things. When we were in the pool this day we met a retired Naval pilot from the Vietnam War and a young boy injured in Iraq. The aspect of learning more about my country in another country was a great part of the trip for us.
another nice thing about being here was using the U.S. postal service and sending some good mail at only $.26 a post card. I didn't send that many but if felt good to get a few out.

They had this awesome stand in the lobby with a bunch of different ideas of what to do for the day. Each paper had a different location or activity to do. They even had a kids camp - the two weren't old enough, but could be fun for next time if Jeff and I wanted to spend the day alone. Everything sold there was in the American dollar which was great. We didn't buy any souvenirs there but realized afterward we should have because they were so much cheaper.

look at my falling off helmet

We rented bikes one day from the hotel and spent the day in the city biking along the river and through the town. This was a great day and nice to have them so easily accessible. It seems like there are more people on bikes than in cars in Europe. You could tell we were Americans because we were the only ones with helmets.

Then after 6 days we headed off to Switzerland to rest our heads. We had no idea what amazing times were we going to have. We had only made reservations for this hotel the night before we left to go there because of a great tip from our Kentlands ward bishop who had emailed us while we were in Germany. one of the best emails of all time.

Hotel Wengerhoff front door

We stayed in the town of Wengen. We drove about 5 hours (we made a slight detour to go see the Neuschwanstein Castle) to the town of Lauterbrunnen and then took the train up to Wengen. More details in my #8 post on Switzerland.
We stayed in room 209. It was a great corner room that had windows on each wall so it felt much bigger than it probably was.
the view from our window on day one did not seem that great. The other side of the hotel was about $350 - $500 American dollars for the view of the Jungfrau - we chose the cheaper side. This would pay off for us two nights later as we say the towns firework show for the countries independence day sitting on our window sill.

The $500 side

When we pulled into the train station someone from the hotel was there to greet our family and called us by name. He loaded our luggage and us on his cute golf cart like car to the top of the hill to the hotel. The hotel owner was waiting at the front door when we pulled us and welcomed us by name. He took us to our room showed us everything and asked us if he could prepare anything for us from the kitchen. it was about 9:00 pm. We opted to just eat the chocolates and waffle cookies left on our bed.

photo of the room

they had given us a large corner room to fit two antique cribs for the two little girls and brought in a bed for Annie Kate. Caroline loved sleeping in the Martha Stewart Blue eggshell colored crib. Even though they knew kids were coming I think they must have wondered what they got themselves into. This hotel was made for people over 50 and honeymooners - so we were a little out of place with our cranky and active little ones, but you would never have felt that from them. The whole hotel staff was awesome.
He showed us the bathroom and I gasped, "it's PINK!" he said "do you like the color pink?" if he only knew. It had two toilets and I am still am not sure why.

one of my favorite memories of being here were the keys. I have not stayed in a hotel with an actual key in years - In fact my kids have only stayed in places with a plastic card to open the door. The key hung on a large heavy metal key ring (i wish they would have sold them). You would lock your door for the night but then hang your key in it's spot during the day. For a girl who freaks out about hotel security this didn't seem to bother me at all.
there were three floors and each was it's own color. We stayed on the red floor.
breakfast was included in our hotel stay - it was amazing. if i didn't think it would be totally dorky to be taking photos of everything we ate each morning I would have. The room was beautiful. They had a wonderful white high chair set at our table each morning for Sally Jane. she loved to play with the wooden beads on the side ( as my kids don't really eat)
Each morning we had the best scramble eggs I have ever eaten, muesli (i didn't leave until someone from the kitchen told me how to make it) incredible croissants, (i smothered mine in Nutella) freshly squeezed orange juice and whipped hot chocolate. I am sure we looked like pigs eating everything we could. Most people seemed to just be eating bread and cheese. Annie Kate cut up a kiwi each morning and loved it. We sat at the same table for dinner and breakfast with our room number on it. We sat by the same people each night and morning too which I thought was cool. The $500 roomers got to sit on the balcony by the incredible view of the mountains.

One of my favorite things about staying here was waking up in the morning to the bells ringing at the church which sat just 100 yards down from the hotel

After three of the greatest nights in probably the best hotel I have ever slept in we said goodbye and drove off to stay in Germany and get ready for our trip home.

We were driving on the A5 freeway which runs along the Rhein river. On the map we noticed we were so close to France and kept debating if we should drive into it or not to just say, "we went to France" The whole day were debating of still driving the 6 hours to Paris - but one look back at the tired kids and it answered our question.
The closest town on our way to the Air Force base was Strassburg. We knew nothing about this city - nothing. We reprogrammed the GPS (lifesaver and a must for travel in my opinion) to go into Stassburg. We pulled into town around 8:00 pm.
Something I learned on this trip is my husband has an incredible sense of direction. Something else I learned is I do not. He seems to find the center of town with such ease. He says that he just looks for the largest steeple of the church and it is always in the center of town. He is right.

We parked our car to find a nice quiet and asleep town. We walked through as fast as we could. It has a beautiful river running along the side of town with beautiful flower boxes everywhere. We could feel a definite change in the architecture with the many dormers on the roof tops and lots of iron work on the buildings. It reminded us of a New Orleans feel - which of course is French.

We stopped on the side of the street and got the girls dinner - Gelato. Jeff had to run and get cash as all we had were Swiss Francs. Once we figured all they wanted for food was gelato it saved us so much time to figure out what to get them. And it was cheap.
All of the stores were closed and were were bummed we spent so much time in Interlocken that day only wishing we had known what was up the road. We had stopped and seen one of the most amazing churches from our trip and wished we could go inside.

We walked back to the car it was now 9:45 pm. Jeff stopped and said, "let's just run back and see if they are going to light up the church" We still had over an hour drive ahead of us, but there is something that gets in your there where you think, I have come this far just do all that you can do. So we went back to the center of town to see that there was not only lights on the church but at 10:30 there would be a light show with music on the front of the church. We decieded to stay.

funny Caroline was wearing her gymboree paris outfit this day

We bought a plastic soccer ball for the girls to keep them entertained for the next 45 minitues on the cobble stoned street out front. While we were waiting Jeff said let me go see if we can get a room here in town for the night. He ran to a hotel and came back saying all they had was a suite for $350 Euros a night - not in our budget! About 10 minutes before the light show was to begin he ran to one more hotel to see if they had a room at our price. He came back with the same news. Oh well, what can you expect in the center of town, the night of, in the summer! What are we crazy?

The light show
was amazingand so was the music
Sally Jane sitting on Jeff's shoulders not moving a muscle was fun to watch too. The light show ended and I thought - we now have to go find our car and drive over an hour to the Air Force Base hoping they have room at the hotel. Then I looked at Jeff who said ok lets go to our hotel. What? He had tricked his girls and had found a room at the Hotel des Rohan

We were so excited. It seemed again like a hotel that was not used to kids. The girls ran in and started jumping onto the couches in the lobby that looked nicer than any couch I will own in my lifetime. The man at the front desk was so nice and gave Jeff an extra matress and tons of blankets and pillows so everyone in the room could have a bed to sleep on. The chic French hotel rooms are not made for a family of 5. Jeff negoatiated a great deal at 100 euros for the night. He even sent Jeff up with a silver metal pitcher full of milk for the girls to drink before they went to bed.

We stayed in room 406 and they too had cool hotel keys that you hang on the hooks in the lobby.

The view from our window was just what I would have imagined if I would look out a window in France. Caroline loved getting up in the morning and seeing everyone busily walk by. We also heard the Cathederal Bells ringing in the morning.The girls out front of the hotel the morning after ready to search for French pastries for breakfast... but that will have to wait for the food post.

Our last stop and great night sleep was th Inn at Ramstein on the Army Base at Landstuhl. It was our biggest room and the cheapest. Only $48 a night.
It was the perfect room for the last day of the trip because the girls had a chance to undwind, put in a DVD and relax in the living room and pull out couch. There was a full kitchen, huge bathroom and then a bedroom for Jeff and I where we could shut the door and not hear a thing. Heaven!
We stayed in 102. There was a huge laundry room where we could wash the clothes for free and we washed everything we had and spent the night repacking.

Packing

Someone asked about how you pack for a trip like this. We really didn't not bring much. I only brought one pair of pants (and the one I brought will get an honorable metion in my travel post) and a bunch of skirts, three pairs of shoes. The girls each had two pairs of shoes and outfits for 5 days. At Edelweiss we did laundry every day which was a huge help. i did not bring any hair anything, no blowdryers (all the hotels had them) or 1980 hot rollers, i was the pony tail gal. I never wore make up and I didn't bring a watch or any jewlery.
We brought a backpack that was a lifesaver. we got it from Backcountry.com
it was a huge help along with the stroller. with the car seats and gear we brought more gear probably than we did clothes.