Munich - Day 1

It is now quiet in the house, everybody has made it back to their homes.  I have to admit it is a little weird to be all by ourselves again.  We had such a wonderful time with our family being here!!!  Though now I can get caught up on all the blog posts that I am behind on.  :-)  So here we go!

So after a couple days of rest to get their clocks changed over we headed to Munich.  We left David, AJ and Michael at home because they had a karate tournament on Saturday to be in.  I wanted to take the family to the Olympic Stadium in Munich to start our time.

We started out with a great German lunch in the beautiful weather!!  We couldn't have asked for better food, company or weather!!!

After lunch we headed over to our tour.  It started our with a tram ride around the grounds.

The lightweight tent construction of the Olympic Stadium was considered revolutionary for its time. This included large sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by steel cables that were used for the first time on a large scale. The idea was to imitate the Alps and to set a counterpart to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin , held during the Nazi regime. The sweeping and transparent canopy was to symbolize the new, democratic and optimistic Germany. This is reflected in the official motto: "The cheerful Games."

Al and Julie excited to be in Germany and seeing the sights!!



Looking out at the BMW museum.  I didn't know that their symbol was airplane propellers because that is what they first made.

The family heading into the Olympic Stadium through the VIP entrance.

I love the 70s ceilings they put in here!

This room we didn't get to go into last time we were here.  It is a private room for big companies, both for the Olympic games and for the soccer games after.

The interesting thing about the colors above my families' heads is there is no red, black or grey.  Staying away from the colors of the pre-WWII games.

This was the first games that pictograms were used.  They decided that it was easier to do pictures than have all the different languages.

Al and the girls playing at one of the longest Foosball tables that I have ever seen!!!  It was quite fun!!!

Listening to our tour guide about some of the history of the stadium.

This is one of two supports for the whole roof.  They made it so the roof can bend and sway with the wind or with the heavy snow so it doesn't break.

This is where they lit the Olympic flame!

Showing us a birds eye view of whole roof and stadium.

Julie conquering Kaitlyn on the soccer field!

Al, Julie, Gabby and Kaitlyn standing in the middle of the soccer field.

Dad trying to kick a goal!  He did a great job!!!

Mom and Dad on the field.  It is amazing to think of what all happened on this field.

Kaitlyn getting ready to race around the track!

Gabby trying to kick a goal.  She was close.

The family, minus my boys, having a great time!!!!

If you look right underneath the roof, you will see a balloon.  This helps the roof give and take during the different type of weather and loads on the roof.

The decorative flowers on the roof are also for defrosting, they heat up to help melt the snow.

These are air intake and exhaust to help heat and cool the big room.

Checking out the swimming pool - the last stop on our tour.

Here is where the snow comes down and gets melted to get water to fill up the man made lake.

This wall wasn't there during the Olympic games - they put stadium seating outside it.  Then once the games were over they put the wall in so they could continue to use it after the games year round.

A closer look at the roof.  They changed all of the acrylic glass a few years back and it took three years to finish the whole roof.

Enjoying the sunshine after our tour.  It was a great tour and I learned more than the last time.  After this we headed to our apartment to have some rest and great dinner!!!  It was a great first day of our adventures!

The family arrives!!!!

On Tuesday September 29th I was soooooo excited, my family was coming to town!!!!!  I planned their plane tickets a little wrong, so we had to drive to Frankfurt twice that day.  I didn't mind at all, and was thankful that David took one of the trips.

It didn't take more than 30 seconds for the cousins to start playing together!!  That is one thing I LOVE - in all the years and no matter how much time has gone by, it is like no time has gone by and they are off and playing.

 

They did some sword fighting, 

and more sword fighting.  They also were making videos to go on youtube (none of which were uploaded), but they had a BLAST doing it!!!!

Then Grandma and Grandpa arrived in the evening and the family was complete.  We were  relaxing as everybody else was a little jetlagged.  I told them to get all the rest they could because we were about to start our travels and adventures!!!!

Hoffest Hitscherhof

On Sunday, September 27 after church we decided to head out to a pumpkin festival.  I have heard that it is a great one, so we decided we needed to go and check it out.

Luckily we were able to find parking close by and it was such a beautiful day!!!  Look at that blue sky!!!!

Michael decided that he wanted to try the crossbow game.  He did really good and hit down a few targets!!!

AJ was up next.  He took his time and aimed and did a great job as well!!  He was able to shoot down some of the harder shots!

 

Of course they had hay there!!!  What is a good pumpkin harvest fest without it!!!  AJ looks a little devious here.  I think he was waiting for his brother to come around.  :-) 

Of course Michael was also looking for him!!!  Look at his face!!!  They were having sooooo much fun!!!

Michael wanted to show off his great hops!!!

Something they are famous for is their pumpkin soup.  I didn't think I would like it so we bought one bowl for all of us to try.  The three of us loved it!!!!  Michael tried it, but didn't like it.  That meant there was more for us!

AJ decided he had to show us his hops as well!!!!

Then we decided it was time for lunch!!  AJ enjoyed the soup so much he wanted another bowl.  Michael was very happy with corn on the cob.

He also decided that he was going to eat a little of a pork steak sandwich that was oh so yummy!!!

They had a corn maze there and the boys were of and running before we even were two steps inside it.  They decided they wanted to try and hide from us.

But we were able to catch glimpses of them throughout the maze.  Though they did hide pretty well!!!

David on the look out for the kids!

One of David's favorite parts of all the festivals is tasting the beer!!  He was not disappointed here either!

The boys found some really, really small horses.  I don't think AJ or Michael were small enough to ride on them.  :-)

What is a festival without buying some sort of weapon.  The boys were having a great time trying out their new weapons!!!  They tried it on us, but no luck.  :-)

We decided to go ahead and buy our pumpkins here so we would have plenty of time to carve them!

AJ and Michael on some BIG pumpkins!!!!  We decided those were a little big to bring home.

Michael wanted to take a nap on them.  I don't think that it looks very comfortable though.

The boys with their pumpkins and weapons!  They had a great time there and it was so nice to be out and about in the beautiful weather!!!

Heading back to the car, David had one pumpkin and I had the other.  I am not sure how that happened and the boys weren't carrying them.  It was a great festival and I am glad that we went!!  Next adventure is my family is coming!!!  It is going to be great!!!