Our stay at the Edelweiss military resort

Hellllo! Welcome to another chapter of “Kasey’s long overdue posts about less-than-recent trips.” It’s become a bit of a tradition, no? Anyway, we spent a week around Thanksgiving in Bavaria and Austria with our kiddos, and two important things happened: 1) the kids got to make a snowman and 2) CHRIS AND I GOT TO MEET AN IU BASKETBALL PLAYER WE ADORED WHEN WE WERE IN COLLEGE.

I was not chill about it.

Backing up: we decided way back around the time Lochlan was born (NINE MONTHS AGO) that we wanted to go to Edelweiss Resort and Lodge in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. This place, which is specifically for military and DOD people living overseas, is extremely popular with people in Sigonella so we’ve been hearing about it since we arrived. We ended up making plans for my in-laws, Gail and David, to meet up with us there, and then it turned out that a tons of our friends had the same idea for celebrating Thanksgiving. The end result was that four of the families we are closest to ended up being there at the same stretch — and even on the same plane — as us! It. Was. Awesome!

In the interest of, you know, actually finishing, this will be a photo-heavy post. Which is appropriate given that just today I got back some of the family photos we took while we were at the resort. LOOK AT THIS COLOR COORDINATION, GUYS. It only took about two months of anxiety and obsessing to decide on these clothes, so no big deal.

We arrived in Munich on the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving, got a (hilariously large) rental car and drove the roughly two hours to Garmisch. Straight off the bat, look how gorgeous our surroundings were!

Our first day in Garmisch, we kept things pretty chill: we ate lunch in town (Shaka Burgerhouse was AMAZING!), hung out with friends for a while and relaxed. And by “relaxed,” I mean tried to figure out how to get all our kids to sleep at the same time in a hotel room with only two queen beds and a crib the baby wouldn’t sleep in.

Thanksgiving Day in Bavaria — Neuschwanstein Castle and our celebrity run-in

Thanksgiving Day this year happened to be Chris’ birthday as well (he was actually born on Thanksgiving Day too!), and to celebrate we opted to take a tour offered by the resort to Neuschwanstein Castle. It was an all-day affair, including stops at a woodworking shop and a church, but the best part was standing on this bridge and gazing at Mad King Ludwig’s fantasy castle.

It also took us back a little bit, as Chris and I visited here in 2010 on our honeymoon as well. It was cool to share it with our kiddos nine years later, who — as you can see — were deeply appreciative of this opportunity. 

Our friends Megan and Dave and Angie and Rey (and their combined four children) also joined us on the tour, so it was super fun for the kids to get to play together during stops. Afterward, we got home just in time for our Thanksgiving dinner at Edelweiss, which was FANTASTIC and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

But what I really need to talk about is who we ran into while walking up to the castle!

So to set the scene, I’m standing there trying to get us to take a picture with a pretty background when a woman walks up to Chris and, apparently, offers to take the picture for us. I didn’t hear her say this and instead saw that she was wearing an Indiana University (our alma mater!) shirt  so I excitedly asked if they were from there. (Ok, to be totally honest, I first awkwardly said “Hoo Hoo HOOSIERS”). They were! We got to talking and the woman introduced some of the people who were around her, when a younger dude stretched out his hand to Chris to introduce himself …

And Chris blurts out “AND YOU ARE JORDAN HULLS.”

Jordan Hulls is a Bloomington native who was extremely well known because he was Mr. Indiana Basketball and chose to stay local to play for IU and because he was awesome. He played from 2009-2013 and was a HUGE reason why they were really good at that time. We basically watched him start every game for four years. He’s now playing in Germany and apparently doing very, very well.

SO, having completely missed that Chris was trying to subtly tell me who this was beforehand, I basically did a cartoonish spittake and blurted out such things as “OMG I USED TO WATCH YOU ON TV.” Which is a particularly weird thing to say, because we watched him many times in real life as well …? I guess somehow my brain thought “watching on TV” was more impressive? I DON’T KNOW.

Having thoroughly embarrassed myself, I ultimately decided the best thing to do was to ignore him and chat with his wife about their kiddos (one of whom was almost the exact same age as Lochlan) and living abroad. She was extremely nice.

And we spent the rest of the trip randomly looking at each other and going REMEMBER THAT ONE TIME WE MET JORDAN HULLS AT A FREAKING CASTLE?

Day Two: it’s hot tub time, baby.

Our original plan for Friday involved putting the big kids in ski school, taking the baby to the childcare center at the base next to Edelweiss and then marveling at our freedom. Regrettably, however, ski school was not available until December. Partially because there was no snow at that time (lame!). Instead, we took the baby to childcare and headed to the pool with the big kids. Or, more accurately, to the HOT TUB.

This was legitimately the thing I was most excited about at the resort and it totally lived up to my dreams.

Frosty air plus hot bubbly water = amazing. We stayed for ages. I want to go back right now, please. 

After that, we opted to check out the Garmisch Christmas market with Gail and David and get some lunch out in town. The Christmas market was cute, but of course didn’t really live up to some of the other ones we’ve been to (or to Innsbruck, where we went the next day).

Day Three: Snow and Innsbruck

Waking up to snow on Saturday was probably the biggest relief of the trip. Why? Ehhhh we had kind of assumed that there would be snow in Germany in the freaking mountains by almost-December, so we’d talked up the snow A LOT in the run up to the trip. Arriving to find no snow made for a very disappointed pair of kiddos for the first couple of days, both of whom seemed to think they’d been deliberately duped.

(I was also relieved because we had to pay extra for a large enough suitcase to bring all the snowpants and boots and things, so I would have been pretty pissed if we didn’t get to use them.)

Snow was the backdrop for our early-morning photo shoot with the resort’s photographer, Toby. I assure you, everyone was super psyched to get out of bed to go outside and stop-touching-the-snow! and smile-right-now-dammit! first thing in the morning.

As soon as we got back from the photo session though, it was off to play in the snow! I can honestly say this was the highlight of the kiddos’ trip.

So many other kids were out playing in the snow that morning, there was basically a forest of snowmen on the front lawn. So cute! Sadly, the snow didn’t last too much past Saturday morning.

After that, it was off to Innsbruck for a Christmas market! I don’t know what I was expecting specifically from Innsbruck, an Austrian town about an hour from Garmisch, but I ended up being blown away. It was gorgeous!

Finding parking was a bit harrowing because we’d been given the world’s biggest rental car, but the Christmas markets were beautiful. And the food! Can’t beat a Christmas market for food.

I seriously don’t think I’d ever given much thought to Innsbruck and I certainly hadn’t done much research before getting in the car to go, so this town was a lovely surprise. If you are in Garmisch, it is definitely worth a day trip!

Sunday we strongly considered going up to Zugsprite, the tallest peak in Germany, and part of me is a little sad that we didn’t since our friends spoke highly of it. However, it was fairly expensive and seemed like a lot of work, so we ended up opting to take the kids swimming and to the hot tub once more instead. But, it will absolutely be on our list next time!

We spent the next couple of days in Salzburg, Austria, but that will be a post for a different day. Spoiler alert: no celebrity sightings there, but still a nice time.

And now to wrap up with some gratuitous cute kid pictures from the Edelweiss lobby because I was OBSESSED with taking photos in there, apparently.

The post Bavaria with a baby: 4 days at Edelweiss Resort first appeared on Babies With Backpacks.

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Since arriving here in Sicily, it seems like everyone we’ve met has talked about going to Christmas markets somewhere in Europe. This year, it was our turn! Last weekend, we packed the kids up and headed to Frankfurt, Germany and Strasbourg, France, to see them for ourselves. I’ll get to that second one in another post but for now — the Frankfurt Christmas markets.

First of all, if you go I recommend eating all the things.* Also shopping, but eating all the things too. Even Owen ate. Our kid who basically doesn’t eat anything (especially not pasta or anything with sauce, so it’s great that we live in Italy) was RAVENOUS the entire time we walked around the Frankfurt Christmas markets. Like he ate a giant bratwurst on his own, then half an hour later was asking for another. We thought he was joking, but once we finally gave in he devoured that too. Perhaps he was meant to live in Germany?? Anyway, sorry for the detour story on Owen’s eating but I seriously can’t explain enough how freaking astonishing it was.  

*It has just occurred to me to wonder whether I’ve talked more about eating stuff since getting pregnant? I suspect the answer is yes. Consolation prize for no beer in Germany or wine in France, I guess?

ANYWAY … back to the Christmas markets.

Why the Frankfurt Christmas markets?

Basically, we sort of lucked into it. Chris took charge of planning this trip, and he started by looking at what direct flights were available for the weekends we were considering going to a market somewhere. Once he saw cheap flights to Frankfurt, he started doing a bit of research and found that the city has several Christmas markets that looked fabulous. So, we were sold.

Where to stay in Frankfurt?

For the third trip in a row, we used points for our hotel stay. (I’m going to do a points round-up soon on all that, but the short story is we’ve had 20 free nights this year). This time, we stayed at the Hampton by Hilton Frankfurt City Centre Messe for a 25,000 Hilton points/night for two nights. It certainly wasn’t as fancy as the Hilton Malta or Berlin Marriott, but it was pleasant and close enough to a train station to be very convenient.

Visiting the Frankfurt Christmas markets with kids

Right off the bat, I’ll tell you that we primarily saw the markets during morning and early afternoon Saturday. We went back in the evening on Saturday night (after unsuccessfully attempting to eat at several restaurants — hot tip, if you are going to be anywhere near the Frankfurt Christmas markets on a Saturday night, you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble by getting a dinner reservation somewhere ahead of time. D’oh!) but ended up heading home early after I started feeling really crappy and needed to get off my feet. The crowds were pretty large in the evening, no doubt related to it being Saturday night and people being gathered to hear the tower horns on the balcony of St. Nicolas Church that evening (they play Wednesdays and Saturdays at 6 p.m.)

Anyway, the markets: the Frankfurt city website is claiming the Frankfurt Christmas markets are some of the biggest in Germany. It covers a pretty huge area in central Frankfurt, but the main place — meaning the spot with the giant Christmas tree, which Frankfurt also says is the biggest in Germany — is Romerberg. It’s a big public square right in front of the Romer building complex, which has been the seat of the Frankfurt government for about 500 years. Nearby you’ll also find Old St. Nicolas Church (why is it called that? I don’t know, maybe there’s a newer one?) and Frankfurt Cathedral. We ended up not going into either, but if we ever go back I definitely will as I’ve subsequently heard that the Cathedral was the coronation spot for Holy Roman Emperors for 300 years.

So, what do we recommend?

1. Ride the carousel in Romerberg. If you are heading to the Frankfurt Christmas markets with the kiddos, make sure you hit the carousel! It’s a huge double-decker affair, but you’ll want to make sure you get a seat before it starts. Otherwise you will end up awkwardly jumping off with your two kids WHILE IT IS MOVING because we sure as hell didn’t pay like princely sum of a couple Euro to just stand on the thing. (We got first dibs on the second try).

2. Grab some kinderpunsch. Or, as the kids described it, “kid wine.” It’s warm, it’s delicious and it comes in a sweet cup (that you return to get your deposit back). I also had a fair bit of it, being deprived  of the delicious gluhwein (mulled wine) that Chris got. Side note for every adult visiting the markets: get some of the gluhwein. They heat it up on a giant copper kettle, then periodically pour rum over a huge hunk of sugar that melts into it. Don’t forget to grab a commemorative cup too.

3. Shop! 

Normally shopping isn’t my kid’s favorite thing, but this time they were tasked with picking out stuff for our various family members. For those family members who may be reading this: if some of your gifts seem a bit random when they arrive, this is why. I deferred to their judgement.

4. Eat. Well, this was probably predictable. But at least half the shops there was at the market seemed to be selling food, and for a good reason. It was fabbbuloussssssss. So, I’ll end with a list of what we ate and pictures of us doing it. You’re welcome.

5. Special events

Well, we heard the tower horns on the balcony at St. Nick’s on Saturday, but there are a lot of different events depending on when you are there, including Santa visits a bit closer to Christmas — check the website here.

Next up: our visit to Strasbourg, France! 

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Owen’s 6th Birthday Adventure: Legoland Berlin and the German Museum of Technology

We have a six year old! How?! I’m a bit late a lot late insanely late in posting this, but we spent Owen’s birthday weekend in Berlin a few weeks ago about a month ago so that we could take him to Legoland Berlin and spent more time in a city we loved so much when we were back in May.*

*If you can’t tell, this post has been in drafts for … a while.

Why Legoland Berlin? Ehhh … availability, mostly. We knew we didn’t feel up to throwing a big party this year, and having traveled to Malta for Fiona’s birthday, we decided a trip for Owen would keep things fair. We thought some kind of theme-park trip would be cool and toyed with a number of options, including the Harry Potter Studio in London and various other Legoland parks in the UK, Denmark and Germany. Ultimately, though, our choice landed on Legoland Berlin for two reasons: 1) there were direct flights available within the limited time frame we were working with, and 2) the reasonable price of said tickets (about $70/each).

I’ve never been to Legoland before, so I have nothing to which to compare it. I’m told other Legoland parks are bigger and have more in the way of rides, so possibly Legoland Berlin is probably not impressive if you’ve been to the others. That said, if you are looking for something fun to do in Berlin with kids, we think it is a good choice. But, we’ll get into this. First, the details of our very quick weekend in Berlin:

How we got there: A direct flight to Berlin on RyanAir, which got us in Thursday evening and had us heading back home about 9 p.m. on Saturday. Cost was $290 for all four of us, which we thought was quite reasonable (if not spectacular). Once we got there, we mostly used the excellent metro system, except for when we got too hungry or cold and used Uber.

Where we stayed: Once again, we stayed at the Berlin Marriott Hotel using points, in this case 70,000 points for a two-night stay. As in May, we thought the facilities were quite nice and the location near Potsdammer Platz was extremely convenient. It also turned out that Legoland Berlin was only about a 5-minute walk from out hotel, which was a major bonus for us!

What we ate: Oh Berlin, how I love your food! With the exception of the two major activities we did (Legoland Berlin and the German Museum of Technology), this weekend was allllll about eating. Our favorite spots were:

Burgermeister. As ever. This time we waited for about an hour in the cold for our opportunity to buy burgers from this small takeaway stand that, in its past life, was actually a public toilets facility. Worth. The. Wait. We ordered four burgers, but –unfortunately for the kids and fortunately for us — the kids’ burgers did not come out plain as we’d expected. Naturally they freaked out, so the only solution was to tragically strip one down for them to eat alongside their plain fries, while Chris and I batted cleanup on the other delicious burger as well as our own. This baby has apparently turned me into a monster, because I remember being so stuffed I could barely finish my burger back in May, but I destroyed 1.5 burgers this time and legitmately could have had another. Also, cheese fries.

Don’t forget the cheese fries.

Otito. We’d heard that Vietnamese food was a must-eat in Berlin, but last time around we missed our opportunity. This time around, we made it happen. Me and Chris both had excellent meals, though the kids were less than thrilled. But Owen’s favorite foods are apples and completely plain baked chicken, sooooo … don’t take his word for it.

Lowenbrau: We ended up going here somewhat on a whim, as it was only about nine minutes by public transit from our hotel and we had about an hour and a half to kill before we headed to the airport. It ended up being remarkable in that Owen ACTUALLY ATE, so it earns a thumbs-up from me. (He had the currywurst … sans curry sauce. Sigh). I had the kasespatzle, which I thought was delicious but the baby boy STRONGLY DISAGREED.

And finally … the one that got away. SOB.

Benedict. We spent half an hour on public transit getting to this place on the recommendation of a friend, during which time I obsessively studied the menu on my phone. Unfortunately we neglected to realize how busy it might be, and were too hungry to wait for more than an hour for our opportunity. WAAAAAAAAAA. Whenever we are next in Berlin, we are absolutely going here. And this is coming from a non-breakfast person.

So, on to our activities.

Legoland Berlin

Our first order of business Friday was hitting the Legoland Berlin for Owen’s official birthday celebration! We’d pre-bought tickets, but I’m not sure it was entirely necessary as it wasn’t particularly crowded the day was there. Always a nice perk for us!

Legoland Berlin basically included elaborate Lego displays — super fun for our Lego-obsessed kids — and then a ton of stations where they could build their own creations. There were also a few rides (including one they wouldn’t let me on after I answered the question “Ma’am, are you pregnant?” with “ummmmm … a bit.”)

We spent a lot of time at the various stations building things, which seemed to be as fun for Chris as it was for the munchkins. Which is lucky for them, because I am amazingly challenged when it comes to setting up those things myself.

A big hit with both kids was a station where you could construct your own cars and send them down various race tracks, though it proved to be much more difficult than any of anticipated. Unsurprisingly, there was a heavy concentration of deeply invested dads hanging out at this particular area …

For a bit more active play, Legoland Berlin also had several small jungle-gym type set ups, as well as one area where you could try out your spy skills by attempting to pass through a hallway without crossing any of the laser lines. We basically had to drag Owen away from that one …

Plus this awesome wall, which moved downward as you climbed. I was super impressed with how great both kids were at climbing.

Overall, we had a great time. I even destroyed Chris at a fast reflex game, which isn’t surprising because I AM THE MASTER. Sorry hon, but it is my blog.

Legoland Berlin gets eight thumbs ups from our family.

German Museum of Technology

Our second and last day in Berlin brought us to the German Museum of Technology (and incidentally, right next door to the epiiiiiic line for the Berlin Comic Con that day. Lots of Harry Potter characters mixed in there — just what I like to see). This was another huge hit for Chris, Owen and Fiona.

Me …. eh.

Listen, I like museums! A lot! We go to lots of them! I’m not yelling!!

Butttttt if I’m being completely honest …

Possibly weirdly, I do still highly recommend it though. The newer section of the museum is enormous and filled with planes, while another is visually stunning with a lot of models of ships. There are trains you can climb on. If you’ve got kids who are in the “all modes of transportation are awesome” stage, this is your place, guys.

If you find that sort of thing interesting but not “let’s stay here for four hours” interesting, then I recommend coming with your devices fully charged.

The older section of the German Museum of Technology had a pretty cool technology section, complete with guiding robot, which the kids were pretty into. (Though once again, why are things from our childhood in MUSEUMS now???) We also “discovered” an amazing illusions section that was right up our alley, but at that point I was so hungry that we couldn’t stay any longer lest I actually eat someone. #pregnancyproblems #jkImalwayshangry

So, since we spent the rest of this day eating (BURGERMEISTER!) and Lowenbrau, that about does it for this recap! But overall, we are still in love with Berlin. Especially with kids. If you are thinking about going … go!

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The post Birthday in Germany: Legoland Berlin & Germany Museum of Technology appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

Berlin may have a reputation for being a major party city — there are even discussions that one of its airports could be turned into a giant club when it closes in a couple years — but if you are visiting the German capital with the kids, fear not. We loved visiting Berlin with kids so much that we are already considering whether we might return as soon as this year, despite having plenty of other places still on our travel wish list.

Update as of January 2019: We did go back! We had a great couple of days celebrating our son’s 6th birthday in Berlin. The highlights that time were Legoland Berlin and the German Museum of Technology.

I was especially happy to have loved it so much because more recently I’ve heard a few “meh” reviews from friends who have visited. Obviously, different people like different things. But for us, Berlin was a breath of fresh air — the efficiency of everything, the variety of food options, the fantastic beer, and plenty of fun activities for the kids. It also didn’t hurt that we got lucky enough to have exceptional weather, sunny and in the 80s the entire time we were there!

Our 3-day Berlin with kids itinerary had a strong emphasis on being relaxed and low-key. There’s so much to see there that 3 days in Berlin, the second largest city in the EU, is enough to pretty much just scratch the surface. But the excellent public transportation makes it easy to get around, which is a big help in seeing as much as you can.

And again, we freaking LOVED it.

Updated: Best kid activities in Berlin after 2 trips

As I write this, we’ve now been to Berlin twice with our crew, for a combined total of five days. In our opinion, if you are going to Berlin with kids specifically you should try not to miss the following five places (and Burgermeister, unless you are a vegetarian). For more details, see below as well as this post.

1. Berlin Zoo and Aquarium
2. Tiergarten (never pass up a park, that’s our philosophy)
3. German Museum of Technology (especially if you’ve got littles who love all things transportation)
4. East Side Gallery
5. Legoland Berlin

We also really enjoyed a BiteMojo tour of Berlin, even Owen!

Our (1st) trip to Berlin with kids: the details

Where we stayed in Berlin: Mostly, the Berlin Marriott Hotel. (Having arrived very late on Friday evening, we spent our first night at a hotel near the airport). We used 120,000 Marriott points to book a room with two queen beds for our Berlin with kids trip, which worked out pretty well. We loved the location of this place, which was very close to public transportation, the Bradenburg Gate and the Tiergarten. 

Our favorite places to eat in Berlin with kids: 

Stone Brewery: I’ll wax poetic about this below, but this place was fantastic! The menu was outstanding (to the point that we looked at it a few days ahead and were each debating what to order well before we got there) and the building itself was gorgeous. The kids loved it because there was so much to look at! But more on that later.

Burgermeister: I kid you not, this was the probably the best hamburger I’ve ever had. This is a tiny burger stand in what used to be a public toilets facility, so you order at the window and can either eat standing up at one of the few tables around it or you can do what we did, was cross the street and eat in the tiny pocket park.

Seriously, go here.

Updated: On our second trip, we also really enjoyed a Vietnamese restaurant called Otito and the Lowenbrau restaurant as well. If you are going, I’d also suggest trying to eat at a breakfast joint called Benedict that everyone and their brother recommends, which tragically we weren’t able to visit because of time. Again, read more about that in this post.

Day 1: Berlin with kids

We started our day by moving from our late-night airport hotel to the Marriott, which we took an Uber for. Why is this significant? Because of this amazing thing that all Berlin cabs apparently have: BUILT-IN BOOSTER SEATS. I mean, we actually did have our car seats with us because we needed them in Edinburgh anyway. But not having to install them for a quick cab ride? Amazing. We pretty much knew immediately we were going to enjoy Berlin.

Anyway, off to the real stuff. After we checked in, we headed out the door for the Brandenburg Gate for a view of iconic Berlin. The Bradenburg Gate was built in the late 1700s on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II, marking the successful restoration of order after the Batavian Revolution. It is Berlin’s only remaining historical gate, and today is considered to be a symbol of the unified Berlin.

So, after the approximately 2 and a half minutes spent looking at that, it was time to get down to the serious stuff: beer and playgrounds. To the Tiergarten we went!

Our interest in stopping at the Tiergarten was inspired in large part by Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts, a fantastic nonfiction account of the experiences of the American diplomat to Berlin in the build up to World War II. The book’s title is an English translation of the word Tiergarten. At 570 acres, the Tiergarten is one of Germany’s largest urban parks, and its most popular. We happened to visit on the day of a big race, so there was a fair bit of security to get through, but also lots of food stands set up to grab lunch. 

Unfortunately, this also meant we accidentally had to walk about an extra million miles (according to the kids) because we had the bright idea to pop into this Soviet Union memorial along the way, only to learn that we couldn’t get back out the way we came. We were not amused. Russians, man.

Our goal in the Tiergarten (other than procuring some beers!) was to find a playground for the kids, and that we did. It included a zip line that Owen described as “the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life, more fun than BEING BORN.” Pretty decent endorsement, I’d say. 

From here, it was back to our hotel for a quick nap. We’ve honestly mostly given up on napping on vacation any more since they rarely do at home now, but since they’d been up late and spent about 2 hours running around the park like a pair of border collies, we figured it needed to happen. Besides, we needed to rest up for the thing Chris and I were most excited about …

Stone Brewery!

I know, our regular readers will be just so shocked to find a brewery on our agenda. But suspend your disbelief, folks. It was awesome. (We didn’t even do a tour, which they do offer!)

Honestly, even if someone doesn’t drink beer, this place is still absolutely worth a visit. For one, the menu is awesome (see above for information about our obsessing over it for legit DAYS). For another, the building itself is just really interesting. The kids loved it.

We sat inside, but the beer garden also looked gorgeous.

Getting to Stone required a subway ride, followed by a roughly 20-minute walk, but the walk was very pleasant. I’d highly recommend it to anyone going to Berlin! Even if you are doing to Berlin with kids in tow. What’s our theme again? It’s our vacation too!

Day Two: Berlin with kids

We started our day with a visit to the East Side Gallery, which is known as the largest open-air art gallery in the world. It is a series of murals painted on a remnant of the Berlin Wall, and it is fascinating.

Even better, when you are done with the East Side Gallery I’d suggest crossing the River Spree to go to BURGERMEISTER. I said it before, but it bears repeating: THEY ARE MAGICAL.

Plus the kids got a kick out of the burger place being in a former public restroom.

After a brief food coma at the hotel, we woke up and did the obvious thing: decided to eat some more. We took our second-ever Bitemojo food tour, and had a much better experience this time around. I’m going to go into this more in another post, but the basic idea is that rather than taking a guided food tour with a group, you can download this app and pay for a self-guided food tour that you do at your own pace. You follow the directions and it directs you to various restaurants, where you show your BiteMojo app and they present you with a “substantial bite.” While we had mixed feelings about it in Rome, we had an excellent experience in Berlin and got to experience some tasty dishes in an area of the city we probably wouldn’t have ventured out to.

DAY 3: Berlin with kids 

On our last real day in Berlin, it was back to the Tiergarten (the opposite side). We spent the morning at the Berlin Zoo and the Berlin Aquarium, which are both inside the Tiergarten and fantastic. It was a pretty expensive zoo to visit, but we felt that it was cool enough to justify the cost (unlike a certain other places we visited on our trip, coughcough Scottish SeaLife Rescue coughcough).

Plus, it was just beautiful! And really shady, which helped since we managed to bring hoooooot weather with us to Berlin. It was in the mid-80s during our visit.

We saw a lot of our favorite animals, including a pair of monkeys that we all related to SO HARD. It was a baby sitting in its mama’s lap, vainly trying to get away to go play with a friend but being held firmly by the tail by his mother. Different members of our group identified with different monkeys, as you can imagine. 

Kids: Why doesn’t she let him go play?

Us: Uh, so he doesn’t PLUMMET TO HIS DOOM?

The aquarium is within the zoo (but you need to buy separate tickets) and it was nice, though less wow than the zoo itself. Unless you ask my kids, who were so impressed that they got to harass pet koi swimming around in an open tank repeatedly that it was probably their favorite part.

Unsurprisingly, however, their very favorite thing was pretty much the playground at the zoo, where we stopped for a break after lunch. (Side note: the lunch at the zoo was actually pretty decent).

After the zoo, it was official Mommy and Daddy time. We walked to a beer garden within the Tiergarten for some drinks and dessert at a lovely spot overlooking a pond. The kids had fun taunting pigeons, while we shared a few steins.

Overall, we couldn’t have enjoyed Berlin more. Lucky for us, there are still a lot of things we want to see. We didn’t make it to the Reichstag, for instance, and we’d definitely like to take the kids to Legoland. There’s also apparently an EPIC water park built inside an old aircraft hangar not too far from Berlin (Tropical Islands) that certainly sounds like it would be worth a visit. Though I have to ask, what is with Germans and doing weird things with old airports?

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The post 3 days in Berlin with kids: our relaxed itinerary appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

Hey there! Sorry for the silence, but it’s been for a good reason (and, once we returned early Thursday morning, a not-so-good reason). We’ve been on our most ambitious trip yet: 12 days in Berlin, Scotland and (briefly) Potsdam during a long layover on the way home. It was everything I hoped it would be!

By the way, if you are wondering why we went with Berlin and Scotland on the same trip? Flight availability, basically. There were no decent options for getting to Scotland from Catania, so I’d been trying to come up with Frankenstein-esque itineraries that involved us flying into various London airports and then flying/driving/taking the train to get up north. This idea appealed to me somewhat if we were going to stay in London for a couple days; Chris and I have been there before but the kids haven’t, and obviously there are tons of things to do in London. Still, doing that would have meant wasting a lot of time in transit and having fewer days for Scotland, so Chris suggested we check to see what the choices were from Berlin. Since Berlin was on our list for this year, he figured that it could be a two-birds-one-stone situation. As it turned out, they had direct flights to Edinburgh for about 40 euro. SOLD.

So, I’ll get into individual posts on our stops as time allows. But in the meantime, here’s a look at our 3-day itinerary for Berlin and our 8-day itinerary for Scotland:

3 days in Berlin

What we did/saw in Berlin: 

-Brandenburg Gate

-Tiergarten, playgrounds and beer gardens

-East Side Gallery

-Berlin Zoo

-Berlin Aquarium

-Food tour with the Bitemojo app

-Stone Brewery (fabulous!)

Where we stayed: The Berlin Marriott Hotel, located very near Potsdamer Platz. We used 120,000 Marriott points to book three nights at this hotel and were very pleased with it, especially since they let us check in four hours early and had a pool that the kids really enjoyed. It was a good reminder of all the reasons hotels are wonderful (clean towels every day? WHAT LUXURY). However, sharing a room with the kids also reminded me why we don’t usually share a room with the kids if we can help it.

What we loved: In a word, everything. We had a relaxing three days in this city that centered around eating, drinking and doing stuff that was fun for the kids, like visiting the playgrounds in the Tiergarten and the zoo. We enjoyed the German efficiency, the variety of food choices (read: not just Italian) and the fact that literally everyone spoke English. Basically, we want to move there. We’re already considering going back.

8 days in Scotland

Our itinerary: 

Days 1-3: Edinburgh, where we went on a Harry Potter tour, bought wands in the “real” Diagon Alley, visited Edinburgh Castle, walked down the Royal Mile and saw two great museums, National Museum of Scotland and Dynamic Earth.

Day 4: Visited Stirling Castle, one of the most important castles in Scottish history. Drove to the charming seaside village of Oban for a one-night stay.

Day 5: Visited the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary in Oban. Spent a little time in the town of Fort William en route to the town of Balmacara, near the Isle of Skye.

Day 6: Took in the incredible scenery at the Isle of Skye, the largest island of the Inner Hebrides. We surprised ourselves by making a much harder than expected hike to the famous Old Man of Storr. “Only slightly strenuous,” my ass. We spent the night at the same AirBnB in Balmacara, located only a couple miles from Eilean Donan castle.

Day 7: Visited Loch Ness and hey! We found Nessy! We took a cruise on the loch and visited Urquhart Castle. We ended the day with a drive to Pitlochry.

Day 8: Relaxed day in Pitlochry, with sleeping in, nice walks around the city and a visit to the Blair Athol Distillery.

Where we stayed: All AirBnBs! While they certainly weren’t as luxurious as the Marriott, it was nice for the kids to have their own room.

What we loved: The incredible scenery! The Highlands were almost other-worldly — we’d be cruising along on what is clearly a road and we’d see other cars, but it would feel like we were absolutely in the middle of nowhere. It was like nothing we’ve ever seen before. We kept going, “WHERE ARE WE.” (And not just because the GPS didn’t always work in the Highlands, ha).

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The post 12 days in Berlin and Scotland appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

Thinking about heading to Oktoberfest in Munich? The fest starts Sept. 22 (Sept. 22 now in 2019!), but winter and spring is the time to start planning, especially if you want table reservations in one of the famous beer tents at the Oktoberfest. Chris and I have been twice to the Munich celebration and highly recommend a visit, either with or without kids — there’s something for everyone at Oktoberfest! In 2017, I spent a huge amount of time trying to secure table reservations in the beer tents at the Oktoberfest. This year, I’d like to share what I learned about that process. I’ll warn you that it can be frustrating, but the payoff was us having a great time with 14 of our friends and family members for three days at Oktoberfest!

At the bottom of this post, you’ll also find links to the large tents at Oktoberfest and the most recent information I could find about when each accepts reservations.

I’ve written before about tent reservations at Oktoberfest (here and here) but as a refresher, there are 12 large tents, each of which hold thousands of people. There are reserved and unreserved sections at each tent, but during the evenings and especially during the weekends, it can be tough to find a spot and require a lot of patience and waiting in lines if you don’t have reservations. Spots in Oktoberfest tents can only be reserved by the table; the smallest I’ve seen in for 6, but most will have a minimum of 8 or 10. This is significant because while there isn’t technically a “charge” for the table reservation, you have to prepay a certain amount of food — usually equal to two beers and a meal — for each seat at the table a couple months before the Oktoberfest.

By the way, if you are questioning whether or not to bring your kids to Oktoberfest I’d suggest reading this post and this post. Idea of what to do other than the fest? Look here. If you are looking for a place to stay, by the way, we really enjoyed Citadines Arnulfpark Munich and it was very convenient to the Oktoberfest fairgrounds. While it is in more a “business-y” district, there is a tram right outside the hotel and the stop for the Oktoberfest grounds is only two stops away.

My table reservation checklist for Oktoberfest!

1. Decide whether you need table reservations. If you are only a couple of people or are a group of people who are happy to visit the tents in the morning or early afternoon, you can probably skip it. Have a big group or want to go to the tents in the late afternoon or evening? Get to work.
2. Decide when you are going. The 2018 Oktoberfest runs from Saturday, Sept. 22 to Sunday, Oct. 7. The 2019 Oktoberfest runs from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6. You need to decide what period of time you are prepared to be there so you know what days to ask for on your reservation requests. Props if you can be there mid-week, you’ll have a better chance of getting reservations.
3. Mark your calendar with application dates. Set up a reminder so that you know, for instance, on March 4 you should send your reservations request to Armbrustschutzenzelt.
4. Create a spreadsheet or word document. List every tent and keep track of EVERY communication you have from each, as they’ll start to blend together quickly. In several cases last year, despite the information printed on the website, I received emails telling me to try back again in a month or two after the date they had supposedly begun accepting reservations. Being better organized would have saved me some time and headaches.
5. Apply everywhere. For real. Don’t hesitate to make requests for the same day from different tents because you aren’t going to be able to get reservations everywhere you try, probably only a fraction of them. Last year I applied everywhere and ended up with four possible reservations, two of which I took. When you are offered a reservation they’ll be an initial “activation code” you’ll enter on their website to accept; I’d accept all of them because nothing is final until you pay up a few months before the fest.
6. Don’t ignore the smaller tents. There are several smaller tents at the Oktoberfest, and they can be good options as well for a fun evening. The only place I was able to get a reservation that went until the end of the night one of the days was the Heinz Wurst und Huehnerbraterei, a smaller tent, and we had a blast!

And now — the tents of Oktoberfest!

Pschorr-Brausol: Accepting reservations starting in January 2018; inquiries for lunch reservations can be sent directly to Mrs. Brandt-Witte at s.brandt@braeurosl.de. You need to fill out this form. Website: http://heidevolm.de/braeurosl/reservierungen/

Paulaner Festzelt (Winzerer Festhalle): This is the largest test at Oktoberfest! Updated information on when reservations open up is not available on the website, but last year it opened in mid-January. Check the website at http://www.winzerer-faehndl.com/reservierung.html for the online inquiry form.

Schutzen-Festzelt: Website says it will accept reservations via its online form starting Feb. 1, 2018. https://www.schuetzenfestzelt.com/reservierung-menues

Kufflers Weinzelt: Website says it will accept reservations via an online form starting in February.  http://www.weinzelt.com/de/reservierung/ This is one of the two tents we had reservations in last year!

Schottenhamel: Starts accepting reservations via an inquiry form on its website “starting from” February 2018. Check https://festhalle-schottenhamel.de/en/reservation/reservation

Armbrustschutzenzelt: Will start accepting reservations at 8 a.m. on March 4, but only by FAX or LETTER. For what its worth, I sent a letter last year and never heard anything back so I’d try fax if  I were you. You can find the number here: https://www.armbrustschuetzenzelt.de/reservierung/reservierungsanfrage/

Lowenbrau-Festhalle: Will start accepting reservations via e-mail in March 2018, but be aware they don’t take evening reservations. Send reservations to mail@loewenbraeuzelt.de.  Website: http://www.loewenbraeuzelt.de/reservierungen/

Ochsenbraterei: Accepting reservations in March 2018. You’ll need to send an e-mail with “your desired date (also several possible), number of persons, time as well as your name and address” to info@ochsenbraterei.de.   The website: http://www.ochsenbraterei.de/reservierungen/

Augustiner: Accepting reservations as of March 2018. Visit http://www.festhalle-augustiner.com/html/reservierungsanfrage_en.html

Marstall: Will start accepting reservations in March 2018 on this webpage: http://www.marstall-oktoberfest.de/reservierung.htm

Hacker-Festhalle: Will start accepting reservations “about March/April” 2018 on this page:  http://hacker-festzelt.de/reservierung/

Kafer’s Wiese’n-Shanke: Website says it will accept reservations via its online form starting in April. https://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/oktoberfest

Fischer-Vroni: Will start accepting reservations in May 2018. Check back on their website, http://www.fischer-vroni.de/reservation.htm

GOOD LUCK AND PROST!

The post How to get TABLE RESERVATIONS at Oktoberfest first appeared on Babies With Backpacks.

The post How to get TABLE RESERVATIONS at Oktoberfest appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

Where to stay, eat and play in Munich for Oktoberfest with kids

Hi guys! It’s been two weeks since we returned from Munich and Oktoberfest with the kids, so I want to wrap up this recap with some final housekeeping-type stuff with some of the practical details of our trip! If you are planning to go to Oktoberfest with kids, I hope this can help.

(For more details about attending the fest itself, check out this post: Oktoberfest with kids: Fest fun in the tents.)

And if I — ahem — had forgotten to mention it, I do strongly urge you to go! While it might seem like Oktoberfest is a grown-up celebration, it is truly family-friend. We saw lots of people at the Oktoberfest with kids, even school groups during the day.

Related: 20 things to know before you go to Germany. 

Where we stayed for our Oktoberfest with kids adventure: Citadines Arnulfpark Munchen

I’ve talked before about our stance on hotels vs. apartment rentals when it comes to travel. By and large, the decision between the two rests on how long we are going to be somewhere, prices and convenience. More recently we are seeing more “apart-hotels,” which have a nice way of splitting the difference: separate sleeping space for the kids, but some of the conveniences of a hotel. For shorter stays like Munich or Cefalu, we are really liking this model!

We stayed at the Citadines Arnulfpark Munich, which we selected back in December 2016. I found it as I was searching the Chase portal because the already-exorbitant prices of hotels and apartments for Oktoberfest season made me want to burn points instead of cash (I’ve since somewhat repented because I don’t think we got the best rate). This hotel won out because it was apartment-style and had room for the kids (occupancy limits in Europe can be strict), was quite close to the festival grounds, and was advertised as having childcare.

We ended up being quite pleased with the place and would definitely recommend it to other families. The room itself (“deluxe apartment”) was quite large and included a small kitchen with a microwave, stove and most importantly, a fridge. It also had security measures that, while a smidge annoying at times, made us feel pretty safe — the elevator was set up so that you had to use your room card to activate it, and could only go to the floor that had your room. Breakfast there was too pricy for us to be interested (though looked tasty), but there was a bakery about a block away where we got a bunch of excellent pastries or sandwiches each morning. Also, I cringe a little bit to write this but I’d also like to note that there is a Subway about two blocks away: this is noteworthy because we left the kids with a babysitter for two evenings and having a Subway nearby meant we could buy sandwiches and stick them in the fridge for the kids’ dinner. It isn’t in a particularly inspiring area, mostly other hotels and businesses around, but right outside the hotel was a tram stop that easily connected us with the rest of the city. The Thereseinweise, where Oktoberfest is held, was only two tram stops and a short walk from us.  Which leads us into my next point …

Public transportation for Oktoberfest with kids: Trains, trams and buses, oh my! 

Story time, kids. Chris and I were in Munich in 2010 as the second stop on our honeymoon, after Paris. We arrived at the airport and for whatever reason we were extremely tired and could not seem to figure out where the bus or train was to the city. We got pissed and decided to just jump in a cab.

Price tag: 80 euro. Whooops.

Looking back, that decision seems even crazier because Munich turns out to have excellent transit all arond the city and to the airport. You can follow the signs in the airport to catch the S-Bahn train into the city, and either the S1 or the S8 will get you there in less than an hour. If you are staying at Citadines or nearby, you’ll want to get off at Donnersbergerbrucke; it is a short walk from there.

When Chris went to pick up Brett at the airport on Monday, we bought a group all-day ticket for the entire S-bahn network (valid for up to five adults; two children between 6 and 14 years old count as one adult) to use to get them to and from the airport and anywhere else, which ended up costing just under 24 euro. Individual day tickets for the entire zone cost 12.80 euro, so if you are at least two people you might as well get the group ticket if you need the entire network (including airport). Otherwise, you can check to see which zones you’ll be staying in for cheaper tickets.

If you are going: I recommend the train, but there is also a bus that will take you into the city from the airport. I also priced out hiring a car (with car seats) to take us to the airport on Wednesday since it would be three adults and two kids; it came back at more than 100 euros. That’s a NOPE.

Within the city, transportation is quite easy because of the large number of options. In three days, we took trains, trams and buses to get around and found all of them easy to use, though if you are going on the tram or bus make sure you have coins to pay. (You can use a credit card to buy S-bahn tickets from a machine). I will say that having access to a smartphone helped. Since our data works all over Europe, we simply entered our destination into Google maps and clicked the public transit option. It would tell us exactly what train, train or bus would most easily get us where we wanted to, which saved us the trouble of puzzling over a map. If you can’t use your phone while there, I’d suggest looking it up beforehand on the hotel wifi beforehand and taking a screenshot.

Someone was worn out on the way back to the airport Wednesday! 

Food: Where we ate all the things during our Oktoberfest with kids adventure!

I’ve never been a particularly big fan of German food, but this trip might have changed my mind. We had some absolutely excellent meals in Munich, both in the city generally and at the Oktoberfest with kids specifically! The two best were:

Augustiner Keller. Count this as another point in favor of the Citadines Arnulfpark: it was only a 10-minute walk from this excellent beer garden! It is one of the largest in Munich, although I’m getting conflicting info on where exactly it ranks. We actually went twice, once for beers and appetizers on Sunday to tide us over before the fest and on Monday with Mike and Andrea’s crew and my parents and our siblings, 15 altogether. They take reservations online, which was very helpful with our big group!

Anyway, the beer was excellent and every single one of us loved our meal. I highly recommend the Pfefferschnitzel, a pork cutlet with an excellent pepper sauce, while my brother-in-law was obsessed with his weinerschnitzel with a berry sauce, and my sister loved the allgäuer käsespätzl, a cheese spatzl with fried onions. Dessert was good too!

Dessert was also the only picture I took that didn’t come out blurry as hell. 

Hofbrauhaus 

This one is probably the most tourist-y of the restaurants we could have gone to, but we didn’t care. We had an excellent night in the beer garden with some randoms in 2010 so we were nostalgic, plus Brett was eager to go there himself. We found a spot at the end of one of the long tables, and plopped down with another group. Once again, all of us loved our meal.

All of us except Fiona, who never ate a bite of hers. As soon as we arrived, she chugged some apple juice and lay down on the bench for a nice hour-long nap. I’m prepared to bet this was not the first nor will it be the last time someone falls asleep on the bench after drinks at Hofbrau.

Owen enjoyed his though. 

Hofbrau is right next to Marienplatz, so it was a nice stopoff for us after the Duesches Museum and before visiting there.

Oktoberfest tents

We spent a lot of time eating at the Oktoberfest grounds as well, and basically everything we had was excellent! Some favorites were duck and cheesy spatzl at the Lowenbrau tent, roasted chicken at Kuffler Weinzelt and these amazing chocolate-covered strawberries from a random food stand. Easily the best ones I’ve ever had.

We’d already gobbled up half of them before I managed to get a picture. 

Pretty sure this is the face of a guy who just wants me to stop taking pictures and let him eat. 

What we wore at Oktoberfest with kids: dirndl and lederhosen 

If you decide to go to Oktoberfest, I definitely encourage you to dress up! We didn’t in 2010 and while I can’t say we felt out of place then — plenty of people don’t dress up — I would say we certainly felt a lot more festive this time around! It is just fun. I ordered my dirndl and Chris’ lederhosen from dirndl.com and was very pleased with the quality of our items. Fiona’s dress came from Oktoberfest.de, while Owen’s lederhosen came from Etsy and we just grabbed a checkered shirt from H&M. We didn’t expect it to be so cold while we were there and didn’t have a plan for Owen’s legs, so we put a pair of Chris’ socks on him and pulled them up to his knees to keep his legs warm. We picked up their head gear on the way to the fest — plenty of shops were selling all kinds of apparel near the festival groups.

A cautionary note: if you are ordering online, be careful with the sizing. My sister and I both ordered dresses based on a conversion chart we saw of US to German sizing, and both of us found our dresses pretty tight.

The post Munich and Oktoberfest with kids: The details first appeared on Babies With Backpacks.

The post Munich and Oktoberfest with kids: The details appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

While we found Oktoberfest to be a fabulous time to head for Germany, Munich with kids is a good idea just about any time of year! We had a blast at the Englischer Garten, Deutches Museum, Marianplatz and more. Munich is always great, and Munich with kids is even better.

From my first few posts on our trip to Munich (here and here and here), it might look like we mostly just drank beer at the Oktoberfest. But! If you are planning a trip to Munich with kids, rest assured that there is plenty to do outside the festival.

And, OK, a lot more places to drink beer. What can I say? It is Germany.

We arrived in Munich Sunday afternoon and left Wednesday afternoon, so between Oktoberfest visits and hangovers we still had time to explore a bit more of the city. If you are going to the city with kids (or even without) consider hitting these spots!

Must-see Munich with kids: The Englischer Garten 

Anytime we travel with the kids, we always seek out a park to explore for some travel down-time. (See Luxembourg Gardens in Paris and Phoenix Park in Dublin). The Englischer Garten was fun, though I wish we’d had time to explore more than the tiny corner of it that we did!

The Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower). It was originally built in the 1700s, then rebuilt in the 1950s after its destruction during World War II.

So the Englischer Garten is one of the biggest urban parks in the world; it is almost 1.5 square miles. Incidentally we realized its scope as we were trying to figure out where to meet our friends Mike and Andrea — turns out you can’t just say “meet us at the park” when it is so huge!

The park has a ton to offer in its vast space, including two beer gardens, restaurants, huge green spaces, walking/biking trails, Greek temple, Japanese teahouse and even a stream where people surf! (Wish we’d seen that!). There is also apparently a place where people regularly sunbathe in the buff (don’t wish we’d seen that!). Go figure.

My parents and Fi. 

Owen and my sis horsing around. Munich with kids — big and little. Ha!

We meant to walk around the park and explore, but instead we (us, my parents, my sister and my brother-in-law) met our friends at the beer garden near the Chinesischer Turm. This particular beer garden is the second-largest in Munich, but we chose this spot mostly because it had park for the kids to play on.

Like most parks we come across in Europe, it seemed weirdly dangerous compared to the plastic parks we see in the United States. But we’re getting used to it, ha!

While the kids played (only plummeting to their doom once each!), the adults stuffed our faces. The food was tasty and relatively inexpensive, which was a nice surprise.

Andrea and one of her boys, Philip. 

We basically ran out of time to explore the park more because we had dinner reservations at the Augustiner Keller, but I’d highly recommend a visit there if you are headed to Munich. I’d recommend leaving a good chunk of time for it since it is so big, plus getting there took us about half an hour on the tram and bus from our hotel in Arnulfpark. Worth it!

Must-see Munich with kids: Deutsches Museum

Wednesday morning dawned cold and rainy, a perfect day for a visit to a museum. We decided to go to the Deutsches Museum specifically because it had a children’s section (Kinderreich) that I thought the kids might enjoy. Although this is section proved  smaller than I expected, the kids really enjoyed this place.

Learning about pulleys. 

It certainly wasn’t The Children’s Musuem of Indianapolis, or even WonderLab in Bloomington, Indiana, but we spent at least 45 minutes here so I’d say it is safe to say the kids enjoyed themselves. A solid choice on an iffy-weather day in Munich with kids.

From there we moved on to the rest of the museum, which was had quite a few exhibits that seemed interesting to us, including historic aviation, marine navigation, oceanography and astronomy. A decent portion of the signage at exhibits was available in English, which was helpful. I will say the building itself seemed a bit dark and austere to me, but perhaps it just wasn’t my style. Overall, it was interesting though.

Flying a plane! 

We all live in a … 

We were a little bummed that we couldn’t get into the astronomy area because we just missed the beginning of a show, but overall it was a good experience. Our little museum buff Owen was furious when we decided to head for the Hofbrauhaus for some lunch becuase he wanted to see everything. It certainly wouldn’t rank among my favorite museums in the world, but it was a great option for a rainy day in Munich with kids and priced pretty reasonably: 11 euro for adults, free for kids younger than 6. There is also a “family ticket” available, which would be a good deal for those with older kids — 23 euro total for two adults and their minor children.

Must-see Munich with kids: Marienplatz 

This square is the most iconic in Munich, and we headed here Wednesday after the museum. From the center of the square you can see the New Town Hall (the one that looks old), the Old Town Hall (the one that looks newer) and The Column of St. Mary. We didn’t go inside anywhere — being short on time — but it a pretty view.

Walking into the square, which was helpfully only about five minutes from the Hofbrauhaus. 

The Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) was completed in the late 1800s and its primary function is to house the city government, though there is also a restaurant in the basement of the the building.

That green part in the middle of the facade? That’s the famous glockenspiel! At 11 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. it chimes and begins a 12-minute “dance” that reenacts two stories from 16th century Bavaria. Sadly we didn’t get to see the performance this time around, but I’m told it is cute! At the end, the golden rooster at the top chirps three times. If we go to Munich with kids again, I will be making sure we see this.

The Mariensäule (Marian Column) is what gives the Marienplatz its name. It was built in 1638 to celebrate the end of the Thirty Years’ War, one of the deadliest religious wars in European history. It is topped by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary, venerated as the protector of Bavarian, and at the corner of each of the sides is a cherub fighting a mythical creature. It is supposed to symbolize the city overcoming obstacles.

Photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brett. 

The Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) looks newer to me than the New Town Hall, but it actually dates back to the late 1300s.

Day trips from Munich with kids

If you are headed to Munich with kids, consider leaving time for a day trip outside the city in gorgeous Bavaria! Between our tent reservations and spending time with family and friends, we didn’t have time available to leave the city this time around. However, Munich is an excellent jumping off point for several destinations, perhaps the most popular of which is Neuschwanstein Castle, near Fussen, Germany. Chris and I took a tour there in 2010 and loved it.

For more up-to-date information about visiting Neuschwanstein with kids, check out fellow blogger Mark’s post about how to get from Munich to Neuschwanstein. It’s got a lot of great information we’ll be using when we next visit!

Other options include Salzburg, Austria, which my aunt and uncle took the opportunity to see on a day trip from Munich while we were there. Don’t miss a Sound of Music tour OR the Augstiner beer gardens there! We also had friends stay in the Bavarian ski resort of Garmish, about an hour from Munich. Aside from being beautiful in its own right, the town is also an excellent jumping off point for visiting Germany’s Romantic Road.

If you are considering a trip to Germany with kids, I also highly recommend you check out my bloggy friend Erin’s posts about Germany with kids. Actually, even if you aren’t going, you should check out her post just for the amazing photos.

Happy traveling!

Enjoy this post? Remember, sharing is caring! 

The post Munich with kids: Beyond Oktoberfest first appeared on Babies With Backpacks.

The post Munich with kids: Beyond Oktoberfest appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

Dancing on benches. Roasted meats and sausages. Liter after liter of beer.

Yeah, we had a great time at Oktoberfest! (Without the kids this time).  

I mean, how could we NOT? 

So, this trip was the culmination of years of discussion — we’ve been talking with my parents since we returned from our first trip in 2010 — and at least 11 months of planning. I’ve talked before about the infuriating process of trying to get table reservations anywhere for our group, so I won’t rehash that much here except to note that we ultimately went with two: Sunday evening in the Heinz Wurst und Huehnerbraterei and Tuesday afternoon/evening at Kufflers Weinzelt. We’d had the option for a third at Schottenhamel (large tent) for Monday, but we opted against it.

First, our cast of characters from Sunday:

The “Chicago Crowd”

Tom and Kathy, my parents: Oktoberfest was actually toward the tail end of a more than one-month long trip my parents had been on to celebrate my dad kind-of retiring. They’d been in Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland and France before getting to Munich. They are the ultimate party-parents — we went on a trip with them to Spain in 2011 and they basically tried to kill us with the bar hopping. And we were only in our mid-20s then!

Me, my mom and my Miss Linnie (see below). 

Steve and Julie, family friends: Another super-fun set who have been friends with my parents forever. Julie actually came to my bachelorette party back in the day to help make sure no one got lost or kidnapped. They joined my parents’ itinerary starting in Scotland.

Ralph and Marisue, family friends: My parents’ friends from college! Naturally, also super fun and adventurous — Marisue and my sister even rode the huge five-loop roller coaster at Oktoberfest after a bunch of beers. They joined my parents in Paris.

“Miss Linnie” and Keith, my aunt and uncle: I could not tell you why she is “Miss Linnie” instead of Aunt Linnie, but she just is! This ended up being fairly confusing for my husband early in our relationship because he didn’t realize she was my dad’s sister, haha. Miss Linnie is my godmother and Fiona’s too! Some of my very favorite people. This was their first time to Europe and they met up in Munich before going with the rest of the Chicago crowd (except my sister) to Tuscany.

Torie, my sister: My younger sister is 26 and awesome. Easily my favorite sister of all! She joined the group in Paris.

My mom and sister. Pretty ladies! 

Everyone also ended up staying at the same hotel as us, the Citadines Arnulfpark Munchen, which made going to the fest as a group easy. (Except for that time we accidentally left Steve and Julie behind).

Sunday we had reservations at the Heinz Wurst und Huehnerbraterei, one of the small tents at Oktoberfest. As a recap, there are 12 major tents that hold something like 4,000 to 6,000 people at the fest, then several of these smaller ones. The Heinz holds, I believe, less than 500 people.

Above, outside of the Heinz. Below, a look at the tent on the inside — this was right we arrived when things were still quiet. It definitely got busy and fun! Both photos courtesy on my Miss Linnie because I only brought a camera phone. 

When I was searching out table reservations, I had been really trying to get us an evening reservation at one of the big tents. Unfortunately, despite starting the process in literally January,  the only place I had any luck getting a night reservation was here. I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t really have the ambiance of the biger tents, but I really didn’t need to be worried. We had a great time and I don’t remember feeling like I was missing anything (though that could be the three liters of beer talking).

One reason? WELL. When I made these reservations, I was under the impression that the 59 euro per seat we were pre-paying was specifically for two liters of beer each and a meal. Once we arrived there was some considerable confusion because our waiter (who didn’t have much English) seemed to be telling us we could have whatever we wanted. Not wanting to get charged a million euro at end, we repeatedly double-checked this. Sure enough, what we had paid for was indeed all you can drink and all you can eat. From 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. So if the night seems a little hazy … well, that’s why. But, I do know that we drank, we ate, we talked to people, we danced — on benches and on the ground — and we laughed a lot. And harassed the band to play ‘Don’t Stop Believing,” which they didn’t seem to know. Only downer there.

First course. Later, I had weiner schnitzl and at some point there was a dessert tray …? 

Suffice it to say that none of us — with the exception of my sister and my husband, because the world is deeply unfair — were in great shape the next day. Most of us weren’t even in shape to leave the hotel until at least noon that day, though my aunt and uncle somehow managed to drag themselves out of bed and go to Salzburg on a tour. They are some serious troopers.

So, Sunday night was our small-tent experience but on Tuesday we had table reservations at the Kufflers Weinzelt, one of the 12 big tents. Again, the “wine tent” — don’t worry, they did serve beer! — wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I selected it because a) they at least had avilability in the early evening from 4 to 8 p.m., and b) they were offering enormous tables. This was important because during the planning phase we had gotten more and more people to commit to coming, and by then our group had swollen to 16 — plus my brother, who stopped by as well.

Our additional characters:

Brett, my brother-in-law — Brett decided to join us on this trip last spring, which was super exciting for us all! He arrived that Monday, then came back to Sicily with us as well after.

Mike and Andrea, our friends — We’ve known Mike and Andrea’s family since we were all living in Bloomington, as Chris and Mike used to work at the same place. They moved to Naples about a year before we moved to Sigonella. We spent time together this past Thanksgiving, when we talked them into coming to Oktoberfest. They drove from Naples!

Annie and Doug, our friends — Our friends from Sicily! We’d just met this spring, but when they announced they were also planning to be at the Oktoberfest at the same time as us we knew we had to meet up. It worked out perfectly!

Us and Annie and Doug, photo courtesy of Annie! 

Mike, my brother — My brother recently moved to China with his girlfriend, but made a snap decision to come to Oktoberfest about a week beforehand since he also had friends who were going to be here. He spent some time with us Tuesday during the day, then popped by in the evening Tuesday before he had to head to the airport. Also his fest accommodation experience is probably worth a guest post all its own! What say you, Mike?

Some hilarity ensued again when we found out — once again — that the vouchers we had prepurchased (65 euro per seat) weren’t specifically for a certain meal and two drinks, but basically acted as cash to settle the bill at the end after we ordered whatever we wanted. We ended up ordering appetizers for both tables, all the beer and wine we wanted and dinner for everyone, and the bill magically worked out to be almost exactly equal to the 1,040 in vouchers we had, with some left over for the tip. And, once agan, the meal was excellent; most of us got either chicken or duck and they were both delicious. German food hasn’t usually been my favorite, but we didn’t have a bad meal the whole time we were there!

Our “table for 16” turned out to be a smidge cramped, as they basically gave us two booths across from each other that would fit eight people each. It didn’t turn out to be a big issue though, as we basically only sat during dinner and then we were all up talking and dancing.

Photos courtesy of Annie. Again, didn’t bring my big camera because I didn’t want to lose it. 

There was a fun band, and they even played Don’t Stop Believing! WOOO!

We had some good laughs when one of the crowd produced this stuff after seeing some Germans in action using it. It is some kind of mint powder that you snort, and the goal is to wake you up. A bunch of the girls walking around selling magnets and cookies were also selling vials of this, so obviously a bunch of us had to try it (while the rest looked on disapprovingly).

It did wake me up, but only because it was like snorting toothpaste and stung like hell. Still, I’d say it was worth the laugh. Some of us, ahem, got more carried away than others. You guys know who you are!

Anyway, we hit 8 p.m. and the end of our reservation before we even knew it. I would have liked to stay longer, but honestly four hours was probably about the perfect amount of time since we were all pretty well recovered by the next day. That was extra important for the Chicago crowd, who had an early flight to Florence scheduled for Wednesday.

Overall, I was thrilled with our two Oktoberfest tent experiences. Booking was a pain in the ass, but with a big group I would absolutely say it was worth the effort! We’re already talking about going back one of these day — after all, we’ve already got the clothes!

Photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brett 

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The post Oktoberfest in Munich: Grown-up time in the tents appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

Going to Oktoberfest with kids: our experience a Munich babysitting agency.

For our visit to Oktoberfest, we arranged to use a Munich babysitting agency so that we could enjoy some kid-free time. It worked out great and I’m happy to update that more than nine months later, the kids are still talking about Veni, our Munich babysitter. 

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a great time with the kids at Oktoberfest!

That said, we also had a great time at Oktoberfest without the kids. How? By using a babysitting agency for the first time.

I know that using a babysiting service isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and I understand why. However, for us using a Munich babysitting agency was an overwhelmingly positive experience and one I would feel comfortable trying again if the occasion called for it.

One of the reasons that we picked our hotel was because it allegedly had childcare available for a fee. This turned out to be just a referral to the Agentur Mary Poppins Munich, a Munich babysitting agency that matches people with pre-screened babysitters, full-time nannies, elder care providers, etc. I got in contact with them early in the summer to see if they could connect us with a Munich babysitter for the two times we had reservations at the beer tents, letting them know my criteria along the way (main ones: at least 20 years old, experienced in childcare, spoke at least some English). From there, they set me up with contact information with one of the sitters working with them who met our requirements and we e-mailed back and forth with her to get everything squared away. The fee for connecting us with the babysitter was 50 euro, then we paid her an hourly rate.

So, our babysitter was Veni — a 20-something physical therapy student in Munich who has worked for Mary Poppins for a while, including during last year’s Oktoberfest for other families at our hotel. She described herself as speaking “some” English, but her English turned out to be almost flawless! I was worried that the kids would freak out about us leaving Sunday night, so I brought a bribe (a carton of Hatchimals) for her to give them as we were leaving. Turned out, that was completely unnecessary because they were basically in love with our Munich babysitter the second she walked in the door.

She took them to the park, colored with them, taught them new games and — best of all — got them to sleep before we got home. Victory! We heard about Veni endlessly for the next two days.

Photo credit: Veni, who was nice enough to send me these gorgeous pictures she took! 

Veni also helped us out massively on Tuesday afternoon/evening by watching our friends’ three children, Philip, Henry and Sadie, too. Mike and Andrea had planned to bring their regular babysitter with them to Munich, but something came up about a week beforehand and they were scrambling to find someone to watch the kids so they could keep our reservations. They considering using a Munich babysitting agency as well, but with Oktoberfest being so close we worried about whether there would be time to find someone. I asked Veni if she could manage all five kids (for some extra cash, obviously) and she was nice enough to step in and help out. And was brave enough to take the whole crowd to the nearby park AND on public transit!

I think they had a blast, don’t you?

Final thoughts on using a Munich babysitting agency

Using a Munich babysitting agency worked great for us! I’d feel comfortable recommending it as an excellent option to anyone. While we love traveling with the kids, it is always nice to have a bit of adult time.

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The post Oktoberfest: Using a Munich babysitting agency appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.

Can you take kids to Oktoberfest in Munich?

Yes!

Should you take kids to Oktoberfest in Munich?

Yes! (At least, during the day. At night you might want to invest in a babysitting service as we did).

We’re just returned from taking our two kids to Oktoberfest in Munich, where we met up with a bunch of friends and family members for the celebration. It was everything I hoped it would be (if a little colder than I imagined) over the last 10 months or so of planning this trip. And we were delighted to confirm that Oktoberfest with kids can be just as fun as Oktoberfest as solo adults!

(For more nitty-gritty details about where to stay, what to eat and what to do if you take kids to Oktoberfest, check out this post).

I’ve written once before about what went into getting reservations for the tents, but as those times were when we went sans kiddos I’ll save that for another post. Instead, I want to talk about taking these little cuties with us to the festival! Cliff notes’ version: Oktoberfest with kids is great!

Now, you could be forgiven if it seems like taking kids to Oktoberfest — probably one of the best-known beer fests in the world — isn’t the best idea. But you (and I, before I did the research) would be wrong! Oktoberfest is a big family event for locals and a large chunk of it is set up especially for children. We even spotted what looked like school groups there, on what I’m guessing were school field trips.

Kids’ activities at Oktoberfest. Yes, there’s plenty to do if you take kids to Oktoberfest!

So most people know about the beer tents at Oktoberfest — there are 12 large ones that seat as many as 6,000 people, plus several smaller ones as well. What I didn’t remember from our last trip in 2010, however, was that the majority of the grounds were covered with games and rides for everyone from the littlest kids to adults (just ask my sister and our friend Marisue, who rode the roller coaster Tuesday after 4 hours in a beer tent!). And of course, all kinds of food stalls selling all manner of things — most of which are delicious and terrible for you. If you take kids to Oktoberfest with you, what more could they want?!

We decided to take the kids to the fest on Tuesday, which was a “family day” where prices were allegedly discounted. They probably were, but by the end we felt we’d spent so much money it was hard to tell. Oh well! Accompanying us were my brother-in-law, Brett, my sister, Torie, and my aunt and uncle, Miss Linnie and Keith. One of my brothers, Mike, made a last minute decision to come to Munich (from Shaghai!) and he also spent some time with us.

We had decided months ago to dress up for the occasion, and I’d ordered our outfits mostly from German companies (Owen’s was the exception — Etsy). The only thing we hadn’t really thought about was what to do if the weather was colder than expected, as indeed it was. We ended up popping a pair of Chris’ socks on Owen to serve as legwarmers of sorts, as it ended up being only in the upper 50s. This photo was taken in the hotel, Citadines Arnulfpark Munich.

Both kids acquired their headgear from a pop-up shop we passed on the way to the festival. 

The group, minus my sister who was checking her oversized purse. No rucksacks or large purses allowed in the fest for security reasons. My parents and the family friends (Steve and Julie, Ralph and Marisue) were on a walking tour of Munich that morning. 

So our kids haven’t ever really been to a festival-type place or theme park at an age when they could really go on rides or play games. We had so much fun … with a few isolated incidents.

First thing Owen spotted was a target shooting game, which to my very great surprise he was old enough to play. My brother Mike, a former Marine, was his tutor in the beginning.

But he ended up being startlingly good at it. Hit 9 targets out of 12! This would be remembered as his absolute favorite thing this trip.

Fiona also got to play a couple of games, though admittedly she wasn’t so much old enough for them. But of course she wants to do everything Owen does.

We did have one miscalculation on our part: my sister asked Owen if he wanted to go into the haunted house ride with her. We should have just said no because we know he historically hasn’t liked scary things, but he was so insistent that he wanted to go that we said OK. He sobbed through the whole thing, which even my sister said was pretty freaky. Whoops.

Rides at Oktoberfest with kids!

We rebounded with a bunch of rides though!

The ferris wheel was awesome, the fanciest one I’ve ever been on and the six adults and two kids all fit on there easily. We had a great view of the entire fest from up there. Fiona did seem to get a little nervous about the height, but while I’m personally not usually the biggest fan of heights I wasn’t all that nervous with this one because each carriage was closed in. It was sort of like a little log cabin on a wheel, with open windows on the side.

The others also had a ride in some bumper cars, though Fiona had to be lifted out halfway through (it was only us in there so no problem).

For older kids and adults, there were rides that were considerably larger as well. And some water rides, which we skipped for obvious reasons. Brrrrr.

In the beer tents at Oktoberfest with kids — it’s fine, seriously.

The temperature seemed to drop quite a bit in the time we were there, so after a few hours (and some of the best chocolate-covered strawberries we’ve ever had, later determined to be Fiona’s favorite part of the entire trip) we decided to head over to one of the beer tents for some lunch. Kids are absolutely allowed in the beer tents, which are honestly pretty low-key during the day. After 8 p.m., children younger than 6 must leave. We went to the Lowenbrau tent and had duck, kasespatzle (cheesy noodles with fried onions on top) and fries for the kids. It was all yum.

Unfortunately, it was here that we learned that Fiona was way more tired than we’d realized. She climbed under the table to, I had assumed, look around. Instead, she just laid down her head and fell asleep pretty much instantly. Whoops. She wasn’t in a good position, so I had to drag her out and she didn’t take it well. It was just as well we needed to get back to our hotel to meet the babysitter (more on that later) because she was pissed.

I swear I’m not actually as heartless as this pictures makes me look. But she gets a little bit funny when she’s mad because you can offer her literally anything and she’ll just scream no. If I had to take a guess, I’m betting that at the moment Brett snapped this I had just offered her a unicorn and was told “unicorns are the WORST.” I ended up taking her outside to get a sparkling apple juice, which cooled her fury. 

SO — despite the rocky ending and chilly weather, we had an excellent time and the kids were very excited. I wouldn’t hesitate to take them there again if the opportunity came up, especially since the older they get the more they’ll be able to do.

TOP TIPS IF YOU PLAN TO TAKE KIDS TO OKTOBERFEST

1. I’d suggest going early, and going on a weekday. The fest opens at 10 and we arrived a little after 11. It was very quiet, which meant we didn’t wait for any of the rides or games and easily found a table in the beer tent at lunch.
2. Remember that you can’t bring a large purse or backpack for security reasons. According to my friend Andrea, you do get a bigger bag if you also have a stroller; however, keep in mind that strollers aren’t allowed on Saturday or after 6 p.m. because of the crowds.
3. Try for one of the family days to reduce the cost of the games and rides.
4. Have fun!

The bottom line: If you want to go to Munich for Oktoberfest, don’t let the kids stop you. There is plenty to do for everyone if you take kids to Oktoberfest — and besides, hiring a Munich babysitter is always an option as well!

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The post Oktoberfest in Munich: Fest fun with the kids appeared first on Babies With Backpacks.