They arrived just in time to catch the last day of Oktoberfest. After dropping their things off at my apartment we made the venture down to the Wiesn and so did the rest of the entire city. The day was beautiful so it makes sense that the rest of the city (and more) were there, but still. We went through a fun house (which would not be legal in the US based on safety concerns) and then Carli and Ava went on a roller coaster and the swings. We had all the Oktoberfest food: sausage, chocolate covered fruit, candied almonds, magenbrot, and good old cotton candy (which it turns out Ava does not like).
Next morning we picked up the rental car and headed to Switzerland with a nice little stop in Liechtenstein. The more countries the better! Not only did we see the beautiful snow capped Alps but we discovered that Ava gets carsick. Poor thing, she was such a trooper and even managed to make it outside of the car before, well, you know. Our hotel was at the end of a long, insanely narrow and winding road and it had a view from the movies. Not even the movies, it looked fake. Let's just say that the view from the restaurant (directly below our room, so the same view) had to be the best view I have ever had while eating (and playing I spy).
Next day we explored the area of Davos and rode the gondola up to the best petting zoo I've ever experienced. Big open pens with 2 types of goats, pigs, chickens, and llamas. The animals were actually fun and not as pushy as normal petting farm animals.
The next day we headed down to Florence where we ate our way through the city. Between the spaghetti, pizza, and gelato I think Ava was as much in heaven as the rest of us. Speaking of which, the Fiorentina steak was actually worth the hype. You must try it.
During those 2 days we saw all the sites, did some major shopping, and even got to see 'David.' He was much more impressive than I had imagined. Ava was so good in the museum and insisted on getting not only a face shot postcard (which she could take to school) but also wanted the full body shot postcard. That's my girl.
Then we headed to Siena for the day. There we got to see more of a medieval Italian city with a bit more character. This was the site of the astounding occurrence where a 5 year old child asked to go to a museum and the adults didn't want to. This was the first (and probably last) time that will ever happen. It broke our hearts to say no, but we really didn't want to go.
Then that night I am quite certain we sat next to the Florence mafia at dinner. I mean who else would get their food so quickly. It took us forever just to put in our order. Plus every person walking by stopped to say hello.
Then it was on to Lake Garda. I now understand why it is the German vacation destination. It is a beautiful, huge lake with mountains all along one side and it is only about 3.5 hours from Munich. It was such a fun night. We played foosball and bocce ball, which Ava was oddly amazing at. She won 3 out of 4 games! Then we decided to be lazy and just eat at the restaurant at our little hotel and what do you know, not only was it reasonable priced, but it was one of the best meals of the trip!
The next morning we headed back to Munich and then they spent their last day here exploring the city. We of course hit all the churches and then had a nice traditional Bavarian dinner. My favorite was when we were in St. Peter's church and Ava said that "the 2nd disco is my favorite disco." Not bad, I mean who's heard of a fresco anyway?!
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