by Pete Barba (Warning, Dad humor ahead!)

Germany is the wörst.  Too much beer, sausage, cows and castles.  The people wear funny clothes. To top it off, Octoberfest isn’t even in October.  (just kidding, it was awesome!)

Liechtenstein

On the way to Germany, we did a very quick lunch stop in Liechtenstein.  Liechtenstein is one of the smaller countries in Europe and is known for its mountains and banking.  It is sandwiched between Switzerland and Germany, and is half the size of Rhode Island. We drove the length of the country 25km (15 miles), grabbed a quick snack, and admired a castle.  All that in 2 hours.  It was my fastest trip ever to a country. 

After an amazing week in Switzerland, we were off to Füssen, Germany for a week of homeschooling and downtime.  One of the paradoxical things about traveling for a year is that it is exhausting.  We don’t realize the amount of assumptions that our brains make in our daily lives.  Which milk to buy, how do I drive here, what does that expression mean by a stranger?  These are things our brains automatically processes in our daily lives to save energy, but one of the joys (and stresses) of traveling is that you have to relearn all the things that you take for granted.  It forces you to get out of your own head and experience the world around you.  For someone like me who is always caught in his own head, it is incredibly refreshing.  For someone like Kate who hates making a million trivial decisions, it can be exhausting. So, fun and relaxing…

Pfronten Festival

For our week in Füssen, Germany all we planned was to see a few Bavarian castles and eat lots of rich food, plus do some [dreaded] homeschooling.  However, upon arrival, our Airbnb host informed us that we were lucky to be in the area for the annual celebration of bringing the cows down from the high mountain pastures for the winter in the village.  Within an hour we were back in the car headed to nearby Pfronten for a local parade to kick off the festivities.  There’s something magical about experiencing small town parades and celebrations.  There is no “disneyification” (Disney = polished but fake), just true joy and fun.  We watched local marching bands, saw lots of traditional clothing, and even saw the local fire brigade with a hay fire burning on their float (you don’t see that in California!)  It was a great, but it was just the beginning and we planned to return in the morning.

The festivities continued early with the parade of cows.  Imagine this – small town, narrow country streets with buildings on both sides, lots of people crowding the road and 300 fattened, horned and confused cows being herded through the streets wearing loud bells.  While my responsible paternal brain screamed “Not Safe”, my wanderlust brain yelled even louder “CAN YOU BELIEVE WE ARE PART OF THIS FUN!”  Don’t worry, my father brain put the kids in a place they could escape if things got out of control.  

After the crazy but fun parade of cows was done, the human festivities began.  A huge tent in a field was packed with tables, more beer and sausage than I could ever imagine, and a oompah band ready to fill the atmosphere with tunes of celebration.  We grabbed a table near some college-aged locals and drank beer out of steins the size of a melon.  Then we took it all in: the Germanic music that made us want to polka, the robust waitresses who carried TWELVE 1 liter steins at once, the smells of all kinds of sausage, and the feeling of joy and camaraderie that comes from small town celebrations.  Kate had a longstanding desire to experience her Germanic heritage, and the celebration fulfilled that dream.  

Castle Country

During our week, we saw a lot of castles.  I’m not going to bore you with descriptions of the opulence and extravagance of the castles…let’s just say they live up to and exceed all the pictures.  But I will share with you the tale of King Ludwig II and Neuschwanstein Castle.  

King Ludwig II was the King of Bavaria from 1864-1886, starting at age 18 and ending tragically at age 40.  To say he was eccentric is an understatement.  Depending upon who you believe, either he was a very creative genius, bipolar, clinically insane, or maybe suffered from the effects of chronic usage of chloroform for tooth pain.  Nevertheless, he loved to build beautiful castles.  He blended together his favorite styles from many historical periods to create architectural works of art unlike anything the world had ever seen.  Imagine the best of each period all seamlessly merged together: Greek gods, Gothic spires and gargoyles, Arthurian legends, and of course artwork and fabrics from the Romantic Period.  His masterpiece is Neuschwanstein castle.  Perched on top of a cliff, yet below towering mountains and waterfalls, the whimsical yet powerful castle sits, overseeing all his subjects.  If you imagine your perfect castle, it might look like the Sleeping Beauty castle from Disneyland.  Neuschwanstein Castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney, except Walt didn’t have the funds to build a castle as grandiose as Ludwig’s masterpiece.  

Unfortunately for Ludwig II, he made some people really angry with his antisocial behavior and building of extravagant castles, so his own government and friends arrested him on grounds of insanity.  Then, not surprisingly, he ended up dead in a lake along with his personal physician.  Some say it was murder/suicide, others drowning, possibly murder.  We’ll never know, but it never pays to be a crazy leader.  (I probably should learn something….). The irony of the whole thing is his subjects were upset at his lavish spending, even though he used his own funds, but 150 years later, his castles have brought into his country a hundred fold in tourist dollars.

Apart from castles, small town celebrations, beautiful hikes and a quaint old town, we spent the rest of our time “living”.  Just because we are traveling for a whole year, doesn’t mean that our normal lives stop.  Homeschooling is a necessity, laundry is never ending, bills need to be paid, budgets need to be reconciled, and so many other small things have to be done.  Having a week every month or so to lay low is critically important and we are finding that we need more slow weeks as time goes on.  Thankfully the second half of our trip is still unfinished, so we can slow down our cadence and enjoy our travels even more.  

Füssen Old Town

Reutte, Austria

Bavarian Music and Dance

Thanks for reading to the end!  Next up: Austria! Don’t forget to check out our past stories and subscribe for future articles as well.  Find us on Facebook and Instagram for bonus content (I have videos of above!)!  As always, if you are planning a trip to any location we visit we are happy to provide more details and opinions, so feel free to contact us.