For our Christmas vacation this year, we travelled back to Europe and spent some time in Munich, Germany before heading out to Austria for a snowy Christmas. Germany is my favorite country that I have ever been to, so it was natural to want to visit again to see the country decorated for Christmas. We were not disappointed. While in Munich, we went to many Christmas markets, and each one is fairly different from the next. Our favorite was a medieval themed market where mulled wine was served in goblets, and we saw a small parade full of medieval characters. We also visited plenty of beer halls where the atmosphere was family-friendly and full of Christmas cheer. To top off the experience, we finally decided to buy some traditional German clothing to wear during the numerous times that we celebrate Oktoberfest (you'd be surprised how many times we wish we had had this before!). Justin bought some lederhosen (leather knickers with suspenders), I bought drindl (think of a dress from Hansel and Gretl), and even Kaelia got a kinderdrindl (kid's drindl); they were sadly out of Taelyn's size, so we will look online to order one for her.
A nice surprise in Munich that we did not expect was that we got a chance to meet up with some old friends that we used to work with. We were all posting on Facebook that we were in Munich for the weekend, so we contacted each other and got together. We taught with one couple in South Africa, and then met up with a family that we worked with and knew very well in China. What a small world!
After a few days in Munich, we crossed the border in to Austria and drove a couple of hours to a small mountain town called Obertraun. This was a very cute, quiet, beautiful town, equipped with lots of wintertime activities. When we first got there, they had not been any snow yet, and we were all very excited to see snow. Taelyn was just a baby when she last played in snow, and Kaelia has never done so. Our host at the B&B told us we could find some snow at the top of the Alps if we took a cable car, so that was our first adventure. We even brought a sled with us so the girls could try it out! The view was absolutely gorgeous and was especially nice as we went on a little hike along a trail. Justin pulled the kids along on the sled from time to time, and they all went sledding any time we came across a steeper hill. By the end of the hike, the girls even mustered the courage to sled by themselves. They loved it!
Here was the girls' first downhill sledding experience
On Christmas day, it just started to snow, but it was not enough to partake in any outdoor activities. For the morning, we spent time indoors as the girls found stockings from Santa and they exchanged gifts with each other. ironically, they happened to buy each other the same type of gift! Taelyn got her sister a big-eyed stuffed animal dog, and Kaelia got Taelyn a big-eyed cat. They both did a great job thinking about what the other would like, and it was a heartfelt moment when they opened their gifts. The girls also know that Santa would visit our house in Qatar once we got back. After a relaxing morning, though, we headed out to an indoor water park where we had the perfect family outing to celebrate Christmas together. The water park had a few water slides, a wave pool, a lap pool with diving boards, and kids pool playground, many heated pools and hot tubs, and even a pool that led to the outside where the snow fell down on our faces.
After Christmas day, the snow kept coming and coming. We got to do all of the snowy activities that we were hoping. First, we made a little snowman that the girls named Frosty. Then we went for a hike through some snowy trails. I had a nice time taking pictures of the family during this hike; Kaelia noticed this as asked if she could take a picture of Daddy and Mommy together since we didn't have any pictures with the two us. Surprisingly, she took a perfect picture of us!
On one of our last days in Austria, we finally headed to the slopes for a day of skiing. The girls spent a couple of hours in ski school where they got to practice the basics of going downhill while Justin and I attempted to make it down the mountain before their class was over. This would have been no problem for Justin, but it was not the case for me. It has officially been confirmed that I should never ski again! I am the worst skiier on Earth and eventually took my skiis off on the last hill so that I could walk the rest of the way. Aside from spending most of my time on the ground, though, we had a nice time, and the girls asked if they could try out ski school again in the future.
Of all the winter activities that we did, the girls really enjoyed a simple game of snowball fighting. They thought it was hilarious to get Justin or me; whenever we walked somewhere in the town, the girls spent most of their time off to the side of the side walk, collecting more snow for more snowballs. Overall, the girls were just fascinated with the snow. When Kaelia wasn't throwing snowballs, she would just walk down the street with her mouth open so she could eat the snow!
We are so glad to have finally found the snow for a Christmas vacation and to share that experience with the girls. It really was a fantastic trip!
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