Berlin and Lego Land

When we started planning our trip to Berlin, I knew I wanted to be in a good location since we were arriving mid day friday. I found an adorable apartment right near Check Point Charlie on AirBnB. I do recommend confirming how many rooms you need if staying here. I assumed 2 bedrooms because it said "2 bedrooms" and because of the price but only 1 room was unlocked. The other was never unlocked and Rob had to sleep on the couch. I left a message for the owner and never heard anything back till after our stay. 

Anyways...

We only had 1 full day to enjoy Berlin so we decided to do the Hop on, Hop off bus tour. It was perfect for us because 1. Rand loved getting on the buses 2. It was really crappy weather and it was nice to see the sites and not get soaking wet 3. One of the stops was right near our rental 4. We got to see the main highlights of Berlin without even leaving the bus. I wanted to see the inside of the Reichstag Building and visit the Memorial of the Berlin Wall and the The Holocaust Memorial but we ran out of time. 

Around Berlin you may spot some unusual pedestrian signals. These are Ampelmännchen (little traffic light men) in the former East Germany. You may even find women traffic figures but we didn't see any. 

My favorite stop in Berlin was the Ritter Sport Cafe. We enjoyed our hot chocolates and chocolate dessert. 

One of the final stops on the Hop on, Hop off was at Lego Land. My only regret was not buying our tickets ahead of time. Not only is it MUCH cheaper online but the line to buy tickets at the door were insanely long. 

Rand had such a fun time at Lego Land. I don't know what he enjoyed more; the Lego Berlin with a working train or the 3D Lego movie! 

On our way out of Berlin, we made a pitstop and let Rand stretch his legs a little at this great little rest stop.

After our time in Berlin, we headed to Dresden but not before stopping at Tropical Islands Resort first.

Northern Bavaria~ Dachau, Garmisch, Erding & more

Rob and I just got back from a trip to see Northern Bavaria. We left right after Rob got out of work to our hotel in Erding, the Ibis budget München Airport Erding. We woke up early that next morning and headed to the Dachau Concentration Camp. 

We spent a couple hours walking around the property and looking around the museum and memorials. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany, opened in 1933. It was a very somber visit but I am glad that we went and saw this very important piece of history.  Although I didn't want to go to a place that would make me sad on our trip, it is also important to understand the history of this place and feel the pain that thousands of prisoners went through over here.

 Next, we headed back to Erding and had a delicious lunch at Gastsatte sum Erdinger Weissbrau before our tour of the Erdinger Brewery. Erdinger is one of my husband's favorite beers so I knew he was excited about our tour and taste testing. The tour was in Deutsch but  was still interesting and pretty fun. The tour ended in their "bar" where they played a video (in english) recapping the tour and gave us brats, bretzels and beer or wasser with gas (which I got). The tour had about 30 other people so it was fun chatting and getting to meet some new people while enjoying some good food (and beer).

After our tour and light meal we got back in the car and traveled to Grainau. While planning our trip I decided we should stay in Grainau instead of Garmisch because prices were a bit cheaper. Plus I found the cutest B&B with incredible views. 

We stayed at Hotel Garni Jägerhof which not only had a beautiful view of the mountains but had the most amazing restaurant right next door, the Spatzenhausl. When we walked in, it was packed and half the restaurant were dressed up in traditional Bavarian lederhosens and dirndls. They had a few oompah bands taking turns playing and it was such a thrill to hear them! Rand even enjoyed hearing the music! The food was delicious as well. 

 The next morning we woke up early, had a delicious breakfast at our B&B and headed out to Garmisch for a hike to see Partnach Gorge. We parked at the Olympiaschanze and took the cable car up, and hiked down past the gorge and then went through it (from the end to the front). It was a lovely hike and really enjoyed the stunning views. 

We stopped in town and had lunch at a darling little Italian restaurant and headed back to Grainau to Eibsee Lake for more hiking. 

After a much needed night's rest we woke up with intensions to go hiking to Hell Valley but the weather was so cold and it was raining so we decided to just get on the road and head back home... but not till we stop at the Ritter Sport Chocolate Factory first! On our way home, we took a detour through Waldenbuch to stop at the Ritter Sport Chocoexhibition. They had a little cafe where we enjoyed some yummy sandwiches, a delicious hot cocoa and an amazing apfelstrudel with chocolate drizzle.  

After our amazing lunch we headed up to the "museum" part of the tour. The had tons of interactive things for kids to do and even have a chocolate making class but that is for kids ONLY and you must register them for it in advance. After the tour we headed down to the chocolate shop. I made a beeline to the back of the shop where they have a room of discounted chocolate. I filled up a box of my Ritter chocolate and even got a fleece and hat with the Ritter logo.