Eventually we hopped off the bus and spent the next several hours walking around the older part of town. We also hiked up to the fortress that overlooks the city. It was quite the steep walk to the top! We had intended to take the cable car up, but somehow missed the entrance and by the time we realized it we were almost at the top anyway.

Our second day in Salzburg the four of us headed just outside the city, actually crossing back into Germany, and took a tour of Eagle’s Nest, which was one of Hitler’s getaways. It’s a small house at one of the highest points in the mountains in this area. We drove to the place where you catch a bus up the windy road. Then you walk through a cave-like walkway to an elevator that takes you to the very top. The view was gorgeous from the top. You could see Salzburg in the distance, along with the lake we would head to next. We hiked and climbed on the rocks and enjoyed the view for an hour before heading back down.

Next we headed back down the mountains to a beautiful lake. We took a ferry across the lake, which gave us more great views of the mountains around us, along with a few waterfalls that went into the lake. The ferry dropped us at an area that had lots of hiking trails, so I took a quick hike before we had to head back. From the looks of it we could have spent days hiking there, but unfortunately we were coming to the end of our day already.

We stopped for what ended up being the best meal of the trip on the way back to our hotel. We were in a small, German town that we passed through along the way. There was a restaurant with a packed parking lot, so we figured it had to be good, and it was! We were probably the only English speakers there, so it was nice to know we were at a more traditional place. It was a delicious German meal (even though the entire process took several hours!)

It was a nice, easy drive into Munich, and it was beautiful because you start to move into the mountainous part of Germany. Traffic definitely picked up along the way. Our first stop was a traditional beer garden. We had a map that marked many of the beer gardens, so we just picked one out that was in the middle of a very large park. Enjoying a few hours here was another highlight of the trip. It was a gorgeous park that we walked through to get to the beer garden, which consisted of hundreds of picnic tables. Only alcohol available was beer of course! So we enjoyed a few liters, along with some bratwurst and mashed potatoes. Lunch of champions! They had a band playing and everyone was dressed in traditional lederhosen. It was just as you’d hope Oktoberfest would be like. And since it was early in the day it wasn’t flooded with people, although it was busy. After finishing our food and drink we decided to head into old town to walk around the square for a bit.

Anna and I took several hundred stairs (way too many to count) to the top of a tower that had a great lookout over the main square and all of Munich. You could see the mountains in the background, but it was a little hazy so not perfectly. Ryan and Anna had been up there before and said sometimes the view is even more amazing than when I was up there. We spent the next few hours just walking around old town, through the farmers market and around all the old churches that line the main street. It was a gorgeous city.

But it was totally overrun with people. There’s no doubt Oktoberfest is a huge draw here! You were dodging people constantly. One of the wonderful things about the other cities in Germany we had visited up to this point is the quaintness, and small-town feel you get in all the town centers. Couldn’t quite enjoy that in Munich as much because it was so busy. But it was a spectacle that I’m happy I can say I got to experience.

Before I had started to research Oktoberfest much, I would have thought that is was all about places like the beer garden we visited earlier in the day. But come to find out, the true Oktoberfest is actually a big state fair-like deal. With rides, games and everything you’d expect at a carnival. On top of that they have huge beer gardens set up on the fair grounds, but it is so packed with people you can’t even get in unless you get there very early in the day. So after talking with friends who had been before, we came to the conclusion this wasn’t for us. The beer gardens in the city, not on the fair grounds, were of more interest to us. But we decided on our way out of town to Salzburg we’d do a quick drive-by to see if we could just peak at the spectacle that is “true Oktoberfest.” We ended up with a really close parking spot, amazingly, so decided to run in for a few minutes. Talk about overcrowding. You couldn’t even walk with your group because you were constantly dodging people. It was a total madhouse, but again something I’m glad I got to see!

My advice to someone interested in Oktoberfest: go a few weeks before the real festival. The real beer gardens are always set up in Munich, and that felt like the true German experience to me, and was so enjoyable. The festival at the fair grounds was rather miserable if you ask me!

So, next stop is Salzburg, and we headed on our way. This was the roughest drive we had because the traffic was terrible. No doubt some others were doing just what we were doing. But eventually we made it to our hotel in the mountains, where we’d spend the next three nights.

Our next stop was Nuremberg. It was probably a three hour drive from Postsdam, but driving on the Autobaun is an amazing way to drive. Straight, smooth road all the way. I’d guess we were driving around 85 mph, but cars were flying past us. Easily hitting 100. With all the BMWs and Audis in Germany, not to mention Ferraris and other amazing cars, you can’t blame them for driving fast!

We got to Nuremberg and checked into our hotel, and then the four of us headed to the big Nazi museum. The museum is built into part of a Nazi structure that is still standing. It’s part of a collusieum-like complex where they would hold huge Nazi rallys. We spent a few hours there and then headed into old town Nuremberg.

We had a nice, traditional German dinner: sausages, potato salad and huge pretzels. And beer, of course. We spent the rest of the day/evening walking around the old town and up to an old castle at one of the highest points in the city. Great sunset views.

The next morning we headed back into the old town for some coffee before heading to Munich. We drank our coffee along the river that runs through the town and grabbed chocolate croissants for breakfast. It was short visit to Nuremberg, but it was a wonderful place to stop and ended up being one of my favorite old towns that we visited.

Then we headed to the grounds that are home to a true palatial estate. Several castles (two “main” ones) and gorgeous gardens. Not sure we knew when we started out just how much walking we were going to be doing to get from castle to castle! They must have taken horses when people were living there. We toured the inside of one of the castles and just enjoyed the others from the outside. Luckily it was another beautiful day for walking. Our German is terrible, but somehow we got on a correct bus that took us back to the city center so we didn’t have to walk all the way back through the palace’s gardens to get there. Not sure we could have made it! We had dinner in the dutch part of town before walking back down their main street toward our hotel. Luckily we came across a Starbucks so I was able to linger outside for a few minutes and use their wifi to find out that I have an adorable new nephew! So glad I didn’t have to wait too long to hear the news from home!

We met up with Ryan and Anna and all headed out one of the bars on the main street for a drink before heading to bed. German beer had won me over by this point! The next morning we headed out for our next city: Nurmberg. If I remember right, I think it was about a three hour drive.

I think we saw just about everything! The tour took us to many of the buildings and sites involved in WWII, the Cold War and the division of east and west Berlin. Or at least what is left of many of the sites. We saw the piece of the wall that’s still standing, Checkpoint Charlie and a few buildings that still stand that were put up by the Nazis. We stood above the bunker Hitler was in when he killed himself and saw their Holocaust Memorial. And we ended the tour at Brandenburg Gate. It is truly a fascinating city and maybe the single most historic place I’ve ever visited. We were exhausted by the end of the tour!

After the tour we walked some more until we found a nice place for dinner. After filling up on steak and salad (not exactly our most German meal) we grabbed a cab back to the hotel. I hit the pool and steam room before collapsing for the night! The next morning we walked around our hotel, which was near all of the embassies, and had breakfast at a small bakery. The pastries were amazing everywhere in Germany. We walked along the fringe of Berlin’s “central park” for a short time before hitting the road for Potsdam.

The weather was gorgeous each and every day we were there. Almost always sunny and in the 70s. Ryan and Anna swear they aren’t lying when they say the weather is cool and dreary in Poland. So we couldn’t have been luckier in that department. For me the trip started with a 10-hour plane ride from DFW to Frankfurt, Germany. Here I had a four block of time to kill before catching a train to my brother’s city, Poznan, Poland. I was in a bit of a daze after the long flight and time difference, but I wanted to at least see a little of the city. So I took the train from the airport to the main train station, right in the city center. For the next couple hours I just walked around. Frankfurt is a huge city along a beautiful river. Race for the Cure happened to be going on that day, so it was also a busy city this particular Sunday. I walked to the river, where supposedly a lot of their museums are located. Didn’t have time to check any of them out, but it was a great setting.

That’s basically how I filled my little layover, strolling around in whatever direction looked interesting to me. Before heading back to the train station I stopped at a Starbucks to email Jason and let him know I had made it to Germany. This is one of the things that stunned me throughout my trip. Almost every single city we visited had a Starbucks. I would usually refuse to visit an American chain while traveling abroad, but like in the U.S., they all had free wifi. So this was a great way for me to keep in touch with home. I studied abroad in London for a semester in college, and probably talked to my family twice the entire time and had to take a train to get to free internet, so times have sure changed for the better in this department!

Next was my seven-hour train ride to Poznan. What I was able to stay awake for was really pretty countryside. Daylight stayed through my train change in Berlin, but I couldn’t see much beyond that stop. Mom and Ryan were there to pick me up when I got off the train, and after stopping back and he and Anna’s apartment the three of us headed out for a drink in Poznan’s square. Poznan really is a neat city, with a really pretty square lined with restaurants and beautiful buildings. After my long day of traveling I crashed when we got back to Ryan’s apartment and didn’t get up until 10 the next morning.

We spent the next day in Poznan, where Ryan showed us some of his school buildings and some of the other areas they spend time in in Poznan. We tried some Polish beer at another restaurant right on the square. And we ended the day with Anna cooking us dinner! This was great, especially since we’d be on the road for the next nine days.

Next up will be some of the video we shot. But y’all know how slow we are to post sometimes, so don’t get too excited!

Jason and I felt like we got our first real vacation since Maya was born, thanks to my mom. She sat in the room with Maya for her naps (which sometimes were as long as four hours; Maya wore herself out each morning at the beach!) and stayed in after she went to bed, so Jason and I were able to head to the hot tub in our building or out for a drink. It was great to have so much relaxing time each afternoon where we could read and nap in the sun, and at night to have the freedom we used to have before our sweet girl was born! We’re very thankful for the time.

This trip was especially a treat because Maya just loved the water. Ten time more than she ever has in the past. She also loved playing in the sand and crawling around on the beach. She would giggle and laugh when the waves hit her legs and point and race toward the pool each morning when we staked out our chairs. The resort was packed with other kids and families, so she made lots of friends at the pool and always had someone to watch. It was a very kid-friendly pool, with a very shallow part she could walk in. (There was also a water slide, but this was only for us adults! Jason and I loved it!) They also had a mini-zoo at the resort, so Maya often stopped to watch the tigers on the way to dinner. And they had a bird show each day by the pool. We thought about going on other excursions around the area, but Jason and I decided we were so happy relaxing right where we were that we didn’t want to give up any of our time to do anything else.

It was quite the trip to make with a 1-year-old, but we’d do it again in a second. Maya now has her first stamp, hopefully of many, in her passport. It’s so sweet with her baby photo in it! The flight to Puerto Vallarta is just about the same as it is to Minnesota from Dallas, but when you add customs and immigration in, we had a couple long days of travel. Maya held up exceptionally, especially on the way home, when she made friends with the people behind us on the plane, standing and peaking back at them the entire flight. A four-hour nap the day after we got home just proved how worn out our sweet girl was. We’re excited we were able to take her on this trip and all spend so much time together. It was great to give her a taste of something that was a big part of my life growing up: visiting Mexico, where the kind, friendly people and the beautiful weather and scenery always make for a great vacation.

(I did a poor job of editing our photos down this time. So below are some of my favorites from Maya at the beach and in the water, and I’ll have to do another post with some of our others.)

We had a nice night in Columbia and Maya had a great time watching Ford right from the beginning. She really loves being around other little kids and especially her cousin!

The next morning we headed to the beach and Grandad flew into Myrtle Beach later that afternoon. The next five days were filled with mornings on the beach, afternoons playing back at the beautiful house we stayed at and evenings of doing a whole lot of nothing. It was just the relaxing vacation Jason and I needed. It doesn’t get much better than naps in a hammock!

Maya really seemed to like the beach, but just in short doses. We always tried to get out in the morning before her first nap so we could all be at the beach together, so by the end of our time out there she was almost always close to meltdown and ready for a long nap. But overall she really loved it. She liked sitting in the sand and moving it around with her fingers and feet and didn’t seem to mind the waves that would come up and wash over her legs. I think she’s definitely going to be a beach girl as she gets a little older and can run around in the waves like her cousin.

We also got to go out one night without the kiddos, while Grandad stayed behind to babysit. It was nice to have an adults-only dinner and the seafood was delicious.

It was really nice to spend such a large chunk of time with our family, too, and for Maya to be around Ford so much. He certainly did his part to help keep her happy and entertained at all times! He’s even come with me when I went to get Maya up from her naps. Such a sweet boy!

We really hope we can do a trip like this again. It was a perfect trip to take with a baby.

More photos to come. These in the slide show below are just from the beach itself. More from the rest of the trip in the next day or so… Too many to load at once! And Allison was much better at having her camera out, so she has some great ones, too!