The Sweet Nerd in Germany

“Guten Morgen,” as Liam and Gavin would say en route to our morning breakfast in Germany.  From the moment we arrived in the Bavarian Alps, these jibber jabbers spoke to anyone who would listen.  They only knew a few phrases, but that wasn’t going to stop these two latin kids from conquering this slavic language.

They were on top of the world, literally and figuratively.  The alps majestic beauty was overpowering and lured you into a happy, idyllic state.  It was impossible not to be!

These mountainous beauties contained white billowy clouds, aqua blue skies, and green…it was green galore. There were seas of green everywhere you turned – from the steep mountainside to the lush meadows with patches of vegetation growing alongside the jagged rocky alps.  This was arguably was the best vacation ever!

It felt like a throwback to the musical The Sound of Music…not to mention, we were only 20 minutes away from the Austrian border.  The hills were alive with fast moving clouds and an abundance of waterfalls, creeks, and lakes.  The water was pristinely clean and can I just mention how freaking cold it was?

All around us we heard…plop, plop, plop! The Germans were jumping into this frigid water like frogs jumping in a pond while us Rodriguezes were standing, with teeth chattering nearly freezing our butts off looking around in wonderment.

At one point,  a fellow German swimmer told us, “You have to move around in the pool.”  I replied with gritted teeth, “Thanks, I got it.” I might’ve even given them a sassy side-eyed glance were I not feeling like a human popsicle.

Aside from the cold water experiment, the outdoors were intoxicating.  Whether staying in a shack or a chateau, the alps in Germany offer something for everyone and it was the first trip for the family where we were truly sad to come home.  We stayed at The Schloss Resort which is near a town named Garmisch (an area located about 100k south of Munich).

Archery?  Skeet Shooting? Fly Fishing?  Pretty much any outdoor sport you could imagine was accessible where we were staying.  Watching my boys brave mountain biking on gravel, riding over moguls, and their all-round athletic exhaustion was memorable in and of itself.

But the icing on the cake (as my Sweet Nerdness puts it) was that they found an equal amount of joy playing with something so basic as sticks and stones.  I’m not sure if it was the abundance of fresh air (which is lacking in LA) or the incredible scenery, but these two cautious kids of ours, found their inner ninja and laughed so much it echoed from alp to alp.  I absolutely loved it!  I felt so close to all of them – it truly made this mom’s heart full of love. It was incredible what this mountain air did for us as a family!

And the food, aw, such sweet glorious food!  Each night in Germany we would go on a new food adventure.  The options ranged from traditional German-Austrian to Thai cuisine.  I keyed in on the desserts, naturally.  Oh, and the butter in everything!  There is nothing like happy cows, happy cheese, and butter crafted in Europe.  I try to be good about carbs, but it was near torture to not breath in the delicious butter spreads on the vast arrangements of savory breads.

When I asked my 6 year-old what he wanted to bring home as a souvenir, he responded with, “butter and bikes.”  That is SO my kid! Liam could not get enough butter on his toast each morning nor enough bike rides through the alps.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where the more you ask, the less you know?  Berlin was like being in a global classroom full of personal stories, anecdotes, and shared facts that related to all of us in, one way or another.

The building facades and human encounters shared secrets of this emotional and complex city.  We ‘d it.  The city seemed to always be in a state of change and so deeply embedded with a traumatic past.  Our biggest complaint about this city was not having enough time.  I hereby vow to return and stay a month someday just to get through the hundreds of museums.  

The kids loved Berlin, too.  We stayed in a super hip area called the Mitte in a fantastic apartment rental called The Gorki Apartments.  My fave was a Berlin bakery called the Princess Cheesecake selling the most beautiful arrangement of baked goods (caramel cheesecake and lemon tarts) in such a charming neighborhood.

If you ask my boys what their favorite thing about Berlin was, their answer would consist of sand and steel. They fell in love with a little park tucked in between a coffee shop and a thai restaurant.  But this park was like hitting the jackpot of sweets as they had discovered a slipper slide.  The slope on this slide was a test for all of us.  Yes, even I went down this ridiculously fun and scary steep slide.  I screamed the entire way down and have the video to prove it!

All in all, we loved Germany!  We were treated so graciously as a family, always well-received, and found the landscape to be some of the most beautiful on Earth.

Bavarian Faves, Zugspitz Region

Best Sweet Shop: Chocolaterie Amelie, Garmisch Partenkirchen

Where to Stay: Schloss Elmau, Wetterstein Mountains

Berlin, Mitte Region:

Our favorite restaurants: Katz Orange & Lokal, Mitte

Best Bakery: Princess Cheesecake, Mitte

Where to Stay: Gorki Apartments, Mitte