Alpine Adventure!

We spent this weekend skiing the Alps in Austria!  We racked up a long list of firsts this weekend including the first time to ski in Europe, first time to see (or ski) the Alps, first visit to Austria, first gondola lift, and first time to ride an escalator with skis!

Jackson had a long weekend from school for Karneval, so we headed out of town after his class party.  We opted for the train since we heard traffic heading to the Alps from Germany could get lengthy. Plus, you can't beat the benefits of a convenient no-stop-required bathroom, onboard restaurant, and room to move around on a train.

Here we are walking the 2 blocks to the train station from our house. Packing for skiing takes ALOT of luggage when you take your own gear!  3 suitcases, 4 shoulder bags/backpacks, 2 ski bags, and a small duffel for Brandtley's food.

Our first train was just a subway to another station where we would board our longer train. The train was packed with Karneval partiers dressed in costumes, playing music, drinking, and singing to the kids! :) 

Our journey

Alpine skiing was a fantastic experience!  Instead of "Green" "Blue" and "Black" runs, here there are Green, Blue, Red, and Black runs. Except the mountains we skied started at Blue and there were no greens.  I wouldn't classify these two mountains as great for beginners since there were very few "easy" slopes and those were isolated, but there was plenty of intermediate & upper intermediate level.

Since we've only done this once, I don't know if the following is "normal" or just the area we were skiing.

The runs are LONG!  This can be awesome if you're on one you like! Or if you happen to choose poorly and find yourself on something a little above your skill level, could make for a really long hour of hard work.  I might be speaking from experience... ;)

However, the views from the top are spectacular!  The lifts are also long...thus a lot of gondolas. But we didn't encounter long lift lines.

This kid tore it up! He skied nonstop and didn't want to quit!  He took 2 hours of lessons each day in addition to skiing with us before & after.  

Gondola lift

One of Jackson's first runs this year...a little hesitant but already loving it!

Skiing with your dog is acceptable. We watched this guy ski all the way down the mountain with his dog on a leash.  There's a sport called Skijoring in which dogs (or horses) pull skiers, but this dog just ran beside his owner.

Not the gondolas we rode in :)

Repping CB in the Alps!

Gorgeous views from the gondola

Inside one of the buildings at the base of the mountain. Also pictured are the escalators.

Break to eat lunch & watch the ski World Cup 

We stayed in a town a few kilometers away at a "Familienhotel" which caters to families.  The nearby towns are all serviced by a ski bus (Schibus) which is free if you have on your ski gear, and so we rode it each day to the base of one of the two nearby mountains.

The hotel was all inclusive, which seems to be somewhat normal here. And included a KidsClub, Wellness spa with saunas, and 5 course meals each night. Brandtley chose to play in the KidsClub instead of skiing, which we went along with since he was SO happy. After all, it was his birthday. And he LOVED it.  The kid seriously needs to start kindergarten.

Playing in the indoor whirlpool. Pictured outside the windows is one of the 4 saunas.  Hands down the saunas & pools are the best apres ski activity ever for sore muscles.

I wrote ahead to the hotel to let them know of Brandtley's dietary restrictions and they went out of their way to make sure he had something safe to eat.  The chef made him a separate dinner each night and he was served gluten free rolls in the morning at breakfasts.  It was clear not all staff understood the full restrictions of gluten-free at the level required for Celiac, so caution is needed, but the chef seemed to be knowledgeable and everyone was extremely nice. We highly enjoyed our stay at the Kesselgrubs Familienhotel in Altenmarkt im Pongau.

The playground outside the building our room was in.  The hotel has a number of summertime activities too - from hiking to kids pony rides & petting zoo.

The train ride back was beautiful and we were able to see the views of the Alps that we missed on the ride down at night.  This is a little town just outside of Salzburg. Not the best picture, taken from a train window, but beautiful.

The Hills are Alive! 

Lastly, I'll leave you with this little gem... taken during a Hamilton dance party in hour 7 of an 8 hour train ride in the same little compartment the entire time.

Tschüss!

A quick trip to Amsterdam

It takes me forever to get around to blogging about travel. Maybe because I have too much to say. Oh well. Here's the long post... :)

We recently took a quick weekend trip to Amsterdam.  We had a few days free with Matthew home, so we jumped on a train and were in Amsterdam a little over 3 hours later!

We booked 2nd class tickets, but reserved seats in the Parent/Child cabin, which turned out to be fabulous and well worth the additional 18 EUR round trip.

We took advantage of the canals by booking a houseboat instead of a hotel.  The boys LOVED this and both said it was their favorite part of the trip! They waved to the tour boats that would float by and talked to the ducks & swans who swam up to the windows.

View of "our" boat from across the canal.

The boys looking down at the boat in the daylight

The swan right outside the living room window

Matthew & I enjoyed the view from the large windows in the living room after the kids went to bed. This is why I love VRBO & AirBnB so much - we can book a 1 bedroom apartment that either has an outdoor space or a view so that we can still enjoy our surroundings after the kids go to sleep in another room.

Our view from the living room in the boat

We only spent 1 day in the city and didn't want to plan too much.  We purchased tickets in advance for the Van Gogh museum and that was a FABULOUS experience.  They have great handheld multimedia devices that have kids programs.  The boys had a great time & were so engaged in the art.  In addition to listening about the paintings, the devices also had games & activities so that they could participate in things that taught them how Van Gogh mixed colors, etc. We didn't expect the kids to last more than an hour in an art museum but they were so engaged that we stayed 2.5 hours!

After this, we wandered through the streets of the city toward Anne Frank's house.  I tried to book tickets the night before, but they were sold out for all of the prior-purchase time slots.  I hoped we could get in during the non-prior purchase time during the afternoon, but no luck.

Instead we ate Dutch pancakes!  Like Prague, Amsterdam was a Gluten Free heaven for us.  I found a plethora of restaurants that offered GF options and plotted them on a map prior to our arrival.  One was the restaurant Pancakes! Amsterdam, which has a new location right next to the Anne Frank house.

Matthew got bacon & chili powder in his. Mine was ham, camembert & a savory raspberry sauce. Both boys got apple & cheese.  B's was GF but the rest of us ordered glutenful options. :) 

We then continued to wander, following canals at leisure.  We stopped by the Cheese Museum and the floating flower market (I had to see tulips, despite it being winter, and the flower market was one of the only places with them right now).  We discovered some great shopping: trendy clothes stores, art galleries, and antique shops.  I want to return with more time during the spring when the tulips are truly in bloom and the weather is warmer.

This was in a store we walked into, and we laughed out loud.  This is so opposite from Germany where most places take cash and not credit cards. I had to take a picture. (By the way, Pancakes! Amsterdam also only takes cards.)

I really wanted to try the restaurant Haesje Claes which has traditional Dutch food & GF options, but the kids were too worn out by the end of Saturday so we headed to the boat & picked up ramen from Wagamama (a chain, but very tasty & has GF options).

For breakfast, we ate at Bagels & Beans. A local chain that offers all sorts of bagel sandwiches or schmears. You can customize any of their bagel combinations with a GF bagel, so nearly the entire menu was available to Brandtley.  He was so excited! Also, when we ordered, the waiter asked if his gf order was due to an allergy & noted it so that his food would be prepared separately.

We didn't order the Weed burger but opted for more breakfasty options. (It's seaweed not pot. Though there is plenty of real "weed" in Amsterdam!)

We swung by Rembrandt's house on our way back to the train station, but didn't have time to go in.

Rembrandt's house

When traveling on foot with the kids, we build in extra time if we have scheduled tickets, which resulted in arriving at the train station 20 minutes early. Long enough for a coffee at one of the prettiest Starbucks I've seen. 

Then we boarded our train, listened to podcasts, music, colored, read books, and arrived two blocks from our house just a few hours later.

Prague Recap: Behind the Scenes

As you may have seen the (many) pictures on Facebook, we somewhat spontaneously went to Prague for a few days between Christmas and New Year's.  We were waiting on Matthew's schedule for the rest of the month and were keeping our fingers crossed that he wouldn't have anything added for this week since Jackson would be out of school.   Normally Matthew will get his schedule prior to the beginning of the month, but December was different due to the move & official activation at this location.  So we held our breath and decided on the 26th to risk a trip. To play it safe, we limited the distance we were willing to travel and stuck to driving, so that we could get back if needed.  Luckily, he wasn't called and we spent 4 nights in Prague!

I booked our hotel the night of the 26th and we drove the 6 hours on the 27th.  It still amazes me that we can take a spur of the moment trip to a place like Prague easier and cheaper than taking a beach trip from Atlanta.

Prague was everything I hoped it would be and more.  I fell in love with the red roofs and brought them home with me in the form of a painting which now hangs over our fireplace.  It's warm and cozy. :)

One of the most pleasant discoveries was how much more celiac-friendly the city of Prague is!  I always research before we go anywhere now, and still take back-up food in case of any issues or if we get stuck somewhere for longer than expected.  And I was so pleased to find at least a dozen restaurants/cafes with gluten-free options!!  I plotted them all out on the map before we arrived and made a note of which attractions were close to each.  Celiac has taken a lot of spontaneity out of our lives, but in Prague, we joked that we were able to "plan to be spontaneous" due to the number of restaurant options!!

I can't describe the joy on Brandtley's face when we read menu options to him and then he would look thoughtful and consider each choice before making a definitive selection.  You would think he was choosing a fine wine based on the tasting notes of a sommelier!

His joy just gave us so much joy too. And then it got even better.  One restaurant we visited is 100% gluten free. When we told him this, he thought for a moment and then realization dawned on his face as he said, "So I can taste your food too???" He spent the entire meal trading bites and trying our food and happily dipping his gluten free bread into the shared dish of olive oil on the table.

In case you're looking for gluten free options in Prague, I've listed everywhere we ate here.

We spent the rest of our time walking and sightseeing and just experiencing this beautiful city.  We found plenty of kid-friendly activities but also didn't feel like we missed out on the culture or gave up on activities we would have done without the kids.

[The one activity we skipped this time was the Nuclear Bunker tour.  It sounded fascinating but was a full 2 hours, primarily walking outside, and between the freezing weather & time slots available, it didn't work out for us this time.  We passed one of the tours on the street and stopped briefly to listen, which made us even more interested.  If we go back, this will be one of our top priorities.]

The first night we arrived late.  After checking into the hotel, we ate traditional Czech food at Svejk U Karla and then walked to Wenceslas Square, which is more of a long rectangular street than a square.  At one end is the National Museum with the statue of St. Wenceslas in front of it (sadly we could not see the beautiful architecture of the museum due to restorations that are currently underway).  Located just off the square is the Palác Lucerna, which was one of the first galleria-style "malls" in Prague, built in the early 20th century.  It houses shops, cafes, and the Kino Lucerna - a beautiful movie theater that is still in use today. We returned a few days later and saw La La Land - a very fitting romantic moving in a romantic theater.

The Lucerna also has a sculpture parody of St. Wenceslas riding an upside down (dead) horse hanging from the ceiling.  I had not realized before we visited that Prague has a number of startling pieces of artwork that make strong political or cultural statements and these were fascinating to me.

The Hanging Man statue representing Sigmund Freud who is supposedly debating whether or not to let go.

Haunting Memorial to Victims of Communism

Over the next few days, we saw the Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square, the Old Town Hall, Charles Bridge (where many movies, including Mission Impossible were filmed), the Jewish quarter including the old Jewish cemetery, hiked Petrin Hill for views of the red-roofed-city from across the river, visited the Strahov Monastery and its famous library, walked by the Castle & Cathedral (also across the river), Lennon Wall, and went to a puppet show of Mozart's opera Die Zauberflaute at the National Marionette Theater.

In front of the Astronomical Clock

Astronomical Clock - a fascinating accomplishment created in 1410. In addition to telling the standard Roman time that we are familiar with, it also indicates Old Czech Time (a 24 hour cycle that ends at sunset each day & thus differs daily), the month, astrological symbol, sun's position, lunar cycle, the 12 equivalent hours from sun-up to sun-down based on daylight hours per day, and also has moving figures that appear on the hour.  It's really mind-boggling.

Very decorative building next to the Clock

Old Town Hall

View into the Jewish cemetery which looked like another world in the center of the city. 

On Charles Bridge

Enjoying the view from Charles Bridge

View from Charles Bridge

Jesus was giving out free hugs on Charles Bridge

Book tower at the main library.

Inside the National Marionette Theater

National Marionette Theater

View from Petrin Hill

Exterior of Strahov Monastery

The Monastery Library (Also the setting of a number of movies, including James Bond)

Stopping for a monastic beer in the underground caverns of the Monastery

Monastic card houses

The boys were impressed by the guards at the castle

More red roofs from the Castle 

Lennon Wall (or John Lennon Wall) which was used as an expression of political activism against communism beginning in the 1980s. Students and activists would nightly graffiti the wall (particularly with Lennon lyrics) and it would be removed daily by the authorities. Labeled "Lennonism", it inspired protests. Today it's a symbol of peace.

View from Charles Bridge

There is a restaurant on the rooftop of the U Prince Hotel with fantastic views of the roofs surrounding Old Town Square.  We stopped by to warm up with a coffee and take in the view.

Other fun things:

Beer spas are a thing. 

You can take a city tour in an old car - similar to a horse & carriage ride, which we also saw. The kids loved seeing the old cars drive by.  We preferred to experience the city on foot, though.

Apparently cannabis is legal and makes a great combo with absinthe or beer???  We saw these and other similar products in convenience store windows throughout the city!  

We also took an afternoon side trip to Plzen, which is the home of the Pilsner Urquell Brewery where pilsner style beer was first created and which is one of the oldest continuously-operating breweries.  This was a great day trip! After a brunch in Wenceslas Square, we hopped on a train at the nearby central train station and for less than $20 roundtrip for the four of us, took an hour & a half train ride for a brewery tour.  The kids were fascinated and Jackson left with a new ambition to become an engineer to design brewery bottling plants.

We brunched at the sidewalk cafe Como (which has GF options!!) outdoor on Wenceslas Square under the awnings & heaters.

Inside the Prague train station

A plaque for Woodrow Wilson in the train station

Prague train station

On the train

The gates at Pilsner Urquell

Legend is that if you can throw a penny into the hole, you will have sons.  Jackson and Brandtley are both destined to have daughters.

In the underground caverns of Pilsner Urquell where we saw the actual beer in production in these barrels. 

Fresh taste from the barrel

mmmm!

As I type this, I have a hard time believing that we did all of this in just a few days!  We had a blast and enjoyed every minute of Prague!

Tschüss!
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