Day 6 - Oberau to Munich

We checked out of our hotel and spend the late morning and afternoon hanging around Berchtesgaden.  We checked out some local toy stores and then had a wonderful lunch at a brightly-lit cafe with a view of the mountains.

After lunch we headed for the hills to find the perfect sledding spot.

The drive to Munich through the mountains was beautiful.

We got to our hotel in time to order room service (all the close restaurants were fully booked!) and then enjoy the spectacular fireworks display out our window.

Day 5 - Oberau/Berchtesgaden/Königssee

We slept in a little, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then headed for Königssee to ride the boat.  Traffic was really heavy so it took a while:

The weather was beautiful (again!), though it was quite cold so we had to really bundle the kids.  We stopped along the way to take a few pictures:

When we finally got to Schönau (at the head of the lake) we were pretty hungry so we got some bratwurst and warm kinder punch.

The ride on the lake was spectacular.  It's a secluded lake, aparently the cleanest in all of Germany.  The kids had a great time looking at the mountains.

It was dark when we got back to Schönau and most of the shops were closed.  One, however, was still open and it was selling sleds.  We bought a few and then tested them on a little hill.

For dinner we decided to head back to Berchtesgarden.  We found a really nice restaurant and had a wonderful meal.

Back at our hotel we had a fun movie night.  I also had a chance to take some long exposure shots of the breath-taking stars.

Day 4 - Garmisch-Partenkirken to Oberau

We made it to breakfast at 10 and then packed the car. We headed for the Zugspitzebahn to ride a train and cable car to the top of Germany's tallest mountain but at the last minute we decided the elevation would be a bit much for a pregnant lady. The visibility was a little hazy too so we decided to head to Neuschwanstein Castle.

It took about an hour to get there and by that time we were pretty hungry so we grabbed a quick lunch of bratwurst and chips. We didn't make it in time to get tickets to see the inside (guess we'll have to go back!) but we did manage to catch the last bus up to the castle.

The view from the bridge was amazing; both kids really liked seeing the 'Disney castle'. The walk back to the car, however, was long and cold. By the time we reached the car we had two little popsicles.

The drive to Oberau was uneventful (apart from our windshield wiper fluid freezing) and we arrived safely at our hotel around 10pm. We still hadn't had dinner so we drove back down the twisty road to Berchtesgaden and found a little Italian place that was still open. The food was fantastic and we returned to our hotel with full bellies. The view from our balcony was breathtaking. I don't think I've ever seen stars quite as bright.