Mesa Verde, Colorado

Cliff Palace

We just got back from an amazing trip to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  I got a minor degree in Anthropology when I went to university, so visiting a place so rich in cultural, history, and ancient sites is a dream come true for me.  It did not disappoint!  Here are some tips before you go.

1.  When finding some place to stay check your options.  I like to go to tripadvisor.com and find out what places are rated.  You should decide if you want to camp in the park or stay in the park.  When travelling with a family I found trying to find a place that will accommodate a family difficult.  Unless you are in the park, be aware that getting to the park and through the park takes up to an hour and a half.  Even in the park it takes awhile to get from one area to another area, about 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes between the visitor's center and other main areas of the park.  There is rotating road construction as well as slow cars that travel at speeds of 25 miles an hour on a 45 mile per hour road.  Can be frustrating if you are in a hurry (of course I had all the time in the world).   You can camp in the park which will cost about $30 a night, and that is not including the entrance fee into the park.

We decided to stay at White Eagle Inn and Lodge, http://www.whiteeagleinncortez.com/ . It was only about 10 miles from the entrance of the park.  I found this place well priced, well maintained, they didn't hesitate when I said I had 4 kids, and you can't beat their customer service.  It is family owned and run and you can tell they care about it!  It is an older style motel that has a charm about it.  The pool is not filled, but they do have a miniature golf course that my kids loved.

2.  Tours:

Tower House

• There are tours that you should book months in advance that take you to areas of the park that most people do not get to see.  They rotate these areas to lessen the impact on the ruins, and these tours can only be reserved online at http://www.recreation.gov/tourList.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72397  Some of these are appropriate for children, some are not. 

• The tours offered at the park on a regular basis are the Long House, Balcony House, and Cliff Palace.  The only place to buy tickets for these tours is at the Visitor's center, and you should get there as early as possible to buy your tickets.  We were there at 10:30am, and the line was out the door and down the sidewalk.  By the time we got to the counter the only tour we could get for the day was Long House, but we were able to buy tickets for the next day for Cliff Palace and Balcony House.  So if you want to get more accomplished on your first day I would recommend getting to the visitor's center when it opens!  

Ladders going into the Long House

• The tours offered through the visitor center are not for little kids who are carried, but you can put them in a backpack.  

At Balcony House they will need to get out of the backpack and crawl through a tunnel.  Just remember BACKPACK, they won't let you carry your children up and down ladders, your hands must be free to do so.












There are 2 main areas of the Park, Wetherill Mesa and the area out by the Chapin Archealogical Museum, the Visitor's Center is in the middle of these two areas.  I would choose to do one area one day and the other area the other day.

Wetherill Mesa

The Long House

• Make sure you buy your tickets for the Long House tour at the visitor's center, before heading out to Wetherill Mesa!  

• The tram ride takes you on a loop, you do not need a ticket for this.  You can get off and on at different viewpoints and see ancient Puebloan villages.

• The Step House, a self-guided tour through a cliff dwelling, there is a Ranger there if you have any questions.  The Step House closes at 4:30pm, so if you have a 3:00pm ticket for the Long House, go to the Step House first!  Or you will miss it!

Altogether it took us about 4 1/2 hours to complete Wetherill Mesa.  There is  flushing toilets, water, and a small Ranger station Kiosk area where you can ask questions.  I was told by a Native American that the water there is some of the best in the world.  It is purified naturally, after that I appreciated it even more!

Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum

Spruce Tree House

Near the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum there are 2 loops, the Mesa Top Loop and the Cliff Palace Loop.  Right by the Museum is the path to go to the Spruce Tree House.  It is beautiful going down to the Spruce Tree House, lots of shade.  I guess this is called the Tree House because it was found by someone who was climbing down a tree, and you can tell how it was hidden in the trees for so long when you are there.  There is an intact Kiva in the Tree House that you can climb down into.  That was the only Kiva we were allowed into, so I would go.  It gives a different perspective of this room used for religious and educational purposes.  

Inside of a Kiva

Also near the museum is flushing toilets, a little cafe, and water to fill up water bottles.  I would recommend the cafe, especially the peanut butter brownies!

Mesa Top Loop

This loop is a car loop, you drive to various viewpoints, and in a rush you can stop and see things in about 1/2 an hour, but I would suggest to linger a bit longer at each viewpoint!   You can see the Tower House, pithouses and villages, sun palace, and there is a Sun point view that you can see several cliff dwellings in one spot.  

Cliff Palace Loop and Cliff Palace

Cliff Palace 

Cliff Palace is on this loop, you go here to go on your tour, again this ticket has to be bought at the visitor's center, buy it before you go.  The Cliff Palace is big, and when the Ranger asked our first impressions of the Cliff Palace people were saying things like, "Amazing, Respect for those who built it, Impressive..."  My personal thoughts were sadness and I chose not to volunteer my answer.  I was so sad that this amazing place was so pilfered through, that there were no laws to protect it after it was found, and that so much of what it could have been has been lost and sold to the highest bidder.  It is still an amazing place to visit, there is very good display of art, and so much is still intact.

  

We did see evidence of this palace falling into decay and I'm afraid that it will not look the same for my children's children.  This is a Kiva they are trying to brace, it is no longer round, it is D shaped and slowly falling into the canyon.

One of the original handholds used to climb up and
down the cliffs to enter Cliff Palace

The way we climb out of Cliff Palace

Balcony House

We were not going to go to the Balcony House as a group, my husband and I had decided to split up and go separately.  We had looked at the description and it said that each person had to be able to climb a ladder by themselves, as we have a 1 year old this seemed like it would not work.  At the visitor's center they talked us all into going, they saw we had a backpack for our baby and told us we could use this at the Balcony House.  They also did not charge us for the baby for any of our tours.  So we bought the tickets and chose to go altogether.

We went to Cliff Palace and directly to Balcony House after.  We arrived to hear the Ranger guide describing the Balcony House tour very scary like, "if anyone of you is being talked into this tour and your gut is telling you not to go, follow your gut."  I thought he was being a bit melodramatic, but then I realized, after the tour, he was spot on!  

Ladder going into Balcony House

To go into the Balcony House you have to climb a tall ladder, it is double wide and you can go up 2 at a time.  This ladder was put in by the park for a convenience to people going on the tour.  I didn't look down and I was okay, baby on my back and all.  

Inside Balcony House

climbing through Balcony House

We went into Balcony House, and the coolest part of this tour is that you are going through THEIR doors, you are going through this house, not just on the outskirts, THROUGH it!  It is amazing.  You go up a rock wall, and get to see a bit more into their lives.

Did I mention at the beginning that I'm afraid of heights AND a bit claustrophobic???  The part I was dreading the most was the tunnel.  They had a wooden tunnel at the visitor's center that you can try out and see if you fit, I didn't even try it, I was scared I would freak out.  BUT, I really wanted to go on this tour and thought I could do it.  Thankfully this was not as bad as I feared, it opened up in the middle of the tunnel, so much so that my kids stood up and walked to the end of the tunnel.  So this was not so bad.  

And then, after making it through the tunnel, I looked up, all I saw was ladder, cliff, ladder, people climbing on top of the cliff.  My heart froze.  My legs started shaking and I thought I was going to cry.  We had to take my baby off so he could crawl through the tunnel, he would not have fit on my back.  

So I started putting the backpack on my back, we put the baby in, and I started climbing.  I knew I had to get to the top, so I just put one foot over the other and tried to not look down.  I made it up the first ladder and was on the "steps" on the cliff when I looked back to see if my husband was behind me.  That was a huge mistake!  At this point if I had not had a baby on my back, I think I would have started screaming, until someone came and rescued me.  But I did have a baby on my back, and I turned back around, shaking and kept climbing.  I made it to the top and had to sit down, because I really thought I was going to pass out.  It is the scariest thing I can remember myself doing.  I know there are people who are not afraid of heights, and that is amazing, but I am, and after this experience I found myself waking up at night in a panic because I was dreaming of being back on that cliff.  In all reality, that was the only way in and out of Balcony House for the people who built it, and those with children and babies had to do just as I did, so I guess I got a unique experience.  There is also a chain fence around the cliff while you are climbing that assists you.  All in all, I do NOT regret going, it was my favorite tour, I would highly recommend it, and although it gave me nightmares, I think I would do it again.  

No one knows why the Puebloan people built these cliff dwellings, there are various theories.  One we heard over and over again was that times were tough when they built these.  Twenty miles away were examples of war.  There is evidence of severe drought and other hardships.  The balcony house is built for defense.  One theory is that the cliff dwellings were built for the politically elite.  After seeing what I saw and experiencing these dwellings, I disagree with the theories that these were built for the elite.  There were very nice dwellings on top of the cliffs, no scary hand holds or steps leading to death if you slipped.  My personal theory is that these were built in case something happened.  Sort of like a fallout shelter, a place they could survive with natural springs, and food storage, where they could last for some time.  I just cannot imagine the elite of their society choosing to climb in and out of these dwellings everyday!  

Altogether the area near the Museum, The Spruce Tree House, the Cliff Palace Loop and the Mesa Top Loop took us about 6 hours to go everywhere, but admittedly we rushed some areas.  I would say that you need at least 2 days to see Mesa Verde National Park!  

One thing I noticed on this trip was that we were often the only Americans looking at the sites, other than the Rangers.  I would like to encourage all Americans to go here and see this before it decays further!  I was in places where no one was speaking English and I have to wonder if we truly appreciate these sites!

Cologne, Germany

Cologne

We decided for our last day in Germany to go to Cologne.  We promised our children a tour of a chocolate factory and my husband wanted to see the famous Cathedral, or Dom.  It was a wonderful way to finish our stay in Germany, and it made us want to go back to Germany and see more.








We were worried that we would not be able to find the Dom as we were heading there by train, and sometimes travelling by public transport can be confusing and time consuming.  We had no worries though, as we stepped out of the train station we found that we were standing practically on the steps leading up to the Cathedral!.

 Even our children were impressed by the Dom!

We really should not have worried about finding the cathedral, we could see it from wherever we were.  The Dom in Cologne was my husband's favorite cathedral that we saw on this trip to Europe.  He liked it more than the famous Notre Dame.  The details on the outside and inside were breathtaking.

We went to a tourist information desk to find how to get to the Lindt chocolate factory and received excellent directions from the person working there.  I was often amazed at how well people could speak English and so grateful they were so patient with us, who did not speak German, at least not very well.

On the way to the chocolate factory we walked along the river, enjoyed the antics of youth, listened to some local musicians, and enjoyed our walk.  We learned by this time in our trip to look around us as we were walking, not just think of walking as a means to get to our destination, but part of our sightseeing as well.  It was really beautiful there.  We found the signs that were posted helpful and made getting around the city easier for pedestrians.

The Lindt Chocolate factory was so much fun, and more than I realized it would be.  We walked through a tropical room that had cocoa growing, we were able to see them make chocolate, and at the end we were able to buy the most delicious truffles that still make my mouth water when I think about them.  So worth the 1.5 euros each that we paid!  I only wish I had bought more when I had the chance!  We went to the chocolate factory for our kids, but as adults it was worth it!

At the chocolate factory I asked in German where the WC (Water Closet/toilet/bathroom) was  and got a proper response in German.  I guess my German had improved by this point in our trip.

After the chocolate factory we went to a food vendor and bought some sausages.  My favorite was the kraukauer currywurst!  Yummy!

We reserved a seat on the ICE train, the fastest train belonging to the Deutsche Bahn.  It was fun to watch the speeds that the train was travelling, and it took us to Brussels in only about 5 hours from Cologne.

Wurzburg

After we left Dachau we were a bit depressed, the world looked a little more gray.  We got on a train and traveled to Wurzburg.  Wurzburg was beautiful and quaint, a town that has past and present mingled together in a very elegant way.  I think it was in Wurzburg that I first realized the family zones, where streets were blocked off and kids could run free without the worry of being hit by a car.  Walking in Wurzburg was picturesque.

We stayed at a youth hostel, that used to be a monastery.  The person who checked us in was very helpful!  She told us what would be the best places to see in the short time we had, and she told us kid friendly restaurants that were good and economical.

We had dinner in the shadow of the cathedral and went for ice-cream after.  We spent time walking around and enjoying the architecture, history, and overall beauty.  It was a perfect ending to the day we had, it was a very peaceful town.  It was simply lovely, I really enjoyed Wurzburg.








The only thing that was not ideal, was being woken up at 6am, by the church bell.  I turned to my husband and asked, "Did you order that wake up bell?"  We laughed, and talked through the loud bell, and went back to sleep after it was done.  The funniest part, my kids slept through the whole thing.

Wurzburg was a short visit, but one of our favorite stops in Germany.

 

Dachau

When we were in Fussein for the night all of our plans were kind of topsy turvy.  We discussed what to do the next day, we decided to go to Dachau in the morning and go to Wurzburg that night.  We went back to Munich, put our luggage in lockers, found a bus to take us to Dachau, and before too long we were there.  Dachau is a beautiful German town, really peaceful, lovely place.  It was hard to imagine a concentration camp being there.  When we got to the concentration camp we were in fairly good moods, I was looking at the old train platforms and train tracks, reading signs and so forth.  We decided that we would not get a tour, since we had children we decided it may be too traumatic for them.  So we decided to have one parent walk around while the other one would go through the museum.  I would highly recommend NOT taking your young children through the museum.

Some back story, when I was in grade school a Holocaust survivor came to our school and talked to us about his time spent in a concentration camp.  He told us before the war Germany was as free as America was today, that a Jewish person was not treated with disrespect and were very happy in Germany.  He talked about how surprised they were when friends would not stand up for them, that they were taken away from their lives.  They didn't leave when they could, because they were too in shock to realize what was happening.  He said that up until they were boarded onto trains they could have left.  But they had no idea what was in store for them.  Now I was young when I heard these things, but it stuck with me, and created a curiosity for the Holocaust.  I read books from survivors, and the Diary of Anne Frank, books about WWII, and several things.  I tried to figure out how such a tragedy could have happened.  My husband, however, never had that curiosity, didn't read books, didn't necessarily seek out information about the Holocaust.  We both decided though, that we should go to the concentration camp and pay respect to those who lost their lives.

Walking into the camp, we split up, I went to the museum first and my husband walked around the camp with the kids.  I was fine in the museum at first, Dachau was not a "death" camp, but it was an experimental camp.  A lot of things that were implemented in other camps were tried at Dachau first.  It was when I got to the part of the museum that talked about these "experiments" that I started feeling nauseated.  I no longer had any desire to learn about how this could have happened, I just wanted it to never happen again to ANYONE!  I got to a point where I could not finish going through the museum, I left.  I found my husband, I wanted to hold  him and my kids forever and never let go.

However, they did not have the traumatic experience I had, my kids wanted to show me around the camp.  So I said good bye to my husband, while he went to the museum, and my kids took me to the barracks.  The barracks they have are not the original ones, those were all torn down.  They do have the foundations for the barracks still there, so you can still get a feeling of just how immense it was.  The barrack they have set up has pictures and some recreations of how it would have been while the camp was in operation.  After reading all that I had read in the museum, I think it was more horrific for me than it was for my kids.  I talked to them about how awful it would have been to have had to live there.  My kids did agree that it would be horrible, but we did not talk about anything too atrocious.  We walked around and my husband came out of the museum looking depressed.  We went to the church they have there, we sat under a tree and tried to let things sink in. My kids during this time found flowers, commented on how beautiful the scenery was.  I was in awe of my kids, all I could see was the tragedy, and they found beauty.  I was glad to have my kids with me, they reminded me of why life is so precious, why it is important to hold life and peace so dear!

Since our experience at Dachau, my curiosity has been quenched, I found Dachau made everything I read come to life in a way that was all too real, which is probably a good thing, since it was real.  My mind does not want to dwell on it anymore.  I really would like to stop it from ever happening again.  My husband had his mind opened and has since been studying more about the Holocaust.  I don't think either of us thought, in our worst nightmares, that the things that happened could have happened.

In short, it is a valuable lesson about humanity and the lack of humanity that can happen.  It is well worth the visit.  For kids, I don't think the museum is appropriate, unless they are significantly older kids.  They will still get a lot out of walking around the camp.

Fussein, Germany

Before you go to Europe you have to decide on how to get around after you get there.  You can choose to rent a car, or travel by train.  We read several things before we left.  We didn't want to deal with renting a car and dealing with fees, gas prices, and knowing how and where to go to rent a car we could travel from one city to the next and not return it to the same place.  We were also a little scared of driving in Europe.  A train ride seems romantic and you don't have to worry about any of those things.  You can eat and talk to your kids while travelling, you don't have to read road signs, or hyperventilate every time you pay for gas.  We found a much better deal buying our train tickets in the U.S. and reserving a seat on a train was a lot cheaper after we got there.  We bought tickets that were good for anywhere in Belgium, Germany, and France, for 8 days, which did not have to be consecutive days.  We also chose to buy first class tickets, because we were travelling as a family and wanted more space to store our luggage.  In Germany, I'm not sure if First Class was necessary, even there 2nd class cars were really nice, but their first class cars were amazing!  Also a train goes everywhere.  You can go to just about anywhere on a train and use public transportation to get around a city.  If you decided to use a car instead, I highly suggest using a GPS device to guide you!

Our first REAL train ride was kind of exciting and scary.  We thought we did pretty good at figuring out train schedules.  We found a train we wanted to take to Fussein, and boarded the train.  We were comfortable when the ticket person came to check our tickets, and she asked us where we were going (in German).  I told her Fussein, she said, (in English, because apparently my German was SO bad they felt sorry for me), that we had to change trains at a certain stop and we only had 2 minutes to move all our luggage and children to the other train.  That was a bit concerning.  I was worried that one train would be late or early and we would miss the transfer, but trains in Germany are very precise, I could have set my watch to the trains we rode in Germany.  So the real problem was how do you transfer a family of 5, including a 2 month old baby, and all their luggage in 2 minutes?  With the help of that very wonderful ticket lady(/conductor?) who knew we had to transfer and came to our aid!  I think we were on the other train in about 1 minute 30 seconds, so it was all good.  We tried hard to not have a train transfer like that again though.

We originally planned on visiting Fussein during the day, but travelling on to Rothenburg for the night.  For some reason I was uncomfortable leaving all of our stuff in Munich while we went to Fussein, so we hauled all of our luggage with us.  We went to Fussein hoping to put our luggage in lockers there, while we went to Neuchwanstein (the Sleeping Beauty Castle), only to get to Fussein and there were no available lockers.  We were trying to figure out what to do when we saw a sign that said, youth hostel (in German), and had an arrow pointing the way.  You can rent lockers at youth hostels to hold your stuff, so we thought we would just do that.  We started walking, and we kept walking, and walking, and thought, where is this youth hostel?  I asked some people walking by and they indicated that we were going the right direction and it was only a short walk away.  Our 6 year old had to roll one of the suitcases and he really did not like rolling his suitcase on cobblestones, so he started complaining and saying his hand was "bleeding" (It was not bleeding, but it was developing some nice callouses).  I started thinking that we were "insane" and taking your kids to Europe was a new form of torture, and then this really nice man who was riding his bicycle saw us.  He rode by and then circled back and asked if we needed any help.  He asked in German, but when I answered back, he then spoke in English and asked, "Are you American?"  I guess my German was truly awful.  He ended up being from California, and even being an American he could tell from my poor German that I was an American.  He helped us tote all of our stuff the rest of the way to the Youth Hostel which was still over a mile away.  After we got to the Youth Hostel we decided that we were not going to be able to make it to Rothenburg, and so we checked into the Youth Hostel for the night.  We were lucky it was one of the best mishaps of our trip, they were awesome!

We took a bus to Schwangau and went to Neuschwanstein.  I had several Germans tell me that Neuschwanstein was not a "real" castle.  That it was built "later."  To me, who granted I am an American and can be quite ignorant, it seemed real enough.  We also heard that the king was "crazy" and "crazy royalty is often found dead."  I never really understood all that I heard, I think some things were lost in translation, but I did research it later and learned he was considered eccentric and his death was mysterious.  Neuschwanstein was not terribly busy when we were there, it was at the beginning of the tourist season, so there was not too many tourists.  I guess it can get really busy in the middle of tourist season, which is June-August.

To buy your tickets, you have to go there.  I read somewhere that it was confusing to buy tickets, but it did not seem that bad, maybe it gets more confusing with more people.  There are 2 castles you can see, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau and you can buy a ticket for both castles at the same place.  We also took a ride up to the castle, but even with a ride there is still quite a bit of a walk, especially for small children.  A nice thing is that there is a food vendor right by the castle and so we were able to sit and eat ice-cream with the kids to relax.  The food vendor accepted many different forms of currency too, you could tell he was used to tourists, but, at least in the case of American currency, it was a lot cheaper to buy with Euros.  The castle has a rule against photography, but you can get some nice travel books in the gift shop at the end.


Since we were a lot later than we anticipated we knew we would miss the dinner at the Youth Hostel, so we decided to go to dinner in Shwangau.  We had an amazing dinner!  I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was so good!









We went back to the bus stop and we had missed our bus.  There were no more buses that night either, but there was a payphone and a telephone number for a taxi company.  I called the number asked, "sprechen sie English," (Do you speak English) to which I heard the dreaded response, "nein" (no).  All those years of German came in handy.  I was able to tell him where we were,  how many people were in our party, and I ordered a cab in German.  I was so proud of myself!  While we were waiting there another tourist who had missed the bus came and we were able to rescue her too.




Youth Hostels are a great way to travel as a family.  You will get a room to yourself, you won't have to share with anyone but your own family.  It is a room full of bunk beds and our kids really liked choosing which bed they wanted to sleep in each night.  As a family we stayed on the "women's floor," so the boys had to go to the "men's floor" to use the toilet or shower.  You do need to bring your own towels and toiletries.  We were told that we would need a sheetsack to stay at a youth hostel, but we only stayed in youth hostels in Germany and they all provided sheetsacks with the price of our room.  We still used our sheetsacks, it was just nice to have something of our own to use.  Most youth hostels provided dinner and all of them provided breakfast.  The dinner was only served at a certain time, and we usually missed dinner, but even missing dinner the cost was still a great bargain.  Breakfast was a typical European breakfast with meats, cheese, bread, cereals, and yogurt.  We loved it.  The people who check you in at a Youth Hostel usually speak really good English and they know that you are on a budget and will give GREAT recommendations for family friendly places to eat, visit, and how to get around.

Munich, Germany

Before getting to Munich we traveled about 30 hours, we had to travel from one part of the U.S. to another, then to Heathrow Airport in London and finally to Munich.  At the time we had 3 children, my oldest was 6, my daughter was 3 and my 3rd child was 2 months old.  Right before landing at Heathrow my 2 month old blew out his diaper, I had baby poo all down my front and on my shoes.  I tried to clean up as best I could, but I had no clothes to change into in my carry-on.  I had packed at least an extra set of clothes for all of my children in our carry-on, but none for me.  So that was awesome.  We got through security and to Munich without too much hassle.  And then we got to Munich.

I took German all through high school and even at the University level, but it had been years since I spoke German to anyone.  I had brushed up by going through some old text books before we left home.  I was a bit rusty at best!  We were walking around Munich airport trying to figure out where to go or what to do.  We had directions to our hotel and knew that we had to get metro tickets to get there.  My 2 oldest children found a moving sidewalk and promptly threw their stuff down and fell down on the moving sidewalk.  Just picture a family of 5, baby in a carrier on me, 3 suitcases, 4 backpacks, 1 carry on, all in disarray, children lying down on a moving sidewalk, I felt helpless and lost.  My husband was trying to pick up our luggage, and some nice bystanders picked up my kids.  We found the right place to go, the right tickets to purchase, and found the right line for the metro.  We got on the metro, only to be kicked off again, because we got on a train that was being retired for the day.  When we finally got on the right train, going the right way, we got off at our correct stop, and followed  the directions for our "short" walk to our hotel. A short walk to a European is a long walk to an American, and a really LONG walk if that American has 3 kids and all their luggage.  We eventually found our hotel only to find that they had lost our reservation.  Thankfully my husband had a copy of our reservation and our confirmation.  The hotel was very apologetic, they made a reservation at one of their sister hotels and even paid for the cab to take us there.  It had been 6 long hours since I had been pooped on, so first thing I did was shower and change into clean clothes.  Then our adventure really began.




We went out and found that our hotel was right by 2 strip joints, that was interesting.  All the signs were in English, and it wasn't until later that I realized that would be more subtle to a German, but to an American it was very blatant.  My 6 year old son kept asking what SEX was, because that is what the sign said and he was learning how to read, didn't really think it was the best time to have "the talk" so we told him sex is another word for gender, like male or female.  He accepted this and we continued our walk on the other side of the street.



We went to a little Greek restaurant and no one spoke English, so I was able to use my choppy German and order us some food.  I'm so surprised that I did as well as I did.  We ate a pretty good dinner.  We realized on our walk that our hotel, that we had been relocated to, was a short walk to the train station and was a better location than our first hotel.  We also had a lot of fun in the train station, it was pretty big, lots of different things to see.  We took the train to go see the Glochenspiel, that was really impressive.  After the clock put the town to bed we took a nice stroll around Munich.  There was a quartet set up on the street playing classical music, so beautiful, and of course we got ice cream which was so good.  It felt like the day went from being a nightmare to being a dream.  We went to bed that night with happy thoughts and hopes.  Then we all woke up at 3 am, we looked at each other, everyone was hungry, so we ate some food and then went back to sleep.

Our plan for travelling through Germany was to go to a city a day, a bit ambitious for any person, and for a family, near impossible.  With packing up every morning and checking into youth hostels, or hotels every night, a lot of time is simply wasted in moving.  We should have stayed in one hotel for at least 3 days that was centrally located, and then went on day trips from that location.  Then we would have been able to have more time to see everything we wanted to see.  We did not do that, and hindsight is always 20/20.  A nice thing about large train stations in Germany is that there are lockers that you can rent.  Some are lockers we are used to, and some have magic lockers that eat your luggage and give you a claim check that will magically regurgitate your luggage upon request.  If you are changing where you sleep nightly, you can rely on these large train stations to securely hold your luggage while you go to see the sites.  A small train station, like Fussein, can not be relied upon to have the capacity to have enough lockers, or any available lockers, to store your luggage in.  If you are travelling to a smaller city, or going on a day trip and need to store your luggage while you are going about your activities, please store them in the larger facility!