a wet welcome/fires in the sky

Our first morning in Germany. We started our day by checking out the German gear in the hotel gift shop. This kid is begging for lederhosen. I told him he could buy them himself if he wanted them badly enough (they are expensive!)

We headed across the river to the base commissary -- a luxury that we don't have in Bahrain.

Good grief is food cheap when it's government subsidized. Carter wanted to smuggle a bunch of these ribs home: $2.98 per rack. All the prices had my mouth agape: $1.89 for a box of Cheez-its (instead of $4). My blue corn tortilla chips were under $2 instead of $3, chocolate for .77 cents instead of $3 . . . we definitely aren't getting enough COLA (cost of living allowance that varies from country to country). Anyway, we bought a boatload of snacks for cheap and then decided to head into the town of Garmisch. 

We are surrounded by mountains on every side

The weather is cool and overcast, but it's great for walking. We did figure out the bus this time and didn't miss our stop (so yay for that), but had to wait way too long for a bus to come since it was the weekend. Josh snapped a photo of the bus schedule so we'll be able to time our travel from here on out.

Gorgeous, quaint and all you'd imagine from German-Bavaria. 

Lush garden and adorable cottage right downtown. There was a metal sculpture with a water pump style fountain right next to the garden. This group of Indian/Pakistani guys were filling their water bottles from the fountain. I asked Josh if he thought it was meant to be drinking water and he said no, but same as me, figured that it was much cleaner than what would be considered drinking water back home. 

Rain clouds gathering. There was a music festival going on and we could hear the orchestra playing -- I hope they were under cover at least.

She wanted to try on the hats like her brothers and then decided it was time to dance. 

We wandered around town, popping into every outdoor sports store we saw. Since we are coming back in December, our long term goal is to get everyone some sort of shell/jacket that will be waterproof for skiing. 

The skies opened up and it was pouring so we ducked into a cafe for hot chocolate and cappuccinos.

We found perfect jackets for the middle two boys. Good for now and later!

My jacket is a new acquisition from our time in Poland. The shopping was so good there. The prices were equal to or better than what we could get online. 

Even McDonald's looks like a Bavarian cottage

We caught the bus and headed back up to base/our resort. We had made special plans for the evening. 

Every year, for the summer solstice, over the border in Austria they have the mountain fires. They've been doing this annually for a few hundred years. There are people who make designs on the sides of the mountains and then crews that carry the flame to these spots and light all the different fires that make up the image. As you stand below the mountains it's like playing a game of connect the dots, guessing which image is being created before your eyes. 

The very first signs of fire. One up top and one below.

Eating sausage and drinking beer while we wait

We made our way out to the middle of a grassy field to get a good view of the 4 different mountains where the fires were being lit. 

See the fires over Caleb's shoulder?

I can't do it justice, but here's the start of a candle!

Behind them are the beginnings of intertwined hearts, a praying angel and a cross. Most of the designs are religious symbols.

We made a new friend, Crystal, when she was assigned to our van for the drive to Austria (only about 25 minutes away). 

The finished hearts! We also saw an amazingly detailed crucifix, an angel/cupid with arrow and heart, a church, a chalice and candle and more. At the beginning the weather cooperated, but then the downpour began. 

We took cover in the beer tent. Calvin can drink because he's 16 (and because we bought him a beer). 

She's a big drinker, but we've limited her to non-alcoholic apple juice. 

A fun, once in a lifetime experience in the Alps! More info about it here.

workin in a salt mine

One of the touristy things to do in Krakow is a visit to the salt mines. It sounds a bit yawn-inducing, but this salt mine is more of an underground city than a hole in the ground. Anything with caves, hiking and climbing are on my kids' must-do list so we headed out on the morning of day 2. We weren't sure how much rain we'd be getting that day and figured it would be a good time to be underground and dry. 

Walking to the bus. Lots of old beautiful buildings.

We stumbled upon the right bus (a miracle) and Josh figured out the ticket machine and we were off. 45 minutes later we arrived and had a short walk to the entrance of the mine. It was a bit like Disneyland with souvenir booths, food for sale and long lines of tourists. 

We had about an hour before our timed tour with an English speaking guide so we had a lunch of Polish sausage with mustard, water with gas (sparkling water), coffee and ice cream. No $5 churros here. The food was cheap enough that Josh and Calvin went back and ordered seconds. The weather went from warm and sunny to a sudden downpour, but we pulled our chairs in toward the center of the umbrella and ate in the rain. Really fun. 

We lined up with our fellow English speakers, got headsets to listen to our guide and started into the mine, 300+ steps down, down, down. 

This is from the bottom, looking back up the shaft toward the top. I made the mistake of looking down part way through our descent and started feeling woozy. 

We all had earpieces to hear our guide but every time he'd round a corner he'd start breaking up. "this-- the end--1857-- the men . . ." I missed much of the content, but the most important part is that it's ALL made up of salt. 

Yes, it's lickable. 

Yep, that's salt too. There are salt sculptures and carvings in every room. 

More salt sculptures. These are life sized. I think they are telling the story of how the salt mine came to be. And other rooms demonstrate the method they used for removing the salt from the mines. 

The humidity down below creates moisture on the surface of the salt and as it evaporate it creates this cauliflower effect. Some of the rooms have stalactites hanging from the ceilings. The guy said they have to knock them down once each year to keep them from growing too big. 

A demonstration of how the early miners had to burn off the methane gas that would collect in pockets -- they'd walk around with a torch and crossed fingers waiting for something to blow up. 

Salt, salt, more salt. 

Tons of underground walking. The tunnels went on forever. Supposedly we walked about 2.5k, but the guide said that was only 1% of the tunnels. 

Bob, picking salt off the wall to eat. 

One of the kings. Salt. 

Hiking down more stairs, further and further into the mine

Bob tasted this water too. I was sure he was going to get some sort of stomach issues from all his wall licking and tasting (though salt is an excellent bacteria killer). The water was super salty too. 

They keep the tunnels with the sculptures air conditioned to remove the humidity from the air. This is what happens when they don't -- they "melt."

Wooden Jesus. Not salt. The miners used to come visit before starting work each day as protection against their dangerous jobs. (I think that's what the guide said. Don't quote me on that.)

Wooden Mary (these two are the only 2 wooden sculptures down below). Mary is stomping on the crescent moon, a symbol of the Muslim faith.

The HUGE underground church. Salt stairs, salt floors, salt carvings on every surface. Not salt chandeliers.

Worth every step. It was breathtaking. 

Salt nativity

Modern Dome of the Rock behind Mary and Joseph and Jesus headed to Egypt -- a bit anachronistic.

Pope John Paul II is beloved in Krakow because he was their priest before he became pope. His image is everywhere. 

As low as we go today -- 425 feet underground. 

After the tour was over, we gathered in the underground restaurant for a meal of Polish favorites: sour soup with sausage, fried cabbage, beets and other yummy things that taste better in Poland than anywhere else. We were told after we exited there would be an elevator to take us back to the surface. 

But they didn't tell us that we would have to walk a mile or more to get to the elevator. 

Not a big deal, except the guy leading us was going at a sprinter's pace and started the walk out by yelling at us in Polish so the entire way out had a much darker feel than the way in. Josh joked that we were probably on our way to "the showers" or that we were going to have to grab picks and work our way out before they'd let us go. Completely insensitive joking, but it felt the same way to me too. Especially with Josh's parents trying to keep up it felt a bit like they were going for a survival of the fittest approach. 

They did actually let us leave eventually and we bussed our way back to Krakow, relaxed a bit before dinner, and then headed into old town again to eat dinner on the square. We ate outside wrapped in blankets, sipping hot mulled wine and laughing as twilight slowly switched over to dark. 

We've been eating at 8:30 because it's light out until almost 10!

Another gorgeous night on the square. Love you, Krakow!