The Bavarian Forest

We just got back from a week visiting the Bavarian Forest (Bayerisch Wald as it is called in Deutschland). It is a region in Eastern Bavaria that borders Bohemia (the Western Czech Republic). It is known for hiking and outdoor activities, and it is a beautiful area of Europe (It is the largest forest in Central Europe). Previous to the wall coming down, you could not cross the "iron wall" into Czech by hiking or of course any other way, but now you can.

Bryan was not able to go, but the kids and I enjoyed a fun week of activities (even though we missed Bryan a bunch). I think secretly, he enjoyed his time as well (we used to go to Maine for a month each summer, and he had "a month off", so this year I think he was happy with a week - just enough time to really miss us :-) It was a last minute vacation thanks to a "use or lose" time share week that my Mom and Uncle generously gave us (thank you sooooo much :-).

We hiked several days, went to the local zoo, played outside, went to the National Park, and did the summer Tobaggan rides that are well known here. No TV's, no computer access, no telephone, no video games equals NO WORRIES for an entire week!!!! All of that self inflicted stress was gone! It was fun to see the kids "playing" and enjoying the outdoors. There is something so special about Bavaria!

*2 things I wanted to point out from the pictures: We were amazed to see the baby Alpaca (the little white animal) next to his mom - he was born only 10 days ago!!!! The other thing is - if you are able to enlarge the picture of Bailey and Mia on the Summer Toboggan (Mia's face is absolutely priceless).