The Big Family Trip

Welcome to the monster post that is the big trip with the family!

My parents and brothers flew over to Europe to spend 10 days with me at the end of March and beginning of April. I’m really glad that everyone could come visit me. I’d missed them all a lot since coming to Europe, and it was great to see them. While they were here, we visited Luxembourg, Münchin, and Marburg. Although I enjoyed the entire trip and getting to see new places, I really enjoyed getting to show them around Marburg.

You may notice that this post is… somewhat late. Part of that was just because it was an exciting, busy trip with a lot to cover, and part of it was just timing. After they left, I had a busy couple of days and then the spring semester started the following week. As usual, the start of the semester is hectic, moreso in Marburg, where you don’t have a finalized schedule for the first few weeks. But that’s going to be saved for my next post, when I write about what’s happened since this family trip.

I’ve tried to keep this post relatively words-light, with limited success. With a trip like this, it’s difficult to be words-light.

Here’s a one-second each day video of the trip:

Luxembourg

We all arrived in Luxembourg, Luxembourg on March 31st. While in Luxembourg, we took two half-day trips to areas outside of the main city. One thing I thought was kind of funny was how similar Luxembourgish is to German. There were a couple of moments during the trip where I would see a sign at a museum and would start trying to read and translate it for the rest of the family, only to discover halfway down the line that it wasn’t German at all.

Day 1

Our first day, we got up bright and early to go see Vianden Castle, in the north of the country. It was a little hectic trying to get there, but we were able to catch the series of trains and buses to get us there. It was beautiful up there. We were all somewhat surprised by how many exhibits there were inside of the castle. I don’t have a photo of this (Mom and Dad took those), but one interesting thing was seeing how short the suits of armor were compared to Douglas.

We spent most of the day at the castle, and once we were finished decided to head back into the city instead of going to another castle nearby, as we weren’t sure that it would be open. We ended up at a modern art museum. One cool exhibit was a pit filled with sand that had seashell headphones, that you could put on and hear the ocean. Another exhibit I liked was a video and series of photos made by a person who paints shadows of objects on the ground. In a different part of the museum, Nicholas nearly sat down in a chair that was part of an exhibit. Which, if your art exhibit is a circle of chairs, that’s fair.

Day 2

The next day we headed out a museum that was nearby Vianden, that was closed the previous day. Luxembourg’s National Museum of Military History earns the prize of “place that surprised me the most.” Military history isn’t something I usually find super interesting on its own, so my expectations of enjoyment were relatively low. I decided to go ahead and get the audio guide, as it would at the very least help me pace myself in the museum and give me something specific to focus on.

That was definitely a good decision. The audio guide did a great job of explaining the exhibits and also drew my attention to notable things. The museum itself was mostly life-size dioramas, depicting certain scenes and aspects of World War II in the area; one diorama showed a Nazi communications’ hub that had actually been set up in the building the museum is now in.

After lunch and our return to the city, we made our way to the Bock Casemates, a series of underground tunnels originally built in the 1600s to help protect the city. Along the way, we took some photos of the city and the Cathedral. We were trying to catch the last tour of the day (in German and English!), so we didn’t linger too long.

The Bock Casemates were also a lot of fun to see. The tunnels are all inside of a sort of plateau/cliff area, with large open windows on either side. Throughout the history of Luxembourg, different regimes and empires that controlled the city would improve the defenses of the casemates. The tour was pretty interesting, and gave us much more context to everything, but I wish we’d been able to stay inside after our tour and explore the casemates on our own for a while.

After that, we walked around the defensive wall of the city, to get another view of the city. On the way back to the hostel after our walk, we ended up waiting for a bus at a very busy and interesting intersection. There were 3 streets coming together, and in the 10-ish minutes we sat there, several different cars made U-turns and three-point turns in the middle of the intersection. One particular driver made a U turn three separate times. It doesn’t sound nearly as entertaining on paper as it was to see it in person.

Day 3

Our last day wasn’t really a day spent in Luxembourg, but instead a long day spent on a series of buses, trains and trams to get to our next destination: Münchin! There isn’t much to say about this day, other than we got a lot of beautiful views of Germany on the way there. We tried to get some photos, but with limited success.

München, or Munich

Our next home base was in a city I visited once before, with a group from my high school as part of a graduation present. Really, this entire trip was a slow progression from unfamiliar places to familiar places.

Day 1

The first full day in Münchin, we started off by going to the Deutsche Museum. This museum was a place Nicholas had heard about and wanted to visit, and in my opinion, he made a fantastic choice. I’d never been before, but it’s definitely a place that could hold up to multiple visits. The museum was massive, and after going through the basement floor that focused on nautical technology and history, and marine biology, we decided to split up some, so that we could each see what interested us most.

I went upstairs with Mom and Nicholas to see the floor which had a flight simulator, exhibits on glassblowing, and pottery. Unfortunately for Nicholas, the flight simulator was more of a demonstration on how pilots are trained to fly in flight simulators, rather than the chance to get in a simulator as he had hoped. The presentation was in German, so I ended up having to interpret for Nicholas, quietly telling him what was being said in English as best I could. It was pretty difficult, especially when the person used specific flight terms or started listing off numbers, but I managed to get the main points across.

Another interesting part of the museum we enjoyed was a display of a bunch of different and strange instruments. One was an instrument that looked like a piano, with a bunch of violins inside of the top, and it was used like a large music box in the era of silent film to play the music to accompany the films. There was also a theremin that people could actually try out. We all took a turn and had a fun time, though the museum tour guide at the theremin on the other side of the room was far more skilled.

After we ate lunch, we decided to leave the museum, having seen most of what we wanted to there. We then made our way to Marienplatz, the square in München with the Rathaus, the Victuals market, and St. Peter’s Church. I’d spent a lot of time in this area last summer on the trip with South Forsyth, so I knew my way around the area fairly well. Dad, the boys and I climbed to the top of St. Peter’s Church to get a great view of the city.

We did a little shopping, spending a lot of time in a wood store picking out Easter eggs. They had a ton of different Easter eggs that were real egg shells painted with different decorations threaded through tiny holes. However, we decided against getting any of those, as they would likely not make it back to the apartment, much less the United States, without breaking. Instead, we went for some wooden egg ornaments instead.

Afterwards, we went through the market for dinner, and then watched the Glockenspiel of the Rathaus. It was a pretty entertaining play, and I’m glad I got to see it this time (I didn’t see it last summer). We then headed back to the apartment a little early, partially to get laundry done, and partially to have an early night of rest.

Day 2

The second day in Munich we went to a place that I picked out: Schloss Nymphenburg! We ended up spending most of our day there, which was just fine by Mom and I. We both enjoyed the castles we visited a lot, and while Vianden Castle was very cool, it was more intended as a fortress, while Nymphenburg is a palace. The boys were a little bored during the first part of the day, as the rest of us went through the palace slowly, listening to the audioguides details about each of the rooms and the paintings and decorations within.

One really interesting room was called the “Hall of Beauties” and was filled with 36 large portraits of various beautiful women commissioned by King Ludwig I. The audio guide pointed out a couple of the more notable ones, and with information on the women depicted. They weren’t all aristocrats, either — one was a shoemaker’s daughter, another was an actress. Many were mistresses of the king. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good photo of the entire room, but below is one of the women the audio guide mentioned that I found interesting. Her name was Jane Digby, and she lived a fascinating life. She was an English aristocrat, and was known for her love of adventure. She traveled the world, had several marriages, ultimately marrying an Arab Sheikh and converting to Islam. I just think that’s really interesting.

The next section of the castle we went to go see was the carriage and horse museum, with a variety of different carriages that had been used by the royal family in different coronation ceremonies and events throughout the years.

While we were in the carriage museum, I discovered a new mission: to get a candid photo of Nicholas. It continued throughout the rest of the family trip, and it was very difficult. I only succeeded when enlisting the help of Douglas – to either capture Nicholas, or to take my camera and do a sneak attack. I haven’t included all of the blurry-cryptid-Nicholas photos here, either.

After our lunch (which was amazing, though we all forgot to get pictures of our desserts like Kaiserschmarrn), we started walking around the palace grounds to visit the various hunting lodges and baths that were built elsewhere on the grounds. The boys and I got to play around a bit more and let some of our energy out — none of it is easy to put into writing, but we had a fun time on the walks to and from each of the different buildings.

We were a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to reach them all before the palace closed all of its exhibits, but luckily we did! Then it was time to head back for the evening, with a stop at the Surfer’s. There are two places in Munich where the water from the river comes out from a tunnel in a way that creates a perfect surfing wave. People come out in wet suits and take turns surfing on the wave, usually for a minute or two each. It was cold outside, and getting close to sundown, but there were still several people there.

We walked back to Marienplatz, where we bought sandwiches to take back to our room. We took a bit of a scenic route there, and I shared some of the cool history facts about the city that I learned last summer. By the time we made it back to the apartment, it was dark out and we were more than ready to sleep.

Day 3

Like day 3 in Luxembourg, our third day in Munich was  really more just the third day we woke up in Munich. We got up early, and had another long day on trains to get to Marburg.

Marburg

The nice thing about my family visiting Marburg was that I could show them around the city and knew my way around pretty well, and that I also go tot go try some new restaurants in the city that I hadn’t gotten the chance to try yet. We actually had really nice weather while they were in Marburg, too.

Day 1

Although I gave my family a brief tour of the castle student dorm I live in on the day we arrived in Marburg, we hadn’t gone into the main portion of the castle yet. In fact, I hadn’t been inside of the larger section of the castle outside of the chapel, where the chorus performed in December.

The first part of the museum had a bunch of models of the castle at different stages of development throughout its history. We then walked through different sections of the castle, including the chapel, a grand dining hall, and an oddly creepy art gallery hall, empty except for one painting.

Then we got to the museum inside the castle. Each floor was organized around a central theme, like armor and weaponry, or religious history (primarily relating to the Elizabethkirche) or castle living through the ages.

For lunch, we went to my favorite Döner place in Marburg, and everyone got to try the Turkish food that’s popular in Germany. Then we went to an ice cream parlor where the boys got to try Spaghetti Eis, or ice cream made to look like spaghetti. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a photo of that.

That afternoon, I took Dad and the boys on a hike in Marburg, one that I had gone on in my first week here. The new BCA students had moved in just the week before, so I went ahead and invited them along, and Niklas (a friend from Etown) joined us. We walked down the castle mountain, and then started climbing the hill up to the Elizabethkirche.

It was a pretty fun hike, and Nicholas took over mom’s camera so that he could be the photographer for a little while. He took several photos at the top with the view of the castle. There were some logs lying around the gazebo, and unfortunately when Nicholas was throwing them into the woods, he ended up cutting his leg. We had him lie down on the bench so dad could poor water over it before putting a bandaid on it.

Day 2

The next morning we got up to do something I had want to do every time I walk through the Oberstadt (over city, the older district) of Marburg: shopping. There are so many different shops throughout the area, and it was fun going through them even if we didn’t buy something. I think everyone’s favorite store was this toy store, Kinderkiste. I was surprised to find they also sold the German version of a game I played a lot at Etown last year, Mansions of Madness. Mom, of course, was on the lookout for elephants.

While mom split off to go sight see around Marburg a little more and to see the Elizabethkirche, the rest of us headed to the Mathematikum Gießen. I knew after visiting last November that it would be a good museum for us to see. To no one’s surprise, Dad loved the museum, but so did Douglas and Nicholas (even if the latter won’t admit it).

That night, everyone went grocery shopping with me. I was out of food at the castle and wouldn’t get a chance to go grocery shopping for a few days, either. It was nice having their help carry things up the mountain.

Day 3

We headed into Frankfurt pretty early, everyone’s luggage in tow. Their train out to Luxembourg didn’t leave until the evening, and we were going to spend the day in Frankfurt. After storing their luggage in one of the lockers at the train station, we headed off to the Frankfurt Film Museum.

The Film Museum is yet another place I’d visited earlier, so I don’t have as many photos from this visit there. They also enjoyed this museum, and the different interactive exhibits there.

After visiting the museum and getting lunch, we walked along the Rhein towards the old city center. Most of the buildings there are not the original buildings and were actually rebuilt after the war.

We stopped for ice cream, and then there was nothing left to do but get their suitcases from the lockers at the train station, buy some dinner for the road, and head to the train platform. We hugged and waved goodbye, and then they got on the train to start their long trip back home.

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What I’m listening to this week: Mama’s Gun by Glass Animals.