Adventures in Parent Sitting

So, last weekend my parents arrived for a week long visit to Germany. We all had a great time, ate a lot of German food and drank some German beer. As far as traveling goes, it was a rather full visit, which is hopefully apparent in the stories and photos below. I took fewer pictures because my stepmother loves to take photos and wound up taking several great shots chronicling our trip. However, hopefully the ones I have here do it justice.

Day 1: Wandering around Bonn

Dad & Joc on the Rhine River

Day 2: Museums in Bonn and the Cologne Cathedral

Joc on her first train ride in quite a while.

Day 3: Heidelberg and a Drive to the Alps

Upon finally finding parking near the Heidelberg Schloss.

Fountain near the Goethe Walk of the castle grounds. Clearly a good place to philosophize.

My standard series of clock shots.

More castle grounds.

A turret for my friends the S family.

A side view of what was once clearly an impressive residence, though now it is likely a bit drafty.

Joc looking for good photo ops.

A view from the top ... looking down on the city from the castle.

The city center and old bridge from the castle.

More of the city center.

The central church.

What turned out to be the old University buildings.

A pleasant looking plaza.

I may have turret syndrome.

More of the castle grounds.

A view from the actual Goethe walk.

More Goethe walk. He walked, therefore he was.

Clock tower in the city center.

Another clock.

The Heidelberg Library.

Day 4: Berchtesgarden National Park, Salzburg, dinner in Rosenheim

Koenigsee, which fortunately we found after nearly driving through the National Park without stopping once.

More Koenigsee.

Paved paradise and put up some crappy shops.

A view through trees while on our short hike.

A bit clearer shot.

Dad & Joc pondering who will push who in the water.

A series of attempted artistic nature shots, with varied degrees of success.

A clock in Salzburg.

Herr Mozart, Salzburg native.

The full Mozart.

The Salzburg Museum and a Cathedral.

Another clock.

Where the magic started, I still say Don Giovanni is one big practical joke.

Something tells me this has not been preserved as it was in 1756.

A two-fer.

The castle on the hill we tried to get to repeatedly upon our first arrival. We only found the tram to the top at the end of the day.

More clocks. I guess I am a clock man.

A spire.

Columns and a spire.

Monument in front of the church.

I call this one ... Giant gold ball as seen through archway.

A pretty monument with a nice peaceful pool of water.

Dad after dinner in Rosenheim with the only four legged creature we saw in the Alps.

Day 5: Dachau, Munich, Neuschwanstein and Garmisch-Parternkirchen

The grounds at Dachau, the scope and scale of which was truly horrifying.

A guard tower.

One of the two barracks left standing of 30 total that at one time housed up to 2,000 prisoners.

Each tree marks a barracks.

This sculpture really did seem to capture the sense of loss and tragedy.

This grave could be put almost anywhere on earth, though it is especially profound in this place.

Munich from the top of the tower in the Frauenkirche.

More aerial views of Munich.

The castle Neuschwanstein from a distance.