Totally Random

 I honestly had no clue what this post was going to be about until I opened up my photo folder. I don't have time (or mind capacity) to write a thought-out post but still want to keep you all up to date on our adventures. 

So here, is my totally random blog post:

 I found this apron at World Market (the home goods version of Trader Joe's) and want it. Need it. Have to have it. It is my life motto at the moment and in the near future. It also made me giggle because it reminded me of a good friend from our time in France, Sarah and the sign that this came from.

 We bought a food processor! It is amazing!

And we went to a locally famous pumpkin/apple patch in Illinois. We had a great day in the sunshine and came back with lots of apples to make applesauce with. Which, still has yet to be made (3 weeks later). 

Life, please calm down so I can make my stinkin' applesauce!!!

Vogler Parents' Visit: The Loire Valley

Monday: the scenic route (a.k.a.-avoiding tolls)

We came across hundreds of piles of these mysterious root vegetable on the "scenic route". What could it be? First we thought potatoes, then maybe parsnips, then it was celery root...

Until we saw large piles of them in front of this factory

In front of this sugar factory. The mysterious piles on the main [non-toll] route from Metz to Paris are sugar beets.

We arrived that night in Blois (pronounced: bla) and came across this majestic beauty while on a "night" walk (since dark comes at 5:00 already, not that I'm complaining Alaskerella!). 

Tuesday: the Loire Valley

On Tuesday morning we walked around Blois in amazement at the trees that were probably there before the Revolution.

Then we went to check out this hunting lodge. No, really. Château de Chambord was built as a hunting lodge by François I.

And because it was made as a temporary royal residence, everything was collapsible

 And beautiful.

The roof even looked like it's own city.

Dad and his baguettes, he just couldn't get enough. 

That night we walked around the picturesque town of Amboise and at dinner at the delicious L'Alliance.

Wednesday: we woke up

To these outside our B&B window. The chickens made all kinds of noise when our host, Alex went out to swipe eggs for our breakfast.

On to another Château with a tree lined drive. Excuse me while I suppress my wishful thinking...

Interesting Fact #1: This one (Château du Chenonceau) made history when in 1547, it was given by Henry II to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. At Henry's death, his wife, Catherine de' Medici reclaimed Chenonceau and forced Diane to move on to a lesser Château. (I love that story)

Interesting Fact #2: During the Revolution, while the revolutionaries were destroying all that related to power and religion, the owners filled the chapel with firewood, tricking the revolutionaries into believing that the room was just storage.

We got to see the kitchen in this Château and being a cooking family, we were all intrigued and perhaps imagining taking some things home. 

For example: Michael wanted to take this hand-cranked rotisserie (a form of punishment for our future children?) but instead, had me take many, many pictures so he can one day replicate it. 

I wanted to take home the stove but didn't think it would fit in the Twingo.

Did I mention that this Château was built over the river?

I think I also forgot to mention the labyrinth

Where you can pick escargot.

After another yummy picnic lunch we went to the Marc Brédif wine caves to sample the wine and walk though part of the 2km long storage caves.

For dinner that night we went to the beautiful town of Loche. While working up (walking up) an appetite we came across the Château de Loches, particularly it's defensive buildings.

After dinner we headed back to the B&B (here's our room, by the way) for a rousing game of hearts and a good night's sleep.

Thursday: 

We played with the resident donkey before packing up and 

 Taking the Twingo to Versailles,

 Which was oddly filled with Japanese art (but still beautiful).

 

Postcard reads: "Greetings from Versailles!"

Let's start at the very beginning: Saint-Avold

Or rather, let's start where we left off. And no, we didn't visit a certain melodious and Austrian family's old stomping ground when my parents were here for a visit but for whatever reason, that song has been popping into my head every time I though of writing this blog post.

Sunday: A day to relax

 And a day to visit the Saint-Avold American Military Cemetery. This was the second time for Michael and I but we met the new assistant manager, an American from the Pittsburgh area. He told some new stories and gave us insight on keeping the cemetery free of riff raff. For example: always watch young couples that show no interest in the cemetery but look like they're on a mission. Oh, and no dogs allowed!

On our scenic drive home we  witnessed the majesty of renewable energy

And took pride in American influence on the French

And later that evening, after a dinner that I can't remember (Edit: Michael remembered that we made quiche lorraine and salad that night for dinner), we introduced Mom to the wonders of almost nonexistent counter space whilst preparing our favorite pan bagnat for Monday's road trip.

Oktoberfest and the Motherland

*Wow, 13 posts in one month! Surely this is a record. I don't expect it to slow down any time soon though; so much yet to do in so little time.*

Scratch that, this post was meant to go up 3 days ago but alas, blogger and I have been arguing over whether or not it's going to let me post my pictures, so far, blogger has been the victor but not today.

We intended last year to go to Oktoberfest but little did we know that Oktoberfest actually is primarily in September. It ends the first Sunday in October. So, by the time we realized what was going on last year, the festival was practically over. Really, it was all for the best though since we would have been going by train last year which would probably have meant being suck in Munich for a whole weekend. Not that Munich isn't a beautiful city and all but it is a bit crazed come Oktoberfest (6 million people visited last year!) and on this trip we established that despite our exploration into the world of wines, spirits, and beer this past year, we are hopeless lightweights, so spending the whole weekend at the festival would have been pointless.

Thankfully, this year we have our lovely Lune Rousse to get around with, which meant that after deciding that we had had our fill of beer and crowds, we were able to take off and visit the alpine portion of Michael's ancestral homeland, Bavaria.

Welcome (or Willkommen, rather) to Oktoberfest!

and welcome to the Hofbräu "tent" (really, how do they get away with calling these things "tents?)

All of these people were drinking liters of beer at 10am

All of those people included us

We sobered up with a beautiful view of the Bavaria statue which was commissioned by Ludwig I, grandfather to crazy Ludwig II whom we will hear about later. The statue is massive though, thought to be a technological masterpiece at the time it was built (between 1844 and 1850)

A live carousel, how cool!

We always feel so healthy after Germany trips.

Does this look familiar to anyone?

Munich's New Town Hall -- we missed the clock performance but were able to enjoy the beautiful building with the cascading flowers. Nearly every house in Bavaria was covered in cascading flowers.

Another Hofbräu establishment, this time the beer hall for dinner.

We finally sober up and it's time for another liter for Michael at least, I had a half liter (which is still huge compared to tiny French beer bottles).

Our German heritage may not have presented itself in the beer tolerance category, but when it comes to food we are German through and through. I had a crispy pork knuckle (at which the older German man across the table laughed and laughed...I guess he's never seen a small girl eat so much) while Michael had a slice of roast pork. We both had some deliciously sticky potato dumplings and sauerkraut on the side.

The rain set in after dinner so after heading back to our tent for some warmer clothes, we went back out to enjoy the Oktoberfest night scene.

And what is Oktoberfest without spiced (if slightly soggy) almonds? Don't listen to me, I just made the correlation up.

The next morning we packed up and left our interesting accommodations (we slept in bunk beds in a white tent on the right)

And took off for a sometimes quaint (see above) and sometimes breathtaking (see below) drive on the Deutsche Alpenstraße (German Alpine Road).

Lune Rousse was a champ,

those S-curves are nothing to laugh at!

Can you imagine waking up to that?

We went a little crazy at a German grocery store. There is a picture of everything at home later but these delicious caraway meat sticks didn't make it anywhere near Metz.

Inside these walls is one of the most ridiculously ornate Rococo styled churches I have ever seen (the only one I've ever seen, really).

The Wies church was erected to house the statue of Jesus (figure of the Scourged Savior) when it was noticed to be crying and pilgrims began to flock in hoards to be in its presence. There are 3 houses in the town. I kid you not.

Ludwig II grew up in this castle, it looks perfectly adequate to me.

Apparently he didn't think so, he had this castle build next door. It's called Neuschwanstein and was later used by Disney as the model for the Sleeping Beauty castle. He only got halfway though the construction however (draining the family money along the way) before the other Bavarian aristocrats had him deemed clinically insane, thus stripping him of his rule. A few days later he and his doctor were found dead, drowned in a lake.

On our way home we happened to drive by the tallest church in the world located in Ulm, Germany.

Evaluation of our German purchases: nut crunch cereal, nestle cinnamon toast crunch knockoff, some dark beers (dunkels) for stew, english muffins, a 6-pack of hefeweizen, pickles that were consumed en-route, blood orange juice (also previously consumed), a mix for those potato dumplings, sauerkraut, sausages, beef (also for stew), sweet mustard and spätzle

And the resulting beef-beef stew with potato dumplings

Oh, and you can check out the rest of the pictures by clicking HERE.