Brussels to Garmisch

We got European license plates for our car just in time for our first European vacation—skiing in the Bavarian Alps! This is important, because we can’t cross international borders with Texas plates (too “exotic”), and our drive here to Garmisch took us from Belgium through Luxemburg, Germany, Austria and back into Germany again. I booked us this hotel back in July, so the timing was getting a liiiiiiittle too close for comfort, but it worked out with no issues in the end.

We drove past modern windmills, ancient churches, towering pines of the Ardenne forest, the rounded dome of a chateau in the distance, past fast-flowing rivers and rolling hills.

The gray fog of Brussels gave way to white patches of snow as temperatures drop and spirits soar (soaring spirits had to do with finding flaky pain au chocolat for breakfast). I saw a dead badger on the side of the road.

One day of driving doubled for Isaac and more than doubled the number of countries Eloise has been to. We didn’t even stop in Luxembourg, so it probably wouldn’t count except did get a cell phone notification we’d crossed the border.

So here we are in Germany! And the Garmisch gossip is…the King of Thailand is currently enjoying his annual Bavarian vacation, for which he rents out an entire hotel (for security reasons, and I guess because he’s a king and can do whatever he wants for vacation).

For Valentine’s Day the kids got to do a kids night out at the hotel, full of crafting and video games, and Chris and I did a brewery tour at some place I forgot the name of, which will annoy Chris, and he’ll also be annoyed that I am not including a picture of the brewer’s certificate we took a test for. I think that was Chris’ favorite part of our date. Happy Valentine’s Day anyway!

King of the mountain!