Grandma and Grandpa

Hyrum's parents popped over for a quick visit November 1st and 2nd.  They came to London to see Hyrum's brother and his family and decided that a mid-visit break might be good since Ian and Charity's place is pretty tiny.  The break meant a quick stop in Munich to see us!  We were glad to have them.  

Like father, like son.
Hyrum was just pretending but they do share a lot of mannerisms.

We met them at the central station in Munich on Tuesday morning since we knew it would be hard to get back out if they came straight to our apartment.  We took them to see Munich.  The funny thing was that All Saint's Day is November 1st and Bavaria observes it.  The streets were very quiet, stores were all closed and the churches were filled.  We popped into a couple and found ourselves part of a catholic worship service.  We didn't understand anything but the call and response section of the mass we heard in one church was really lovely.  It wasn't something I do often but it was touching to see the people united in their worship. 

View from the tower at Old Peter's Church

After walking around the old town we stopped for some lunch and then walked to the English Garden.  We had to show Mom and Dad the surfers and then walked to the Chinese tower at the Biergarten so the kids could play on the playground.  

The leaves at the English Garden were great.

It was a sunny but cool day.  The leaves on the trees were gorgeous.  I am so glad we didn't miss out on Fall by being in Europe this year.  It was fun to show Mom and Dad a bit of the place we call home right now.  

We gave Grandma a giant Kinder egg and everyone wanted to help open it. 

These boys love their Grandpa!

They spent the night at our apartment and we got up nice and early on Wednesday to catch a train to Salzburg. We had high hopes for this trip but quickly realized it might be an interesting day.  We went prepared for rain and it was a good thing we did.  

We did pop into a church in Salzburg.  I love ceilings!

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Upon arrival in Salzburg, we took a bus to the Old City.  We decided to make our first stop the 

Hohensalzburg Fortress.  Honestly, I didn't get a whole lot out of the experience as I was trying to keep and eye on Ben as he was having a hard time that day.  As we got to the top, the rain started.  It was pretty tame at first and then right as we sat down to have lunch it poured.  We quickly ate our sandwiches in the rain.  Ben tripped and fell in the mud but that was the only mishap.  

Looking down on the city from the fortress.

We found shelter in the museum and wandered through that.  The rain let up a bit as we rode back down to the town.  We wandered through the streets, admiring the old buildings and looking at the modern wares in their windows.  I am falling in love with dirndls, not so much with the lederhosen, though.  We decided we'd take the kids to the Natural History Museum since it was dry and would keep their attention before we left Salzburg.  They enjoyed the bits we saw and it was a good way to keep them busy. 

I enjoyed this representation of a revolt by farmers for taxes the Archbishop imposed on them.

Mom and Dad by the fortress wall.

I love this guy.  Another view of Salzburg from the Fortress.

Mom and Dad had a plane to catch back to London so we caught the 4:15 train back to Munich.  We were able to get seats facing each other with tables between them.  It was nice with the kids.  We snacked on leftovers from lunch and a plethora of candy.  We were trying to keep everyone happy for the train ride home.  We said our goodbyes as Grandma and Grandpa stepped off at the stop where they needed to catch a train to the airport  and then we continued on to our stop.  It was a quick visit but we loved it.  We'll take a quick visit instead of no visit any day.  Thanks, for coming to say Hello, Grandma and Grandpa!

A church at the end of a busy shopping street.
I love the pop of color from the leaves around it.

Getting situated on the train.