Herrenchiemsee

When we were planning our trip (on the fly, with only about two weeks warning), my dad recommended that we try to go to Cheimsee, or more specifically, the Palace at Herrenchiemsee. He sent me the link and said he thought the kids would like riding on a boat. They totally did. Lola liked eating ice cream on the boat. Henry liked screaming at Lola while she ate an ice cream. Lola also now knows how to say "I'm On A Boat".

This is Herrencheimsee. It may look familiar because it is modeled after Versailles. The Bavarian King Ludwig II built it, and only spent 9 days in it before his death. It was actually still in construction, and even a tour now shows you what remained unfinished. It's pretty intense.

So, we drive from Munich, to three towns named Stock, get a ferry (what does she look like asks Lola; its a homynym says Jeffrey) and push a double stroller all the way up to this Palace. We get our tickets, we join an English-language tour. And we enter into The Grand Staircase.

Not accessible.
Okay Kids.
Let's do it.
Here are the good sports in our family: Henry and Lola.
Clearly, I am still bitching about it.
If you are thinking of going, do it. But it is probably more meaningful if you've actually been to Versailles. Oh, and this place is all about preservation---you lose a little bit of the effect because they have carpeted all of the rooms. I think most people wouldn't notice so much but it only made me want to see the inlaid floors even more.

If you go with a noisy baby, try to avoid the naptime tour. Or bring extra pacifiers. Or just let him make echo-testing noises throughout your tour until the guide finally gives you the okay to just go ahead and leave...

GPS

GPS is amazing. I cannot imagine how people survived the old fashioned way. The only note I will add is that Germany seems to have a lot of towns in the same general area with the same name.

The guidebook for Munich and the Bavarian Alps says that to get to Chiemsee, you must go to Stock. Of course, we went to three Stocks. The last one being the correct one. It was all good. At least it stopped raining by the time we arrived. This is Henry checking out sheep in the second town called Stock.

Together

This is just so you can see that sometimes they are actually sitting (almost together) at the same time. These moments are rare, but appreciated.