We woke to jagged mountains breaking through the clouds on our last day in Innsbruck. Little did I know we were completely surrounded by gorgeous sharp mountains on all side, a little like Telluride but times a million! After getting robbed at breakfast (€10 each if purchased online with the room, €26 when purchased separately!!!) we started off on our road trip to Unterleiterbach, a tiny little village outside of Bamberg, Germany. The highlight of the roadtrip was these fancy little bathrooms at the gas station- €0,70 per person but the toilet seat rotated through a disinfectant after each use! Sweet! I could have traded in my bathroom ticket for a €0,50 refund towards a gas station purchase but I opted to log the ticket into my new scrapbook-on-the-go that my amazingly creative sister made for me. Pics to follow...
Snow hit a little bit outside of Munich and by the time we got to Bamberg it was a blizzard. The roads were fun, especially in Pat's mud terrain tires (?!). Pat's uncle says this is the most snow they've had in 25 years. The town of Unterleiterbach has maybe 100 homes- Pat's cousin lives immediately next door to his aunt and uncle, no more than 20 yards away. Aunt Hedwig was on the her way back to her house and slipped on the snow, breaking her shoulder in two places :( She refused to go the hospital at first and once at the hospital the following day refused to have surgery until after Christmas. After checking in this morning at 9am, she will have a plate and god knows what else inserted tomorrow morning and then spend the next five days in the hospital. She is not upset about the pain, only about the fact that she is not able to provide us with delicious schnitzel, potato balls and the other delish goodies she is well known for.
The moment we walked in there was a spread on the table, in spite of our injured host, including thirty different cookies, several different beers (the Bamberg region claims over 300 different beers) and candy candy candy. We sit at the table all evening, me trying to figure out what in the world they are all saying, telling stories, making fun of each other, all in all a good time. Of course we end up on Skype with Pat's mom and dad for half the evening. It's like they're here with us :) Pat's mom and aunt have not seen each other in years (since '96) but talk every day. I'm starting to pick up a few German words here and there. Thank God Pat's cousin's girlfriend's English is better than Pat's German- she translates all night so that I'm not left out of the fun.
Now we're off to Bamberg for sightseeing and shopping, much to Pat's chagrin :)
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