Edelweiss...

This weekend, we were given the opportunity to visit Edelweiss again.  First let me start off by saying the first time we went there, we were very pleasantly suprised.  The Hotel/Resort, is great, its only military, and its very comfortable.  This time was no different.  We were going with a family retreat sponsored by the chaplain here.  The first night that we arrived, we had to go to a class right after dinner, and we were there for a few hours with the kids...not a great start to the weekend.  There weren't enough chairs, we were all tired from the long drive, the kids were NOT being quiet...finally we went back to our rooms and went straight to bed.  The next morning we went to a class after breakfast and were only in there for a few hours, until just about lunch time, and the kids were in another room.  Let me tell you, I got way more out of that class than the first one.  To be honest, the first one, I hardly remember because I was so distracted.  The second class was interesting, and the best part was, is that we didn't have anymore classes for the rest of the day.  We were able to spend family time together.  So we went to a Bavarian restaurant.  I had the jaegerschnitzel...I know, I know...I'm not the most adventurous out there.  Paul got a beef with bread dumpling, I forget what the called it, but it was okay.  Mine was pretty good, but I did get full pretty quickly.  Paul ended up eating mine.  We did get to try a Dampnudeln (I think thats how its spelled), it was OMG amazing.  I'm going to have to find a recipe like that sometime!

Jaegerschnitzel

After the restaurant, we took a nice drive to Innsbruck where the Swarovski crystal museum is.  It was really neat, there were some really odd pieces of art work, but it was still a pretty cool experience.  The girls enjoyed it, Paul didn't really care one way or the other for it though.

The Crystal Dome was definately one of my favorite parts of the museum!

Then we drove back to the hotel, we got to eat at the nicer restaurant, Pullman Place.  It was really great.  Since the girls hadn't been eating too much we decided to just get some appetizers to share, meals to share, and a dessert to share.  We ended up getting the french onion soup, it was absolutely delicious.  We also got an artichoke and spinach dip, but it wasn't as good as the one I made at home, at least not in my opinion.  We got some broccoli alfredo with chicken, it was only okay, it was far too cheesy for any of our tastes, but everyone enjoyed the shrimp scampi pasta.  Unfortunately, we had maybe a bite of our actual meals, and were too full to eat anymore.  We had them boxed up and we saved just a little room for dessert...a chocolate fondue with fresh fruit.  I've never had fondue before, so this was a real treat for me.  We had strawberries, cantelope, honeydew, pineapple and grapes.  I think I'm going to stick with the strawberries in chocolate myself, but the others were interesting to try.  The girls really had a lot of fun dipping their fruit, and having a fun dessert.

Afterwards we went back to the room and went to bed.  The next morning we had another class, and then we headed out.  It was a nice experience, especially since it was mostly free.  The lodging and most meals were free, so I can't complain.  It was also fun to get out of Baumholder and spend time with my family.  It was much needed, especially right before the big field problem coming up.

We drove home, after going to Ettal to the cheese factory that we'd visited on our last visit, picked up some of the yummy cheese, and some monastary beer for Paul.  Then we made the long drive home.  It was a long tiring weekend, but I feel so thankful to have the opportunity.  I'm also thankful to have a great friend who watched our dog for us, and have a husband willing to go to classes like this to appease me!