Mainau

For Memorial Day weekend, I talked the family into driving to the border of Germany and Switzerland to visit the island of Mainau.  It is on the Bodensee Lake which lays across both borders.

On the way down, we took a detour into the black forest, first because it is a beautiful drive, and second, because my cuckoo clock needed repaired.  Here is a picture of McKenna and I at our hotel.  The lake is behind us, just over the far hill.

 The girls are playing on the . . . I have no idea what it is. . . is it a play-set?  A lame attempt at an Alice and Wonderland experience?  Whatever it was, it was in our backyard.

So Mainau is an island on a small lake.  The drive to the island is so amazing, so beautiful.  We basically couldn't have scheduled a day with better weather.  Since it was also a German holiday, the site was busy, but no so much that we felt crowded or had to wait in lines.

Mainau is privately owned by a family.  The entrance price was a little steep, but it was worth it.  The island is in pristine shape, and well cared for.  You can feel how important it is to them.  They have thought of everything so that all ages are entertained, from infants to the elderly.

We started on the playground so the girls could burn off some energy.

Next up, the petting zoo.  McKenna was in her zone, Bailey . . . not so much.

The following are just random shots from the day as we walked all over the island.

Birdhouse lane . . .

The dahlia's were on fire that weekend.  They get their own piece of the blooming calendar apart from all other summer varieties.  There is a reason for it . . . no other flower can compete with these divas.  They are just a burst of beauty!  Layers and layers of petals with deep rich color.  I. love. dahlia's!

McKenna hangin' with the lemon, lime AND orange trees.

Our next stop was the butterfly house, or as they say in Germany, the schmetterling haus.  We definitely like saying "schmetterling haus" way better, it is a word that tickles your tongue.  McKenna made friends with this big bad boy.  Never have we seen a butterfly so big.  But, he was also old, his wings were tattered and torn and he had no interest in spending energy flying.  He was content to ride on the hands of giddy little children and get passed from one to the next.

Mark even found a schmetterling buddy:

Memorial Day was also a special day for Mark, it was his birthday!!!  Instead of cake, we bought ice cream to celebrate.  Plus, we had a lovely lunch at the cafe on the island.

To round out a perfect day, McKenna finally got her pony ride!

Tchuss!

I must say, the girls were not happy to learn we were going on a trip that weekend.  I failed to mention this to them until the night before.  Bailey, with hands on her hips says to me, "I am SO sick of traveling!"  What?! the?!  But, when all was said and done (especially because she got 6-7 hours of hang time with her beloved iPod) she was glad we went . . . at least that is what she told me.  Bailey, you better get ready, we are not finished yet!

Mallorca = one heck of a 40th

I decided long ago that when Mark turned 40, we were going to do something big, huge! Especially since he would be turning 40 while we were still living in Europe. It was quite a trial getting all the details figured out. Where to go? Will he get leave? Should we take the kids?

Well the answers to those questions took time to work out. Where to go? it had to be somewhere in Spain, Mallorca sounded so exotic but it ended up being the most economical, go figure. Will he get leave? probably not, it was granted and then taken away about 3 times Arrgghhh! Should we take the kids? we truly enjoy spending time with our children. We aren't trying to get away from them all the time like some parents. They are easy, enjoyable and so fun to watch when they explore new things. But, it was time to go solo. Plus we had a perfect situation with friends where we could do a kid swap.

We found a hotel just off the southwest coast, in Santa Ponca. It was perfect, we could walk across the street and be on the beach.

View Larger Map
This is the view from our hotel room:
After you walk up these stairs:
You get to see this (I'm pointing to our hotel room):
Mallorca is small, it only takes about 40 minutes to drive across it. It was different than I thought it would be, in the middle of the island it looked like a desert, no green anything! On one side of the island there were dramatic cliffs, on the other side, nice white sandy beaches. On the north, green trees that you would never think there was a desert close by. On the south, the city of Palma.

The first day we went driving. We stopped in Inca to experience a market day:
What we found for sale was lots of clothing, made of linen, light and flowing skirts and shirts; leather handbags and beautiful produce:
Then we drove to the northern coast to the peninsula of Formentor and we were rewarded with spectacular views:
On our way to the penninsula, we met this big guy. It was weird, he was not spooked at all, he walked onto that road like he owned the place, calm and cool, which allowed me to reach for the camera case, get it out, turn it on and take the picture. He was really good at telling us, "You are the visitors, not me. Back off".
After that we drove back to the northwest coast to Valldemosa. I had actually been here before, when I cruised with my sister-in-law and Mark's grandmother. The monestary is very well known as the place where Chopin spent a winter seeking medical therapy for tuberculosis and brought along his lover, the french author George Sand. Interestingly enough, the two did not enjoy their stay in Valldemossa, they feuded with the locals and it did nothing to improve his health. But, he did write music while he was there and Mark and I got to see original transcripts and the piano he played on. PLUS, we were able to listen to a piano concert where a very talented musician played 4 pieces of Chopin music. That was so cool!
The next day we did very little. In fact, we did very little of this:
And very little of that:
Some more of this:
And more of that:
Mark did a lot of this:
And I did a lot of that:
These are the beach chair combo's that you can rent for the day:
The favorite treat of Mallorca are Ensaimada's, a pastry that tastes a little like a croissant with powdered sugar on top.
During our last day, we spent a couple of hours in Sant Elm, which if I would have known about ahead of time, we just would have found a local and begged them to let us hang until the hour before our flight left for home:
At the airport as we were waiting for our flight and trying to figure out what to eat for lunch, we decided we definitely would not eat here. For some reason I just get the idea of a terrible aftertaste to anything you ordered:
Happy birthday to my sweet husband and thank you so much for turning 40 this year!