it will be important to familiarize ourselves with the noodle and dumpling specialties

Those of you who follow my sister's blog know that she has just completed her Bavarian travel journal.  You may also know from the post she did before this last one, that she mentioned her next task is to make MY Bavarian travel journal. 

Which, is an ENORMOUS gift that I am truly grateful for. So, in an effort to repay her in a small way, and try to pull my weight on The Great Alpine Adventure, I went to see Dashiell the bookstore cat the other day. 

I went in search of some way I could contribute.  I mean other than (for once) our destination kind of being my idea, since I sent her a postcard in 2009 and mentioned we should go to Germany to see the Alps and rent a Volkswagen to drive around in.

Of course she did find the place we are renting and pick the town we are staying it.  But still.

I did some searching on-line and found a cool map of the town and surrounding areas so we won't get lost while driving or hiking along in the countryside. I am an extremely good map reader and navigator. 

I also (with the help of Dashiell) located a small German phrase book.  Because you know it will be important to familiarize ourselves with the noodle and dumpling specialties and be certain we are ordering what we want. 

These illustrations will also help me get up to speed on map making in general.  A few weeks spent practicing mountains, trees, pretzels, and beer steins will certainly come in handy when we begin to document our travels in earnest.

What we have learned over the years of traveling together is you need one person who provides all the options (sister), one person who makes the final decision (me), one person who generally goes along with whatever (me), and one person who reserves the right to make last minute changes to the agenda if the spirit moves her (sister). 

Comments

[Christine]

Have fun. Look forward to your journals. My adventure this year is a trip to UK and a cruise to Norway.

[Diana]

I just saw Mary Ann’s travel journal and can’t wait to see what she makes for you. I hope you get to try several kinds of dumplings! Your travel relationship is perfect.

[Vicki in Michigan]

Love this post. So many dumplings! I hope for a full report..........

You are so right about practicing the pretzels, etc. I am sure that will be useful later.

I have traveled with my daughter a few times. She is the one who says where we are going, and particularly, where we're eating. I say "Look at that arrangement of gelato cones! They look like bouquets!" and she says "That's nice. But we're getting our gelato three blocks down this way." And I follow along, eat happily, and pay. And occasionally, I say, "Yes, really, we have to visit this particular museum while we're here." :-)