Laowai

For spring break we all met up in Germany and traveled a couple hours into the mountains. Not your typical spring break location but Bea was still confined to Germany waiting for her student residence permit (more on that at the bottom).

We stayed in a town called Oberstdorf which is in the Allgäu region of Germany – very close to Austria.

As you can see we arrived to lots of snow, the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen, and zero views of the surrounding mountains.

So we spent lots of time in cozy cafes and we began indulging in all the Bavarian goodies.

This is about all the mountain we could see until our last day when the sun came out a bit.

They had a cute little museum all about Bavarian life from the 17th century through all the changes into the beginning of the 19th century.

I love a dusty old museum like this. It was full of interesting objects from clothing and linens to vintage hiking boots, artwork and even some taxidermy.

The museum had the world’s largest leather boot. There was an important shoe maker that lived in the town and he made this.

Bea had to be dragged into the museum but it was a highlight for me and with the heavy snow we could not do any hiking. I think it ended up being entertaining for all of us.

Here’s Brian at a vending machine – it offers all sorts of dairy products including cheeses and a variety of drinks too.

One day the weather apps said there might be some sun so we got on a cable-car and crossed our fingers.

We didn’t have any luck with the sunshine and mountain views. But we did enjoy watching the all the skiers and eating french fries.

Back down in the valley we found a nice path for a walk.

Matching backpacks.

This is our final day. We woke up to sunshine and actually saw some mountains.

We headed to a lovely town trail and walked all around until it was time to catch our train back to Munich.

Oberstdorf has a couple ski jumps just above town.

Bea did not join us for this walk because she was already on her way back to Munich. She got an email early that morning – it said a letter was coming to her apartment that day – and she would need to be there to receive it. It was from the residence permit office! The letter that she has been waiting so very long for!

She hurried back to her apartment and the letter arrived 20 minutes after she got there! So now she has the official card that allows her to leave and get back into the country. So she can visit Brian in Zurich and she has plans to see her friend in Italy. She’s had a very frustrating time dealing with the bureaucracy for the last six months.

So I said good-bye to the mountain man at our hotel and Claire and Brian and I headed back to Munich.

We got groceries and Brian made us dinner (while taking a work call) at Bea’s apartment. He literally cooked the bacon while bringing home the bacon.

And then it was time for Claire and I to fly home the next day.

Bea and Brian headed to Innsbruck for a couple days before parting ways to Zurich and Bolzano, Italy.

It was a good trip – topped off with some much needed good news for Bea with her residence permit.

And now we’re all scattered to the wind again.