The Guynn Christmas in Germany

Last December, the Guynn family met up at our house in Germany to spend Christmas together. Cory, Lynn and our niece, Olive, flew in from London while Kyle's parents, John and Diane, made the long journey from Indianapolis.  While Christmas was pretty warm and definitely not white, Germany is a beautiful place to be around the holidays.  We had a wonderful time together and Kyle and I always love having customers at the Guynn B & B!

Kyle wasn't able to take off tons of time during the visit, so while Kyle was working, we took advantage of the cheerful Christmas markets.  My favorite is the Medieval Christmas market in Esslingen, which we grazed our way around on everyone's first day here.  We also went to the enormous and beautifully decorated market in downtown Stuttgart. 

At the market in Esslingen

A "medieval" ferris wheel in Esslingen

Taking Olive for a ride was a good excuse for Cory to ride the train! 

Kyle was able to take a long weekend off so that we could travel to the quaint town of Garmisch at the foot of the German Alps.  We rented a pretty little apartment and enjoyed the cheerful little town and the beauty of the surrounding nature.  We had wonderful weather for our hike through the awesome Partnachklamm gorge!  Once we made our way through the gorge, we continued up a ways to have lunch on a terrace with beautiful views.  Luckily, we were able to take a cable car down since we were all a bit tired!

Lynn's pic

Lynn's pic

Lynn's pic

We took advantage of the clear skies that evening and headed up via cable car to the Zugspitze; Germany's highest mountain peak. The lighting and views were absolutely gorgeous!

As it just so happens, my cousin and her husband, Christy and Dan, were working in Garmisch when we were there, so we got to meet up with them! They came to our apartment where we enjoyed some cheese and chocolate fondue for dinner.  While the cheese was stinky, it was delicious and it was really fun seeing Christy and Dan!

Garmisch is such a pretty, atmospheric town that is ideal for the holidays!  We spent plenty of time enjoying the colorful painted buildings in the historic town center.

Lynn's pic; Olive loved her German baby from Grandma!

On our way home, we drove right by Germany's most famous castle, Neuschwanstein, so of course we had to stop!  We took a tour of the castle before heading back.

Lynn's pic

We had a nice, relaxing Christmas at home.  I enjoyed doing a lot of cooking, and Olive opened a lot of fun presents from everyone! 

Merry Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa!

I love a good brunch!

The day after Christmas was so warm and sunny, we decided to go to the zoo (along with the rest of Stuttgart)!  While it was difficult finding parking, we had a great time once we got there!  The Stuttgart zoo is a very pretty one!

We took advantage of the sun and did some hiking around our house. I guess if it's not going to be snowy for the holidays, warm and sunny is a good option!

Watching Cory play with his Christmas present...can you find it?

Our last German feast before everyone heads out!

I know I must be forgetting something since I'm so behind on blogging, but we had a great time being together for the holidays!  We really appreciated everyone making the trip to Germany since Kyle couldn't take a lot of time off.  We always love our time when we can all get together in the same country!  This Christmas we are looking forward to having another little Guynn join in the festivities!