by Katherine

          Our second day in Germany was much more laid back than our very busy first day. We slept in; I was lucky enough to have slept a few hours on the plane, but Brad was not. So we didn't head out til about 1:00, leaving us with only a few hours to spend in Würzburg. Brad had been there before, and Würzburg is small enough to do in half a day so it was a good choice for a more relaxing day. Also, as an added bonus, the sun decided to join us.

by Bradley

Key Words
Large Variety, Reasonably Priced, English Friendly

Would We Come Back? 
Sure, though another German
restaurant would also do.      

          We finished touring the castles and it was dark and hazy on our walk down the hill to the town. It was Sunday in Germany so we started to get fearful that restaurants would be closed. In fact, the first restaurant we tried had people inside eating but when we went to the door they told us they had closed.

by Katherine

          About 5 minutes from the top of the hill where Neuschwanstein is located, you will find, next to a hotel, a little stand of heavenly noms. 
 
         Brad had mentioned that the walk to the top had delicious apple fritter-like things that he knew I would love. Well, he was wrong; they were not apple fritters. Considering those are my favorite, I thought I would be disappointed. Nope! Instead, I discovered the nomsiest of the noms, some sort of fried dough ball, that we later started calling quarkballen. You get them fresh off the frier so they are warm, crispy on the outside and melt in your mouth good on the inside. Everyone needs to experience these!!

by Katherine

Key Words
Large Variety, Reasonably Priced, English Friendly

Would We Come Back? 
Oh yes!! This place turned me onto German cuisine and the spaetzle was delicious and unlike any other we encountered.       

          After we landed only to find it snowing, I was overcome with grief. If I had wanted snow, I would have gone back to Ohio. I was also sleep deprived from the overnight flight and I had not packed appropriate boots for the snow, and I wasn't in a country that I had ever considered eating my way through. I grabbed a pretzel quickly at the train station to fill my belly, but it was cold and only added more to my grief. When we finally got to the town with the castles, we bought our tickets and then went to find some food.

by Bradley

          The second castle that we visited on the first day of our trip was Hohenschwangau. This one is at the bottom of the hill from Neuschwanstein and belonged to the father of King Ludwig.

          This is a very cool castle because despite being both decorative and not being at the highest part of the hill still appears to have been a functional, defensible castle. One of the things that made me enjoy this one over the son's castle is there are far less people!

by Bradley

          After being awake for many hours, a long plane ride, a long train ride and a short car ride we finally arrived at our first destination! It felt like it was very late at night/early in the morning but we were determined to make the most of our first day of vacation so naturally we visited two castles that day. When our plane touched down in Munich it was snowing lightly and there was a covering on the ground and the snow steadily increased as we made our way south towards the foothills of the German Alps.

by Katherine

Now that we're back home from Europe, I thought I'd reflect on a few things that I'm sure I'll miss about Europe and a few things I'm glad to leave behind.

Top 5 Things I'll Miss Most about Europe

1. Trains! You can get anywhere in Europe by train. We went to a different   
     German town each day conveniently by train. And it was cheap! And you can 
     buy your ticket right before you get on the train. 
2. Ryanair. The cheapest flight I bought was only 10 euro. So what if the seats 
     don't recline, you get to travel for super cheap!
3. A glass of wine for only a couple of euros.
4. Cheap and GOOD gelato. Even in Germany the gelato is a million times better 
     than in the states.
5. History everywhere you turn. Europe is just so much older. I mean, where 
     are the castles in the US? 


Top 5 Things I Won't Miss about Europe

1. Paying for water. The water's safe to drink so why can't I just get some damn 
     tap water!
2. Walking everywhere. Yes, it's the best way to explore Europe, but your feet 
     really take a toll on your feet.
3. Paying to use bathrooms. Thankfully, this didn't happen often.
4. Rarely being able to use a credit card.
5. Menus in another language.

by Katherine

by Katherine

by Katherine