Deutschland

Holy Guacamole.

I feel like I've dropped off the face of the planet earth for the last month...

September 3rd, we got married, then went on our honeymoon.. (Bow-chic-a-wow-wow!)

Then on September 15th through the 30th we went to Europe!

It has always been a dream of mine to go there, and it was everything I had hoped it would be.

And here is a little taste of our trip:

Day 1

• Flew to Frankfurt. Rented a giant black van/bus that I named, Georg. Drove to Rothenburg, Germany.
• Got to Rothenburg. Wandered around the Disney Fantasyland city. Went into a massive Christmas Store, and looked longingly at Black Forest Coo-Coo Clocks.
• Went to Dinner. We ate Sauerbraten, red cabbage, and bread. Lots, and LOTS of bread.
• Night Watchman's Tour!

Day 2

• Ate a hardy breakfast with more bread, meats, cheeses, nutella, jams, and hot chocolate.
• walked around the city a bit more
• drove to Neuschwanstein Castle (the Disneyland Castle) (side note--I made sure to make Disney references every day of our trip)
• checked into our hotel
• HIKED up to the castle, and took a tour of said castle. It was sick-nasty!
• spotted a frog on our way down.

can you see the frog?? 

Day 3

• drove to Salzburg, Austria. 
• left 10 minutes after arriving because of stressful traffic reasons :)
• decided to drive to Halstatt, Austria instead.
• arrived in Halstatt, walked around. This place is soooo pretty! It was probably one of my favorite cities of the whole trip.
• ate dünors.
• drove to Wald Im Pinzgau, Austria

Day 4

• Woke up in Wald Im Pinzgau
• drove up the mountain to Gretlholf
• took some Sound Of Music pics. see below..
• listened to the moo-cows and their cow bells
• walked to the church, went inside, and drank some trinkwasser from the fountain.
• drove to Venice, Italy
• rode the water taxi into Venice
• Explored Venice in the pouring rain
• ate margarita pizza -- Jared ate a whole fish..
• went to St Mark's Square and put on my glare face to all of the weirdos that hand you flowers, and then want 5 Euro. Stinkers.
• Went on top of our little apartment that we stayed in and watched the eeriness of Venice settle in. It was a pretty cool place to see.

Day 5

• Went to a Fresh Fish market in Venice--where I saw a massive Sword Fish. So nasty.
• I also saw nasty fish that were staring at me.
• walked to the water bus
• went to Burano, Italy
• Bought Linens :)
• Came home, took a nap
• Then we went out again that night, and wandered around eerie Venice.

Day 6

• Left Venice back through a water taxi
• found our car at the airport
• Drove to the Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera
• Layed out on the beach, and read/relxed
• Walked along the beach, Jared and I also had a rock skipping contest! (I won)
• Hung out in our little city that we stayed in that night--Moneglia, Italy
• Watched the people from the Catholic Church carry around the lit up altar around the streets.
• played Rook with Jared's parents

Day 7

• Explored the Cinque Terre
• went on a hike from Monterosso to Vernazza... It was so hot. And there were soooo many stairs. I thought I would die. Good news, I didn't die.
• Walked through Vernazza, and saw the neat shaped noodles.....(side note: it took me about a minute to figure out what the noodles on the right were... Jared was like, "I dunno.." oh, he knew EXACTLY what they were. We all had a good laugh about the male genitalia shaped noodles.)
• had the BEST GELATO EVER!!
• Rode the train to Manarola
• ate pesto lasagna
• took the train back
• napped
• got pizza from a local store, took it back to the hotel, and then we played Rook again.

Day 8

• Left bright and early and drove 7 hours back to Munich. The boys wanted to go to the Soccer game, and so Jared and I delivered a package to Elder Zach Huff, and went to the REAL Oktoberfest.
• Ate the best food ever.
• Went to a mall, but every place closed at 8, so then we rode to the airport thinking that from there we could catch a bus to our hotel. Turns out you couldn't. So we waited at the airport until the game was over for us to get picked up.
• Went and stayed at a Marriott.

Day 9

• Left Munich, and drove 
• Went to Dachau, Germany, and visited a concentration camp. It was really eerie. I walked into a gas chamber, and that is when I told Jared I wanted to leave. It was hard being there, but good at the same time. I am so grateful to all of those people who suffered there.
• drove back to Switzerland
• stopped in Appenzell, Switzerland
• ate crepes
• lost our passports (we didn't know we had left them at the restaurant at this point)
• drove to our hotel
• realized once we got to the hotel that our passports were missing..
• the nice hotel peeps still let us check in and go to sleep.

Day 10

• called the US Embassy to find our passports
• They told us to call Bürn US Embassy, but they don't open til 2, so we go about our day
• drove this beautiful pass in the Swiss Alps
• saw a Porche gang, as opposed to a motorcycle gang
• 2 o'clock came around, we call Bürn
• The lady says that her co-worker has been working on a case with 6 missing passports
• we talk to that person, they are at the Police Station in Appenzell.
• We drive immediately back to Appenzell
• RETRIEVE OUR PASSPORTS!
• tell the lady in the restaurant thank you.
• drive to Andermatt, Switzerland

Day 11

• Walk around Andermatt--to the church, and by the river that goes through the city
• drove to Lucerne, Switzerland
• ate more crepes
• drove to Aachen, Germany
• Go to Jared's old apartment building
• eat the ice cream he used to eat
• eat the dünors he used to eat
• went to his old ward's party
• came back to our hotel
• walked around Aachen -- just Jared and I walked to the old grocery store that he used to shop at. We got drinks for everyone, and then came back to the apartment, and played Rook again.

Day 12

• Went to church in Aachen. The sweet Elders translated for us. It was fun to sing the Hymns in German
• Drove to Heidlburg, Germany
• went to the Bishop's house for a visit
• ate his delicious ice cream -- ROSEMARY flavored. So good. I will probably crave it for the rest of my entire life.
• left the Bishops house
• Drove to the castle at night to see it lit up

Day 13

• Walked to the Castle--about 3 miles
• climbed 303ish stairs up to the castle
• explored the city
• Went to the Christmas store
• walked back to the hotel--another 3 miles
• took naps
• drove to Jared's favorite Italian restaurant in Manheim -- Vapiano
• walked to the grocery store and bought 12 years worth of chocolate.

Day 14

• Flew home

These are the highlights of our trip. It was definately a trip that I will never forget. I saw some amazingly beautiful places, and will probably wish to go back for the rest of my life.