Germany !!! - mountains, babies, & Austria too

Abbie
Jan 15, 2018
3 min read

WOW

I cannot believe that my trip to Germany and my time spent with my sister is done! The 8 days honestly flew by so fast. As excited as I am to get to Copenhagen, meet everyone, and get started this semester, I am also going to miss everyone in Germany so much. As much as I love traveling ... traveling with close friends and family has to top the list of my favorite things ever.

The week started out the best it could with getting to meet my niece - Anaya - for the FIRST time! She turned 7 months old while I was there and is the cutest little bundle of happy I've ever seen (although she was a little weary of me the stranger right away). I also got to pick up my nephew - Khalil - from school. I haven't seen this guy in almost 2 years and honestly its crazy how much he's grown ... and how much personality that boy has got! Getting to hear his stories and listen to him explain everything and anything always made my day.

For most of this trip we stayed fairly close to where they are living and I got to see and live the somewhat normal day to day life that they experience. I got to see their house, go to their shopping mall, and eat at their favorite restaurants [yum!]. This was such a cool and fun experience for me after being so far away from my sister for so long!

But !!!! we also got to travel to Bavaria (near Garmish-Parkenkirchen) and explore the area. Being in the mountains, seeing castles, exploring the sights, and hot-tubing was such a great vacation to have before school starts up shortly. Overall I have to give road-tripping with your sister and little niece a 11 out of 10!

First things first: we got to see Neuschwanstein - the castle that inspired Disney to create Cinderella's castle. The hike could not have been more worth it for the view!

The day after, we traveled into Austria and went to the Aqua Dome - hot tubbing in the alps anyone? I can honestly say this was an experience I didn't think I was ever going to have and it was so beautiful and refreshing. Being from Minnesota, mountains are not something I get to see very often and being able to spend a whole day immersed in them is humbling and awe inspiring. All I could do was sit in the hot tub, look around me, and try and really appreciate being able to have this experience.

To be honest driving through Austria was one of my favorite things we did! I loved seeing the small towns, driving near rivers and by mountains, and even getting to stop in a small church.

Our second full day of the trip was all spent outdoors! We took the Zipstuge up to the tallest point in Germany! The trolly took us up in under 10 minutes (not going to lie that was freaky Friday) and then we got to spend time looking across all the mountains and even found a chance to sunbath! Later that afternoon we walked through part of a gorge, found another hill to climb, and spent a relaxing evening in the hotel's pool and watched a movie.

On our way back to Ramstien we were able to stop along Highway 179 - which has the world's longest suspension bridge. After another big hill to climb (major props to Dijana for climbing while carrying a 7-month old baby!!!) we were able to see the bridge - which we did not cross - and even got to see some castle ruins from the 13th century. Getting to run around and explore these ruins made me feel like I was 7 years old again living out a fantasy. It's so amazing to see these castles all over Germany and to imagine the lives the people who lived there had. Again - humbling experience.