One of Nate's top things he wanted to do on our trip (& has wanted to do forever) was ride on a train through the countyside. Our first train ride was a 2 1/2 ride from Paris to Kaiserslautern, Germany. The entire view for our ride was gorgeous countryside, rolling green hills with little villages speckled in between. We noticed each little village had a church with a steeple in the center. We had gotten 1st class tickets, just for this train & we were loving our huge, cushy, reclining seats, a huge window to look out, and a nice, warm meal. It made me wish we could travel by train in the U.S. Train travel is sooooo much more relaxing than traveling in an airplane. Even though the train ride was only 2 1/2 hours, we each got our own meal. It was seriously so relaxing! It was really cool to see so many little towns. They each had a chapel in the center.

When we got to the station in Germany, my cousin, Chelsey, picked us up. We stayed with Chelsey, her husband Chance, & their 2 little girls, Alivia & Ava, our whole time in Germany. They were the best hosts and it was so fun to get to spend a week with them!! They lived in a cute little village in the countryside & I was so excited about that because I had really wanted to stay somewhere in the countryside on our trip, but hadn't been able to arrange it. I hadn't really known what the area Chelsey lived in was like and was so happy it ended up being in the country!

We were pretty tired from traveling and having such long days in Paris, so we had a nice relaxing evening. We had dinner together and then Nate & I went for a walk in the countryside. It stayed light out until 10pm, so we ended up going on a walk every evening from around 8 or 9 to 10pm & it was one of our favorite things! There were little farms with goats, horses, & cows, lots of windmills, beautiful hills and grass, and wild animals running around. We saw a fox and a deer the last evening we were in Germany! One thing we noticed was that in Germany all of the houses & yards are so well kept up. Everything is so clean & there is never any litter anywhere.





Our first full day in Germany, Chelsey and Ava took us to Trier. Trier was an adorable little town with buildings just like you would picture Germany to be filled with. It is possibly the oldest town in Germany and was conquered by the Romans in 1st century BC. We explored Porta Nigra, Roman baths, a Roman colosseum, and a beautiful chapel. Nate got his first German sausage and loved it so much he got a second! I got 2 soft pretzels & the best strawberries I have ever had! Chelsey showed us a place with the best hazelnut gelato, it was soooo good!!! I loved just walking through the town and neighborhoods and looking at all of the old fashioned German shops and homes.








On our 2nd day, we went to Heidelberg, in the Rhine Valley. We explored Heidelberg Castle, which was one of the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. My favorite thing about Heidelberg and the castle was the incredible view. It was seriously breathtaking! You can see the whole town which borders a beautiful river & everything around is so green! We looked all around for a long time & then walked down to the bridge to see a closer view of the river. On the bridge, there was a little old lady playing the accordian with her dog sitting next to her with a hat on. It cracked me up!!








Next, we went on a 3 day trip with Chelsey, Alivia, & Ava, staying nights in Triburg and Garmish to see the Black Forest, go on a hike in Austria, and to see Neuschwanstein Castle. We hadn't really planned ahead at all and booked the places we were staying the night before. We were really blessed and everything turned out perfect and much better than we could have even planned!!!

The drive to Trier was beautiful, just like every drive in Germany was! Nate was sooo excited to go hiking in the Black Forest! We had found the cutest little B & B hotel to stay at, it was a bakery/ restaurant on the bottom level! We dropped off our things, & then hiked up to see several waterfalls. Everything was so green and the waterfalls were all gorgeous! It reminded us of our year living in Vancouver! The town of Triberg was quaint and adorable! We got more delicious hazelnut gelato and then explored the town. Triberg is know for inventing cuckoo clocks, so we checked out some of the shops! We wanted to get a clock, but they were all pretty expensive, over $100, so we settled for a cuckoo clock fridge magnet. :) Then we had pizza at a little cafe that had a beautiful view of the forest & just had to get more gelato after dinner. We hiked around in the forest more and then headed to bed.






The next morning we woke up early, had a delicious breakfast with croissants, jam, cheese, and fruit, & then headed to see the waterfalls one more time! Then we drove to Garmish. Garmish was another adorable town that we immediately fell in love with. We stayed at a cute little apartment in a house that looked like a cottage and had a balcony with an amazing view. We heard bells ringing, so we went out on the balcony and saw a line of cows with bells around their necks & a little boy herding them through the town!



Our first evening in Garmish, we decided to drive across the border to Austria to do a hike. We had heard that there was a meeting called the G-7 Summit in Bavaria (the area we were in). Last time they had had a meeting, a lot of people had held riots, so there were police everywhere! We were able to cross the border, later we realized, the police shouldn't have let us pass, but didn't notice. We got to the hike and it was AMAZING!!! It was the most beautiful hike I have ever done! The hike started in Austria & ended in Germany. You hiked on these huge bridges, right over glacier melt water that was the most beautiful blue color. The Alps were surrounding us, and it was just incredible! When we finished the hike, we got back in the car and were about to cross the border (the hike was pretty much on the border of Austria & Germany). 2 policemen stopped us and were telling us the border was closed. They said that we would need to drive through Switzerland and even though our hotel was only 15 minutes away, it would take us over 3 hours! One of the policemen started arguing with the other one and pointing to Chelsey's little girls. Finally, they told us we could cross the border, so we were able to get back to the house we were staying at quickly! We saw over 100 police cars on our drive back, it was crazy!!! The 15 minute drive back to the hotel was breathtaking! The sun was setting and the huge mountains and rolling grass fields looked so beautiful!!!




Nate & I explored the little town & ended up getting some amazing indian food for dinner at a cute little place that had outdoor seating with cute light bulbs hanging all around. It was a perfect end to such an amazing day!



Sad to leave this cute little town!


The next day, we were planning on going to Neushwanstein Castle (the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty castles). On our way there & driving through Austria, we spotted a HUGE suspension bridge leading to a castle above us. We decided to pull over and check it out! I am so glad that we did, it ended up being so amazing! We hiked up a hill to one part of the castle (Ehrenburg Castle). It was so cool seeing the old ruins and the views were gorgeous!!! Then we crossed the loooong bridge. (Later I found out it is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world!). It was a little scary because nothing was holding up the bridge from below and you could see straight down to the ground, hundreds of feet below! Chelsey is scared of heights, and decided to stay on the ground, so Nate & I took Alivia & Ava with us and they were so brave!!! We walked all the way across the bridge and enjoyed the amazing views and then walked back!



Next was Neushwanstein Castle!! It was a very, very hot day and we hiked the long trek up to the castle! It was worth it!! We didn't go on the tour inside (only 7 of the rooms are actually done and the wait was over 4 hours! It was so cool to walk around outside of the castle! Each side looked completely different!



My favorite view of the castle


The history behind the castle is very interesting. It was built by King Ludwig II or Bavaria as a retreat. He paid for the palace with is own fortune and by borrowing large amounts of money, instead of using public funds. Ludwig was a recluse and lived alone in the huge castle. Foreign banks threatened to seize his property and he refused. The government then declared him insane, seized the castle, and then imprisoned him in Berg Palace. Of the 200+ rooms that were planned for the castle, only 14 were completed and decorated. While a prisoner,Ludgwig went on a walk with his psychiatrist on the palace grounds, and they were both found dead. There are many theories about how he died, but no one is sure what really happened.

You can go on a tour to see some of the completed rooms, but the wait was 4 hours, and we had heard that the most impressive part was the outside of the castle. We walked all around, enjoyed the view, and then headed back to Chelsey's house. We had dinner with her at a castle that had a restaurant & had beautiful views. I tried schnitzel (pork fried & battered) for the first time & it was pretty good! We were sad to leave Chelsey & her sweet family. We really had so much fun with them, Chelsey is the nicest person & so easy to talk to & her husband is so friendly & nice too! Their little girls are sooo sweet & fun & we had a blast with them. Ava even woke up with a nightmare one night & Nate read books with her & played with her until she fell asleep. We had such an amazing time with them and looooved Germany so much!!!