One of the best things about Germany is the morning there, when you first get up, go out on the patio or stick your head out the window and enjoy the crisp morning. It's quiet and you just close your eyes, inhale the brisk smell of the cool air and vegetation. I have never woken up in Germany to a day that doesn't start like that.
I have to admit, I also love the food. The potato salad is to die for, all the other salads, the schnitzel is awesome, especially when they top it with mushrooms and/or mushroom sauce. They also have gelato, which is my weakness. And they aren't cheap on the scoops either.
I love the architecture, they way they put the name of the building on the building, the history, the churches. The houses are adorable and everywhere you look, the buildings are just so neat and well maintained. The places we go in Germany always have their properties so well taken care of. It doesn't hurt that they have amazing foliage everywhere and that it grows up along the buildings. I just love that look.
The first morning after we get to Germany, we are always so jet lagged that we wake up at 5am and go for a walk before breakfast. We always have a place that comes with breakfast, so we hang around long enough to eat before we travel. German breakfasts are fabulous! So the walk we take in the wee hours of the morning are amazing. Barely anyone is up, the air is cool and crisp, and we walk around the village that we've chosen to stay in. It's the first chance that we get to appreciate being there and do we ever appreciate it. I actually cried this year I was so happy to be there.
The Germans also do amazing things with water. We stay just outside Munich in Erding and they have the most amazing water park there that we just found last year. It's half inside, half outside. There is an elevator to the 4th level so that you don't have to climb all the stairs to get to the top slides with your float device. It's hilarious. You fit as many people in the elevator as you can with all these rafts and you laugh the whole way up. We go to the top and slide down the "lazy river" on the rafts and it is 6 stories high. So fun. They also have a slide that has an up ramp with jets of water that push you up. It is amazing. This year we got a free drink and snack as they were compensating for the renovations, we also got to try a frothy yogurt drink and fruit. It was a great day.
I'd love to spend more time in Germany, we did 4 days there this year, but its never enough. The German people have also been very welcoming to us and a lot of them speak a lot of English which is nice for us. We can get by without it, but it always helps when we don't have to. I love the villages, the countryside and even the airport in Munich is fun. I should know, we have spent a lot of time there over the years!
Everywhere we stay there is a huge ability to walk to everywhere you want to go. I love that. They have stores close to wherever you are, the people all walk to everything or they ride their bikes. We came back one year and I insisted that I got a bike when we got home. I've used that bike a lot since I got it. The ability to walk to what you need is such a pleasure. I wish we had that here in Calgary. It would make errands so much more enjoyable and probably quicker. It would be amazing to get up in the morning and go get fresh bread or pastries for breakfast.
A friend commented yesterday that I was super grouchy before we left and she couldn't wait to see me after I got back and had gotten my Europe fix.
I have to admit, this was the worst trip we've had. It would have been fine for the most part but my husband's Grandmother died while we were there and we didn't get to her see one last time, we missed her by just 3 hours. It put such a damper on the trip. You can't help but feel bad after something like that. She was ill and it was expected, but to lose a precious person like that still hurts. You then feel bad about doing anything fun, and we had to do errands and visit more family while we were there.
I still think back on this trip fondly and while I was certain I didn't want to go back next year, I am already recanting that and thinking of ways to make it better next time!
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