Germany

After we left Paris, we made our way to the Bavarian region of Germany, which is southern Germany, specifically in the Alps close to the Austrian border. We were going to be staying at this NATO school's lodging in a town called Oberammergau. We arrived very late that night, so we didn't really see any of the scenery until we got up the next morning. It was so gorgeous! I looked up pictures on the NATO school's website before we left for our trip, so I kind of knew what to expect, but it still gave me goosebumps when I saw it in person. This was the view right outside of the lodging.



The main thing we were doing that day was to see the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is probably the most famous castle in the world. Our drive to get there was beautiful!





I thought this picture was cool, because through the haze, you can just barely see the castle towards the bottom middle.



We finally arrived at the area to park for the castle. It would be about a 30 minute walk to get up there to take our tour. Along the way, we would look up and see the castle towering over us.





We made it to the top, and took the tour. The inside of the castle was very elaborate, to say the least. One of the rooms was made to look like the inside of a cave!








Kendall was feeling left out of all these pictures!



Once we were done with the castle, we made our way back to Oberammergau. Since we were so close to the Austrian border (the castle was maybe 5-10 minutes away from the border), we took a drive into Austria. We're so glad we did, because it was absolutely beautiful! The road that we took was just a small road, but it wound around this beautiful lake (which I now know is Lake Plansee) with mountains around it. Out of all of our travels, this was definitely one of the most beautiful places we've ever seen.






Once we made it back to O'gau, we had dinner at this cute little German restaurant (Mr. J would be so proud). Grant got a schnitzel, and I got grilled trout. We were very impressed with German food!

The next morning, it was time to make our way back up to Ramstein. But before that, we wanted to go into Oberammergau and look around. This town is famous for their Passion Play that they do every 10 years - they've been doing this since the 1600's! They're also known for woodcarving, and having beautiful frescoes on most of their buildings. It was such a cute, quaint little town!






Then we drove to the town of Ettal, which is know for their beautiful monastery, and their beer, that they've been brewing for 700 years.






On our way back up to Ramstein, we went through Munich, then to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. The only thing I can say about seeing a former concentration camp, is that it made me sick. We all know a little about what went on in those camps, but to actually see where it happened made it so much more real.






We stopped to eat at a Burger King outside of Stuttgart (yeah, yeah, I know...but we were hungry, and it was the only thing around), and Kendall decided to get very vocal. Actually, she talked alot this whole trip. She bacame more alert and more responsive to us, which is so much fun!



We made it to Ramstein pretty late that night. Which means our trip was almost over. More on the rest of the trip later...