Germany🇧🇪📍

After Paris we headed to a small town in Germany called Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The way there was a mess. Three trains. On each train we spent two hours and we would get to Garmisch around 5 at night after leaving Paris at 9 in the morning. The first train went smoothly. We got on, got our seats, and fell asleep. At least I did haha. Another moving vehicle I guess I sleep well in. We got to Stuttgart and waited at the station for a while. After taking German for only a year, Jaid and I were a little surprised how much we could speak.

This trip was stressful mainly because of our suitcases which we had to lug around all the time. Imagine five suitcases, all completely identical, and hopping on trains every two hours… it was messy. We were supposed to get off at the Munich pasing station where we would switch trains to Garmisch. WE all got up got our suitcases down and were waiting to get off the train. Then my parents thought “oh no this isn’t the place we get off at.” So we didn’t. That was the quick version of what happened. If you know my family there was a lot of screaming like “ mom what are you doing?!” And “Do we get off or not?! HECTIC as hell. This nice man from Ohio who had just moved to Paris was the one who actually found out for us that we could catch a train to Garmisch at Munich and it would be okay. Why my mom couldn’t figure that out? I do not know. She was still in stress mode from missing our stop.

Thank gosh we actually got to our hotel by 7 at night. The trains ran late so it was expected. My family and I stayed at this super different hotel called Staudacherhof. With a total mountainous look and awesome pool.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Paris. But Germany was so different and I loved it. Not only was it refreshing to get out of the city and into a place so tranquil, but it reminded me of how everywhere is so different. The whole world is full of new places like the little city of Garmisch. And I can’t wait to go out and discover them.

We were in Germany in the summer, however this city goes crazy in the winter. The skiing is very popular and the hotel gets PACKED. Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany was founded in 1936 for the Winter Olympics. Hitler forced the two opposing towns to join in order to hold the Olympics there.

The night we got in, we ate at our hotel restaurant where I had grilled Salmon with creamed spinach- by far my favorite dinner I have had in Europe so far. That night we all went to bed pretty early after a long day of travel. We got to our room and the view was spectacular. I have never been a huge mountain person. What I mean is like, I’d rather have a house with a view overlooking a city rather than mountains on mountains. But this view swung my opinion a bit. It was gorgeous with the town expanding out and the huge mountains surrounding it all. Something I had never seen before. Trust me my Instagram story did not even do it justice. I have gotten pretty lucky with views this vacation and I really hope it does not stop haha.

The next morning we all got up and got ready for our castle tour. It was SO SO HOT. Like before we even left the hotel we were all dying. Some of us just wanted to stay at the pool all day. Personally, that night I had looked up paraglide in Germany because I had seen people doing it when we came in and I wanted to SO SO BADLY. My mom said I have too bad of luck on vacations so she wouldn’t let me do it. Which is kinda true. I usually get sick on every vacation. But still I wanted to and kept talking about it the whole day. Now it just sits on my bucket list… Paraglide off the tallest mountain in Germany. One day. Mark my words.

We headed out to the castle which was actually in Austria apparently so on the trip we passed through the border. I was asleep lol. But that’s what my sisters told me when I woke up. It was seriously packed at the castle. There was a little town below the street up to it and there were groups of people everywhere you looked.

We took a carriage up because it was the quickest way to the top. I felt bad for the horses. In line for the carriage we met a family of four girls who lived in Oman, which is a country in the Middle East. They had lived there for a year already and had two years left before they moved back to Virginia. Their dad works in the U.S embassy in Oman where the weather reached up to 120 degrees at some points. We all were like “and we thought today was a hot day.” They were super interesting to talk to! The oldest girl was my age and was telling us all the places they have gotten to travel to such as Dubai, Thailand, and Sri-lanka. They said it really isn’t as bad as some people would expect. Many of the people in Oman are persuaded to speak English and there is rarely ever any crime.

But I mean what a story. When they are older they will have the coolest things to talk about. The amount of knowledge collected by living in such a unique place like that must be huge. The girls go to an American school there where they are being taught Arabic. Even being on this vacation I have definitely seen how bilingualism is so beneficial in life. I would have loved to speak French so I could talk to locals in Paris or be fluent in German to talk to those in Garmish. I am determined to now learn at least two new languages by the time I graduate from college. I know. Very hard but I’ll do it.

We got to the castle but had to wait two hours before actually going in. We had some German food at this stand outside the castle like curry bratwurst. Brooklyn had a freakin pizza…I was like really? We headed up the mountain more and walked to a bridge behind the castle. I was dying laughing at Jaidan because she would not dare come on it haha. I mean it was high, small, and full of people but like you have to do it yah know? The view was incredible. Again pictures do not do it justice. After walking back from the bridge back to the castle we went to two of these lookout points that shows miles of Bavaria. I saw more paragliding and I was so bummed.

We finally got into the castle. It was called the Neuschwanstein Castle and belonged to the Bavarian king Ludwig II. It also is the castle that the Disneyland castle is modeled after. What was crazy to me about this castle was that they still had all the original furniture pieces in tact. Unlike Versailles which had mainly replicas since a lot was destroyed, they even still had Ludwig’s bed and sheets.

The detail was beautiful. Shoutout to anyone who took AP euro with me because Mr. Harrison actually taught us something I used that day haha. They were describing how the rooms in the castle were designed in a baroque or gothic style and I was like “I know what that is!” I swear it took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that people actually lived like this. Kings, queens, all that stuff. I mean we see it in movies and shows like The Crown, Reign, (which are bomb series on Netflix btw) and read about the monarchies in our text books, but there is nothing like actually seeing physical proof that they existed. Looking at society now and all the technology that surrounds us everyday and it is astonishing what happens over time. The castle was seriously magical. I wasn’t very excited for it initially, but i’m really happy I got to see it.

The ride home was the same as the way there. I slept. Honestly, my sleeping schedule is so messed up this trip, it was a must. I have been going to bed at like three in the morning and getting up around 7… so I had to nap.

We got back to the hotel and tried out the pool. The hotel was so cute it had a gorgeous pool with a wall of logs and seats to lay out on. There was a sauna that had a table with all these different types of tea inside and showers that glowed. Not to mention the decorations all over the place. There was a yoga room that I am super sad I didn’t get to use. It was so sick. We spent some time down there and went up to change for dinner.

Dinner was at this German place in town; we literally all got a burger with a pretzel bun. That is kinda German right? The little town had tons of German stores with nice clothes and jewelry. We got some ice cream and walked around. My sisters couldn’t stop making fun of how I walked, which apparently is weird. Haha they filmed me and I was like “omg that’s awful.” So goal for Italy… practice walking so I don’t look like a goddamn idiot.

That night was so hot we all were roasting in our room. We even had the door open and were sleeping in very little clothing and still felt like we were back in that sauna. Jaid and B fell asleep before me and I stayed up. But I am happy I did because there was a huge thunder storm at around 2 in the morning. I walked outside to the balcony and it was crazy. Mountain weather I guess. There was a gigantic strike of lightening right by the hotel so I was like aaalllllright time to go to sleep.

Now I am currently on a train in Italy, Writing this while everyone except my mom is sleeping. I slept earlier. Germany really surprised me and I am extremely happy that we went. I want to see more of Germany and finally paraglide one day.

All My Love, T

I’m posting this after my time in Italy and have decided to not do these long posts because they are honestly not what I want to post up here. But I will post some random thoughts for the rest of my trip. Little funny moments, cool people I meet, things like that. And the pictures of course haha

Off to Prague!