Okay, lame title but another awesome vacation in the books! We had our third and final visitors of the year. Once my parents arrived in Europe we had a very busy, fun filled, brick loving, 12 days of traveling.

Our first three days were spent in Munich. Our only stop on the first day was the famous beer hall the Hofbrauhaus, where my parents enjoyed their first sips of German beer. The next day we went to Dachau Concentration Camp. Followed by a walk through the Englischer Gardens where we stopped for a beer, pretzel and a brat. Then we got ourselves kicked out of a casino (long story) just in time for dinner. Alex and I had been to Augustiner before and because it was a Saturday, we made sure to make reservations in advance. When we got there, we were led down a long and winding staircase to the cellar. We thought we were being seated at one of the long cafeteria style tables but instead we were guided inside a wooden beer barrel. It was definitely the only barrel in the cellar possibly in the entire (huge) restaurant. It was very unique and really fun and a little warm towards the end. The next day was an all day bus tour to King Ludwig’s Linderhof and Neuschwanstein castles with a quick trip to Oberammergau in between. It was a beautiful day for visiting two amazing castles.

The next three days we spent in Salzburg, Austria. My dad didn’t know much about what we were doing on this trip, so he was very surprised when we told him about the 4 hour long Sound of Music tour. We got to see the gazebo where “16 going on 17” was filmed, Mirabell Gardens, the church they got married in, got to sing along to the entire soundtrack and much more! My mom and I really enjoyed it, the guys enjoyed the beers on the bus after the tour was over. The next day was my birthiversary! We did a tour of the Salzburg fortress then headed to Hallstatt, a small little town about an hour from Salzburg. We took a funicular to the top of a mountain that had an observation deck with amazing views. It was a foggy day which made for awesome pictures. Once we got back to Salzburg we had a good dinner then somehow my dad found chocolate cake at 9pm at the hotel and made everyone at the bar sing Happy Birthday to me. It was a fun day! The following day we did a full day trip to the Eagles Nest (it was snowing!), a cute little town called Bertesgaden and a Salt Mine tour. On the salt mine tour, we dressed in traditional miners outfits, took a train into the mine, slid down 2 different slides to get deeper into the mine, a boat ride, and a funicular all while getting information on salt. Once we headed home we decided to try this different restaurant for dinner. It was a beer hall with multiple stands serving cafeteria style food and you rinse out your mug in a well before getting it filled with beer. Very unique!

We got up bright and early the next day for one of my favorite towns in Germany, Rothenburg ob der Tauber. A perfectly preserved, medieval town. We stopped in their famous Christmas store, grabbed a drink and some cake at a local restaurant, and walked along the walls that still “protect” the town. At night, we enjoyed listening to the night watchman enlighten us with tales from the past.

Our second to last stop was a castle hotel. We got all checked into the “highest castle on the Rhine” hotel (after barely making it up the very steep hill) then took a scenic drive along the castle filled Rhine river. We stopped to have a drink (there’s definitely a pattern here…) and happened upon a little festival where they were serving federweißer wine (which is the first wine of the harvest season and still undergoing the fermentation process). Afterwards, we made our way back to the castle to enjoy a medieval candlelight dinner.

Next stop, Cologne! Our last three days were spent enjoying Cologne and its surrounding area. We took a tour of Burg Eltz then enjoyed some more federweßer wine in Cochem, had some of the best hot chocolate and cake, then did a tour of Cologne’s beautiful cathedral.

It was such a wonderful trip! We laughed a lot, we ate a lot and we stood around a lot listening to my dad talk about bricks. Now time for Christmas markets!

First beers of the vacation!

Linderhof Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle

Beer Garden

Augustiner Barrel

Sound of Music

Hallstatt, Austria

Hallstatt, Austria

Salt Mine slide

Miners Outfits

Rinsing our beers

Warming our beers?

Federweßer Wine

Burg Eltz

Cologne Cathedral

Last Kölsch of the vacation