Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I went on a trip to a land far, far away...

Last week, my husband and I went on a trip to a land far, far away, also known as Germany and Austria.  

We went without our kids, because my incredibly amazing aunt drove 7 hours to stay with our three rugrats for an entire week while we were gone.  (Note: If you don't have an Aunt Carolyn, go find yourself one.  You can't have mine though, because I don't know what I'd do without her!)  This was our first trip sans kids in years.  That's right: years.

Can I tell you something?  It was AMAZING.

Don't get me wrong, we definitely missed the kids.  I'm pretty sure that I drove my aunt crazy by calling every day to make sure things were ok.  (I wasn't worried about the kids; I was worried that the kids had driven her insane.)

Still, it was pretty terrific to have some quality time with my husband.  But what made it truly spectacular was that we were experiencing Europe for the first time - together.

We stayed in Oberammergau, Germany.



We also stayed in Munich (but not for long).


We hiked around on mountain tops.



We took a romantic stroll around Schloss Linderhof at sunset.



We toured Neuschwanstein Castle.


We learned that churches are to Bavaria as Starbucks shops are to most US cities/towns/truckstops.


We saw a lot of dirndls and lederhosen (and I had to be stopped more than once from dropping a few Euros on a set of my own).


We consumed ridiculous amounts of incredibly delicious food.


Oh, and we had beer.  Lots and lots of beer.


Did I mention that we took a day trip to Salzburg?  I may or may not have been singing "Edelweiss" as we strolled through Mirabell Gardens.



We took in some spectacular views.


We took a lot of pictures.


But most of all, we took the time to enjoy our surroundings with each other.



More posts to come with recommendations for what visitors should and shouldn't do in Germany and Austria (Example: Avoid getting a flat tire in a rental car. Trust me.).  Until then, I'm going to dream about how I can swing another TDY to Germany...