I know you’ve waited for our holiday pictures for so long and it’s taken me this long to edit them! Between the two of us…I think we took about 2000 over photos! I’m not sure how I’m going to condense all the stories I’m about to tell you of our trip…but here goes!

Germany was our first stop in Europe. My mum and step dad lives in Stuttgart, in the state of Baden-Württemberg so we spent most of our time touring the Southwest of the country before making our way up north. Southwest Germany is beautiful for its mountain landscapes, lush Black Forest and half-timbered towns. The region is also famous for its cuckoo clocks and needless to say, we wasted no time in purchasing one for our house:) I’ll share pictures in my next post.

Rich found that the longer he stayed in Germany, the more he grew to love the sights and its people. We agreed that Germans are hands down one of the funniest and friendliest people!

Since we were always on the go, we would start our day with a freshly baked pretzel from the bakery. I like the pumpkin seed ones the best.

One of our holiday highlights was a road trip down to Bavaria with some friends. The sight of the Bavarian alps were just incredible!

Now, being in a country where it’s famously known as the ‘Country of castles’ (there is around 25,000 castles in Germany) you could say we were spoiled with choices. Hence our trip to Bavaria because there was only one castle that we REALLY had to visit; the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Built in the 18th century by King Ludwig II, Neuschwanstein Castle is also known as the “Fairy Tale Castle” and is said to have inspired several Walt Disney castles. The castle was breathtakingly beautiful and to see it up close and walk through the rooms that Kind Ludwig II visioned himself, was an unforgettable experience!

On one of our day trips out of Stuttgart, we visited a university town called, Tübingen. The Neckar river runs through the old town which makes this scene look postcard perfect! We strolled along the river and park, before venturing into the medieval town centre. We bought fresh raspberries from the marketplace and for most of the afternoon I had sticky red fingers.

In Esslingen which is just on the outskirts of Stuttgart, we hiked up the steep cobbled hill to check out the town’s castle. Once up at the lookout tower, we were treated to an amazing panorama of the village and the vineyard. Walking down the cobbled road later proved to be a challenge itself!

Aside from castles and alps, Germany is also famous for its wide range of beer, sausages and currywurst (hot pork sausage seasoned with curry ketchup). The serving size in this country is ridiculously huge and most of the time I was contented with eating one meal a day!

Next stop Berlin…in my next post!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 12:41 am and is filed under Nature & Eco-Friendly things, Travel stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.