When in...
Brussels - see the Grand Place, Mannequin-Pis, eat a waffle, drink some chocolixir
The Netherlands - wonder at their many flags, play on a playground in the snow, stop by a market for some really cheap knockoff red bull and find stroopwaffels
Frankfurt - realize how large and interesting of a city it is, park in a garage where you get a plastic coin rather than a ticket, find out what schnitzel is, eat schnitzel and sausage, find the largest, most interconnected set of malls you've ever seen with about 5 H&M's, then find a street stand and eat a true frankfurter
Stuttgart - again, realize there is a lot more to the city than expected, discover cool hotel windows, visit the Mercedes museum for 5 hours - including a factory tour in German, visit Markthalle, spend 13 euro on olives, see Nuess Schloss - perhaps the most underwhelming castle in Europe, visit MontBlanc the store for the first time, find a LIDL to get 12 liters of bottled water for approx. 3 euro that we drank all week long
Stoll - go skiing!!! then realize it's really warm and we're beginner skiers, at best, make use of the last hour of our lift pass to go tobogganing, eat dinner - more sausage for me, have apple streusel with cream for dessert
Munich - eat dinner at Hofbrauhaus and by dinner, I mean a liter stein of beer (or beer and lemonade in my case) a huge crackling pork knuckle and sausage with kraut while enjoying Bavarian music and making sure we didn't sit at a "regulars table," go to Olympic park, walk around in the freezing cold!, see the indoor swimming center, go to BMW - skip the museum and 8 euro entrance fee and just go for the interactive dealership instead, happen to be there at the right time to see the motorcycle demonstration
Dachau (just outside Munich) - visit the first concentration camp built during the Nazi regime, realize we could spend a whole day here too, but the short time was still powerful
Hohenschwangau - visit Schloss Neuschwanstein, take the guided tour, hear about crazy King Ludwig II, have tour guide tell us the path to the bridge is closed, then, of course, follow many others around the barrier blocking the other side of the castle and the bridge, trudge through the snow a bit, get a great view of the other side of the castle, miss the last horse-drawn carriage down, marvel again at the castle
Liechtenstein - take a picture of a church, drive down a sidewalk, eat sausage and schnitzel again - this time it was white sausage though, have Swiss ice cream for dessert, pay 10 CHF for a bottle of water
Zurich - find out how really expensive Switzerland is (120 CHF for a budget hotel), realize it's Sunday so we don't have to pay for street parking (yay) but everything is closed (boo), get some francs - they're pretty, get a crepe, walk down Banhofstrasse and do some window shopping, eat a really good McFlurry, stumble across a train station with the first open stores we've seen all day, drive around, eat half a chicken and another white sausage with SPICY mustard and bread that stays good for a year at a famous stand in Bellevueplatz, eat some really disgusting nuts, get cheap knockoff red bull again (not the same as the stuff from the Netherlands), take a picture by the river, find our way back to the train station with open shops to get a couple souvenirs, ask where a grocery store is, find that the train station is actually a huge underground mall - grocery store included, quickly run to the grocery store for some chocolate as our car is parked possibly illegally again
Southeastern France - see a Schloss (oh wait, we're in France, it's a Chateau), visit said Chateau, realize we're in the middle of French wine country or at least a whole bunch of dead grape vines, look for an open winery, find one that says it's open, but really it's not, give up on wine because really we need gas, find a huge gas station right down the road, buy some local wine here instead
Strasbourg - eat dinner - not at the place in the AAA tour book because it's closed, but instead next door where I have a seafood pizza that literally tastes like the ocean (eww) and Wesley shares his tarte flambee (very similar to pizza but with a different crust) with me, we both enjoyed the local Munster cheese on our dishes, spend an hour taking pictures of the canals in the old city
Luxembourg - stop at a gas station, take a picture, get some Fanta Lemon and Orbit gum
Bruges - wonder what so many police and firemen were doing around a car (looking under it, taking it's temperature), visit chocolate museum, visit the only fries museum in the world, are refused fries at the fry museum since we didn't have an entrance ticket, get rained on
IKEA (somewhere near Gent) - find out it's not meatball time, get surprisingly filling salads instead, get ice cream from the machine that fills the cone itself, take advantage of free coffee and drinks, far exceed our 30 minute intentions for walking around, buy some really cheap and useful things for my place (2.99 knives with knife block, 1.99 blanket, 1.00 spatula, and a few other things)
Brussels - get a huge cone of frites with curry ketchup and pickle sauce, buy some groceries and chocolate, return to the Grand Place for souvenirs and a night view, visit Leonidas where I misread the sign in French about their promotion
Ok, well my quick overview turned out not to be so quick...expect more detailed stories later about all of the wonderful things that we did and saw and experienced. For right now, I am cleaning and doing some laundry before Annie, my best friend from Vandy, gets here for a weekend visit!!!!
Love to all!!
What a great trip! So many things to comment about, I probably will forget something. This makes me miss Grand Place. It was a beautiful day like that when Ellen and I were there. So many of your pictures look like postcards, with you and Wesley standing in front - especially the one where you call yourself "very pretty". Skiing in Switzerland - or Austria - I forgot already what country you were in - something I'd LOVE to do someday. I am envious of you getting to see Mozart's home - another thing I've always wanted to do. Bellevueplatz? Did it look sort of like Bellevue Mall there? That's what they should name the new shopping area if they ever get it going - Bellevueplatz. You and Wes look SO happy in every picture. Love you - take care of yourself - Melinda
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