Ok, so because I know you've all been on the edge of your seats waiting to hear about our adventures overseas here is a chronologically/geographically organized account of events. Just to keep things clear. So here goes.
Frankfurt, Germany: We flew into the Frankfurt International Airport. There was a miscommunication, and it took me four hours to find Ken. I say it was his fault, he says it was my fault, we agreed to disagree and got on a train to Nuremberg. Not a big fan of the Frankfurt Airport.
Nuremberg, Germany: Only stayed here one night - had a really nice hotel room, though. We spent the evening at the Christmas Market in the old town, where I had my first gluhwein (hot spiced wine - delicious) by an outdoor fireplace. I also had my first (and second, and third...) real German hefeweissen here, too, along with a big plate of schnitzel and french fries. The airport incident was soon forgotten.
Munich, Germany: Honestly, the highlight of Munich for me was the walking tour we took in the old town. We learned a lot about Bavaria, WWII, why the French hate the Germans, and we had beer and bratwurst. And saw the glockenspiel. Win. Our first night in Munich we went to the famous Hofbrauhaus and had lots of beer and bratwurst, accompanied by an impromptu concert given by a (drunk?) acapella men's chorus consisting of Christmas carols and German drinking songs. We also had currywurst in Munich, which was surprisingly awesome, though I was pretty skeptical beforehand. I also was excited to see a memorial plaque from the 1972 Olympics since, duh, that was the one Pre was at... Our last dinner in Munich was exciting because I had (and I'm not lying here) pork knuckle for dinner. Yes. I had a knuckle. And you know what? It was delicious.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany: This town tied for first place as far as places we visited on the trip. First, it was beautiful and snowy. Not a lot of that in Texas, and I was totally entranced by it. Second, our room at the B&B was AWESOME, complete with fluffy down comforters (that's right, plural, I had my own comforter which meant that Ken couldn't steal all the blankets for once!), our own living room, and a giant breakfast spread every morning. We got into town on Christmas Eve, and spent the day exploring Garmisch, then went to Partenkirchen that evening, and managed to find an open bar (nothing is open in Germany on Christmas Eve, I think they basically consider you a heathen if you don't take time off and spend the evening with family that day) where we, surprise, surprise, ran into more Americans! Lee and Theresa - boy and girl, but not dating. Lee is stationed in Germany like Ken was, so they had plenty to talk about, and we all had a few beers together before one of the bar owners (it was run by a husband and wife) unlocked a cabinet on the wall and pulled out the "good" schnapps, poured us all shots, lit them on fire, and wished us a Merry Christmas. Things got out of hand (in a good way) after that. We quickly bonded with the 4 or 5 Germans there, and spent the rest of the night getting completely (no other way to put it) wasted. It was one of the best Christmas Eve's of my life, and we went to that bar every other day we were there. On Christmas we went skiing with Lee and Theresa, or I should say that Ken went skiing with them after I spent about 15 painful minutes realizing that I can't ski. So I stayed down by the fire and the hot drinks while they skied down the mountain. I wasn't sorry I missed it. The next day, Lee and I snowshoed while Ken and Theresa skied. The snowshoeing was so amazing, and I got lots of great pictures. And then I had two beers and a weissewurst and went back out again. It was a great day. We've kept in touch with Lee and Theresa on facebook ever since we left.
Zurich, Switzerland: Richest city in the world. Also the one where I realized that I lost my bank card. Bad combination. Ok, so Ken and I are together 24/7 on the trip, conflict was bound to occur - starting in Zurich. Naturally, Ken was not thrilled that I lost the bank card, so we argued about that, though I was able to work out some sort of a solution with my credit card so that I wasn't completely stranded. Still, it got our day of sightseeing off to a rough start. However, after the morning the rest of the day was amazing. One of the most interesting parts was the churches - they all had the most unique stained glass windows I had ever seen. One church had windows made by Chagall, and another had windows made entirely out of the cross-sections of geodes. It was really fascinating. We also went to a hole-in-the-wall bar while we were there, where we got to see a accordion player and a yodeler. She yodeled a song especially for us. I thought it was awesome. Ken was ready to leave. So we went and had falafel. And that was Zurich.
Lyon, France: Ok, things started to get rough here. First - Google maps LIED to us so we could not find the hotel and spent our first hour or so in the city lugging our 50 pound suitcases all over creation. Then, naturally when we get to the hotel and try to pay, my credit card gets declined. I call Capital One and find out that, oh, lovely, since I'm a new customer they are putting holds on EVERY ONE OF MY PAYMENTS. So if want funds released, I have to personally call them and request it. That put a spin on my credit card solution, but at least now I knew what to do before trying to use the card. At this point, I know I'll be hearing about money and bank cards the rest of the trip from Ken. Sigh. One of our best meals was in Lyon at the Brasserie Georges - 4 courses, a great bottle of wine... it was nice. The hotel was good, too. The sight-seeing we did was wonderful - we saw the ruins of the Roman Theatre and the Basilica at Fourvieres which was decorated entirely with mosaics. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Then our train gets f-ed up. We wait 4 hours at a dodgy cafe waiting to take a much longer train ride than anticipated, and drink lots of beer and eat whatever they still have from earlier in the day.
Aix-en-Provence, France: 40 Euro cab fare, crappy hotel, 4 flights of windy stairs with 50 pound suitcases. And when we get up the next morning, New Year's Eve, guess who had food poisoning? Yeah, this girl.
Nice, France: After spending the entire day traveling and throwing up (on my part, anyways), we get to Nice - our room is thankfully big, clean, and on the first floor with a clean bathroom. This was more exciting than it would usually be, because who wants to puke into a dirty toilet? Yeah. So Ken goes to buy me ginger ale, bananas, and medicine, and I continue to hug the toilet. Then we realize that my camera has been stolen and I messed up our hotel reservations for Paris. Low. Point. Of. The. Trip. So Ken spends the entire night re-routing the trip to avoid Paris (which, in the end, actually worked out for the best, but neither of us could see it at the moment when everyone in Nice was partying in the streets and we were stuck in our hotel room), and I continue to throw up. Neither of us wants to be there. Ken says as much. After a few tense moments we both decide to just laugh at how much the day completely sucked and watch stupid videos online before falling asleep, crammed together in a tiny twin-size bed. Our full day in Nice was the turning point for the trip, thank God, as my body had pretty much rid itself of whatever vile thing I had eaten (pretty sure it was the hot dog at the end of our day in Lyon) and we had the whole day to explore Nice, which is a beautiful town. It was warm, too - well, warm enough not to wear coats, anyways. We sat by the ocean and skipped stones, and climbed to the top of the lookout point nearby, where we also saw the ruins of an old church and chateau. Dinner was amazing - we ate outdoors at a restaurant that had huge torches to warm the patio, and had fresh seafood and pasta with a bottle of good wine, followed by some seriously awesome cake and mousse.
Aix-en-Provence, France: Aix part II. We came back through on the way to Brugge. Much better hotel room this time. We did some serious napping on the bed that was amazing after 3 nights of crappy beds. We had a big, delicious dinner with seafood and local dishes and wine, and went to bed early, because we had to get up at 4:00 in the morning to start making our way to Brugge.
Brugge, Belgium: Also tied for best place on the trip. Got in early, dropped our things at the beautiful B&B, and headed straight for a tour at the local brewery where we had what is apparently one of the best beers in Belgium. We started drinking before noon every day we were in Belgium - it was amazing. The B&B was beautiful, but the best part was the giant king-sized bed with the huge, fluffy down comforter, and the big, deep bath tub. We napped and bathed a lot at that place. We did the "Tour de Brugge" by renting bikes and riding all over and around town and stopping only for beer, chocolate, fries, and photo opportunities. Okay so we actually stopped a lot. But it was worth it. All of the food and beer we had was amazing, and we even got to visit the french fry museum and the chocolate museum. I'm serious. French fry museum. We had mussels and french fries - twice. We visited a bar dating back to the 1500's that had a beer menu that looked like a dictionary. We learned how they make chocolate pralines. Brugge was basically a lot like heaven. It was the perfect way to end the trip.
Frankfurt, Germany: We spent our last night in Frankfurt at a hostel before heading back to the states. It was very low-key. We went to a local Irish pub for some beers, and got some street pizza afterwards, then hit the hay. Ken had to leave extra early because his flight left at 8:00 AM - I woke up to say bye, then went back to sleep. My second encounter with the Frankfurt Airport was, thankfully, much less traumatic than the first. Of course, it was a different story when I got back to the states...
But we'll save that for another time.
I'm so glad I got to go on this trip, and with such an awesome guy. Despite the rough patches, it was an amazing experience, and it left me refreshed and ready to come home and work hard and train hard again. Europe was beautiful, the food and drinks were amazing, and we met some really great people. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
And now, get ready to hear about me actually training again...
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