After my adventures in the Scottish Highlands, Caroline and I returned to St. Andrews to do laundry and re-pack. The next afternoon, Wednesday, we hopped on a bus to catch a train to catch another train to catch a bus to catch a final train to get to the airport and fly from Prestwick to Frankfurt-Hahn airport in Germany via the notorious Ryan Air. Finally, at about midnight, we arrived safely in Germany and, at about 3:30am, we arrived at the house of Caroline's family friends in Aalen, Germany.
The next morning, we woke up to an amazing German breakfast - a feast, actually - and a whole day of sightseeing planned for us. Eva Eich, who had met Caroline's family as an exchange student 35 years ago, took us in her incredibly fast BMW down the autobahn to Rothenberg, the most picturesque little German town imaginable (almost TOO picturesque to be real), and then to Munich. It rained in Rothenberg but we still got to walk around, pop into a classic German Christmas shop (in business ALL year 'round), visit the torture museum (ick), and have coffee (tea!) at a little Bavarian cafe. We drove to Munich at about 6 or 7pm that night and didn't arrive until close to 10. The kitchen at the restaurant we went to was about to close but we ordered quickly and got amazing meals. We spent that night at Eva's sister's apartment just outside the city centre.
We woke up early the next morning for another day of sightseeing, this time around the historic and famous city of Munich. I had been to Munich last spring for the last day of Chorale tour but we only got to walk around in the dark and really didn't see much of anything. This time was WAY better. We walked around, popped into an excessively adorned Gothic cathedral, took a bus tour, walked around the famous Munich market, and ate lunch at the Hofbrauhaus. It was quite incredible - the quintessential Bavarian Munich experience. There was a Bavarian band playing music, tons of people, amazing food, and, yes, I even tasted the beer. I tried to avoid it since I really do not like the smell of beer but Eva said it was an experience I needed to have while in Germany. So I tried it. Not bad. But I only got through half of the glass (and mine was a small!). Oh well. At least I can say I tried it! :)
That afternoon I hopped on a very fast train from Munich to Mannheim to meet my friend Zack who was getting off of work at his Army base in Mannheim. He picked me up and we drove about 30 minutes to his apartment located in a very cute little town called Ladenburg. It too was a classic German town but way less touristy and much more real than Disneylandish Rothenberg had been. We dropped off my stuff and then ran across the road to visit for a few minutes with his landlord family. They were very sweet and chatty, enjoying practicing their English and raving about how they love America, especially Montana. :) Then Zack and I went back to eat a late dinner and plan for the next day of whirlwind sightseeing.
We woke up early on Saturday morning, April 5, and took the autobahn to Switzerland. Zack as driver, myself as navigator. Yes, you did read that correctly: I read the map and directed Zack through the exits to Lucerne, Switzerland. Granted, I made some mistakes and I needed several hours to get the hang of reading the German maps, but I didn't do too badly. At least we got where we wanted to go and Zack never threatened to throw me out of the car. :)
Lucerne was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was perfect. We had thought of going to France that day but since the forecasters predicted "partly cloudy" weather in Switzerland, Zack chose to interpret that as "partly sunny" and he was right! We walked around the town, climbed up the town walls, visited the famous sleeping lion sculpture, ate some food, walked through an outdoor market, sat along the river, and took lots of pictures. Well, I took lots of pictures while Zack was my patient subject. At about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, Zack decided he wanted to check another country off his list, so we headed to Liechtenstein.
One of the smallest countries, if not THE smallest country, in Europe, Liechtenstein is not very different from her neighbor Switzerland. In fact, in Vaduz, the capital city, after we climbed up the hillish mountain to the Prince's Palace and sat on a bench overlooking the amazing mountainous view, we realized that, ironically, what we were really "oooing" and "ahhing" about were the mountains of Switzerland. Apparently it is a small world after all. At least in Liechtenstein.
The next day was also crammed full of sightseeing. We drove about 90 minutes over the border to Strasbourg, France, where it was raining, unfortunately, so we popped into what we thought was the acclaimed Strasbourg Cathedral. Wrong. It was a Catholic church but not the one we were looking for. But I was having so much fun trying to pick out a word here and there from the minister's sermon, which was in French, that we ended up staying for the entire service. By the time we emerged, it was not raining as much so we walked over to the museums and found the art museum, which happened to be free that day. By lunchtime, we were starving so we walked around looking for some classic French food from the street vendors: paninis and crepes. Yum. Seriously good. And combined with the beautiful music of a French street musician, I was in heaven. Plus the sun had come out and we finally stumbled upon the actual Cathedral. It doesn't get much better than that! :)
After lunch, we drove back towards Ladenburg, stopping for the rest of the afternoon in Heidelberg, another classic and well-known (hence, touristy) German town. It was quite lovely and Zack had me do the obligatory climb up to the Heidelberg palace, which is really more like a castle fortress, half of which was blown away by the French a few centuries ago. We explored for awhile, taking pictures, and then walked up and down the Hauptstrasse (main street) before returning to Ladenburg for the night.
Monday was less exciting since Zack had to go to work and I stayed back at his apartment to catch up on emails and give myself a tour of Ladenburg using his English guidebook. Well, as per Gilligan's Island, the 1- to 2-hour tour turned into a 7-hour tour as soon as I realized that I had locked myself out of Zack's apartment. Yes, I really did. Granted, he had forgotten to tell me about the extra key hanging by the door, but I also did not think that the door would automatically lock behind me. It did.
Even so, I had an enjoyable afternoon keeping myself interested: walking around, practicing my German, trying to read Harry Potter in a German bookstore, reading picture books in the library until I eventually found Edgar Allan Poe in English, walking around again, and taking loads of pictures. When Zack arrived home, it was time to rush off to the airport for my flight back to Glasgow. There was a little stress getting there because traffic slowed us down and I knew the check-in closed in about 10 minutes. But I arrived in time, met up with Caroline, and we got on the plane after many exciting European adventures. And that was only Week 1 of Easter Break!
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