Cinderella's Castle!

The internet has been out all day, and so have I. Germany has been amazing, but I've been getting progressively sicker. :/ I haven't let is slow me down until today, but Shawn and Hayden were really tired too, so we all took 4 hour naps after church. I was a little surprised; actually, that the church we went to today was not only in all English, but that all the people there were American—it was a U.S. military ward (did not even know those existed). I met a couple girls today that were my age and from Utah, I assumed they were backpackers as well, but it turns out that they were actually army wives whose husbands were stationed here in Germany! It's crazy how many different paths a life can take. Like I said, today has been very relaxed, Janae (who we're staying with and who is an absolutely gem) taught me to make the most delicious cinnamon rolls! We just had a big dinner, and now we're planning on taking our final walk in Germany before catching our train to France at 6:30 tomorrow morning! Ah how time flies!

The church had signs in English and German.
These were the kids whose house I have been staying at :) Cute, huh!

Yeah, this was our driving scenery, can't complain
Dandelions never looked so beautiful!

Friday was so jammed packed and we were always on the go—doing whatever our hearts pleased and meeting a ton of new people. Saturday was a bit different because we decided to go tour one of Germany’s most famous—if not thee most famous—castle: Neuschwanstein. Aka: Cinderella’s castle. According to Steffen and Jenny, who we met on the train yesterday evening, it is a total tourist site—neither of them had actually seen it, even though it’s only about 4 hours away from their home! Their loss; it’s funny how we don’t always appreciate the things close to home.  Since it was one of our last days in Germany, we decided to go big or go home (and we’re clearly not ready to go home, love you mom). So we started our 4 hour trek on the Autobahn, which is a European highway without a speed limit—we took Paul’s minivan (haha) and were staying strong at 80mph while other cars FLEW past us going at least 120mph. It was ridiculous, but Paul said that there are less automobile accidents here than in the U.S.  Hence, I think that we should follow suit—it’d make traveling so much more efficient. It would have made our trip more efficient as well if we hadn’t accidently got off at the wrong exit (curse you GPS) and ended up on windy roads in little towns. Ya know, it added a couple hours to our drive, but I really didn’t mind. I feel like there is really no way to articulate how beautiful this place is—pictures don’t do it justice.

I kept having random urges to stop the car, go lay out, and have a picnic in the fields of grass and dandelions (which are surprisingly pretty). Six hours later, when we finally made it to the castle, we saw that it was under construction. Really? Six hours and no castle? Luckily it was only a portion of the outside of the castle that was under construction and tours were still going on. We did have to lay down a pretty 21 Euro (about $28) to buy tickets to tour it and another castle: Hohenschangau and Neuschwanstein. Because the castle is a big tourist attraction, they had tours in all sorts of different languages, so I actually understood this one! Though I'm still not always great at picking out every word, when English is spoken in a heavy accent… Shawn, Hayden and I have apparently developed German accents ourselves and consistently repeat the few German phrases we have learned.

Thank goodness we are together because I’m sure anyone else would be completely annoyed by us. German ‘hello’ is very similar to the English ‘hello,’ except that it’s more of an “auLL-o” (where you say the ‘o’ deeper than the ‘auLL’ portion). So, obviously, that’s how we greet everyone now. While we were walking down the hill, we passed a couple women, smiled and said ‘auLL-o.’ You never know what language anyone is going to be speaking, so that’s a pretty safe thing to say that everyone will understand. When the ladies replied with ‘Oh hi’s” Shawn asked them how they were doing, in English. They had already passed us by a couple of feet when he said that, and they turned around at record speed, “You speak English!? Ah!” They were so excited to see other Americans and have someone actually understand them, and we were excited because we had fooled someone with a ‘auLL-o” into thinking we were German! A win-win situation! To top it off, a lady yesterday told me that I looked German! So, maybe I could pass for a German; unfortunately, the chances of me passing for an Italian are about as good as me passing as a Thai person.

While we’re on the topic, I am getting excited to go there (Italy)! We’ll leave for Paris on Monday and spend a few days there and then take a train into Rome! I’ve been talking a lot with my host family—Facebooking my host sister, Diana, and brother, Diego. They’ve offered to come pick me up from Rome and take me to their home—which is about 45 minutes away. I’m not sure how exactly I will navigate that because I want to spend the day in Rome on May 4th, which is my birthday (!!!!)—and how better to spend a birthday than partying it up in Rome!? The problem is that I don’t have anywhere to leave my luggage and I don’t want to carry it all around the city (Shawn and Hayden just have backpacks, so it’s easier for them). Maybe I’ll see if Diana or Diego just want to spend the day in Rome with us—getting the tour by an Italian would be a total dream! I’ve emailed my host mom, Mara—Diego helped her write the message (He served a mission in Wales, so speaks English), but I know her English isn’t great. I’m excited to talk with her because my Italian isn’t very great either (haha), we’re sure to have some interesting conversations and epic miscommunications during my stay. 

These are videos from a few days ago. Shawn and Hayden are going to make a video of their world tour, this is a little bit of us exploring a castle, and us running to catch a boat--it seems like we're always running.. :)

Anyhow, while we’re on the topic, I am getting so excited to go there (Italy)! We’ll leave for Paris on Monday and spend a few days there and then take a train into Rome! I’ve been talking a lot with my host family. I have been Facebooking my host sister, Diana, and brother, Diego, quite a bit and they’ve offered to come pick me up from Rome and take me to their home—which is about 45 minutes away. I’m not sure how exactly I will navigate that because I want to spend the day in Rome on May 4^th, which is my birthday (!!!!)—and how better to spend a birthday than partying it up in Rome!? The problem is that I don’t have anywhere to leave my luggage because once I split with Shawn and Hayden, they’re staying in hostels (No home/hotel to leave my things in), and I don’t want to carry my luggage all around the city (Shawn and Hayden just have backpacks). Maybe I’ll see if Diana or Diego just want to spend the day in Rome with us—getting the tour by an Italian would be a total dream! I’ve also emailed my host mom—Diego said he helped her write the message, but I know her English isn’t great; I’m really excited to talk with her because my Italian isn’t very great either haha we’re sure to have some interesting conversations and epic miscommunications during my stay. This is the last email she sent to me; I can already tell that I’m going to love her!

Dear Kierea we are excited of meet you!! Brother Perego told us about you... so we have decided to have you stay at our house. We live in a beautiful place near Bracciano lake. From here you can travel to Rome by train or by bus, but it depends which zone you have to reach. I think that if you  will like our food , we'll share it. so in this case i would ask you 300 €. However we can adjust every details according your schedule. Thank you for your kindness and willingness to help; we too are happy to help you to have a good experience in Italy!! See you soon and have a good journey    Mara

As for today, can I just say I love castles? Besides the corsets and heavy dresses, I am pretty sure that I was meant to live during the days where people actually lived in castles. I mean, I might have to add a few modern touches, like a septic system and an elevator (we walked up sooo many stairs today! Given, I do stand by the fact that using elevators is the first step to making you fat), but honestly, the intricateness and effort put into every aspect of the castles is unlike anything I’ve ever seen [outside of a textbook]. All the art on the walls was from the Romantic period; I thought it was interesting that even though there were war scenes on the walls; blood was never painted because Romantic artists didn’t want to shock people—I have a feeling that most of the artwork I see in Rome won’t follow that trend, time will tell!

The first castle we went to was the Hohenschangau (Say that 3 times fast! Actually just try to say it once…). It was bright yellow and filled with Swans, it reminded me a lot of my Grandma Patty who used to have swans all over her house. The castle was beautiful, but I thought the tour was way too short—we only explored a tenth of it. Still fun though.

We asked if we could take a picture with this man, and were going to just stand by the side of the carriage,
but he seemed eager to have us come sit by him haha hmmm....

outside of the Hohenschangau castle with
Hayden, Me, Shawn, Nina, and Adam :)

I had been pretty impressed by all the castle tours I’d gone on thus far into the trip, but when we walked into the entrance of Neuschwanstein castle, all I could think is, “THIS is a castle.” And thank goodness, because we trekked up a flipping mountain to get there (given, we could have paid 1 euro to ride a bus, but what’s the fun in that?). Walt Disney knew what he was thinking when he modeled Cinderella’s castle after this one. It was kind of perfect too because one of the girls we went with, Nina, is majoring in dance and planning to go be Cinderella at Disneyworld next year.  Btw: Nina is great—she has dual citizenship, is living in Germany for the summer, and may become a travel buddy for some weekend get-aways! But back to the castle—it was unreal, my favorite part of it (both castles actually) was the ceilings because of their intricate design, it’s obvious that whoever made them put in ridiculous amounts of time to complete them. I think that’s one of my favorite aspects of these eras, everyone wasn’t in a rush—they took the time to make something beautiful, not just functional. This trip has definitely made me stop, sit back, and take the time to enjoy the beauty of everyday. I realize Germany and castles are not ‘everyday’ things, but I really do think that I miss out on a lot because of my ‘need to be efficient.’ Welp, a lesson learned and a day enjoyed.

We’re driving back now and I’m the only one still awake (besides the driver of course!), and I’m planning on changing that…now! Juice! (I don’t actually know how it’s spelled in German, but ‘juice’ {pronounced more like Jew-oo-ce, wow k, how I just sounded it out is probably a little off, but closer than juice I suppose} means goodbye in German).

My 'new best friend' outside near the castles

Cinderella's Castle!

Boats, Castles, Thai People and More!

I do not even know where to begin—we packed a ton into today and met so many cool people! I honestly feel that more than 16 hours have passed since waking up at 5am. I'm still feeling sick (sore throat/stuffed), but I 'drugged up' this morning and have felt pretty great as a result. :)

I took my first train ride ever this morning and got to enjoy some beautiful scenery, and some pretty legit graffiti. We had a little layover between trains and decided to check out a little town called Manheim—loved it! One of my favorite things about Germany is that all the little towns are so quaint beautiful. We saw some really cool street art and picturesque gardens and fountains.

We founds this place during a layover at one of our train stops!

Street art: "If you don't harvest their thoughts, they'll go bad"

Street art: "If you give me the chance to shine, I'll be the  best sun ever!"

Rhine River Tour at Bingen

We went on a boat tour today to see German castles along the water, and although we ended up having to run to catch the boat, it was well worth it! There was a huge group of tourists from Thailand on the boat with us. One, bright-pink-lipstick-wearing, woman walked over to the side of the boat, near where we were sitting, and started smiling. She smiled, looked at me, then pointed at the camera; I turned to look at the man taking a picture of her, then back at her. I thought she was trying to communicate to me that she was taking a picture and to let me know that she was not smiling at me, so I shouldn't feel awkward. I was wrong. Apparently she was actually trying to take a picture with me! It was unexpected and hilarious, but I went with it. Then, suddenly, all of her friends came over and took turns taking pictures with me. Even after they walked away, a couple of them kept taking pictures of me, and would randomly come and lean down by me to get another picture! I was so caught off guard—either they got confused and thought I was some celebrity or the just really like blonde hair. Either way, if I get treated like that from Thai people, I think Thailand will have to be my next travel destination! ;)

Apparently the Thai tourists on the boat thought I was someone famous
or just really liked my blonde hair and asked to take pictures with me

Rheinfels Castle, St. Goar
We got to explore two castles in depth today, this one was definitely my favorite. Not necessarily because it was cooler or prettier than the other one, but just because the staff was super liberal and let us explore whatever we wanted. Rheinfels was completely in ruins, and we just hiked through the little passage ways and up to every room we could find. We started heading up this pitch black staircase, into goodness knows what; Shawn was leading the way and all of a sudden he screamed--like something had grabbed him! I, being the protective travel buddy that I am, screamed and booked it down the stairs and out of the castle in about 2 seconds; then realized that nothing had actually grabbed him and that he was just screaming for my benefit...Brat.

Stolzenfels Castle, Kapellen

We had to take an extra train and a bus to get to Stolzenfels castle, then walked through the town, and hiked up a huge windy hill to get to the castle, only to find that it was closed. We decided not to let that stop us because, after all, it's not like we could go there next week. Plus, the fences didn't really seem equipped to actually keep people out—if they really didn't want us in there, they'd make it less accessible, right? So, being our rebellious selves, we snuck in and saw some girl in 12th century clothing speaking all dramatically. Had we just snuck into a movie set!? Well, that would have definitely been a cool story, but no. Turns out the castle wasn't even closed in the first place, we just had gone around to the wrong side, and the girl in the 12th century clothes was just a random tourist (this is who gives tourist a bad name, says the girl who 'snuck' in...). Anyhow, the castle itself was amazing! I've never seen anything so intricate in my life. I am completely obsessed with the castles, especially their gothic windows. I feel like I’m in a humanities class on steroids. Seriously, there is nothing like this in the States!

Just inside the castle :)

I love Gothic windows!

View from the castle

It rained most of the day, but it was still pretty warm outside :)

No words, it was gorgeous!

While the boats, castles, food, and scenery in Germany are amazing, I'd have to say that my favorite aspect of this trip has been the people. I don't know why I had this idea in my mind that Germans weren't very nice. Besides that fact that they are falsely modest (every time you ask someone if they speak English, they say, "A little." which actually means that they are fluent and can carry on a conversation with you for as long as you're interested), the Germans we have met are all extremely warm and fun to talk to (thankfully they speak English—I have experience with Italian and Shawn  & Hayden are fluent in Russian and Spanish, but that doesn't get us very far in Germany...shocker, eh?). But, like I said, the people are wonderful.

Exhibit #1: Schmidt

After we got done at Rheinfels, we took a bus to Koblenz, a random, small town in Germany, and met a super chill—and kind of out there—guy named Schmidt. He wore all black, which contrasted nicely with his bleach blonde dread locks. Shawn started up a conversation with him. He told us where he was from and then asked us about ourselves.

• Schmidt: Where are you from?    
• Shawn: Utah.    
• Schmidt: Utah? ... Utah?    
• Shawn: Yes.
• Schmidt: Well why the he** are you in Koblenz?

Shawn didn't really know how to answer that; everyone just ended up laughing, and Schmidt shared some cheese with us (individually wrapped, I ate it and am still alive and not hallucinating, so I think we're good). It was random, but we ended up having a good conversation with him, and it turns out he’s a really nice guy. I like going to the smaller, less touristy parts of town. I feel like the people are more open and excited to talk. I really can't wait until I'm in Italy where I actually get to build stronger friendships, rather than just make passing acquaintances (which I still do very much enjoy).

Exhibit #2 The 4 Ladies at Stolzenfels Castle, Kapellen

I didn't mention this before, but the second castle we went to had a guided tour which I'm sure would have been interesting, if we could have understood ANYTHING that the tour guide was saying. Unfortunately, although most people in Germany speak English, the tour guide was not one of them. The only thing I actually understood was his firm step in front of us, which halted our progress towards a self-directed tour, and assured our continued presence in the small tour group, ourselves and four women. One of the women tried to translate a little bit of the tour for us, but ended up ranting about random things. Afterwards, we had a nice little chat with the women—they were pretty sassy, if I do say so myself. I loved it! Shawn told them about his and Hayden's world tour trip and they seemed less than impressed. "How long are you staying in Germany?" one asked. Shawn, smiling widely, told them "3 more days." "Typical Americans." another one said shaking her head. They at least seemed happy that I was staying put in one country for the majority of my trip. Besides that comment (which I thought was extremely funny), the women were friendly, took pictures and talked with us for a good 20 minutes.

These are three of the four women we met during the Stolzenfels Castle tour,
the lady on the right tried to translate for us
We tried to get them to smile for the picture, but they just kept talking :)

Exhibit #3 Susan the Story Teller

We met Susan on one of our longer train rides, somehow we started chatting and she told me that I should not be on the train, but up on the top of the hill, like Lorelai. When we all looked at her, befuddled, she told us that Germany has many traditional stories, and then continued to explain the story of Lorelai. She had a bit of a hard time translating it into English, but told us that Lorelai was a beautiful, blonde haired woman that would sit on the top of the hill, brush her hair, and sing. All of the sailors would get so distracted as they sailed by that they would run into the side of the hill and die. Susan shook her head as she told the story, "Very sad...very sad." Obviously some of the emotional connection/meaning was lost in translation, and I'm not sure how I feel being compared to a woman who kills sailors, but I appreciated her sharing some of the history of Germany with us.

We met Susan on a train and she told us some 'historical' stories about Germany

We also met some cool university students on our last train rides. We talked a long time to a couple locals named Steffen and Jenny—they were sitting across from us and started speaking loudly in English to get our attention. Sometimes I feel hesitant to start a conversation with the people around us, but I've found that it is a completely illogical fear because it seems like everyone is as eager to talk to us as we are to talk to them. Seriously, I love Germany!

And some more pictures from the rest of the day

boat tour

On my way to the 2nd castle

The wax that surrounded the cheese Schmidt gave us,
Shawn actually thought the red was part of the cheese haha

These signs are EVERYWHERE here, Ausfahrt means "exit" in German

Cutest old couple ever! This will be me in 50 years. Minus the red hair..

Sadly we didn't see any cute German kids that day,
but let me tell you--kids with accents are the CUTEST thing you've ever seen/heard!

Guten Morgen Quiedersbach

Hayden, Shawn and I spent the morning at the U.S. military base, called Ramstein. Germany actually has the largest number of U.S. forces outside the States in one geographic location—over 40,000! It's the second base we've gotten to tour, the first was called Vogelweh. My brother, Tanner, will go active duty (he's in ROTC now) pretty soon here and he put Germany as one of his top base choices, so it was kind of cool to see a place that he might be stationed. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but there's this whole 'security thing' that makes it difficult… We got a clearance pass for the week though, so I’m basically foreign intelligence.

After the tour, we grabbed lunch on base at a place called Lucky's Doner Kebaba Specialties, I guess you could call it German fast food, with an Arab twist. It was FAR better than any American fast food I've tasted. They cook this big hunk of meat on a turning-wheel and shave off the crispy outer layers to add to sandwiches, wraps, or salads. Honestly, I thought it sounded pretty gross and looked quite odd, but I was starving and figured I might as well try it while I was there. Shockingly delicious. Could be the only time I ever get a chance to taste authentic German food, so I might as well try everything I can, right? 

Me eating a 'Doner Salad' with some sort of delicious meat, feta cheese, and a really good white-yogurt sauce

This is how they cook the meat--kind of crazy looking, eh?

Oh, and remember that one time I said I beat jet lag? That was a lie. Holy Hannah, it hit me today. We got home from lunch and meant to go explore a nearby castle, but ended up sleeping for two and a half hours! Haha at least I got to nap with an adorable 6 day old, can't complain. :)

Jet lag at it's finest: Crashing for 2 1/2 hours with Brianna (6 days old!)
Didn't even have the energy to take off my coat before falling asleep.

Once we woke up, we decided to go tour the city—it is absolutely beautiful, very picturesque. American-made houses may be higher quality and more functional, but there's something about the narrow streets and old, unique houses lining the road that I can’t help, but love. It was just relaxing to walk around, even in the cold—a type of weather I did not come equipped for...luckily Janae let me borrow a coat. And as for my Toms shoes--let's just say that they will not be making the return trip to the U.S. And just a few things I’ve noticed. Anyhow, this was some of our walking view:

My Toms--not the best shoes for rain

Taking a walk with Katelyn :)

German houses galore! The pictures really don't do it justice, I'll work on my photography skills and try to put some better pictures up soon.

I love this picture because the old woman looking out the window,
she realized I was taking a picture of her, I thought she was going to present me with her pretty middle finger or something, but she smiled and waved! I am a fan of Germany and of Germans :)

And to end, some random facts/observations

• Music: they play EVERYTHING here—lots of American music and quite a bit of Spanish. It's funny because while the music is in English, all the commercials and talk are still in German.
• Money: is WAY too easy to spend here, I’ve got to budget!
• Locks: there are skeleton locks and keys for every room in the house; I realized the need for them—during my first potty break—when a 4 year old skipped happily in to join me in the restroom. Use them.

• Language: I swear, everyone here speaks English—it would be easy to move here and never learn anything in German (which would be sad). I've picked up a few words which makes me excited for Italy, where I actually have a background in the language.
• Accents: I never thought I'd say it, but there is something very attractive about a good looking man with a deep German accent :)
• Restaurants: are very different from American ones. Rather than waiting on your every need, servers and waitresses kind of ignore you. You have to flag down the server if you need anything. There was actually only one waitress at the restaurant we went to tonight—she took everyone's orders, got the drinks, served the food, and took our checks—it was impressive. Also, free refills are non-existent, and water costs as much (if not more) than the other drinks. One really cool thing is that most restaurants here are family owned, and they reserve a special table every night in case anyone in their family decides to come. "Actions express priorities" -Gandhi. I like what that says.

Paul, Hayden, Shawn, Me, Janae, and lil Brianna at dinner

Our dinner: @ Storennest

The restaurant may or may not have live Stork outside!

• Driving: the roads are super skinny and everyone speeds! SUVs are non-existent here, though I have seen a few mini vans.
• Windows: open from the side and the top!
• Shawn and Hayden: spoil me to death. From making me herbal tea and packing my lunch, to carrying my bags and always giving me shot-gun. Seriously, anything I try to do for myself, they convince me I should relax instead and let them do it! I guess I should enjoy the treatment while I've got it—another week and I'll be one my own! I may not have known them very well before we came, but they are absolute gems and the best travel buddies a girl could ask for! :)

Yes, that is a "K" on the bag for Kierea :) Just packing lunch for our boat ride tomorrow!

I’ve also talked more to the family I'm staying with in Italy! So exciting! They seem fabulous; I just have to figure out the best way to get from Rome (where I will be taking a train into from Paris) to their town. I'm guessing I'll just take another train or bus, but I should probably get that figured out in Germany where I have easy access to internet...ya know though: go with the flow, I'll figure it out.  Well, it is time for me to get ready for bed! We are leaving at 5am tomorrow morning! I got my SIM card working, so now have an international cell phone (which I feel pretty legit about). My throat is hurting, but I refuse to get sick—mind over matter. I thought I could mind-over-matter my height when I was 8 and be 6'3", which, given, didn't end up working out and therefore was probably not the best example...but I have a feeling that this time it will work. :) Wish me luck! Wish me luck in German: wünscht mir Glück.