Germany: Day 1

Well, this is embarrassing. Remember when we went to Germany a year and a half ago? No? Well probably because I didn't tell you all about it! Now that it's Oktoberfest season (and the Unicorns just won the German Bowl for the second year in a row!), I thought I'd finally share our trip with you! 

Germany was the last stop on our Europe trip last summer (as in summer 2011, I know). Our first stop was London, then Paris, and then we went over to the little town of Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. We decided to go there to visit my baby brother and I'm so glad we did. My brother played Quarterback on the professional German football team (American football, not European futbol), the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns!

From Paris, we took the train to Stuttgart to meet up with my parents. They were in London while we were in Paris, and then after Germany were heading to Rome! About an hour into the ride the train stopped and they announced there had been an "animal accident" (whatever that means). We waited in the Stuttgart train station to meet them, not knowing where to meet and not having any cell phones. Luckily, there was a Starbucks, so they knew where to find us! :) 

From Stuttgart we bought a special one way ticket where up to five people can go anywhere in Germany for only 31 Euro. Such a good deal! We had no idea where to sit, so naturally, we sat in First Class. After we started moving, the train guy came by. You know, the guy that checks your ticket. We showed him our one ticket for the four of us and after taking a look he said (in English, but in his thick German accent), "Zer are two problemz vis zis. Vun, you have to sign your ticket. Two, you are sitting virst class." Ha! Then my mom asked "Where is second class?" He said, "Down zer." And pointed anywhere but where we were. He was quite snooty and it was really funny. So we grabbed our huge heavy bags and trekked through the train until someone finally moved so we could have four seats next to each other.

We got to the tiny Schwäbisch Hall train station where my brother was supposed to pick us up, and about a half hour later he did! :) We got all set up (my parents at their hotel, we stayed with my brother in the frat house - more on that later) and then went on a little walk around town. 

Schwäbisch Hall, in my mind, is what a typical Deutschland town should look like. Bavarian style buildings, cobblestone throughout the small downtown streets, little shops and eateries and all along a sweet river. I loved it. I wanted to move there. The people were so nice and the town was so cute. Since we were there during one of the busiest weekends of the summer - they were having their annual Jakobimart - there was a lot going on. We found the year-round beer garden at the park and had dinner. I had a schnitzelburger with fries and it was amazing. Zach had your standard bratwurst and of course we had our first taste of authentic German beer!

Two funny things happened at the beer garden. One - my mom asked if they had sauerkraut for her hot dog. The Germans behind the counter laughed at her! Apparently there is a legend/superstition that says they only have sauerkraut from Autumn to Spring. Good to know. Two - when it came time to order some beer, I asked if they had "light" beer. Yeah, I know. Rookie mistake. Everyone laughed at me and then I just took whatever they gave me at that point. And it was delicious.

We hung out some more enjoying the city and then went to bed early. We stayed at the frat house (aka the "Ami" House) and while it was free, it was far from a luxurious hotel. Especially once we heard the Cockamouse. My lovely brother told the rest of my family (all but me) about this creature that apparently lives on the roof of the room we were staying in. About one minute after we got in bed, I heard the little bastard scurrying on the roof! Scared me so bad! Thanks, bro... 

More later on the rest of our trip!

Locks of Love

While we were in Paris, we saw two different bridges that were covered in locks (one by the Louvre and one by Notre Dame). I had read about this on a blog before we left for our trip (find it here and more on it here) and thought it was sweet. It's a tradition for lovers to write their names or initials on the padlock, fasten it to the bridge, and throw the keys in the river to declare their love. Pretty corny... but also pretty awesome! Of course I wanted to do it.

It wasn't until our last day in Paris after we got back from Versailles that we found a lock along the Seine at one of the Bouquinistes (Parisian booksellers), engraved our names and attached it to the Pont de l'Archeveche near Notre Dame. We put our names and the date on the front, our wedding anniversary and dating anniversary on the back, and Kane along the bottom. We filled that thing up!

We share a spot right next to Carlye and Dameon. :)

In true Kane fashion, we were giving a little smooch as we dropped the keys in to the Seine, only to hear a big "thunk." We look down and the keys had landed on the edge of the bridge. Cue big boat coming towards us and as we use our umbrella to try and push the keys in to the river before the boat reached the bridge. Go us! The things we do for everlasting love... :)

Now our love will be in Paris forever! (Or at least until they take all the locks down again...) :)

Paris: Day 5 Part II - Versailles

Part two coming at you like a herd of blood thirsty zombies! Like I said, Versailles was so huge I had to break it in to two posts. We probably could have spent an entire day in the gardens!

We started outside the Orangerie and walked around taking in the beautiful fountains, flowers, and statues. Everything was so nicely groomed and in it's right place. It was amazing to think of how much man power it takes each year to keep that garden looking so perfect.

The Orangerie - where King Louis kept all his orange trees.

I really wish the fountains were on... but still cool nonetheless.

The Fountain of Apollo.

We kept walking through the gardens until we got down to this smaller more "quaint" palace called the Trianon. Marie Antoinette had this "modest" (ha!) palace built to get away and escape from palace life. This "little" palace was not little at all. A dwarf compared to the main palace, maybe but still huge by my standards.

I loved seeing all the different rooms. In the Trianon, there was an exhibit going on displaying vintage and couture dresses and outfits by fancy designers like Vivienne Westwood and Christian Dior. They wouldn't let us take pictures though...

The temple of love.

One of my favorite places in Versailles was The Hamlet. Marie Antoinette's little farm village. It was so quaint and cute with thatched roof houses and bright flowers. I loved it!

The only other bummer about Versailles (besides the massive amounts of herd-like people) was that the train station was shut down on our way home. The guy at the train station motioned for us to just walk around the block to solve the problem so we followed the crowd. Little did we know that we would be walking a couple miles to the next train station! We eventually made it home but it was quite the adventure!

Paris: Day 5 Part I - Versailles

Here we are. Our last day in Paris. I had to split it in to two parts because Versailles is freaking huge. We'll do the inside this time and the outside/gardens next time. Deal?

We got up and went to catch the train to Versailles (about a half hour outside the city). But, the train was down at our stop, so they told us to walk down a block to catch a bus to another station and then get on the train there. Oh, European public transportation.

We got to Versailles about 10am and the line was already super long, but it moved pretty fast (see how it wraps around below?). The gates were covered in gold and the palace looked huge from the outside.

Yep. There we are. In our sweatshirts. Not looking like tourists at all.

Once inside, they had free English audio guides (thank goodness). We got to learn all about Louis XIV, XV, and XVI and of course, Marie Antoinette. Did you know that Louis XIV was King for over 70 years; so long that his grandson succeeded him as King, Louis XV?

This is the main chapel. So pretty but we weren't allowed inside.

Louis the XIV and his daughter? maid? who knows...

The view of the gardens from inside.

A cool painting of the whole layout of Versailles. When I say Versailles was huge, that is an understatement!

Here's the view walking through all the different state apartments in the palace. The bad part was that you kind of felt like a herd of animals walking through. There were so many people! So. Many. People. And I don't do well with crowds. It was wall to wall people and very slow moving, but we made it through.

I loved all the different colored wallpapers. It was more like fabric on the walls. I really liked this room with the green velvet-y wallpaper and the fancy desk and chair.

Next up was the King's chambers (none of our pictures really turned out in there) and then the War Room. The War Room was at the end of the row of state apartments at the corner of the palace. It was one of Zach's favorite spots and had this crazy statue.

My favorite part of the palace was the Hall of Mirrors. It was breathtaking. The ceiling was completely painted and everything was lined with gold. Hanging from the ceiling were probably a dozen beautiful chandeliers. The room was at the back of the palace and had an amazing view out on to the gardens lined with huge floor to ceiling windows. On the opposite wall were huge mirrors that mirrored the windows. Whoa. Pun intended. I can only imagine what it would be like to attend a fancy ball in this room! SO AMAZING. The pictures don't do it justice.

On the other side of the Hall of Mirrors (the other corner of the palace) was the Peace Room. Louis or Napoleon or someone must have wanted to soften up the palace after making the War Room. Next was my second favorite room, the Queen's bed chamber. It was fabulous. Lots of gold and floral. And of course you have to have feathers on your ginormous canopy bed.

The famous painting of The Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. It must have taken up an entire wall of one of the rooms.

Here's the view from the outside... more on that (and the never-ending gardens) next time!