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Trekking Across Europe to Australia
The Germany part of our trip began in Cologne and ended in Munich; and we spent some time in the lovely town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in between. (We also had an overnight stop in Frankfurt) We got around mostly by bus which we found to be a very cheap option of transport through the companies Eurolines, City2City, and Meinfrienbus. We did also take two trains through the "DBahn" which we got special prices on as well.
So, starting in Cologne, which is Germany's 4th largest city with over 10million residents. We stayed at a nice hostel near the train station (we arrived by bus from Brussels which we had to take a train from Bruges to connect to) The hostel was also close to the famous Cologne "Dom" Cathedral which is the city's most famous monument and the Cologne residents most respected landmark. It is a gothic church started in 1248 and completed in 1880. It was fascninating to look at, especially since it survived the bombing during WW2. (You'll see a picture I took that shows the bridge over the Rhine river near the Catherdral was destroyed from the attack)
I have to mention one of the most memorable things that happened while we were here: So, one night Andrew and I were at a crowded Irish pub watching a Rugby Leage World Cup match and I saw a woman who reminded me of my aunt Nancy (who sadly passed away this summer from pancreatic cancer). Nancy had a very unique look so it's pretty rare to find someone with a resemblance. When I first saw this woman walk in I noticed she was wearing a red jacket (Nancy's favorite color) and she had short black hair with a similar cut. She sat down at a table near us and when she took off her jacket I noticed she had olive skin and that her arms were covered in tattoos (just like Nancy!) The freakiest thing about this occurrance is that on the very same day this happened- my family back home was burying her ashes in her garden. It was so weird to have this happen and of course I was very upset. Andrew suggested that maybe it was Nancy saying goodbye....
After our 2 nights in Cologne we took a bus to Frankfurt so we could connect to a train the following day that would take us to Rothenburg. The name "Rothenburg ob der Tauber" means "castle about the Tauber" (which is the river it overlooks). Its best known for being a well-preserved medieval old town and a hot toursit destination. It's a very unique place that can be considered the "most German of German towns" so we really enjoyed the feel here. We stayed at the lovely Guesthouse Lieber and had our own little cozy apartment right in the center of town. We walked the old walls that span the whole perimeter of the town providing great views.; did the "night watchmens" tour to learn some of the town history from a local; enjoyed lots of the local German cuisine such as sausages with sour kraut, potato and goulash soups, wiener schnitzel, goulash with spaetzle (egg noodles) and beer of course (Although to our surprise, we actually enjoyed the beer in Czech and Belgium more!) It was just so nice to relax and walk around this town and look at everything its filled with- from the old German style buildings to the various shops selling cuckoo clocks, steins, or Christmas (which theres an abundance of) Unfortunately, we only spent three nights here but we would definitely consider returning again- maybe for Christmas in the future ;)
Next comes Munich- after the 2hr trainride and settling into our centrally located "Smart Stay Station hotel"- we walked over to the main street and had dinner in the Augusteiner beerhall. The next day we went on long journey to visit the famous castles of Neuswanstein and Hohenschwangau, near the town of Fussen which is very close to the .Austrian border. We had a great day learning about the history related to the castles despite the gloomy weather. The rest of the time spent in Munich we just relaxed and walked around the city- while also spending lots of time planning the final part of this trip....2 nights in Zurich, Switzerland & 6nights in Paris!!
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