Hallo all!

I would like to start this post by apologizing to you all for being the absolute worst blog writer on this trip. It has just been too difficult to carve out time for it as we have been so busy and having such an abundance of fun. With that said, I am going to forego an extremely long post wherein I chronicle the last week of my life and do something much simpler. This is going to be what I like to call a Gentry blog. And yes, he will be okay with me referring to it as such. 

For those of you feeling left out of an inside joke- my oldest and best friend Gentry doesn't care much for reading and is notorious for only looking at pictures in things and filling in the gaps from what he doesn't get from the actual text of things. Therefore, this is going to be a Gentry post and your mind is about to be blown with pictures of dayzzz. Like. Really. Literally, days. I've been gone a week people. 

Let us begin with Frankfurt. 

We saw the Old Opera House downtown

Then I had my first German sausage

Then we found what I refuse to stop referring to as the levitating circle of meat

Then Cara made me put the fluffy ball hat on and we climb to the top of the cathedral that has a scalped skull inside. Yes. You read that correctly. 

Then we visited the Christmas market and of course rode the carousel, from which angle this picture was taken of the market. 

And most importantly of all, we found the beginning of the biggest mystery of the trip so far. 

A banana. Now. When we first saw the banana, I said something to the effect of- "I bet that's some secret code and you have to follow it to find a certain group of people or a place or the black market". Fast forward to Nuremberg and what do I see just as we are walking into the National History Museum? Yep.

THE SAME BANANA. THERE IS SOMETHING THAT GERMANY KNOWS AND THEY ARE NOT TELLING US. In the moment that I saw the second banana, I reacted something like this:

https://youtu.be/ay3dSzkfswE

Alright. Back to Frankfurt. We had Apfelwein for the first time, which is simply German apple wine and it is delicious. And this is the bartender that taught us some key German words while we enjoyed our Apfelwein. 

Frankfurt was excellent. We had amazing food and saw so many gorgeous things and really settled into Germany very nicely there. Then one night when we were walking home, we stumbled upon a hidden Jewish cemetery that had partially survived WWII. And the wall surrounding it was cover in brick ends. On each brick end was the name of an individual from Frankfurt that had been killed in a concentration, detention, work or death camp during the war. Also listed was the camp they were in. 

So that was pretty powerful. Amidst all the fun and food and silly times we had been having, it was sobering to be hit by the dark history of this country right in the middle of a bustling downtown area. It was definitely a moment of perspective. 

So we left Frankfurt for Nuremberg on Saturday, with many more memorable and fun times than those I've documented above. That's just the highlights for length's sake. 

So Nuremberg. This was a hidden jackpot full of things to do. I never imagined we would have to prioritize things we really wanted to do here because there was not enough time to do everything we absolutely wanted to get to. 

Our first stop was to tour the historic art bunkers underground where they stored all the precious art during WWII to protect it from ruin. That was absolutely one of the coolest things I have done in my entire life, to be completely honest. The bunkers were originally beer tunnels used to keep it after it was made- because it was absolutely freezing down there. 

And then these were the original containers that held stained glass from St. Katherine's Church.

While in Nuremberg we also tour the Nazi Rally Grounds

As well as one of my favorite parts of the entire trip, visiting the first globe ever created. 

This globe was the first time that anyone ever tried to map the earth as a whole and it was in 1492, the same year Columbus stepped on America, therefore America isn't even on the globe. They got the size all wrong, by almost half and had formation all over the place, but still. 

How big is that? This is more than just saying there are things outside of where you live, this is actually giving the go ahead to branch out from what you know, where you know it and go search and explore this space that is all around you. It was the first time that people there than scientist had access to this information and obviously things went from there. Absolutely one of the highlights of this trip for sure. 

We also visited some torture and prisoner dungeons under the old town hall from the 1500s.

That was super cool as well. Then of course, Christmas market.

Hokay. So. That catches everyone up to the current city, Munich. We rolled in here yesterday and then Cara flew home this morning so I am left to adventures of my lonesome now. I have some plans for tomorrow including Dachau, the concentration camp after I went to the Austria/Germany border today to see the Disney Castle. 

I will provide those updates in a few days after the completion of my time here in Munich. I do not want for this post to get much longer than it already is and I know some of you sat down with your popcorn and are probably running low by now. 

Germany- I completely and totally dig you. I really, honestly do. I have had two dreams come true while here- seeing a German Shepard in Germany and telling a German person gesundheit after they sneeze. My life is a little more complete now. I am a happy, happy woman. 

Go lives your dreams, you wonderful people. I'm going to head off in search of some schnitzel. Because it is delicious like that. 

Until the next adventure..