Eine Gute Fahrt

Well it’s been about 2 months since we were in Germany, so it’s the perfect time to start the Germany blog post!  Ich Bin immer punktlich!  That means I am always on time.  I wish I could say that we were so culturally immersed that I learned that IN germany but that would be eine Luge (a lie).  I just used google translate.  Once again, thanks google!  You really know how to make my life easier.  Of course I think google has also reduced my attention span/patience.  I also seem to have trouble focusing on one thing at a time.  I feel like there’s something I should be doing right now.  Ah yes, the blog.  

Ok here’s what we did in Deutschland:

1. Drank beer

Dad, it's your favorite!  Right where it's born!   

Isaac drank so much beer his hair tried to straighten itself....sort of.......

I'm amazed at the selection of fine biers!  Also refreshed...I think....

and ate sausage....




ok I think that just about covers it.  

hahahaaaaaaa I joke!  We probably only spent 70% of the trip drinking beer.  Seriously, the beer was so delicious.  But OTHER than drinking beer we did some other cool things like:

1. We got to wear bundle ups again and finally saw snow!  (in Austria and Switzerland in the mountains only.  The rest of the area was too warm for snow but DEFINITELY not too warm for rain.  It pretty much rained every day.)

2. We got to walk around actual cities a lot!  Delhi is many things but walkable city it ain’t.  There isn’t so much a “city” so to speak of.  It’s more like a bunch of random shop areas in different places surrounded and filled with people.  Germany was very different in that respect.  It was nice to walk around in a more organized place with about 1/20th the population of India.

Berlin

Dresden

Frankfurt

Just outside Baden Baden

Lichtenstein!  Yes, it IS a country!

3. Went to Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Markets) A LOT!  And we didn’t buy ANYTHING there.  But we sure did enjoy the sausage and the pretty crafts and lights and stuff.   We also tried my new favorite drink to say: firezingerballer (or how it’s actually spelled: Feuerzangenbowle) But you have to yell it when you order like: FIRE ZINGER BALLLLLLLLLLLLLLERRRRRRRR!

I have to admit that it sounded cooler than it actually looked.  It’s supposed to have a suger cube SET ON FIRE and placed into the drink but we tried it in a big batch with no firey sugar cube.  It was pretty delicious. 

mmmm tastes like fire!  And zingerballer!  

This is not a FIREZINGERBALLER but it was some good sausage und bier!

4. Did the most depressing thing possible on Christmas day.  Yes, nothing celebrates the birth of Christ quite like visiting a former concentration camp.  We visited Dachau on Christmas day which was surprisingly popular on Christmas.  It was my second time there and Isaac’s first.  Definitely a somber experience and I have nothing funny to say about it so lets move on......

Work will set you free

5. Drove on the Romantic Road and it really was lovely.  Although, google maps does NOT want you to take the scenic route so we kinda missed part of the road.  At least we got to stay in the cool town of Rothernburg (not to be confused with Ranthambore in India: Home of the Tigers!  Although that is pretty cool too).   My favorite part about Rothenburg was the town clock that has a dude chugging beer.  It’s commemorating a story that the town was not sacked because they king said if he could drink a beer in one gulp that the city should be spared.  Of course NO ONE can drink a single gulp!  FALSE!  HE DID IT!   In one of the greatest drinking feats IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, the king saved the village!  Hooray!  Today we commemorate this great leader (whose name I don’t know....probably because I drink too much beer) with the ceremonial beer bong.  We salute you sir!  

He's drinking on the right window!  

STILL drinking!  daaaaaaaang!

ahhhhhhhhh!

6. I tried skiing, and Isaac succeeded at skiing.  We have photo evidence.  I learned a valuable lesson: I can’t ski.  BUT I did try, and I sort of started getting the hang of it but I also really embarrassed myself.  I’m pretty sure I was the worst skier on the mountain.  My favorite ( most embarrassing) moment when I had a Wile Coyote moment and skied into a snow drift so that my body created a deep tunnel like......

only with skis and snow.  The worst was I totally had to do the walk of shame down some steep parts of the mountain while 4 year olds (no exaggeration) were shushing past.  I’m pretty sure that’s the technical ski term.  

Of course Isaac was amazing at skiing and was doing jumps while I was struggling to survive.  It was fun.  

This is BEFORE I tried to ski.  You can almost see my naiveté although it's blocked by my $30 sunglasses.    

7. We ventured into Prague and despite NOT drinking Absynth, had a great (not halucinatory) experience.  See pics below.  

They're trying to save a swan. 

8. We experienced a crazy New Year's Eve. Apparently, in Germany people can buy big fireworks and set them off wherever they want in Germany (and other parts of Europe too, I'm told). Well we experienced this in full force smack dab in the middle of Berlin. We even got hit by firework debris. It was awesome/scary. I don't know if Americans could handle this kind of freedom but Germans sure did seem to love it!  

Ok since I’ve been writing for about 20 minutes my focus is gone.  Thanks again google!  I hope you’ve all enjoyed! Questions and comments go in the same place they usually do. Wait, the comments usually stay in your head, which is why we don't blog more, because we think you don't love us, so fix that and write a comment about how inappropriate it is for teachers to be in the same pictures as beer. It was Germany!

Love,
   Becksac