Bavaria & Berlin, Germany

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We have had such a wonderful time in Bavaria. We got to spend some time with my Aunty Andrea, Harry and cousins which I haven't seen for 10 odd years... When we arrived we were met at the airport and driven down to the small countryside village of Geltendorf, about an hour from the city. We had the most AMAZING week. We travelled around the countryside on the back of a motorbike, rode the auto barn at 200kms per hour (whoa, bloody scary if you ask me) spent some time exploring Munich and its unique souvenir shops with handmade crafts and old antiques (I just LOVE their Coo Coo clocks), and of course visited a flea market in which Peter bought a beautiful old beer stein and some old notes (from when Germany had Marks rather than Euros) And man are the Germans serious about their flea markets!!

We were also lucky enough to spend a day trekking in the Bavarian Alps to which we also went through a Klamm (a narrow gorge between the mountains, complete with huge glacier like snow mounds) The alps still had plenty of snow capping the mountains, on a clear day you could see this from many miles away... Surprisingly as we had such beautiful warm weather the whole trip, we couldn't believe that they had not melted by this time... I guess as it was up higher?? Anyway it was such a beautiful sight, well worth the two hour hike to get there! Of course we did what any local would do and spend hours in the beer gardens... There are so many different beers to choose from, Peter enjoyed all the white beers. Oh and there is schnapps, so many different flavors. It is customary to drink them after dinner as a digestive, the Germans love it!!

It was so lovely to stay in the countryside too and spend time in the small villages rather than the big city... I couldn't believe how green Germany is, with the lush fields and all the open space. They even have these gorgeous little strawberry huts on the side of the road where you can get a 1kg tub of incredibly fresh strawberries for like 3 Euro... So cheap. Their classic European style housing with the pointed roof and flowerpots outside their window sills is exactly how you pictured it from the early ages. Germans are pretty big on their food too, lots of different smoked meats, sausages and sauerkrauts, YUMMO! Peter and I even had Dumplings!! I felt so bad as there traditionally our xmas dinner dish and we normally would never eat them throughout the year but like they say 'when in Rome' 😊 We were totally spoilt staying with the family though... Breakfast feasts of assorted fresh breads, fruits, yoghurts and meats everyday... It was hard to leave, this is for sure....

But then it was off to Berlin where we continued our German adventure with some history lessons.... We learnt a lot about World War II, Nazi Germany and the division of east and west. Was very intriguing.

We spent time visiting the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the old Berlin wall and the national German museum. The Berlin wall was particularly interesting with a stretch of about 1.5kms still remaining. It’s so hard to believe that a 170km wall once divided such a modern city. The vast majority of the wall has been torn down but the small amount still remaining is decorated with some beautiful murals from artists all over the world. We went to the Topography of terrors which is a museum dedicated to telling the stories of the world war. By far the most fascinating of them all (if there is no better word to describe it) was the Sachenhausen Concentration camp. Located south of berlin city in a quiet town of Orienenberg is a former concentration camp, still with majority of its original buildings and grounds. It was so incredibly sad to learn of the daily life of the prisoners, but such an eye opener. We left with heavy hearts but alot more insight.

So Germany was beautiful, of all the countries we have visited, we could easily see ourselves living there… It was so sad to leave but Holland awaited us….

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