Thoughts on transitioning back into the U.S.

So friends, I am snuggled up in the spare room of my parents house reflecting on my first few days in the U.S. and feeling excited to move onto the next chapter of this year.  But first, I have this huge transition from Europe to the U.S. and then to camp to think about and reflect on.  I feel like I am almost going to go through a triple culture shock.  Coming from high fashion, espresso drinking, cobblestone street European life to no makeup, watered down coffee, north woods of Wisconsin, HoneyRock life will be quite the move.

I just reread some of my posts from Cork to remember what I felt like leaving Europe after my experience in Ireland.  Some of the feelings are the same, some are very different.  Studying abroad was like a dream.  I think I had almost no culture shock, no language barrier, people to be with and things to do and travels to plan.  Of course I missed my family and my best friends and there were times that were hard, but overall I remember it as a wonderful experience.

I want to say that being an au pair has been a breeze, but that would be lying and I want to be authentic here. As much as people just want to hear only the good parts, sorry to break it to you - I have had culture shock, had a language barrier, had a lonely spell, and other difficulties that I did not foresee.  I think much of my culture shock was going from CSB where I was surrounded by my people and always busy, then camp where again I was surrounded by my people and always busy, to here where all of a sudden I was totally isolated, didn't speak the language and had random bouts of free time to think about how much I missed home.

All of that to say, I have learned more about myself in these few short months than I could have ever imagined.  And in the end I will not say this was a bad experience at all, I will say it was a challenging and growing experience full of memories and life lessons that I will cherish.

Some things I will miss about Europe:
WALKING.  Places in the U.S. are just not designed for walking.  In my hometown of Cambridge we live pretty much in the center, but still takes about 10 minutes to drive to the grocery store.  It seems in many of the places I visited, you could reach a grocery store by foot in around 15 minutes or less.  The roads are designed for people to walk everywhere, whereas here it wouldn't even be safe for me to walk to Cub on the highway.  I will miss that for sure.

Espresso, pizza, gelato and baked goods.  These were my favorite foods in Merano.  I loved having a lengthy coffee break with a brioche or some other bakery goodie on a sunny day next to the river, or grabbing a 1 euro gelato cone and taking a walk.  Italian pizza is also fun because its so thin, you have to fold it over to pick up a piece or use a knife and fork to eat it otherwise it will flop all over the place.  My favorite was margherita pizza with arugula on top.

This time I have beautiful friends that I left behind.  I will miss having chats over coffee or drinks, sharing stories of our week, learning about their home countries, and having that connection of living in a foreign place and doing the same job.  I had no idea I would meet so many people from around the world that I could say are my friends, but its one of the best parts of this experience! I don't know what I would have done if I didn't meet these buddies.  I will come visit you all someday!

WELL DRESSED MEN.  This is kind of a joke but not really.  Most European men just know how to dress themselves well.  Not trying to make generalizations about American guys but Europeans are in general more fashion conscious than we are.  One of the first things I noticed when I got to New York is which guys were American.  I also realized I could use a normal outlet to plug in my phone which was fun.  American dollars feel weird, Target feels weird and understanding what everyone around me is saying is weird. The culture shock has set in.

This is quite long, but if anything this will be nice for me to have as a permanent journal of sorts.  I have really found that I love writing and I can communicate things in writing that I just can't put into words sometimes.  I am thinking of continuing to blog just about life in general, but you will see Facebook posts if I decide to do that.

I suppose thats it now.  I am heading to camp today and will jump right into training there.  If you guys are interested here is a link to the website of my camp, HoneyRock. It should bring you to a page about their winter retreats, which is what I will be working with in the next few months.  It is an amazing organization and I would appreciate prayer support as I transition back into serving alongside some pretty inspiring people.

Whew! Thanks everyone so much for reading and for your support.  I am just going to add a few of my favorite pictures form the past few months to wrap it up.  Arrivederci amici!

My favorite picture of the city on a sunny day with the colorful trees.  

Such a fun memory of meeting these kind people with my mom!

I just like this picture of my mom and I :)

I have great memories of Salzburg and this picture brings back warm and happy feelings of that time with my mom.  

I like this because it was taken on a bridge that I crossed everyday.  

Taken on one of the walking trails I frequented.

The prettiest gelato picture I ever took.  And its of my favorite flavor- Nocciola (hazelnut)

I walked down this street many times, so I also like this picture for that reason and also the colors :)

One of the prettiest pictures I took in Nürnberg, Germany. Again, love the colors.

This is a classic tourist pic, but I like it cause its the only picture from Paris of me that's not a selfie :)

Palermo and Verona

So yes, I am home safe in the U.S. and feeling very content with turkey and family and seeing a few of my friends.  But I have a few more blog posts I wanted to write, if only for myself to keep a record of my thoughts and feelings, but hopefully some of you will enjoy these last few!

My final week in Italy was spent in a few other Italian cities.  I had previously spent some time in Rome, Florence and Pisa, so I decided to forgo those cities and head further south to Sicily, and also spend a day or so in Verona which is where I flew out from.  I also had a friend from St. John's who is volunteering in Israel this year (I know cool, right?) join me for a few days in Sicily.

First of all, I will say I am really glad I ended my time in Italy seeing more of Italy rather than traveling to another country.  I figured to round off the whole experience I should try and see more of the different regions that make up this beautiful country.  I had been told that the north of Italy could not be more different than the south and wow they were right! From my pictures of Merano you can probably see that it is a bright, clean and calm city that is perfect for meandering along the river or taking a lengthy coffee break in the sun.  When I arrived in Sicily I couldn't help thinking "It's so wild!" Palermo is a much bigger city anyways, but the streets were bustling with people, they were narrow and windy, there were busy open air markets, there was laundry out to dry and many areas full of garbage and construction work.  It was almost like stepping into a totally different country that has some Italian and Spanish influence but parts of it almost reminded me of the Philippines.  The cool thing was that I could still get by with my minimal Italian even though they speak a bit differently.

Here are a few highlights of Sicily:

1) The winding streets and open air markets.  I LOVE markets of all kind.  Not sure why but they are just so much fun for me to walk through and look at.  These markets were full of anything you could possibly imagine.  The tourists and locals alike were strolling through and purchasing the produce and fresh fish.  I also loved getting lost in all the back streets because thats where you usually find the best bars, or places to eat.  We found a really fun area full of bars and live music one night and had fun chatting with some of the locals.  These streets were just like something you would see in a movie or what you might imagine when you think of Italy. They were just so Italian.

2) Monreale and Mondello beach.  I knew I wanted to go to the ocean one day, so we hopped on a bus for about 30 minutes to this little seaside town on the coast.  It was cool just to see another place and be near the ocean again.  Parts of this even reminded me of Ireland.  We actually stumbled upon a the finish of a triathlon which was kinda fun.  Otherwise the town was pretty empty since it is not high tourist season, so we just walked around the beach a bit and ate some pizza.

3)  The only really touristy thing that we did was go to the Catacombs of the Capuchins.  It was very interesting but also a bit disturbing as the Catacombs houses around 8,000 mummies of monks and also citizens of Palermo.  The Catacombs were created in the 16th century when the monastery of the Capuchins ran out of space in the cemetery so they decided to expand underground.  One of the monks requested to be mummified so that others could not only pray with him but also to him.  This trend caught on and other monks began to request to be mummified.  It began to be a symbol of status to be displayed in the catacombs so citizens began to also be mummified in the following years.  It is no longer in operation as the last mummy to be added to the Catacombs was in the 1920's.

One other interesting thing we stumbled upon when googling information about the Catacombs is that the name of the Capuchin monks actually influenced the name of the coffee drink 'cappuccino'.  Apparently, 'cappuccino' means 'little cap' in Italian and it is said that the brown hoods and bald white heads of the Capuchin monks closely resembles the foamy brown white head of a steamy cappuccino.    So there ya go, the cappuccino was named from some monks in Italy that wanted to be made into mummies when they died, who knew?!

Lastly, I spent some time in the lovely city of Verona.  My final day in Italy was spent strolling in the city of love along with Romeo and Juliet and also practicing my Italian with a 75 year old grandpa.  Verona was really a nice, easy and romantic city.  It is called the city of love for a reason! The grandpa that I talked with called it a 'citta tranquila' which means 'quiet' or 'calm city', which was a very accurate description.  I had some really good panini and vino and also was able to stroll around a Christmas market, climb the Torre dei Lamberti and go to an art museum.  I am glad I spent my last day in Italy alone because it gave me some time to think and reflect on the past few months.  I also wouldn't have talked to so many locals and talking with this grandpa sitting in the sun [in Italian mind you] will be one of my favorite memories from Verona.

I will save my final thoughts of transitioning back to the U.S. for one more post so here are some pictures from these two cities! Thanks for reading and happy late Thanksgiving :)

Open air market

Seaside Town of Monreale

He loved it when I tried to take selfies.  Thanks for not killing me.

Verona

Julie's Balcony. Oh so romantic...

Christmas market

My mom actually took this picture a few months earlier when she was here, but I thought it was very Italian looking and I just like it. So thanks mom :)

Final days in Merano

Returning to Merano from my week of solo travel was a strange feeling.  It was like wow I have been to all these places and now I am coming back here to "normal" life, but only for 10 more days.  Usually when you return from a trip you get to go 'home' for a much longer period of time so I think my concept of home and time and traveling are all thrown off because home is scattered in so many different places now.

Of course, my one true home will always be Cambridge, Minnesota.  I am a true Minnesotan at heart.  I have learned this when my heart aches for all things Minnesota when I am away.  BUT, my heart holds onto different places in this earth that I also feel I can say are my homes.  These include but are not limited to: St. Ben's, Trout Lake Camps, Cork Ireland, HoneyRock, and now Merano Italy.

I realized after coming back here that I was not ready to say goodbye when I left for my trip.  I am happy with my decision because it has given me the chance to build on the relationships I have here and also time to say my goodbyes to this fairytale city.  Looking out the window of the kitchen, I am reminded of the beauty of this earth even when there is so much chaos going on.  When am I ever going to live somewhere again that I can casually look out my window and see a picture perfect postcard view of the mountains?  I am never not in awe of this view.

Anyways, these last ten days have consisted of normal working days, finishing packing and getting all my things together, buying those last few gifts and hanging out with my friends in Merano.  One of the things that will be different about leaving Europe this time will be that I am leaving people that I care about behind.  In Cork, I made a few random friends but the city will remain the same when I return and it was the city and culture that I fell in love with.  Here, I definitely enjoy Merano but I think it will be more difficult to say goodbye to the people I have met here.  Even if we have only been friends for a few months we have had the connection of living in a new place, not knowing the language and for most of my friends here, having the same jobs.  The city itself will stay the same when I return, but people come and go.

I am so thankful for the people I have met here to make my experience that much more unique and memorable.  For my au pair friends, cafe forum for lyfe.  I can't wait to visit all of you in your respective countries! For my friends from Italian lessons (you know who you are), I wish you the best of luck with everything and hope that our paths cross again sometime in life.

In Merano, they are beginning to set up for the Christmas markets.  The markets open the day after Thanksgiving so I will just miss them by about a week.  It is still fun to see the booths be set up, the lights be hung in the streets, and the air begin to feel a bit like Christmas is coming.  The markets will run for a few weeks and is one of the more famous things about Merano in the wintertime.  I have been told that it is like a winter wonderland with all of the lights and holiday spirit! Just means I will have to return someday to experience it myself :)

Here are some photos from my last night in Merano with the au pairs.

Signorvino wine bar

This girl though.

Pizza per tutti!

In my last few days in Italy, I will be galavanting around Verona and Palermo with one of my best friends from school.  Then I will be on my way HOME for Thanksgiving.  Thanks, as always, for reading :)

Florence for the win

Last stop: Florence

I am still not feeling so great about posting this because I want to be sensitive these trying times, but hopefully you, my family and Facebook friends, will appreciate a little break from the madness that is happening in our world today.  

The last time I went to Florence it was Easter.  There were people everywhere, the lines were long for everything and the street vendors were on their marketing game.  I loved it nonetheless and really wanted to go back again, even if I had already seen it.  This time around, I was pumped to be there with less people but little did I know that I planned my trip to Florence the same time the Pope did.  He was probably just hoping to hang out with me or something.  So, to my disappointment there were  still a million people around but again I still had a great time and loved returning to a city to discover new things about it.  Just had to dodge more people than I would have liked :)

Two things are for sure: Florence wins for gelato and panini, and Florence also wins for best sunsets. Seriously the best. 

Arriving at the same train station that I had been before was really fun because I was like, "Hey! I know this place!" Made me feel more prepared and not quite so much like I had no idea what I was doing.  Also made me miss my travel buddies.  S/O to Cam and Tierney for not killing me after three weeks of traveling together :)  My hostel was in the perfect location.  It was nearby to coffee shops and pizzerias that were not touristy, but also only about a ten minute walk to the Piazza Duomo.  

I had a few goals for my solo trip to this beautiful Italian city.  One was to research and find the best places for gelato and panini.  Another was to climb the bell tower of the Duomo, and visit a museum or two since we were unable to do those things last time around because of the crowds.  

I read somewhere that Florence is the birthplace of gelato and after doing my research, I found some of the best gelato I have had in Italy so far.  What I have learned throughout my travels that in touristy cities like these, the best food is always off the beaten path.  There are take away gelato and pizza stands all over the main streets but the pizza is usually cold and gelato is icy and not creamy like its supposed to be.  The best gelato I have ever had was from a place here called La Carraia.  It was only a couple minutes walk down the river away from the main stuff but it was the most flavorful and creamiest of creamy gelatos.  I opted for my usual, nocciola (hazelnut), and one with pistachio and white chocolate. My tongue was singing.   GO HERE if you are in Florence.  

As for the best panino I have probably ever had, I also did my research and kept coming to the same place called All'Antico Vinaio.  I knew I had found the right place when I stumbled upon about 20 people waiting in line outside this tiny little doorway.  The panino itself was about as big as my face and had layers of prosciutto, truffle cream, porcini mushrooms, and spicy eggplant in between two beautiful large pillows of focaccia bread.  It was well worth the 10-15 minute wait and the 5 euros.  I took my sandwich and ate it on the steps in Palazzo Vecchio and listened to a guy play the guitar.  Beautiful.  

My most favorite moment of this trip was climbing the bell tower, or Giotto's Campanile, right before sunset.  The buildings in this Piazza have to be some of the most unique and beautiful feats of architecture in Europe.  The dome of the cathedral is the largest brick dome ever constructed and it took 150 years to complete.  Pretty amazing.  414 steps and 10 euros later, breathing hard with burning thighs, I had the most magnificent view of the dome and the city right at sunset.  It was an exhilarating life giving moment.

On my last day in Florence, the Pope was to arrive.  It was the first time in 29 years that any Pope had visited Florence so it was a big deal to these people.  In true Pope Francis style, I read that he ate lunch with some of the poorest citizens of the city at a shelter and greeted some of the sick and disabled.  I didn't plan on trying to see him because I hate crowds but somehow I wandered into the piazza right when the Pope was arriving at the entrance to the church.  I didn't have a great view but I saw him greet the crowd, talk to some important people and enter the church, which was just enough for me.  It was a cool experience to be a part of the action among some of his most loyal supporters.

I loved exploring this city for a second time.  I created new memories, did new things and found parts of the city that I had missed the last time around.  Traveling alone here I also met a lot of really interesting and kind people.  I met a few Americans from California and Texas, a couple from New Zealand, a guy from Brazil and another one from South Korea.  I consistently surprised myself by striking up conversations with strangers, but I was always glad that I did to hear their story and also share mine.  

Theeee BEST panino

Greasy and tangled hair, sweaty and tired after the climb, but feeling so alive!

Sigh....

You can just barely make out the Popes' white little hat :)

Self explanatory.

Time is sailing by as I will be home in exactly two weeks after feasting on some good ole Thanksgiving day turkey.  I can't wait to see my family and friends, but I will be sad to leave Europe once again.  Stay tuned for a final few posts on Merano and my last trip: Verona and Palermo!

Counting my blessings with a broken heart

As everyone has heard, Paris was targeted for terrorist attacks this week.  I was there only a week ago, which is incredibly surreal and scary to think about.  There are so many innocent people in Paris and I am thinking about how easily I could also be in their shoes.  It didn't feel right to post more about my travels after this and I want to show my sensitivity to this horrific moment in history, so my post about Florence will wait.

I received a few texts from friends before I had even heard what happened.  My best friend, Taylor texted me first just saying she was thinking about me and hoping that I would stay safe.  This is not unusual for our relationship, but I figured something must be up.  I was with friends when I heard what had happened, and we immediately began googling more about it.  I am struck with the horror of the violence and lack of humanity in these acts of terror.  My heart breaks for the victims and also for the innocent Muslim people that will be subject to increasing racism all over the world after this event.

I am really struggling with finding words to say.  I don't want to sound dramatic or ignorant, because I am not even in a bad situation- its just the possibility of me being there and the closeness of the event has made me really think hard about my life and what I want to be about and the things that are most important to me.

The life things that have been brought to mind are these:

My family.  Man, am I ever increasingly thankful for my family.  I want to cherish the times we are together and continue to work at being a good sister, daughter and granddaughter to show how much each member of my family means to me.  You guys are the best!  I love our huge and sometimes quirky family, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My dreams.  Woof, I have so many dreams in this life that I hope to accomplish.  There won't be enough time for all of them but I want to actively work on pursuing the dreams that are most important to me.  Go after what you want with passion! There is not enough time to waste waiting for the next big thing to happen.  Its happening now!

My attitude.  I want to be someone who lives with a grateful and kind heart.  Obviously I am a human and am guilty of wanting more or complaining about something that really isn't that bad, but wow yes I want to continue to work on being mindful and thankful for each moment that life throws at me.  Every day, good or bad, can offer new knowledge about the world.

My political knowledge.  Maybe this one sounds strange, but I want to know the names of the presidential candidates, I want to know what is happening in the war, I want to do a better job of informing myself about what is happening in this world around me.  I 100% do not want to be perceived as an ignorant, rich American that doesn't care what is happening because in America I am miles and miles away from the horrors that are taking place around the world.

Thanks to my friends and family for being concerned about my safety, but no worries even in Italy I am far from the events happening in Paris.  As of now, your concern is better directed towards the wounded and grieving families of the victims as well as innocent Muslim people around the world - the people whose lives will drastically change as a result of these events.

That is all for now my friends.  What have these acts of terror made you think about your life?

Ratatouille is real!

Second stop: Paris, France

Ok yes, ratatouille is a dish with vegetables and stuff so of course that is real.  BUT I saw some rats running around near the Eiffel Tower so naturally I assume that the story from the movie, Ratatouille, must be real, right?  :) Somewhere in Paris little Remy is probably cooking up a storm...

As I got closer and closer to Paris on my night bus, I kept thinking to myself, "What the heck am I doing? I am going to Paris alone."  The idea is that you go to Paris with a special someone but LOL I guess I am that special someone to myself :)  I also kept thinking of the scene from friends when Chandler is talking to Monica about going to Paris and he says something like, "and we will stroll down the Rue de la bla bla bla..."  because I can't for the life of me pronounce anything in French besides "bonjour" or "merci" which I still am probably not saying entirely correctly, but those are the important ones anyways right?

So, Paris.  The city of lights.  One of the biggest and most famous cities in the world.

And I tackled it alone.

This was the biggest and most terrifying part of my trip.  Here is when I really began my solo travel and little ole me from little ole Cambridge, MN doesn't have that much experience with big metro systems, speaking French or big cities in general.  Not to fear, after quickly figuring out that "sortie" means exit in French, and making it to my first destination through the metro I thought, "Ok Steph, not so bad." and I felt much better about the few days I would spend running around the city eating crepes and cheese.

Where do I even start?  Paris is huge.  I probably should have planned better because I am just a really bad hardcore tourist.  If there is a big line for something, no way I am wasting my time there even if it is probably pretty cool. The small bits I did plan I am glad for.  I bought an Eiffel Tower ticket online ahead of time and waited for about ten minutes whereas the regular line was about an hour long.  Do this, if you go to Paris and want to do the Eiffel Tower.  I also bought a three day pass for unlimited rides on the metro, which was theeee best money I spend in Paris besides crepes (duh).  So my best tips for Paris are to plan and buy tickets in advance if you can, buy an unlimited metro pass, and download the Paris metro app on your phone (this was an insane lifesaver for me).  You won't be able to see everything so prioritize what will be most interesting/important for you and its better to allow yourself enough time for each place you want to see, rather than dashing off from place to place.

Paris highlights for me were 1) coming off my first metro into the city to see the Arc de Triumph looming right in front of me.  The metro stop goes literally right to it and I think I had to stop for a second to pick my jaw up off the ground.  My weird sense of humor was like "Woah, Paris just got real." It had finally hit me that I was in Paris.  That emoji with the wide eyes was me for three days.

2) My favorite area in Paris was the neighborhood near the Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter.  Maybe I just had my best experiences here but the area was vibrant with street side cafes, shops, open air flower and seafood markets, ahhhmazing crepes, and live music on the weekends.  I spent two long mornings here (because I liked it so much) just walking the streets, people watching, crepe eating and coffee drinking and listening to live music.  Also the Notre Dame is pretty dang cool.

3) Of course, seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time was a highlight.  Seeing something like that or Big Ben or whatever famous monument is kind of a surreal moment I think.  You've seen it in a million pictures but this time, its for real.  I couldn't get enough of the view, especially at night.  I spent one evening just sitting on the edge of a fountain, eating macarons and people watching, while gazing at the lights of the Tower.

4) Crepes.  I had 4 crepes in 3 days... LOL.  Couldn't get enough of those things.  Of course I was tempted by the stands so close to all the tourist destinations, but it was always worth it to wait and wander a few streets away where you can watch them make it fresh in front of your drooling face.  My fave was nutella, coconut and almond.  Unfortunately, didn't try any snails but I did of course try macarons, baguette with camembert cheese (at the suggestion of my friend Alicia who is French), and also the pastries and wine.  [triple thumbs up]

5) Meeting people! My host Pierre, who was French, was awesome.  I can now say that I have a Parisian friend who also loves nutrition and the outdoors.  I also met with another friend of a friend from America who met me for yes, crepes.  One of the coolest things, which was actually a suggestion from my host, were these really old covered passageways filled with little shops, restaurants and bars.  They were not really by any other monuments so definitely one of the least touristy and super cool historic places I went in Paris.

Wow I have so much more to write but I will cut it off here.  Overall, Paris was an overwhelming adventure that was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun even if by myself :)

Yes, Pictures now! Also selfies on selfies because #solotravel.

The all famous Eiffel Tower

The Latin Quarter

Had to take at least one picture :)

Eiffel at night

Baguette, cheese and wine picnic.  

Notre Dame at night.

The Asian man who took this was so kind! Solo travel probs. 

Up next: Florence.

A city with charm and history.

First stop: Nuremburg, Germany

As soon as I left for my trip, I have been itching to get all my thoughts on paper or typed up and just start writing!  I am excited to bring to you the events of my travels in a series of three posts.
Each place I have visited has enough for me to go on and on but hopefully I will not bore you by giving each city its own post, and also it will leave you in suspense to wait for the next ones ;) I haven't decided if I want to just recap everything I saw and did or give suggestions for eager travelers so I think I will do a little of both!

To start, I spent last weekend on a working trip with the family.  We went to a coastal town called San Benedetto del Tronto as I mentioned in my last post.  It was quite the drive- almost as far as Roma! It was a nice little seaside town, too bad it was too cold to really enjoy the beach... but I did get up for a really nice sunrise on the last morning.  I spent the weekend with the girls, while they played I read or wrote or gave direction to them. We went out for pizza and hot chocolate and other yummies. You know... the important things. I had a twinge of homesickness as it was one of my best friends birthdays and it was the first time in my life I had done nothing at all to celebrate Halloween.  Its not that important of a holiday its just traditions that I am used to I guess!

It was a really quick turnaround for me as I left very early Monday morning on my bus to Germany. The bus company I have used a few times (Meinfernbus) leaves from a station only like ten minutes away from the house so its a perfect location to leave Merano from.  Highly recommend this bus company for travel around Italy, Germany and Austria! 

I am lucky enough to now have friends from all over the world and my first stop in Germany was to see a friend I met actually in Minnesota.  Christoph was studying abroad at St. John's last year and I was lucky enough to meet him while he was there, never thinking I would visit his hometown in Germany! Alas the stars aligned and I decided to make a trip there to see what his part of the world is all about.  

This was the perfect way to start my trip, I literally planned nothing but getting there and leaving and him and his family took care of the rest.  Christoph was basically my own personal tour guide, translator and adventure buddy and I stayed at his families home in their village about 30 minutes away from Nuremberg.  I have never felt so welcomed into a strangers home!  They went above and beyond my expectations.  If you guys are reading this, thank you again from the bottom of my heart.  I will never forget your hospitality and it definitely made my trip to Germany very memorable.  I really loved Nuremberg itself too.  It has such a historic and almost regal air to it, and the colors of the old buildings, the river and the trees were the perfect combination at this time of year.

Nuremburg is full of history.  It has been home to one of the most famous traditional Christmas markets in Europe for 400 years and was a hub for trade and magnificent feats of architecture in the middle ages.  The ornate churches and buildings that remain are a testament to the talented artists and architects who built them without modern day technology.  The castle that dominates the skyline was paid many visits by emperors in the Middle ages and served as a marker for the importance of Nuremburg as an imperial city in Bavaria.  It dates back to 1105 which is 400 years before Columbus even discovered America!

Unfortunately, some of the dark events associated with World War II are also part of this lovely cities history.  The Nuremburg trials, were of course set in Nuremburg and were a series of trials set against the most prominent people in the Nazi regime who were responsible for planning, participating or carrying out war crimes related to the Holocaust during World War II.  We also visited the Documentation Center which is a museum mostly about the events that led up to the war and how Hitler came to so much power.  It is located in the area known as the Nazi Party Rally Grounds where thousands of German soldiers and citizens gathered annually for parades and to listen to Hitler speak from 1933-1938.  World War II started in 1939 - 6 years after the rallies began in Nuremburg, so that gives you an idea of how deep and wide Hitler had infiltrated into the system.  Another interesting thing I learned is that in each German city, there are bronze plaques in place of cobblestones on some street corners, marking the residence of a Jewish person or family that was affected by the war.  They included names, what happened to them and when they died.

Ok last but definitely not least I will talk about the food.  Germans know meat, bread and beer.  And while I was here, they made sure I did not go hungry!  I tried so many good things!  One of the very traditional meals I had, called Rouladen, was a piece of beef wrapped around vegetables and then cooked, served with a potato dumpling and roasted brussels sprouts.  Another traditional recipe that we made was called obatzda and it had cream cheese, brie cheese, two other cheeses I can't remember, spices, onion and a little beer.  It was served with a soft pretzel for breakfast and it was actually so good! Lastly, another traditional bavarian food item is weisswurst or literally "white sausage" and is typically served before noon with a sweet mustard and yes another soft pretzel.  Christophs mom also made an ahhmazing cake that we had at almost every meal.  My mouth is watering just thinking about all these things... [insert emoji with heart eyes].

What I learned from this trip is that staying with or hanging out with someone who lives where you are traveling to is always the best way to get a view of the authentic culture.  You meet some new people and hopefully make some new friends.  Of course this isn't always possible, but if and when it is, I urge you to take the opportunity!

I have also learned that Germany, and most European countries, have so much more to offer than just the big popular cities.  I loved seeing the smaller villages and spending time just wandering in the streets of a smaller town called Bamberg that we visited.  It made me want to return to see more of Germany, and also seek out smaller more obscure cities in other European countries to get a real feel of the culture.

Here are the long awaited PICS.

Main square in Nuremburg.

Me and Christoph!

The colors.  I also love the way these old buildings look. Kind of like out of a movie or something.

Breakfast feast! You can see the fresh bread from the bakery, the cake, the obatzda on the left, the sweet mustard near the coffee and not pictured is the weisswurst or white sausage.

Bamberg.  Europe wins for outdoor seating.

Bamberg

Well this is really long, but stay tuned for my next post: PARIS.  Thanks for reading :)