And so we leave Germany

As the trip comes to a close. I took the time to reflect upon how blessed I am for being able to travel this distance and and do so many things in such a short amount of time. And even now, the vacation is not over. I still have New Jersey and New York to visit yet this week!

Today we went to Castle Neuschwanstein (New Swan Stone) in Southern Germany. Well we also got a good look at Hohenschwangau while we were there because the father of the king that built Neuschwanstein built Hohenschwangau so they were right next door to one another. Anyway, Neuschwanstein was built in the 1800s because the king was reminiscent of the old castles built during medieval times. He built his castle to replicate the styles of those times. It is truly a beautiful castle but unfortunately, they do not allow you to take pictures of most of the castle and I was not able to document that leg of my trip :( However I got a lot of shots from the outside and the fantastic scenery around the castle. I probably got some of the best mountain shots of the whole trip.

After the castle we ate dinner at a restaurant by the castle. We all had traditional German dishes. I was ecstatic about this because one of the most fun parts of traveling abroad is enjoying the local dishes. I had the Jägerschnitzel, which consisted of a thin pork chop on bed of mushrooms in cream sauce with potato croquets. MMMM

I also bought a couple of souvenirs. I got a real German beer stein for less money than I would've though and a surprise for Kristin that I hope she likes. My sister bought a cuckoo clock as well, and it's prettier than mine, fooey. I've already been outdone. I think she fell in love with mine while I had it hung up here :) It is so much fun though. I really love it. So I guess that's all for now. I'll see you all back in the states!