I’m sitting at home in my living room, curled up in a blanket by the fireplace with Netflix running in the background, and as comfy and cozy as I am to be back home… I am missing the excitement and adventure of this Europe trip. The memories we made as a family and as a newly engaged couple are moments that I’ll wish I could go back and relive for a lifetime. It’s funny because usually in life as your best memories are happening, they tend to feel so normal. Most of the time, they don’t reveal their significance until later when the moment’s gone and you’re just starting to grasp how beautifully unique it was and how something like it will probably never come again. That’s how I felt the first morning I woke up back in my own bed after three weeks traveling across Iceland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and the UK. I never thought this trip would turn into what it did… in so many different ways. It was truly the vacation of a lifetime with my dad, my two sisters, and my fiance and I’m so glad to have these pictures to remember it by. So let’s start from the beginning…
First, on our way to Munich on December 17th, we got stranded in Iceland for 24 hours… and it looked a lot like a magical frozen playground. Shout out to the Nordica Hotel for being wonderful and having the most delicious salmon I’ve ever tasted. These first few images are “little camera” pictures so don’t judge!! ;)
This plaque was in the Keflavik airport and we couldn’t resist stopping and taking a picture next to it :)
Then we flew to Paris, ate some macarons, and after even more delays were finally taking off and watching the entire city light up. I got to “see” the Eiffel Tower… can you find it?! :)
We got to Munich, I was horribly exhausted, jetlagged, and in a pretty bad mood, so I left my camera AND phone at the apartment while we went out to a pub to have our first beers and eat our first German meal (which was delicious). That’s all covered on video, which I’ll be putting together soon!! But the next morning we were off to Cinderella’s Castle where Justin would get down on one knee and ask me to marry him (and I would melt with happiness)…
The next day, we were in Berchtesgaden staying at our cousin’s apartment. We got up, had breakfast, and headed into town… this is what it looked like all around us…
This was Justin’s first taste of what German towns look like. Note the confusing traffic sign… it was quite the adventure navigating a foreign country with no iPhone Google Maps to help us out :)
We went to the Salzburgwerk salt mine, which was REALLY COOL but didn’t let you take pictures down below in the mines, but we did sneak some video… which is also coming later. Haha! But here’s a few pictures from the salt mine excursion!
In the evening, we crossed the border into Austria and walked around Old Town Salzburg. It was so pretty with all the Christmas decorations!
Here’s a few “little camera” pictures too from the Christmas Market in Salzburg…
The next day, we drove back up to Munich to see all the things we didn’t get to see because of the Iceland delay… we watched the Glockenspiel chime at 11am in the Marienplatz, which was so so special.
The COOKIES! You can only get these in Munich!! :)
We went and found a few famous churches… and my dad brough oranges with him because… well we really don’t know.
They had these candles you could light for Mary and I probably should have just left it alone.
Then we just started to get silly and take random pictures of everything, including my ring. And this guy apparently didn’t really like Justin.
We decided it was time to leave that church and head to the next one (Michael’s Church), so we headed over that way…
This church was SO BEAUTIFUL. Every single intricate detail. We stayed for an organ performance and it was wonderful.
Then it was time to head back to the car and say goodbye to Munich (for now)… we love love love this Bavarian city.
Next up is Coburg & Sonnefeld… two smaller towns in upper Bavaria where my grandma and cousins live! More castles, a gorgeous Christmas market, and our favorite churches from the entire trip in my next Europe trip post!! :)
