Würzburg and the end of our trip.

Yes! I finally made it to the end of my trip with Kirsten and Co, and only 6 weeks later! In case you've lost track, we traveled in Switzerland, then Germany, then Austria, and then Germany again. Our last day was maybe my favorite, actually, besides the hiking in Switzerland.

We woke up super early to walk around the famous city walls and the town of Rothenburg in the stillness of a misty morning, before the hordes of tourists showed up. It was really peaceful and fun to wander around and have the place almost entirely to ourselves. The walls provide an interesting example of what I would guess is truly one of the first instances of "crowd funding". After the war the city needed to rebuild the walls but had no money, so they took out ads in international newspapers offering people to buy meter sections of the wall for a certain amount of money, and then the wall sections would have a stone with their name installed. Now the wall is peppered with the names of people who have contributed over the past 60 years, although the cost for a meter of wall is considerably higher these days than it was at first!

Some of these roof lines are SO wonky.

After breakfast in the hotel we hopped into the car to drive to Würzburg. Our first stop after we got there was the Residenz, another ginormous and magnificent palace. Photography wasn't allowed in the palace, so of course I flouted the rules and caught a few photos on my phone! (Somewhat surreptitiously, which is why some of they are a little or a lot crooked...) This palace was really fabulous, but definitely not as overwhelmingly large as the Munich Residenz. Also, they managed to save a bunch of the original furnishings and tapestries by storing them in the fortress cellars, so there was more that just large, grand, empty rooms to see.

You can see the fortress on the hill in the distance.

After the tour of the palace we took a little walk around the garden before walking through the city to find lunch. We ended up at a restaurant that was right at the end of a famous ancient bridge and had a really nice lunch and some great wine, as Würzburg and the surrounding region are famous for its wine. One of my friends here is from Würzburg, so she gave us some really great recommendations of places to see and where to eat. It was so nice to have some insider tips!

After lunch, Ross and his mom went to explore the fortress on the top of the hill overlooking Würzburg, while Kirsten, Iris, and I walked around Würzburg, saw a few of the many churches that the town is famous far, and then settled into a wine bar to wait for Ross and Loraine. The weather was really nice, and it seemed like everyone in Würzburg was out and hanging out on the bridge with a glass of wine. It was really pleasant to sit in the sunny window and watch Würzburg pass by. Eventually we all met up and ended up hanging out in another restaurant for a few hours just chatting, having some drinks, and eating dinner eventually. It was nice to have a slower day and to have time to talk and to stop to take everything in.

This church has recently been renovated, and I really liked it!

In the morning we had breakfast together and then went our separate ways- me by train back to Zürich and them by car to the Frankfurt airport to start their trip home. Overall I had a really nice trip, even though I can't say that it was my favorite as far as sites that we saw. It was really enjoyable to spend time with old friends, and actually just to laugh. I think things are generally serious at work, and there's also just something about humor that is very culture-specific, so I don't think that I laugh so much when I'm here. It's not as sad as it sounds, I promise, but I did enjoy having a week that involved a lot of laughter! Whoever said that laughter was good medicine wasn't joking. Or were they? Anyways, I am very glad that I had the chance to travel around with Kirsten and Co.

A concentration camp and a Christmas store.

So... back to my Germany trip with Kirsten and Co. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting to the end of the trip!

After our time in Münich, we went to Dachau, a concentration (but not death) camp from World War II. It was overwhelming, depressing, upsetting, and unsettling. It is just unfathomable the horrific things that people can do to each other, and an atmosphere of the depth of human suffering still hangs over this site like a cloud. It was a cold and insistently rainy morning when we were there, which just contributed to the feeling of sorrow.

I honestly don't have very much to say about it. I am glad that I went to see a concentration camp once, but I am not sure that I need to go again.

After getting thoroughly cold, wet, and depressed, we decided that a pick-me-up was required so that we wouldn't be sobbing into our beer, and we hit on the perfect solution: a visit to the the most fantastic Christmas store ever in Rothenburg. The village is a quaint, well-preserved medieval town famous for its intact city walls and Christmas market. Thankfully for us, there is a Christmas store open year-round. It is a magical, insanely decorated, multi-level extravaganza that has to be seen to be believed, seriously.

I absolutely LOVE Christmas. It's a problem, actually. In the past week I have 1) woken up from a dream about singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas", 2) found myself humming "Walking in a winter wonderland" on my walk home from work, and 3) been singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" in the shower. Normally I try to hold off on Christmas music until at least after Halloween, but I am not winning this battle with my subconscious! Anyways, this store was so much fun to wander around, and I found one of my favorite souveniers so far: a Weihnachtspyramide, which I am so excited to pull out at Christmas!

Examples of Weihnachtspyramide.

Also that evening we had a lovely dinner in a small, cute restaurant in the town before joining in on a "Night Watchman's" tour of Rothenburg. The tour was pretty interesting, but the tour guide had the most bizarre and slightly creepy accent ever. I really wish I had gotten a video so that you could also experience it. Kirsten and I were giggling through a lot of the tour because it was just so strange. It was a fun way to learn more about the history of the town!

Cool windows in the restaurant.

Our tour guide.