I'll start with a general overview of our trip. We were in Europe for a total of ten days. We spent the first five days in Germany with some friends from Don's mission, then we spent the last five days in Paris. It was really exciting for me, because I hadn't been to either country before.
Obvs, I had to take an "anticipation" picture in the airport...at this point, I was so giddy. It was like waiting for Christmas morning!
I planned every outfit around these floral sneakers. I wanted to be comfortable, and I was determined to avoid all blisters. I'm so glad, too. Apart from being slightly colder than we anticipated, (and me completely forgetting my running shoes!!! Eeeks! More on that later...) we were totally prepared.
The view from our airplane window was so beautiful! We flew WOW air, which is basically the international version of Spirit Air. As long as you do your fee research ahead of time, it's fantastic! WOW Air is an Icelandic airline, so every single flight connects through Reykjavik. During our layover, we talked about how fun it would be to find a last minute deal to Iceland for a weekend. Add it to the list!
We arrived in Germany in the afternoon. Don's friends from his mission, Harald and Elke, picked us up at the airport. It had been years since we had last seen them! When we got to their house in Kaiserslautern, they served us a traditional, home cooked German meal. It was SO good.
This is about when I realized that I had forgotten my running shoes, and I immediately started freaking out inside. I was in complete desperation mode!! I tried so hard to play it cool for everybody, but Don knew how traumatizing it was for me to not have my running shoes. Running in a new place is what I look forward to the most when we travel, and I was feeling so heartbroken at the thought of not being able to enjoy my favorite thing! Well, Don was really supportive, and we went straight to the meal after dinner. It only took me a couple of minutes to find some decent shoes, but my stress level decreased immediately. I know it's weird, but I can't describe how relieved I was. Crisis averted!
After the mall, we spent the evening walking around Kaiserslautern. K-town, as Don and his mission buddies call it, was just how Don remembered it. We got ice cream at the local spot downtown that Don used to go to on his p-days, and we walked around some of the streets that Don spent a lot of time on. It was rewarding and fun to see Don in his element. His German is still excellent, and it was pretty neat to watch him fit into a different culture so seamlessly.
{Downtown K-town}
Every morning, Don and I woke up early and went for a long run. Exploring new places through running is, what I consider to be, one of the most precious things I get to do in my life. Running has brought me around and across the world, has led me to unforgettable experiences, and has given me the opportunity to see so many beautiful things in life.
This trip was no exception. We ran, and we explored! This picture is from our first run in Kaiserslautern. We ran through a heavy fog, the local farmlands, and Harald and Elke's neighborhood. It was awesome.
This is the view of suburban K-town, from Harald and Elke's driveway. Harald and Elke have a garden in the backyard where they grow all kinds of vegetables and herbs. They also compost, make their own jam, and buy fresh bread from the local bakery every morning. There are definitely aspects of German lifestyle that we would like to incorporate into our own. Good health, industriousness, simplicity, and *good food* are at the top of our list.
{Harald and Elke's house}
We went to the same ward that Don served in during his mission. Don got to visit with old friends, and I actually played piano in sacrament meeting! Harald usually plays, but he asked me to fill in for him last minute so he could spend more time with Don. Haha, sometimes you just jump right in and do what you're asked. :)
We went to several different cities with Harald and Elke, the first of which was Strasbourg. Strasbourg is actually in France, but it is right next to the German border. It's in an area called Alsace-Lorraine, which switched back and forth between Germany and France for years and years. It ultimately ended up as a French city, but much of the culture and architecture is still very German.
This is actually the area where my family is from, originally. The Quebe name is a German-French mixture, and somewhere in the Elsass region is a Quebe farm!
We went to the Strasbourg Cathedral, which is an incredible building. We climbed to the top of the dome, (alongside some very confused and out-of-breath American tourists, who mistakenly began the climb thinking it was the ground level entrance...oops!) and saw an incredible view of the city from the top. I'll echo what I said on my Instagram caption: Strasbourg is serious #roofgoals.
{The Strasbourg Cathedral Astronomical Clock}
The pictures don't really do Strasbourg justice. The entire city is filled with the most amazing architecture! The streets are lined with flower boxes and colorful buildings. Our morning run in Strasbourg was probably one of my favorite runs. We ran along the river, through the streets, and under the bridges. Strasbourg is also the official seat of the European Parliament, which we ran by just to check it out.
This blue house was our Airbnb in Strasbourg. I love that it has "Elsass" graffitied on the side. It's like a little memoir of our trip.
We also went to the city of Colmar, which was so unique. It is very similar to Strasbourg, but just a bit more whimsical and much smaller. Every single building is painted a different color, and built with a traditional timber framing. This architectural style is known as Fachwerk. It honestly felt like we were at an amusement park or on a movie set. It didn't feel like real life at all.
One of my favorite things about Colmar is the variety of texture, color, and pattern everywhere. Some of the buildings had the most amazing tile roofs. I love a lot of the new modern buildings, but sometimes I wish we still built and designed with that old world detail.
The last German city we went to was Heidelberg. We spent an entire day just walking around, and it was incredible. There was so much to see! Heidelberg is where one of the biggest German universities is located, so the city feels really alive.
This is the Old Bridge Gate, which is a very famous picture spot...even Kate & William took an official royal photo here. The German name for it is Alte Brucke.
Harald and Elke really wanted to walk around the "Philosopher's Way", which is a beautiful hiking trail on one of the hills overlooking the city. Apparently, whenever the local philosophers needed time to think, they would walk along the Philosopher's Way to clear their heads. Some of the most famous philosophers to frequent the trail were Thoreau, Kant, and Nietzsche. It was a really pretty hike, but we spent most of it listening to Elke point out every. single. berry. along the way. She was literally an encyclopedia of foliage (either that, or a really excellent girl scout!). We just had to laugh after the 15th time we heard about the edible properties of stinging nettle.
{View of the city, from Heidelberg Castle}
{The interior courtyard}
{The Heidelberg Tun...the largest wine vat in the world!}
{Views from the castle garden}
We ended our Heidelberg day trip with a tram ride that went all the way up the city's surrounding hillside. This is a view of the city from the very top! It was beautiful.
{Heidelberg at night}
This isn't even half of our Europe trip, and it's taken me so long to write! I don't know how I'm going to record it all. Up next: the city of lights...Paris!
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