To Germany and Beyond!

8/12/10 9:54 Wow lots has happened since arriving in Germany. The family arrived in Berlin on Monday morning after a long night on the train. We up with Tim and his family an spent all day exploring city; seeing the parliament building, visiting the remains of the Berlin Wall, and seeing Checkpoint Charlie. In the evening we drove back to Tim's house in Hamburg. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent seeing all of Hamburg, from he famous harbor (3rd busiest in Europe) to St. Pauli and the historical city hall. It's really a cool city, with a great mix of old and new.

Then an interesting thing happened. My parent and the rest of my family left me to go visit Kyra's friend Kathrin in Bensheim. So what did Tim and I do? We rented a BWM 3-series coupe and went out on the Autobahn of course! To say that this was the highlight of my trip would be an understatement. Out on the Autobahn I hit 230 km/h (for all you yanks out there that's 140 mph). We went to a little sausage shop for lunch. Tim was pretty sure I was the only foreigner who had ever been in there since it was pretty far off the beaten path. We had a delicious lunch of currywurst. Essentially bratwurst with a sauce and curry spices on top. Very authentic German food for that part of the country. After some more time on the Autobahn we spent the rest of our kilometers in our BMW on the back road of Germany, flying through the curvy country in roads in a very... ahem... safe manner. That night, after a tearful goodbye to the car, we went out the club in the Saint Pauli district. And we literally stayed out all night clubbing. Turns out the bars don't close in Germany. I didn't go to bed until 6:30 in the morning. It was a great time.

Friday was a blur, going shopping a design store, taking the train to Frankfurt, then Bensheim to meet up with the family and Kathrin's family, then out to eat at restaurant with a tree growing in the middle. Once again more delicious, authentic German food. Holy cow do the people there know how to cook.

If Friday was a blur, then Saturday was an eternity, with a total of 16 hours either on the plane or waiting in an airport. But there we were again, back in the United States. I was able to see my house from the plane so that was a highlight I suppose. As much fun as I had the trip, I was very happy to be back home again, to see Ashley and Evy, and sleep in my own bed. But my European adventure is a trip that I will never forget as long as I live.