Euro Trip Part 7 of Many

Germany 
Once we got off the train in Germany, we felt very foreign. 

England, Wales, Belgium, and the Netherlands all felt like different countries, but they were all pretty comfortable because we could get by with just English. All the signs had English translations, and everybody spoke English. Once in Germany, however, it felt like a totally different world. Everything was in German, and only German. Because neither of us speak or read German, it took us about 3 times as long to get anything done. 

How can anyone read German anyway? Look at all those consonants! Look at all those "s"s! (This was a street that popped up on the GPS in the rental car.)

This sign made us laugh, though. Bad Homburg! Bad!

One example of things taking hilariously long: it took us an hour and half to get to the car rental place to pick up the car. All we had to do was get on another train (in the same train station we arrived in), then walk to the car rental desk once we got off the train. It should have taken 30 minutes, tops. But we didn't know that, and it took forever to find which train we were supposed to be on, it took forever to figure out how to pay for our train tickets, and it took forever to actually get to the train stop we needed to be at, because all the announcements on the train were in German, and we got off too early accidentally and had to wait for the next train to come by. Maybe we should have read a little more in the German for Travelers book.

Waiting for the next train to take us to the car rental place.

Our rental car. After finally locating the car, it then took us an hour and a half to get to our hotel, that first night in Germany. The GPS told us it would take 30 minutes. Well, the GPS then lost signal, and Laura had to learn how to read a map on Troy's phone to get us to the hotel. She did not learn quickly.

Troy, happily driving. (1. He was on the Autobahn. 2. The GPS was working.)

Some scenery from the car (the Cologne Cathedral), in Cologne.

Germany, trying to keep the environment happy.

Cars pulling out of this driveway could safely pull out into the street due to...

...This mirror.

We visited Troy's friend from Houston (Janie Bowerbank) whose husband works for the American government in Germany. They took us to a beir garten near their home, and we had pretty good food (Laura was even able to eat as a vegetarian!). Coincidentally, Mike Bowerbank grew up in Concord, with the Pruett family when they lived there. Small world! For some reason, though, we didn't think to take a picture with them. We are so lame.

How German hotels make the beds.

Our hotel in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt Temple Trip

We only stopped in Frankfurt so we could go to the temple. Here's Troy, walking up the pathway to the temple.

View from behind the temple.

We went to an English session, and got someone to take this picture for us.

They spelled "temple" wrong (hahaha).

View from the parking lot.

Someone got very comfortable on the temple grounds.

BMW Welt and BMW Museum
We also made a trip to the BMW Welt and Museum, in Munich. When in Rome...

Inside BMW Welt.

Some random statue was shooting at Laura!

BMW Welt.

Inside the BMW Museum.

A really old motorcycle. (BMW's first motorcycle.)

A really old car. (One of BMW's first cars, if not the first.)

A really big engine.

Inside the McLaren F1.

This car almost matches Phil's color (Laura's car - Phil the Ford Focus).

As we left the BMW Museum, we saw this: a remnant of an Olympic stadium from the Munich Olympics way back when.

This statue was nearby.

We also had to stop and get gas, as we had a long trip ahead of us to the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is in the middle of nowhere Germany, near the Austrain border. Gas is quite pricy in Europe. 89.54 Euros = $115.65. Geez Louise!

Castle Trip
We wanted to see Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the castle that Disney modeled their castle after (Cinderella's castle). But: 1. It's under renovations. People can still tour it, but it was covered in scaffolding and construction stuff. 2. By the time we got there, the wait to get a tour was around 2 hours, and we still had an 8 hour drive to get to Berlin ahead of us. So, instead we toured the Hohenschwangau Castle, which was closer, a shorter wait, and a shorter tour. And cheaper. 

Part of our drive to see the castles. You can see Neuschwanstein Castle in the distance. Oddly, these pictures make me (Laura) think of Lavar Burton. Then I remember that we were listening to an interview of Lavar Burton on a Nerdist Podcast as we were driving towards the castles.

View of Neuschwanstein Castle from Hohenschwangau Castle.

Cute little touristy town that I'm sure the only people who actually live here are the hotel owners.

Near the castles. Not sure what it is... a church? It's a cool building.

Troy, after climbing the path/stairs to tour Hohenschwangau Castle.

Part of the courtyard area of the castle. Everything had "Schwan" in the name, because apparently this is a swan area.

Also, lions are popular.

And smoking is popular. Yes, that is an ashtray next to a urinal.

Laura, feeling so grand under this grand entrance.

View of Hohenschwangau Castle from the bottom of the hill.

We found the entrance to Narnia on our way down from the tour of the castle.

And a Ferrari!

This doesn't mean what you might think it means... It means "exit". Which means this sign was ALL over the Autobahn. And kept us laughing the whole time.

We went to Legoland! In Carlsbad, CA. 3 or 4 years ago. We just took a picture of this sign. Who knew they had one in Germany?

Berlin
Berlin was our last city in Germany, the last city in our jam-packed Euro Tour. So by the time we got there, we were pretty exhausted. We had intentions of exploring the city, but really only had energy to see one museum and then take a walk around the hotel.

Laura drove on the Autobahn! For a few hours, anyway, on our way to Berlin.

This little car welcomed us.

In front of the Allied Museum.

Remembering the awfulness of war.

Flags of the countries that had a presence in Berlin after WWII.

One of many posters in the museum.

Part of the Museum.

Part of the Berlin Wall.

Decorated Berlin Wall.

This Taxi driver must not know the connotations of the phrase "Plan B".

For reasons unknown to us, some of the parking spaces our Berlin hotel provided had little women figurines. Are they reserved spots? Reserved only for women? Or girly men?

Our hotel in Berlin.

We took a walk around the area after getting back from the Allied Museum, and found a cash cow! Or a gas cow... it was outside a gas station.

See the little coffee mug picture? That was part of the car's way of telling you (the driver) that you are tired and need to pull over. We were safe drivers, though.

On our way to the plane to go home.

We watched a Bond movie to help pass the time on our forever long plane ride.

Team Raptor, excited to go home and sleep in our own bed.

Germany was fun, and funny. The Bowerbanks offered their guest bedroom to us if we ever go back. Which means we have to go back, since we'll have free lodging. Thanks in advance, Bowerbanks!

Being in a foreign country that didn't go out of its way to accommodate us English-speakers helped give us empathy for those in our great country that don't speak English. It's tough.

And once we got back in L.A., it was strangely comforting for Laura to see signs in Spanish. Now there's a language I don't speak that I'm familiar with! We were home!