Castle hopping.

I live in such a beautiful place. If you could see what my eyeballs see every morning on my morning jog, you'd be flabbergasted. (I've had to jog every morning because the constant German bread, French cheese, and Belgian chocolate intake are really weighing me down. Literally.)

This past Saturday, a real nice gentleman named Jacob invited me to go to see some castles. Yeah that's just a typical Saturday thing..(I still can't get over how unreal my life is right now). So we ventured off into the land of castles with our good friend Allie and her Norwegian fiance.

So we started our journey on to Manderscheid.

A castle of true wonder, I'll say.

It's basically ruins.

It's a beauty that must have gone through a lot. Jacob said a couple of pretty nasty wars.

It's split into two parts with a couple of lookout towers on each one.

Not my favorite castle since it's not the type of feeling you really get from going to a fully built castle.

It did have a beautiful courtyard with a river running through it.

Next we stopped, on the way to our next destination, to a nice abbey.

There were nuns walking around, a humble little bookstore that sold jam that I was tempted to buy, and a delicious bakery where I consumed a top notch pastry.

Seriously America, get on the bakeries full of pastries wagon. I don't know how I'll function without them when I come home.

After we ate our pastries, we went on our way to our next destination.

Burg Eltz

Words can't describe my love for this castle. I know I love the sight of something when I see it and I gasp.

It's only happened to me once before, in China, in Zhangjiajie.

It looks unlike any other castle and I couldn't keep my eyes off of it.

We went down to the river next to the castle and skipped rocks for a bit. Felt like quite a day at the old palace skipping rocks with my chums.

Such a fan

Did you know I live in an old outpost of the Roman Empire?

That's right.

20 minutes away from my humble abode lies a city called Trier.

It was one of the outlying cities of the Roman Empire.

We looked to the sights that still remained in that city.

and I touched Caesar's foot.

haha okayyyy so it was made of stone and he put them in every major Roman city to show that he was powerful and had his "foot" everywhere.

We also ate at the best place I've eaten at so far in my visit to Europe.

It's called Kartoffel Kriste? (I'm not so sure about that and too tired to look it up)

Kartoffel is potato in German. Every dish in this restaurant has something with potatoes in it. It was just plain scrumptious. If you're ever near Trier, you need to eat there. I can't overhype this place enough.

All in all, this whole day trip was simply magnificent in every way.

Auschwitz

On the second day of my Poland trip, we drove an hour to place that some people wouldn't dare to set foot in.

This is Auschwitz.

I saw the prisons they were held in.

I saw the barracks they slept in.

I saw the gas chambers in which some died in.

It was the most humbling experience of my life.

You read about all of the people in concentration camps and I feel like it's all been sugar coated.

So. Many. People. Died.

They were brought to that place not knowing that they weren't ever going to leave it.

Rooms full of suitcases, shoes, household pottery proved it and it was heartbreaking to see.

If you ever get the chance to go to place like this, I encourage you to. It isn't for everybody but if you feel you can handle it then do it.

It's there to give you a true perspective and to teach the world a lesson. And I think the plaque that's displayed in many languages says it all.

Polski

Every month I'm planning on going on at least one major excursion.

This month of March I was able to keep with that goal where I was able to go to....

POLAND

What?? What has my life become that I get to go to Poland?

The dream life. That's what.

We packed 8 people in a 9 person van and drove 11 hours-ish.

And it was awesome.

Day one was spent on a bike ride through the beautiful city of Krakow

I adored Poland and it's beautiful country full of great, great sadness of which I will attest to in my next post.

luxembourg city

Adventures ho!

My first excursion was couple of weeks ago on a short day trip to Luxembourg City. This city is only a 40 minute drive from my village and quite impressive. I put on a couple layers and a scarf, grabbed my camera and set out.

It was a downpour of rain and I often had to duck in the nearest shop because I was deathly ill at the time and I did not want to prolong it. But for the most part, it was a lovely city.

I will probably visit it many more times considering it's only a bus ride away from my village.

Beautiful cobbled streets and the architecture is riddled with old world looks.