Journey to Germany!

After doing both my finals and rushing to the airport, I made my train from Bassano to Padova and hopped on the train to the Munich. I didn't realize that I had to have a reservation for a car, so I slept for the first half an hour on the train in a little jump seat in the aisle...it was awful. This precious old German couple with their grandson took pity on me and invited me into their car for the rest of the trip...the grandma spoke a little English, and they were so warm and welcoming. The first picture is of the grandson and grandpa, with the mountains of Northern Italy in the background.

After being on the train for 3 hours (about halfway through our 6+ hour trip), we passed through Innsbruck, Austria. Some girls from my English class went there on a long weekend, so I had to snap a picture as we were passing through. What beautiful mountains...

The precious German couple ended up being on my next connection too, and they took me under their wing.  The next train was only 3 hours, and they got off about halfway through. We had a 8 seat section to ourselves, but instead of sleeping, I was studious and caught up on my reading for my Ivy class. I got to the next station at midnight, and was on a regional train to a station near Carissa's. Since it was the local train, there were all sorts of loud drunks and young kids. I got on the train, and hadn't realized that I sat myself in the middle of 6 German twenty-somethings...oh boy. Five minutes into the train ride, with them all staring at me, one of them finally says, "where are your pants?" I looked down and realized that I was the only one on the train wearing shorts. I was like uh..... "I'm an American?" and they laughed and were like oh well..
"what do you think about german beer?" And i was like..."actually i hate beer.." and they were like oh... "what about german boys?" and I was like. well, i'm not sure lol. My first German experience... I got in a little after one, and Austin was there waiting..reggie and Carissa were napping in the car. We got home after two, and headed to bed close to three. The next day we slept in (until 10:30- it was glorious!) and headed to cruise the Rhine on a ferry...not before we got stuck in a stau (traffic jam). Everyone was getting out and looking around, so I snapped a pic.

We had just boarded the ferry, and came across this castle in the middle of the river! I don't know the name, but I got a postcard with all the castle's names, so I will figure it out...

Yep, just chillin in the middle of the Rhine....

We cruised on down and saw the German flag. When we went past, they played the German anthem...pretty cool.

We got off at Bahn (I think?) and we were going to hike to a castle...but our bellies got the best of us. I had a hot dog and french fries, and it was DELICIOUS.

Carissa and I with the coast in the background. There are over 100+ castles on this stretch...

Still no clue what it is, just pretty :)

Me, Austin and Carissa! The only group picture of the trip...

After that we went to Ramstein because Austin was craving icecream...I saw this ridiculous chair and had to get a picture. Joy, can we have this in our apartment PLEASE?!

We got back to Carissa's at dusk and I took a picture of her view. She is situated on top of a hill, and I guess on New Years, all the houses down below shot off fireworks and it was a breathtaking sight. Wish I would have been there!

We decided to go to Metz, France the next day, and all headed to bed...my weekend is a third of the way over! Until tomorrow... Gute Nacht!