Farewell Germany...For Awhile

After our Swiss get-away, we relaxed at Oma and Opa's again. Despite the weatherman predicting 90% rain...we somehow got lucky again and it was sunny most of our Saturday! So Oma took us to see the Ludwigsberg Castle.

The outward appearance wasn't exactly what I expected a castle to look like, it was more like a giant mansion/palace. But the inside totally exceeded everything I imagined. The interior design, decorations, paintings, everything was so intricate, ornate and just plain gorgeous. There were so many awesome hallways, chandeliers and vases. My two most favorite things were the "Mirror cabinet" and this painting. (Such a cool story behind it).

I think one thing that made this castle so cool is the fact that we actually went on a tour. Most of the time we like to travel as cheap as possible so we usually don't pay for extra things like tours. But I realized how much more meaningful it made it because we were able to learn special things about how the kings, queens and dukes lived and we learned all about different people, stories of their lives and how things were used. It was so interesting! I seriously loved it.

A few other favorite things: 

The view of the gardens from the window:


The "Rapunzel" tower in the distance. hahaha... freaking awesome.


Plus, I do have to brag that I slid down the castle banister. Pretty certain this might be illegal, however I just had to.


After our exploring, we headed home to get ready for a farewell barbeque! We met some more family members, Petra, her husband and children and enjoyed some delicious bratwurst! I sure love German food.

Our last day in Germany was spent riding the train from Stuttgart to Koln to Brussels. While Chris slept (surprise, surprise) I spotted so many castles and cute little towns along the river. It was so beautiful! I seriously couldn't believe there were so many awesome, old buildings and gorgeous landscape. I could spend so much time here and never get sick of it. It was sad leaving Oma, Opa and Silke at the train station... we loved being with them and had so much fun together.

But the one thing that made it less sad, is that we will be going back September 17th! Goodbye Germany....for just a few months :)