Lessons learned in Germany

Every country is different. The biggest lesson I learned in Germany?
Dont let this country slip by you, its the biggest surprise Ive had so far.

- Germany is clean, cute, neat, perfect, healthy. I was never more surprised on this whole trip so far than I was with Germany. When I was planning this trip, Germany wasnt even on my mind until my bro said he wanted to come. Then I thought, ok what the heck, it would be fun to see where my brother served his mission. Im so glad I made it here. It was astonishingly, heart stoppingly beautiful on the Romantic Road (southern Germany). We stayed in Rothenburg, a small town still alive purely due to tourism. It was simply wonderful there.

-Germans speak way better English than Italians. And they drive way better, too (meaning, they actually follow the rules, stay in the lines, and stop for pedestrians).

-Germany is much cheaper than Italy - almost half the price for souvenirs and meals!

-Try a Doner Kabob - they are kind of like gyros, made with lamb, yogurt sauce, tomatoes, and lettuce wrapped up in a pita pocket type of bread - it is so delicious!

-Ritter Sport chocolate is to die for and its way cheaper in grocery stores - there are like 20 different flavors; something for everyone!

- Night trains aren't as fun as they may seem. Sure, they sound like a great deal: sleep the night away while you travel hundreds of miles. No wasting day time to travel! You wake up and you're there! Well, I use the term "wake up" lightly; that is, you can only wake up if you ever fall asleep! The train is constantly grinding and groaning, swinging around corners, derailing at impossible speeds, the conductor slamming on the breaks only to stop for what seems like hours while you're left lying in a too small bed, steaming up but unable to open a window due to said noises, lights flashing by you until the train starts up again and your body rolls to the other side of your tiny bed, slamming into the hard metal railing - the only thing keeping you from hitting the floor - though it obviously doesn't keep random other objects from projecting off the top bunk and clanking onto the floor or the closet door. Plus! You don't want to get woken up by the harsh, loud Austrian demanding for "passports!" and cranking open the door you thought you locked, but somehow he manages to break the door off the hinges (or so it seems), so instead you wake up every hour on the hour, checking your tiny travel alarm clock.
*sigh* I repeat, though they seem like a fun camping-like experience, dont expect to get much sleep. When all 4 of us were in one compartment, we knew all of us were awake at any given point in the middle of the night and would just laugh. And that's my thoughts on night trains. :)

-Don't let a grey and bleak morning fool you; it most likely will turn sunny by the afternoon. We have had such wonderful luck with weather lately. It's been stunning.

-The neuschwanstein castle, which is what the disney parks' castle is modeled after, is much more impressive on the outside than the inside. The most exciting part about the half-hour  tour we took of the inside was the view you got of the mountains and lake below you out the window. So, even then we were still looking on the outside more than the inside.

-If you're going to Rothenburg, please stay at the Spitzweig hotel. The owner is an older German man, the closest thing I'd ever find to a grandpa in Germany. At breakfast, he would come and sit down right next to us at the table and sip his coffee with us, asking what we wanted to do for the day and suggesting terrific restaurants and sites.

-Everyone in Germany seems so healthy. There are parks and bike paths and walking paths and people outside everywhere all the time. And less people smoke, it seemed.

- Two weeks at a time in Europe is plenty for me.