GERMANY

well, Bavaria actually. I traveled with Amanda to Munich (known as Munchen to those who actually live there) last weekend and it was a BLAST!!! We flew over on Saturday, with a short stop in Zurich- the swiss have airtravel down right. We flew with Swiss Air, which was fast, friendly and efficent, as well as completley non-stressful. There was also free Swiss Chocolate, Yum!!! When we went through passport control in Zurich, it was painless and very fast (after landing and deboarding - it only took us about 15 minutes to be on our next flight and ready to go). After arriving in Munich, we stopped by a grocery store and bought fressh Weisswurst (white sausage) the most typical and regionally specific Bavarian sausage. We also picked up some Bretzen (pretzels) and a type of sweet mustard - which completed the meal. It was delicious. I dont usually eat mustard, but it works so well with the delicate Weisswurst and pretzels that we ate a whole small jar of it. On Sunday, we traveled by train to Strasbourg, Austria birthblace of Mozart and known for its beatuiful alpine setting. It was seriously like riding a train through a postcard. We walked around town, visited the various christmas markets and climbed to the Hohensalzburg Castle (a huge fortress on top of a crazy tall mountain in the middle of town). We also stopped in at a wonderfully old coffee house and had coffee and sachretorte (a famous Austrian cake) which was lovely and richly chocolately.

On Monday, we went into Munich and wondered around the town, visiting christmas markets, the residence or main palace of the city, drinking Gluwien (mulled wine) and eating great sausages (including the nuremburger bratworst with sourkraut) and a fantastic wild boar gulash. All in all a beautiful winter adventure. On Tuesday, we had a huge brunch prepared by Amanda's great friend Christina and her mom (who also gave us homemade jam and traditional german christmas cookies). Sadely we had to leave and head to the airport for our flight home.

I really enjoyed my first trip to Germany, Austria and Switezerland and I hope to travel back again sometime soon.