You'll Praguebly Enjoy my Trip to Germany.

Buckle up and get ready folks this will be a long one.

By the February holidays I was tired of the cold and really wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny. With that idea in mind, I somehow ended up in Germany and the Czech Republic, neither of which being known for their warm, sunny beaches. But even though I wore a minimum of three jackets a day, I enjoyed every minute of this crazy trip.

The rough outline of my trip was Paris - Munich - Füssen - Prague - Paris.

Day one: Paris - Munich.

So, I like to find cheap flights and for us, the cheapest flight left at 7:20, which means leaving home about 2:30 to catch the busses and arrive early enough to the airport. I was not thrilled about this but for the price I'd do it again. After making it to Munich we used the day to explore. We found our way to Marienplatz, the main square and from there ventured outward. Adjacent to the square was St Peter's Church, which offered an arial view of the city for 2‎€! We couldn't open our wallets fast enough for the chance to see the city from another point of view. After about twenty stairs we realized that the monetary cost was low but the physical demand was very high. After 91 vertical meters and many breaks, we made it to the top. The view was amazing and worth all the muscle soreness. We spent the rest of the day walking through the city and going into every church we passed, not because we cared deeply about seeing each of them, but because we could only tolerate the cold for twenty minutes at a time. We checked into our hostel and went straight to bed. Or tried to (hostels.. ya know.)

Day two: Munich - Füssen.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch the train to Füssen. If you have no idea where this is, that's alright. It's the nearest town to Schloss Neuschwanstein. [sh-loss noy-sh-von-stine] This is the phonetic, English pronunciation. It took us weeks to get this right. This is the castle that Sleeping Beauty's castle was modeled after!

We spent an hour in Füssen while waiting for the bus to take us to the castle. We admired the general splendor but the high point for me (quite literally) was climbing a fortress wall for a better view of the mountains.

After arriving to the base of the mountain, we realized that that's as far as transportation would take us. So we prepared ourselves to walk. There are actually two castles here, the lesser known being Schloss Hohenschwangau (I can't give pronunciation help here because I honestly have no idea.) It's a modest yellow castle that sat on a neighboring mountain. We decided to go check it out while we were here and traversed the many stairs. It was a pleasant castle but compared to the main event next door, it was nothing special so I'm glad we came here first.

The trek to Neuschwanstein wasn't exceptionally treacherous but there was a base midway where you could stop to buy food and souvenirs or take a rest. We stopped here for a lunch break. We packed food but I decided to buy a cup of hot tea. Included in the price of the drink, I received the cutest hand-painted mug that I got to keep. When we reached the top, we couldn't even see the entire castle. It was so massive that we had to look in a couple directions to see the whole thing. We decided not to go into the castle because we were conscious of time and money but we were hoping to find a better angle of the castle that didn't involve us pulling a muscle. A ten minute walk from the castle is a bridge that overlooks the valley and the castle and provides the most breathtaking view. The pathway to get here was closed off due to "danger" because it had just snowed and they were worried about people falling off the mountain. We, and many other tourists, made the adventurous decision to jump the fence and get the view we came for. The snow made the trek a bit more taxing than it should have been but it was well worth it. The recent snowfall and the perfect near-dusk lighting made the view exactly what a fairytale should be.

After feeling fully satisfied by the view and adventure, we headed back to Munich to celebrate Kalene's birthday (it was today!) For some reason we decided to make our last meal in Germany "authentic Mexican." It was authentic by any means but it was delicious.

Day three: Munich - Prague.

For this trip we decided to take a bus. The trip was a little over four hours and only 19€! I ended up getting so lucky because the person assigned to the seat next to me never showed up, giving me the entire row to myself. We arrived in Prague before lunch and set out to find our AirBnb. It was located conveniently right next to the main train station so we were able to settle in quickly and relax a bit. First stop was lunch. We wanted to get a "taste of Prague" so we ordered potato dumplings with smoked pork beef and cabbage. If you ever hear someone say that they like the cuisine of Prague, they either haven't really had the local foods or they're solely referring to the Trdelník. It's similar to a churro but wrapped around an iron pole that allows it to cook into a cylindrical shape. They're amazing and I bought one after every meal during my time in Prague. After lunch we headed to the Museum of Communism. The information in here was interesting but not very organized. At some points I wasn't sure if what I was reading was about communism as a whole, the Czech Republic or another related topic.

Day four: Prague - Paris.

Alright so today is the day I returned to Paris but not until after dinner. Yes, I got to enjoy another day here! We found our way to the main square where there was really a lot to see. We first found the Prague Astronomical Clock which was really spectacular and apparently the oldest astronomical clock still running in the world! The clock was on the side of Old Town Hall which we were able to go inside of and climb to the top for a higher view of Old Town Square and Prague. It was worth the hike and we had a lot of fun taking photos at the top. From above it was evident that there were facades on the fronts of buildings to make them appear more whimsical and It's-a-small-world-esque. The architectural style of the buildings was similar to that of Germany but definitely had its own unique building style.

Next we headed towards Charles Bridge. This bridge is historically known as the first land connection over the river. It's an impressive piece of gothic architecture for its time but the tourists and vendors crowding it made it difficult to fully appreciate. Just across the bridge was the John Lennon Wall. The wall is still being painted on to promote peace, love and other Beatles-inspired themes. When we went, there was a man with his guitar in front of the wall playing Beatles songs that really created a peaceful atmosphere.

After a bit more meandering, I headed to the airport where I enjoyed a beer and watched the sun go down.