Germany {post #2}

Okay here are some more from Germany. Again I am late on posting.

These are gardens that the people in the city rent because they live in the high rise buildings.

This is a cemetery. It was HUGE. It was like a large park. Over in Germany, when you buy a plot for your dead, it is not forever. You buy it for 20 years for over 100 thousand dollars. You have to bury them in decomposable caskets. They figure that the body completely decomposes in that time. When your 20 years is up they send you a notice and you can either renew or get rid of your plot. They bury more than one person in each place. Weird right? So on the headstones some families have lots of names of people that had passed.

This is the memorial of the LS Hindenburg.

Family headstone with numerous names on it.

Crematorium.

Family Crypt

This was Ann Franks house before they moved to Amsterdam, where they were captured.

This is the Autobahn. It was crazy. I can't believe they don't have speed limits there. We were going 90 at some points and people just passed us like we were standing still.

This house (Castle) was Queen Victoria's daughter Vicki's house. Her son kicked her out of Berlin when he came to rule because there wasn't room for the two of them (politically). So she built this house in this beautiful small town. After WWII Eisenhower was a General in Germany. He came and told her she had 6 hours to move out. He then took over her house for 7 years or so. He built a golf course around it.

Eisenhower's desk.

His bed (where numerous famous people have stayed) including Bill Clinton. It was weird to me because all the beds back in the day were so short. Well the average man back in the day was 5'4"

Vickie's throne.

These were just some cathedrals on our way to the next castle. They were right next door to each other.

This is the next castle we went to. I have a flyer, but don't remember the name.

Monstrous tree :)

Can you believe this wasn't photoshopped?

Frankfurt LDS temple

We took a drive down the Rhine river. It was amazing. There were so many castles. One after another. They were just built out of the rock.

Christopher street :) Pronounced Christophelstrause

This was a little village on the river where we stopped to eat. The food was amazing YUMMY!! I am  craving it just thinking about it.....mmmmmmmmmmmm.. My plate it the one on the far right with the fries. It was Snitzel. (battered fried pork)

A family actually lives in this castle. It was so picturesque!! I loved it, but the castle was cold inside.

Walking bridge across the Meine river

We took a boat tour. We sat on the deck in the sun till the boat took off and then it started pouring rain. It rained the whole time we were on the boat.

Bryan and Jenny

 This is the plaque that is in the Romer square where they burned the books.

This place was one of my favorites. The castle was really neat.

The courtyard with a view of the whole town.

This was the hike up to the castle. I thought my calves were literally going to explode. I was wearing my shape ups (which I love) but they are not made to help out with uphill. OUCH!!!!

This was one of or the first brick bridges built in Germany. It was built by one of the rulers of this castle.

Each ruler built their own part of the castle to reflect them. There was an English part, Italian, etc. It was pretty cool. It had been destroyed and rebuilt 2 or 3 times, and then in the 1700s one of the towers was hit by lighting and the whole thing burned down, except the chapel.

The "clock"

The Man Hole door. At night they would lock the gates to the city, and some people would get locked out. So when someone would knock at this door, the guard would open it if he knew who it was, but if he made a mistake, he could fix it fast by chopping of their head because of the angle they had to climb through the door :)

This is their moat. They would try to fill it with water, but it would seep through the red stone, so it would be a garden any other time.

This is a model of the castle before it was destroyed. . .

this is after.

On the tour, our tour guide showed us the toilets. They are here at the top of this picture. They would put them on a wall and the "stuff" would just fall to the ground. She said it was actually more common to have them on an interior wall because it was warmer. YUCK!! the "stuff" would have to get cleaned up by the servants. Can you imagine the smell of the royal castles? ewwww!

And  here we have the pump for the wine barrel in the basement that would pump wine to the ballroom during events. Can you guess why it is such a big pump?

This is the chapel. The only original part of the castle that didn't burn.

We came around the corner and saw this wine barrel. Big right. But when we walked around the next corner. . .

We saw this wine barrel!! It even has a dance floor on the top of it. I can't remember the size specs on it but you can see it was huge. They pretty much only drank wine back then because they couldn't drink the water. The last ruler put a limit on wine consumption during dinner. You were only allowed 7 glasses of wine per meal, but beer was limitless.  :p

This tower was actually the ammunition tower. It was blown up by their own man and has sat here in the same place ever since. The walls are 20 ft thick. 

Isn't this a neat tree. And check out my hot model I just found all ready to pose for me :)

This archway was built by one of the rulers for his wife in one night. Wow right!!

Here we are on the tram up the mountain from the castle.

It was very steep. The cars passed each other on the way.

And when we got to the top it was all foggy. Hey girls does this remind you of a certain Vampire series?

This little fella was just making his way across the trail.

On our way back to town to our hotel for the last time.

I got some pictures from Jenny's camera. So these are out of order.

This is the Brat we had that first day in town. OOOOh I am getting hungry:) It was really good.

Inside the train station. It was crazy to me. It was like an airport for trains. 

One night we decided to go to the new Iron Man 2 movie in German (no subtitles). We were the first in the theater and it was assigned seating. Then the next few people came and they sat next to me, and the next just behind us and the next just below us. That was all that showed up. Isn't that silly. They had the whole theater and they sat everyone right on top of each other. ;)

at the cemetery. 

                                  and on the boat having a snack.

The first morning we got up and left in search of a really yummy breakfast for Chris. He loves him a good American breakfast. Well we walked and walked and walked all over and guess what. . . No American style breakfast. They like pastries in Europe. I was in Heaven, but poor Chris wasn't fulfilled. He had to get a Brat after breakfast each day :)

Man here I am at this business meeting and I feel a little out of place.. . :)

Such a cute couple right.  how did I end up with such a hunk ?

Walking up the steeeeeeeep stairs to the wall surrounding the city.

Peek a Boo!!

And walking down some steeeeeeep stairs to the wall surrounding the city. . .

The guys eating a sneeball. Rolled up dough fried/baked and covered in something yummy.

And here we have Spagetti Ice.  Ice cream made to look like noodles topped with fruit and then they grate white chocolate on top.

The four of us by the leaning house.

The night watchmen who led our tour around the city. He was pretty funny.

Well there you go. Our trip to Germany was awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone who would love to see a beautiful place. TIP: Learn a little German before you go and it will make reading a menu a little easier.