GERMANY

Germany was awesome!  We visited Berlin, Munich and Wittenburg.  Wittenburg was a smaller town and it was so cute! I wish we could have been there longer.  This is where a lot of the Martin Luther history took place.  We were able to go into the church where he nailed the 95 thesis to the door.  We had the opportunity to sing the hymn 'A Mighty Fortress' and a few other songs in the choir area of the church.  It was awesome.  For those of you who don't know, Martin Luther wrote that song.  It was so beautiful and spiritual.  When we were done, many people were gathered to listen to us.

German food was by far my favorite!  SO GOOD!!!! Look at this waffle- INCREDIBLE.  It was covered in cinnamon, powdered sugar, bananas and vanilla ice cream.  Yeah, I could eat that every day and be happy.  And I didn't put a picture on here, but after the waffle I had this omelet thing with potatoes and all kinds of veggies......i thought i was in heaven,

This is part of the Berlin Wall.....there were a few sections that were painted.  It was really cool.

Me standing on the border where the Berlin Wall used to stand.  If you look really closely, you can see where the actual remains of the wall start across the street behind me.  We walked along that and saw the remains of the hideout of Hitler's secret police.  There is a big long walk on the backside with articles and pictures and all the history of Hitler and WWII. So sad but really interesting.  It was too long to read it all, so we mainly just looked at the pictures.  But as they say, a picture says a thousand words.  Such a true statement.

ABSOLUTE BEAUTY.  This is Swan Lake- the one and only Swan lake that the ballet and all those stories are based off of. It was so gorgeous.  And all the trees were changing color.  My teachers said we were so lucky because last year they had missed those trees by about two weeks.  I am so glad that we didn't miss them.  We were speechless.

See- I made some friends!  haha- no really....all forty of us became so close. It's amazing that so many kids could become such good friends in a month.  They were awesome.  We truly became a family.  I miss them all so much!

A swan on swan lake!!!! Later there was an old man on the side of the lake feeding this swan....seriously a kodak moment.

If you think THIS is pretty- you should have seen it in real life!!! If you ever go to Europe- go in October! You won't regret it!

The famous Neuschwanstein Castle that Walt Disney based the disneyland castle off of.  It was so COOL!!!!! We got to tour it.  Unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures inside, but it was awesome.  It seriously looked like the castles in the cartoons and movies!  Giant jewels everywhere and large gaudy paintings and ridiculous amounts of gold.  There were giant swans and grand ballrooms- it was amazing.

We had to hike up the mountain to get to the castle- and boy was the hike GORGEOUS.  I didn't even care that we were walking uphill for an hour.  LOOK AT THOSE TREES!!!!!!!

Me in front of the castle....in case you couldn't tell.  And I'm wearing the scarf I bought in Berlin!

So pretty....even though it had SCAFFOLDING ALL OVER IT!!!! haha- we were kind of upset cause that kind of ruined the view....but it was still pretty!

Me and my cow friend!  I love him!

Um- so I don't generally like sausage and the few times I've had Bratwurst I thought it was nasty- but in Germany it is YUMMY! I loved this little stand that we found outside the 

Bahnhoff  (train station :)

We usually held our own Sacrament meetings in our hotels, but when we were in Germany we had a free Sunday and one of the professors found a ward so a group of us went with him and his wife. It was so cool!!!! It was a fast and testimony meeting and even though we couldn't understand a single word- the spirit was still the same and we felt what they were saying. 

So I finally found some time to get on here and post a bunch of pictures from my European adventures!  I had to pick and choose from the hundreds and hundreds that I took, so these pics represent a very small percentage of my trip. We did so many things every single day- it's mind blowing to even think about it.  Looking at my itinerary, I cannot believe that i did all of those things- it feels like a dream!

I cannot even describe how wonderful and amazing and absolutely BREATHTAKING Europe is. I LOVED every single moment of every single day!  It's truly something you cannot describe. Pictures do it absolutely no justice.  It's something you have to see and experience for yourself. It is so amazing that such beauty actually exists.  I want to go back!  

Beneath this post are two more posts from France and England.....I hope you like them.  It's taking a lot longer than I had planned, so i only got these two countries done.  But I will try to get back on as soon as possible to get the rest of it up!  Hope you like these first few pics though! ENJOY!!!! Please feel free to comment and ask any questions!

FRANCE

We spent several days touring France. We spent most of our time in Paris- which was absolutely wonderful.  I loved Paris. There was so much to do and so much to see.  We got our metro pass and went out on the town!

The very first night we all walked over together to see the Eiffel Tower! The tour got us tickets to go to the top. It was so beautiful!  I can't believe that I have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  I wanted to eat at the restaurant but then I looked at the menu....the lowest price plate was like 90 bucks!  I wasn't that hungry!

The Tower was blue for a special holiday- so cool!

Every hour, the Eiffel Tower glitters and sparkles. It was so gorgeous!  It looked like thousands of little diamonds were twinkling in the moonlight.....so pretty!

We went back the next day so we could get our daytime shots!  So glamorous!

We went and of course saw the famous Notre Dame Cathedral.  It was so cool seeing it in real life.  And so big!  It was absolutely beautiful.  I kept waiting for the gargoyles to come to life and talk to me, but they never did. :(

A backside view of Notre Dame- one seen a little less often, but just as pretty!

Jenessa and I being our same silly selves.....Hunchback meets Esmerelda!

I'm sorry- but we just had to go find it!  We were fast, I promise!

Me enjoying my new addiction.....banana nutella crepe.  Nutella is the most amazing thing I have ever tasted. It's a hazelnut chocolate spread and it is DIVINE!  I love it love it love it!  It's Europe's peanut butter.  And as most of you know, I detest peanut butter, so I have adopted Europe's favorite sandwich spread instead. And I LOVE it. I guess I'm meant to be European!

While in Paris, we of course went to the Louvre!!!!!  Can you believe it??? I sure can't.  I got to see all kinds of art, including the Mona Lisa. It was so amazing to see it in real life.  It's real!  This was as close as I could get to it though!  They have it surrounded by a glass case and then had the entire area blocked off!  No one was getting near that painting!  Wanna know an interesting fact about the Louvre?  It is HUGE- there are so many pieces of art.  If you walked around day and night without stopping and spent 30 seconds looking at each piece, it would take four months to see everything. It's amazing that they were able to hide THAT MUCH art from Hitler when he came to take it.

There were lots of lesser known pieces of art in the Louvre as well.....

VERSAILLES!!!  look at this palace!!! So gorgeous! And it was so big- their stables were bigger than my old high school!

The gardens of Versailles were so gorgeous.  Statues and all kinds of flowers and hedge mazes and fountains......you could spend hours exploring them.

The Hall of Mirrors in Versailles

During our free time, a few of us decided to go visit and tour THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE!!!! This is the opera house where Phantom of the Opera takes place.

Masquerade!!! Paper faces on parade........

This was one of the prettiest buildings we saw on the entire trip- man those theater people know how to do it! I wanted to travel back in time and come to the shows.  It must have been so glamorous!

London, ENGLAND

The last place we visited was London, England.  So much fun- and it was so wonderful to be in a place where everyone spoke ENGLISH!!! haha- I never realized what a blessing it is just to be able to understand what the people around you are saying.  True- they have lots of different words for things...like lift(elevator), biscuit(cookie), chips(french fries), crisps(chips), spend a penny(use the restroom) but we got used to it! It was great fun. Here's some of my favorite pictures from London......

Me, Jenessa and Brooke in front of Buckingham Palace

We walked through a beautiful park on our way to Buckingham Palace and it was filled with all kinds of surprises including this darling little cottage that looked like it belonged in a Snow White movie.

Can't leave London without a photo inside one of their famous telephone booths.

We payed a visit to Kings Cross Station and found Platform 9 3/4.  SO COOL! Haha- I cannot even describe to you how excited we were- we were literally jumping up and down with excitement.  Yay for Harry Potter nerds. :)

I even found out I am part wizard cause my hand went through the wall but I couldn't get the rest of the way through so I must be mostly muggle. :(

The London Temple. So beautiful.

I really really really REALLY hate pigeons. The nasty things were EVERYWHERE. I didn't know which was more disgusting. The fact that there were a billion of them, or the fact that there was actually a designated spot for feeding them. 

London bridges falling down, falling down, falling down.....

We got to go to the Tower of London or Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress.....it started out as the White tower which was built by William the Conqueror in 1078.  We got to see the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, dungeons, and all kinds of other things on our tour.  So cool- I could have spent an entire day exploring the fortress!

I really don't know how they just STAND there for hours and hours without moving! It's incredible. One of the guys in our group tried to get him to laugh and he wouldn't even crack a smile.  They sure are good at their job!

On the last night, a group of like 30 of us went to see WICKED!!! It's my favorite musical and I was excited to experience London's Broadway.  It was cool seeing the musical in British accents.  And can I just say that our Fiyero was absolutely GORGEOUS and when he spoke and sang, all of us girls (28 of the 30 were girls) about DIED. 

So excited to go into the theater.

Jenessa and I are such nerds.