It was tough leaving Paris, but we were both so excited for Munich!

We practiced our German accents on the train ride over.

Derek has it down pretty good. Mine still needs some work.

We have loved taking the trains from country to country.

You can see so much more this way as opposed to flying.

It's incredible how each country has it's own unique architectural style.

You can tell when you are in a new country by the design of the homes and buildings.

 

Our first stop in Munich was the Augustiner-Heller beer garden.

For being a non-drinker, I was surprised at how much I loved the concept of a beer garden.

People outdoors, eating, drinking, having a good time.

No one was being obnoxious; people were just enjoying each others company and making new friends.

 

 

 

 This is what Mormons do at a beer garden: eat huge pretzels!

 

Since the weather was cooperating nicely we checked out the English Garden, which is one of the largest urban parks in the world.

This park may have trumped the Parque de Retiro in Spain for me.

It was AMAZING!

So green and quiet and peaceful.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

 

 

 

 

We could have literally spent all day there!

Another fun part about this park is that--while most of it is very serene and peaceful--there is a beer garden inside with lots of fun mingling going on.

Derek had a very German lunch consisting of bratwurst and country potatoes.

I, on the other hand, had a salad...because that is what a vegetarian eats in Germany!

So far our favorite things about Munich are:

 

- How clean and organized it is. It feels like a very safe and livable city.

- The lively people. It could be all the beer, but everyone seems to be having a real good time.

- The outfits. We're not sure if there was some special occasion going on, but we were surprised to see many people (including younger people) dressed in traditional German clothing.

 

We get one more day in Munich before heading to Switzerland!

Bonjour from Paris!

"Bonjour!", "Au revoir!", "Merci and "S'il vous plaît". 

That is about as much French as we have in our vocabulary. 

Oh, and "Crêpe". We know that one very well.

We are absolutely LOVING Paris.

Derek has been here briefly before for work, but this is my first time.

We keep looking at each other and saying, "what do you think, should we live here??"

The answer is yes, of course.

Everything about Paris is beautiful.

Every building is so historic and I love the uniformity.

We are staying in a gorgeous apartment we found on Airbnb where we get to wake up to this view:

And check out the rest of the place. 

I had to get pictures of all of it because it is basically my dream apartment!!

Incredible, right?!

The apartment is also in a great location so we have been getting around by foot or using the metro.

Our first day we walked to the musée du Louvre.

We haven't gone inside yet, but even walking around the outside was impressive.

It's incredible how clean and well kept all of the buildings look after so many years.

Of course we visited to Eiffel Tower our first day in Paris.

I couldn't wait to see it in the flesh!!

'Makeout under the Eiffel Tower' was seriously on my bucket list.

CHECK!

We will show this picture to our kids one day to gross them out :)

It has been sprinkling on and off since we got to Paris, so I was thrilled that the sun came out while we visited the Eiffel Tower. 

We were even able to have a makeshift picnic of bread, cheese, greek yogurt and fruit.

In the evening we headed up Montmartre which is a hill with an incredible view of the city.

We went at the perfect time to watch the sunset.

Our Parisian adventure continues until Friday.

Au revoir for now!

Barcelona

We are on day two in Barcelona and enjoying every second!

We took the train from Madrid which was a quick two and a half hours.

We felt pretty fancy traveling first class in our all-leather seats.

We've been getting creative with our breakfast and lunch meals since we're trying to only eat out for dinner.

So far we've enjoyed some yummy greek yogurt with berries, croissants, and baguettes with cheese.

It feels like we've been eating bread non-stop.

It's hard not to when there is a panadería at every corner.

We snack on mini chocolate-filled croissants like they're going out of style.

We justify all of the eating by how much we are walking--which is A LOT!

Speaking of eating, we are still loving tapas here in Spain.

So many foods to try...so little time!

One of the highlights of Barcelona for us has been visiting Park Guell.

Gaudi was a genius artist/architect and you can see his work all over Barcelona, especially in this park.

It has become a quintessential landmark of Barcelona.

Derek and I aren't huge museum lovers, but this is the way we like to enjoy art--outdoors.

Another brilliant work of Gaudi's is the Sagrada Familia. 

This is a must-see!

It was crazy walking out of the metro station to see this beautiful cathedral.

It looks so out of place in its setting.

According to Rick Steves (our European 'travel guide'), while many people think construction is being done for restoration purposes, this cathedral is actually still being built.

Gaudi knew that when he began designing it that he would not see it completed in his lifetime.

Pretty crazy.

 

On to Paris tomorrow!

Hola from Madrid

After a 22 hour travel day, we finally made it to Madrid!!

We were pretty beat by the time we got to our place but we forced ourselves to stay awake to avoid jet lag. 

We were also starving so we headed to our first tapas experience at Lateral.

The restaurant was recommended to us and it's just a few blocks from where we are staying.

As we were waiting in line to be seated I ran into an old friend from high school. 

What are the odds?! 

We are in a foreign country for less than an hour and we already see someone we know. Love it!

This is such a small world we live in.

The food was incredible and the weather was perfect for outdoor seating.

I love the tapas style of eating--you get to try lots of different foods in the perfect amounts.

I could definitely get used to this.

The next morning we set out to explore Madrid.

We headed to the Prado Museum only to find out that it was closed because of Labor Day (which always falls on May 1st in Spain).

We weren't too disappointed though, since there is literally something to see at every corner here.

We walked over to the Parque Del Retiro which is essentially the Central Park of Madrid.

I love me a good park and this one was exceptionally amazing.

First of all, it's huge! 

We could have spent all day walking the grounds. 

It is also very clean and well kept.

My favorite part was the row boats.

We just watched from afar since we weren't up for waiting in the long line or paying the expensive fee.

I know--we're adventurous. 

BUT I did buy a hat...which for me is pretty adventurous!

I figured 'when in Rome', right?? 

I bought it at the Parque so it also makes for a great souvenir :)

I think Derek's favorite part of the day was just laying in this patch of grass.

He said he was taking in the fact that he is done with school.

No more exams, no more group projects, no more homework.

He was just soaking it all in.

---

And that was pretty much our first day in Madrid!

We have absolutely loved it here so far.

The food is amazing and we love practicing our Spanish every chance we get.

Adios for now!