Rosenheim, Germany and Salzburg Austria

Mountains by Bernadette's house

I guess I should start with how I met Bernadette. For the past year and a half, I've lived in a special international housing complex that had about half American and half international students. Last year, Bernadette lived down the hall from me. When I found out that I was studying abroad, she kindly offered for me to come and stay with her and her family if I got the chance to. Well, long story short, I got the chance : )

I left pretty early in the morning in order to get to the Munich train station at a reasonable time. One flight, one bus ride, and a train ride, and I was finally meeting up with Bernadette!! It was amazing to get to see her again for sure. I was staying with Bernadette and her family for the weekend, and they turned out to be amazingly lovely people! Her Mother was extremely nice and did her very best with speaking English, which she did quite well I might add :) My only wish was that I could speak German so I could have communicated better with both Bernadette's mother and father. Also I totally fell in love with Bernadette's cat! After being away from my own cats for so long, it was amazing to get to pet and hold Moritz! (Bernadette, let me know if I spelled his name wrong! haha)

Bernadette and her wonderful Mother : )

While I was with Bernadette, herself, her Mother, and I went to King Ludwig’s Herrenchiemsee Castle which is located on one of twin islands. We visited both islands and the castle, all of which were very beautiful! Even though the castle was unfinished, it was still much more impressive than anything you could find in America. On the last full day that I spent with Bernadette, we made the 45 minute trip to Salzburg to visit a friend from University of Dayton, Kat,  who just happened to be studying abroad there. Bernadette and I met up with Kat and her friend and the proceeded to show us around the city. Salzburg, and Germany for that matter, is a beautiful place.

Fountain at King Ludwig II's unfinished castle

While we were in Salzburg, the four of us (Bernadette, Kat and her friend, and myself) hiked our way up to the Salzburg Fortress, which apparently has never been overtaken, which I found very impressive. The view was amazing and made the hike up totally worth it! Kat gave us a tour around the city before having to get back to her school work, leaving Bernadette and I to wander around a bit more. The two of us found an absolutely wonderful gelato shop! Like possibly the best I'd ever had! Totally wish we had one of those in Cincinnati! After some ice cream, we saw that it was getting dark, and heading back to the train station to head back to Bernadette's house : )

Visiting with Kat in Salzburg!

I must say that Germany left a wonderful impression on me. It was much more green and beautiful that I had been expecting! Everyone was so nice there, one guy actually stopped me from stepping on some live wires. It was definitely a close call! haha Anyway, I'm sure I've missed a lot considering I'm typing this months later, so if I remember anything after I post this, I'll be sure to come and add it!