Life in Texas: Europe 2009

We're back from our jaunt across the Atlantic. Can you call a 10-hour plane ride a jaunt? We were gone for two weeks and in that time, we went to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. It's hard to decide what my favorite place was. For me, Switzerland and Austria were the most beautiful. I was the most in awe when we were there. Both countries had great food (fondue in Switzerland and bratwurst in Austria) and the people were so welcoming. Michael says he liked Switzerland the best because of the lanscape. He thinks Luzern was the coolest big city and Interlaken was most beautiful, relaxing city. Here's my rundown:

Germany (Bavaria): great food, lots of history, easy to find your way, cobble stone streets
Switzerland (Zurich, Luzern, Interlaken, Zermatt): gorgeous landscape, friendly people, relaxing environment
Italy (Milan, Lake Como, Venice): not-so-friendly people, busy, crowded, pizza and gelato shops EVERYWHERE, coolest architecture, beautiful lanscape in Lake Como
Austria (Salzburg): home of Mozart, awesome food, easiest to communicate to locals/seemed most like America, cobble stoned streets

In Switzerland, we took the Jungfraujoch cog wheel train from Interlaken to the "Top of Europe." It was -2 degrees Celcius. It was unbelievably cold. After a few minutes outside I couldn't bend my fingers.

I "borrowed" (read - now own since I don't plan to return) my dad's camera for our trip. To be safe, I also brought my camera. Between the two I managed to take.....1,200 pictures in two weeks. It really didn't seem like that many when we were there.

One of the most moving experiences was going to Dachau Concentration Camp near Munich. You won't see any pictures of us there because it really wasn't a place to pose. I took some photos of the buildings that were constructed like those used by the Germans, but they don't do the vastness of the grounds justice.

Venice, Italy