Day 16: May 15, 2015 - See You Later, Europe! Hello, Dr. Pepper!

Around midnight, we got up, collected our things, said bye to Mom and Dad, and headed down to the train station. We found the right train and got on. Since it was just the four of us, we just got one cabin. We put all of our luggage on the one upper side so Al and I shared the other top and Jess and Cory had the bottom two.

After a long, restless night squished between suitcases and Al, the guy brought us some breakfast. The rolls were really good. 

Have I mentioned that I hate night trains?

We got to Switzerland and off the train. We found the train to the airport and got on that. Once we got to the airport, we found our gate after turning around a bunch of times. That airport is huge and sucks. They wouldn't let us check in for an hour so Jess and I chilled while Cory and Al went to find some food. I was not a fan of the Switzerland airport. 

We checked in, went through security, and found our gate. We weren't leaving for a while so we just hung out and watched a movie. We got on the plane and it ended up being not full at all, there were a bunch of empty rows. So we were smart and each took a row. I slept pretty much the entire way to New York. It was wonderful. 

We were stuck in the security line forever in New York but that was to be expected. I was smart and opted to let them swab my hands for gun powder and got to go through the easy security line. I ended up waiting for Al, Jess, and Cor for a while. We found our gate and got some food and DR. PEPPER!!! 

I slept pretty much the whole way home from New York too. We got in around 9:00 and the Horton's were really nice and picked us up. It was good to be home. Al and I stayed up until around 3:00am, dang jet lag! It was nice to be back in my own bed though. 

This trip was absolutely amazing! I am so grateful for the opportunity to go. I am so grateful for my amazing parents for letting us tag along with them on their sabbatical and for paying for their poor children. Traveling in Europe with your parents is very different than traveling by yourself or with students. You stay in much nicer hotels haha and don't have to worry about starving on the streets. I am so grateful for my amazing family and all the memories we made while on this trip. I'm grateful for the safety we enjoyed and that even pregnant Jess made it through with no problems. We were definitely blessed. I will forever cherish these memories and can't wait for the next trip! No matter where life takes me, I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father for creating this beautiful world for me to explore. See you on the next trip! Bon Voyage! 

Day 15: May 14, 2015 - A Palace, Packing, and Another Dreaded Night Train

Since we were catching the night train that night, we decided to pack up our things and move over to the Ramada right by the train station to make it easier. We had breakfast at the Wolf-Dietrich then took a taxi over to the Ramada. We couldn't check into our room yet but they stored our bags for us. Al and I wanted to go to the castle that looks like the Beauty and the Beast castle but it ended up being too far away. So we decided to go see the Palace at Herrenchiemsee instead, which the concierge recommended. We had to take about an hour long train to get there so Mom and Dad went to buy train tickets while Al and I went to get breakfast at Starbucks. After ordering six vanilla bean frappes, the barista said, "Brace yourself, frappuccinos are coming!" We found the right train and got on. It was a nice, relaxing ride through the countryside. We passed a bunch of cows roaming. I saw one that was lounging and Al was like, "They're trying out for the cow Vogue - they're moovelous!" I was speechless. Mom, Dad, Jess, and Cor got a lot out of the train ride.

Once there, we found a taxi to take us to the palace. We had to split up and take two. They dropped us off at this lake. We bought tickets for the ferry and got on. It was a short little ferry ride across the lake. We got off, bought our tickets for the tour and walked up to the palace. It was raining and my toms weren't doing very well. The gardens and fountains were gorgeous.

We met up with our tour guide and started in the entrance hall. They were total nazis about taking pictures. You weren't allowed to take pictures at all on the tour and even if you tried to sneak one with your phone, they yelled and freaked out. They even escorted this guy out because he wasn't listening and continued to take pictures. The tour got boring real quick so I spent my time trying to stick it to the man and get a picture with my phone. I succeeded several times. Suck it camera Nazis!

The palace really was beautiful. They said it is very similar to Versailles in Paris. The king at the time it was built, King Ludwig II, wanted it to look like Versailles. He was young and less concerned with politics and war and more concerned with creating his dream home. They only finished three of the five wings, he died before they could finish it. 

Once the tour was finished, we headed back to the ferry.  On the ferry, Cory got a non-alcoholic beer. It was nasty! So of course, we all had to try it. 

When we got back to where the ferry picks you up, there were no taxis. We started walking back to the train station but we weren't going to make our train in time. Dad ending up running down the road to catch a taxi for us. He is such a good dad! We got back to the train station and back on the train in perfect timing. The train ride was riveting again. 

Once we were back in Salzburg, Al wanted to go get some of the cheesy Sound of Music pictures we had not gotten yet. So after another stop at McDonald's, we made our way around the city to get the pictures. 

I'm really mad I didn't put my left hand on my head like Maria does. Dang it! We'll just have to go back. 

We headed back to the Ramada to rest and pack. We got everything we needed to take home packed between the four kids as Mom and Dad were staying for another four weeks. We made sure we were each under 50lbs of luggage. Cory found a nice little place to sleep until our night train. 

Day 14: May 13, 2015 - The Eagle's Nest, Konigsee Lake, and the Salt Mine

We originally did not have another tour planned for today but when we went to Bob's Special Tours on Monday for the Sound of Music tour, we scheduled another tour to go see the Eagle's Nest and some more of the country. Our tour guide Bernie picked us up at our hotel at 9:00am. We headed up to the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's private getaway in the mountains. We parked the van and took a bus up to the main place. We then got on another bus that took us up to the actual Nest. It reminded me of driving up to girl's camp - there was only one street and it was very tight and narrow. Once we got there, they took us through the tunnel where Hitler would bring his car.

At the end of the tunnel, the floor would rotate so Hitler would never have to turn his car around. We got in the famous golden elevator which was super cool that took us up to the main building. To be honest, I thought it was going to be much bigger but it was actually pretty small. Hitler didn't go up to the Nest very often, less than a dozen times because he was too paranoid and scared. There was a fireplace in the main room (which is now a restaurant) that the Americans graffitied when they stormed the place ('MURICA!).

There wasn't much to see inside so we went outside. There were some awesome views from the top of the mountain. There was even some snow up there. It was a gorgeous view. 

The line for the bus was long so we decided to walk down to the main place. It was a nice little walk down. Al and Cor had a snow ball fight, of course. Children. 

We did a little shopping then got back on the bus to head down the mountain. Once back in the van, Bernie took us to a spot where we could see the Nest from below. 

Bernie then took us to the little lakeside town of Konigsee. Pregnant Jess wasn't feeling up for the little hike so she and Mom stayed behind while Bernie took the rest of us into the woods for an amazing view. A little way in, we saw this guy making little trinkets and signs out of wood. Dad thought it would be cute to get for Mom so we had him make one that said Kemp on it. He said he would have it ready for us when we got back down. 

After a few minutes of hiking, we stopped for a great view of Lake Konigsee. It reminded me of the lake in Harry Potter when Harry is riding Buckbeak for the first time. It was beautiful. 

We went a little lower to get an even better view and to feel the water. It was freezing! 

We headed back up and picked up our sign on the way. It turned out really cute. We met up with Jess and Mom, they were putting their feet in the water. 

We did a little shopping then headed back to the van. We went to this other little town to grab some lunch. Jess and Cor went to get some bratwurst, Al got some pizza, and the rest of us went to a little bakery and got some sandwiches. I normally am very picky about my sandwiches so I said don't tell me what's in it, I'm just going to go for it! I didn't realize there were big chunks of onions on it and almost puked. Moving on... we walked around the little town for a while. There was a cool painting about the difference of wars that Germany has experienced over the years. 

The artist had originally painted people from the town on this building but people began to recognize themselves and take offense so he changed them all into monkeys. 

We then headed to the salt mines. We walked around outside a bit while Bernie got our tickets. They had little huts and stuff to represent what the area used to look like hundreds of years ago. It reminded me of places you used to go to on school field trips in elementary school. We then went inside and got our jumpsuits on. I don't think we've ever looked better. 

And now begins one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had. We were in a group of about 12 people - us and two other small groups. They had us straddle this little train that took us deep into the mountain. 

We rode the train for a while. Once we were pretty deep in the mountain, we got off and walked a little ways in. 

They had this little video set up to tell us the history of the salt mines in Austria. It was really weird... It was kind of childish and it's like they were trying to be funny but it was just weird. We walked a little bit more and then got to the first chute slide. Our guide didn't speak much english so he didn't really explain anything to us. We were just supposed to sit on these two wood planks and not put our feet down. So in other words, I am just supposed to blindly trust that if I get on this little slide, I won't die on the way down?! I was freaking out haha they didn't tell us how to stop or where we were going or anything. I went with Al and was freaking out the whole time. It ended up not being as bad as I thought but it was still freaky. 

Cory's face is a good indicator of how I was feeling. 

"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done!" 

I survived the first ordeal. We then got on this boat and sailed across this creepy lake miles below a mountain. Does this sound creepy to anyone else?! I kept thinking an inferi from the sixth Harry Potter book was going to jump out and grab my foot. We went walked through more mines. Cory kept scraping the top of the ceiling, making salt rain down on us. He kept licking the walls too. Why'd we bring him again? 

We went down one more chute slide and watched more of the weird video. I seriously cannot emphasize more how weird this was. Dad came up to me as we were walking through the mine and mentioned that we are currently miles in and under a mountain. No one knows where we are or what we are doing. That's really comforting Dad, thanks. 

And then we entered Germany and I was sure this was when my life was over. 

At the end of the tour, we got on these super long escalators to take us back up then back on the train thing to take us back out of the mountain. I wanted to fall down and kiss the ground but I thought that might be a little strange so I refrained. As a little keepsake, they gave us little salt shakers. We changed out of our suits and bought our pictures. It was seriously one of the strangest things I have ever done. I still don't know how I feel about it. 

We headed back into Salzburg. Bernie dropped us off at our hotel. He was the best! He was so knowledgable and fun to be around. I liked that he laughed at everything, including his own jokes haha he was super fun. 

We cleaned up a bit then went to the same Italian restaurant we went to the other night. The waiter was so funny and cute. He was all self conscious of his bald head. 

And to end the post, I just wanted to share this little video I took of Cory. Enjoy!