Europe’s German-Speaking Countries

Can you name them? There are three countries where German is the only official language and two where it is the majority language. Of those five we were just in four.
We flew into Munich, Germany (I know you knew Germany was one of the five), drove to Salzburg, Austria a few days later, then back through Germany, into Liechtenstein, and on to Switzerland.
A few things I learned or re-learned:
I may love the Rockies, but the Alps are more gorgeous than I ever expected.
It is worth it to spend some time to learn a few phrases, if only to sound less American and touristy.
Teething gel is a necessity.
My German accent is pathetic.
Deer goulash is pretty great.
I will never be able to fathom the devastation of WWII.
Sleep is another necessity.
Daughter is a travel trooper.
Zurich is crazy expensive.
I love family time.

München (Munich)

Easter in England (and Wales)

I love Easter and springtime! Who doesn’t? I also love that since Easter is a more important holiday to this country Derek had both the Friday before and the Monday after off of work. Friday we took off towards Wales.
We stopped at Tintern Abbey on our way. We’ve seen a lot abbeys lately, but I was interested to this one because of this pin I found right after we moved here.
Derek was really excited to find some original (medieval!) stained glass.
We drove farther into Wales to Cardiff, where we stayed the night and saw the castle.

Dover & the Southeast

Like our trip to Scarborough, we spent a few weeks in London because Derek was working on a client there. Since we were already two hours further south, we took a train from London to the southeast thereby saving us some time, taking advantage of our situation, and giving us the chance to see something we may not have seen.

The white cliffs of Dover are stunning, but I’m pretty sure on top of them wasn’t the best view. However, our little memory-building family hike in the sun by the sea was great.