EURO TRIP '12

Matt and I are taking off work early and heading to EUROPE this afternoon!  I don't know if I've ever been so excited for a trip...my FIRST international trip not by myself! (I've gone on a few trips with groups, but never with anyone I knew.)

We fly from KC to Minneapolis, have an hour layover, and then fly non-stop to Amsterdam -- arriving at 10:45am on Friday (which is like 3:45am here).  While I would love to check out the Red Light District and maybe have some brownies with a little something extra in them (that's a JOKE!), we only have a couple of hours there.  The whole point in going to Europe is to make it to Matt's friends wedding in Bremen, Germany - which happens to be Friday night!  Well, actually it's a two-day affair.  The actual wedding is Friday, but the big dinner/party is Saturday night.  

I don't know any German, but I was SO excited when this wedding invitation came in the mail several months ago!

It will take us 4 hours to get from Amsterdam to Bremen, Germany, by train.  So depending on which train we actually catch from the airport, we could possibly get to our hotel and down to the wedding in time for the reception at 7:30pm.  I don't think there's any way we'll catch the actual wedding at 6pm, but it's the best we can do!

Saturday we'll check out Bremen during the day and have the big wedding party that night...all night, I've been warned. ;)

Sunday we are road tripping across Germany to Berlin on the A2 autobahn.  That is supposed to be a 4 hour trip, but with no speed limit and 3 crazy boys (including 1 Slovakian and 1 South African), I'm sure we'll make it there much quicker. ;)  We'll stay the night there...somewhere.  Haven't figured that part out yet, haha.  It's Berlin.  Surely we can find a cheap room somewhere...

Monday morning we fly from Berlin to Geneva, Switzerland.  The flight was so cheap -- like $50 cheap!  From there we will take a series of trains (Geneva --> Bern --> Interlaken --> Lauterbrunnen) and then cable cars up to our little vehicle-less mountain village of Murren that has more cows than people, supposedly.  I can hardly breathe just thinking about it!! 

Here's how it all worked out:  I bought a book off a Groupon called, "Secret Journeys of a Lifetime." 

I have a feeling we're going to get a lot of use out of this book!

While flipping through it one night, I pointed to a picture of a revolving restaurant at the top of the Alps with 360 degree views of four countries and said, "THAT is where I want to go."  Matt, being the most amazing boyfriend ever, said, "Done. Let's do it!"  So, that is where we are going!  Upon more research, it turned out this was pretty much the ideal locaton (for us) in all of Switzerland.  Hiking galore, 72 waterfalls, quiet little Swiss villages, lots of cheese...it couldn't have worked out more perfectly!

Piz Gloria at the top of Schilthorn, where the James Bond 007 movie was filmed...
and where we'll be having breakfast one morning!

We will hang out in Murren / Gimmelwald / Stechelberg / Lauterbrunnen Tuesday and Wednesday. We have some little bed and breakfast chalet places booked, and who knows what kind of fun things we will get ourselves in to.  I'm pushing for some base jumping (it's HUGE there), but Matt is leaning more towards zip-lining, ha. We'll for sure be checking out Trummelbach Falls and Staubachh Falls.  These were another big part of why I wanted to go to this location.  I absolutely LOVE waterfalls (and hiking).
Doesn't it just look gorgeous!?

Cable car over Murren

Trummelbauch Falls - it's a WOW ALERT from Lonely Planet (I swear by their travel books)



Staubach Falls from Lauterbrunnen, where we're staying Wednesday night

 On Thursday, we will make our way from the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland, and train up north an hour or so to stay with some friends of mine (Christa and Dik, who I met in Thailand) who live in the tiny village of Sumiswald, Switzerland.  I can only imagine how awesome staying with a fun, young Swiss couple will be!  Only time for one night there, though. :(

Around noon on Friday, we will head (via train, again) from Sumiswald, Switzerland all the way over to Munich, Germany.  It's about an hour to get to Zurich, I think, and then four more hours from Zurich to Munich.  And guess what just happens to be going on that weekend in Munich?  Oh yea, OKTOBERFEST.  The REAL one.

Matt is just a little excited for this part of the trip.  I don't drink beer (or eat sausages) but I might have to make some exceptions at the worlds largest fair!  We lucked out and are staying with some friends of his - the ones that are getting married the weekend before in Bremen, actually - who live in Munich.  Hotel rooms were absurdly expensive, and all booked up on top of that.  So Saturday, we will be taking in Munich's Oktoberfest, and probably drinking quite a bit of beer. :)

We fly back home on Sunday, arriving in KC that night.  Just in time to make it back to work for quarter-end bright and early Monday morning!  (Yuck.)

As always, I'll try and update this along the way.  I'm sure Germany will have plenty of wifi, but I don't know about our little Swiss chalet in the Alps! 

Okay -- we're off for EURO TRIP '12!!