The Dainings are going to Germany (and The Netherlands....and a little bit of Austria)!!!!

In just a week (EEEEK!!!!), Paul and I are heading to Europe for another awesome adventure. This time, we are headed to Germany (and The Netherlands and a bit in Austria). We shall explore these parts of Europe for 3 weeks, and we are super excited.

It's our second time to Europe (we went to Ireland 2 years ago), and hopefully, we can continue going on 3 week long adventures to Europe every 2 years for a very long time.

Why are we going to these particular countries this time? 

It was a windy road of thoughts that led us to going to these particular places. Here's how it worked:

1. We wanted to see The Netherlands with Paul's parents.
Originally, we were hoping to have his whole family join us there, but it ended up only working out with his parents, which is still going to be fun. Paul's mom has aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. that live in The Netherlands, so we are going to get to meet distant family and have actual family/locals be able to show us the best parts of their country.

Both Paul and I are of Dutch descent, so it will be fun going back to the Old Country and see places that were special to our ancestors. I can't think of a better way to see ancestral spots than with family that still lives there! We will be in The Netherlands for about 6-ish days, and we are travelling with Paul's folks for 9 days. After that, Paul and I will explore Germany and some of Austria for the rest of the trip.

We knew we wanted to see The Netherlands for a week, and then do other stuff for 2 weeks. We looked at airplane ticket deals to figure out where to go from here. It ended up being a one-flight option for a better price to fly in to/from Munich, Germany, so Germany was the additional country we decided to see this time.

2. I've always wanted to see the Neuschwanstein Castle.
I've been fascinated with castles since I was a little girl. There are more than 20,000 castles in Germany, so we will be seeing TONS of castles on our trip.

When I started college, I bought a poster of the Neuschwanstein castle (picture above). It hung in my dorm room for all 5 years of undergrad (and I think after that, I hung it in our Milwaukee apartment and house, too). Every day, I would wake up, look at that poster, and tell myself someday, I am going to Europe to see castles.

It seemed appropriate to start our trip visiting the castle that I stared at every day in college (Neuschwanstein castle is an hour-ish south of Munich where we start). It's the castle that had me dreaming of travelling in Europe and pushed us towards saving money for European adventures. 

Honestly, though, I will probably like visiting Neuschwanstein castle the least of all the castles we will be seeing. Everything I read says it's FULL of crowds and it is a bit of a tourist trap. I hate crowds and tourist traps, but I still want to see this castle. It should still be fun!

3. I've always wanted to see the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in southwest Germany.
I LOVE fairy tales and mythology (one of the reasons I got a Classics degree), and so I've always wanted to visit the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in Germany. That is where the Grimm Brothers wrote the Grimm Fairy Tales. They visited villages throughout this ancient forest and gathered up the villagers' stories.

Both Paul and I LOVE forests, mountains, and hiking, and the Black Forest will be perfect for exploring these things. There will be fishing, hiking, waterfalls, etc. that we will be seeing in this region of Germany. We are also going to Baden Baden for a spa day. It's a village made on top of an ancient salt spring or something, and the waters are supposed to be good for your skin.

4. The southeast Bavaria Region of Germany is gorgeous and contains the amazing Alps.
After swinging through the southwest Germany region, we'll continue travelling through the southeast areas of Germany. Along the way, there will be the Castle Road and we will be driving through and alongside the Alps.

We have plans for not only more castles, but also more hikes, and Paul hopes to flyfish AND go paragliding over Lake Konigssee(!!!!). I will be spending that day reading by the shore of Lake Konigssee, watching for my hubby gliding above me.

Lake Konigssee

5. While in the Alps, we end up going into Austria for a little bit.

While searching for an Airbnb for the last 4 days, we found it cheaper to stay in a place in Austria, just across the border, than in southeast Germany. So we figured we may as well see a little bit in Austria, too!

We will be doing a beautiful drive along the border in the Alps at one point, and we will be checking out Austria's Hallstaat salt mine and a nearby ice cave and normal cave. I have been obsessed with the history of salt for a LONG time, so I'm really excited that we could add this bit to our adventure!!!!

Someday, we will have to do the northern parts of Germany, but for now, there is so much beauty in the southern regions, we have TONS of things to see.

We are super excited to travel in Germany soon! We will be posting updates on this blog, just like we did for Ireland, so stay tuned! 

A very vague estimation of our trip plans