Trust me. I have heard it all when it comes to celebrating your birthday all month long. Seriously though, it's a holiday and every one should do it. YOU came to this earth and YOU have a purpose for being here. So I say celebrate it as much as possible!
As my mom and dad say "It started as a birthDAY, then turned into a birthWEEK, and now it's a birthMONTH!" Heck Yes.
This was the first week of June! The start of my Birthday Month. It was both glorious and stressful.
On June 3rd we left with 9 of our friends and went to Garmisch in the beautiful Bavaria. This location is in the Alps next to Austria and is where people that yodel come from. Yo da la he hoo!
We left at 6:30 in the morning and drove until we came to Dachau Concentration Camp. This specific camp was the first camp to be created during Hitlers reign and was one of the last to be closed. They did have gas chambers there, but unlike Auschwitz, they do not have proof they were ever used. The camp barracks were originally only supposed to hold 200 people, but by the end of the war they had roughly over 2,000 people. This was a very heart wrenching tour to take, but I learned so much and I am so happy that we went. I know WW2 is hard for some to talk about, but there is always something that surprises me the more I learn about that era.
We finally got to our loft in Garmisch around 7:30 at night, unpacked, had dinner, and went to bed.
Tuesday the 4th we went to Neuschwanstein (new swan stone) Castle. It was absolutely gorgeous. We could have taken a carriage up to the castle, but the line was so long that we decided to just walk. I would say to walk to the castle it took about a half hour. Inside we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I tried to anyway ha ha. Our tour (which costs 12 euro per person) guide was so socially awkward it made it fun. We nicknamed him Dieter. I've never had someone stop mid sentence and just stare at me because I was whispering something into my husbands ear. Ha ha. After the tour we hiked along the castle and went to a bridge that was about a quarter mile away. It had the most beautiful view of the castle and I got some really great images. After seeing the castle we went and shopped a little then we went and took pictures with the Alps then went back to the loft, had dinner, and played games. It was such a fun day and I will never forget seeing the castle for the first time.
Wednesday the 5th. We woke up and decided to go to Austria to a town called Innsbruck. When we got there we walked around the city, then had lunch at an Italian restaurant. It was so good and the waiter was great. Then we went shopping. I got a cute t-shirt for 3 euro that has anchors on it. I was so proud :) After shopping we decided to go to Italy and get some Gelato. Because it's so common to just stop in Italy and get Gelato, ya know. We got there and Jake could hear something rattling in my car. I didn't hear it at first, but then when I parked I heard the rattling. One of our friends in the group is a mechanic so he looked over it to see where it was coming from, but because of no tools that was the best we could do. So we carried on and went and took pictures in the Italian town and got gelato that was A-MAZING! I had strawberry and chocolate. YUM! When we were done eating gelato it was time to go, so we got in the car, said a little prayer for the car and we were off to go back to Germany.
All driving back we couldn't hear the noise over the engine, and so I kept saying the car was fine and we would be fine for the rest of the week. We just needed to make it back home this weekend and have it go in the shop and it would be fine. Well I was WRONG! About 20 minutes from the loft after driving for about an hour and a half, I was driving, and the car started jerking, so I turned the radio down and then we both heard clanking in the engine. As if someone had taken a wrench and just went to town on banging the inside of my car. Next thing I know I didn't have any gas and my gas peddle was hitting the floor. Nothing was happening. I was freaking out, and Jake the calm one told me to just pull over to the side of the road. Luckily I still had my breaks. I started crying and all our friends were there to help us and help me calm down. We don't have what is called ADAC, which is a towing company, so this is where we start feeling the ultimate blessings of our friends. I went back to the loft in another vehicle, while Jake and a few others stayed behind. They were able to use their ADAC service and have the car towed to the nearest army base. If Jake and I were by ourselves that would have cost us a fortune. Looks like we will be getting ADAC ASAP.
Thursday the 6th. The auto center didn't open until 2:00 PM. That put a huge damper on the day. We all just walked around the town of Garmisch until the time came that we could go to the auto center and look at the car. I thought it was a problem inside the engine, but everyone else was thinking it was the timing belt, but I thought that had just been replaced so it couldn't have been that. Again, I was wrong. The timing belt was in shreds. After we saw that, we knew we needed to go order the part. The parts store didn't have the part, so we went to the Honda Dealership to see if they had it, but they explained that they would have to order it from the states, and that they were actually 99% sure my engine had gotten the worst of the damage. The guys took me home and went back to look at the car. 2 hours later when they showed up, the diagnoses was right. The engine was caput. To replace the engine we would have had to order it from the states, then pay for the shipping, then pay for the labor, then pay for the tax over here (19%), then pay for hotels and rentals while it got fixed reaching over $4,000. More than the car was even worth. So, we paid the mechanic at the army base $80 and Goldie Locks is now scrap metal. :( That night me and the girlfriends went out and took photos since we are all into photography pretty heavily. It was fun having 4 DLSR cameras out taking pictures of one person. We got some hoots and hollers! I even got .50 for sitting on the ground and looking like a hobo! lol.
Friday the 7th. We woke up and went to clean out the car and get a rental. The rental place on base though was out of cars, so we called the other 5 places in Garmisch that has rentals and all of them were out of vehicles for the weekend. Um, why be open if you don't have anything available. My stress was hitting an all new level. I was crying uncontrollably while cleaning my car out. I have so many amazing memories with that car that it was a tough thing to do. Plus not being able to get a rental put the cherry on top of it. Again though because of our amazing friends, they were back at the loft calling everywhere in Munich which was an hour away for a place to have a rental. They found one place that had one vehicle. It wasn't going to be ready until 4:00 so we went and hung out at a park and then Jake and I went to H&M and I got a pair of sandals that were originally 5 euro for 2 euro. I was so happy. Probably the highlight of my week. We then drove to Munich where we got the rental. I was so happy to have a car again, but so sad that because of my car breaking down, we had to waste time dealing with that. When we got back, Sarah and I got ready and went out with our hubbys to a Bavarian Restaurant. It was so yummy, but the food was also really salty. Too salty for even me. Still good though. There was a guy there that kept staring at us and it gave us all the creeps. Creepy Mc Creepy is what we named him. I had a pork thigh that was really good. I'm not too sure what Jake had. During dinner there were these two boys that would dance for us in true bavarian outfits. It was so cute and so much fun. The little road it was on was also adorable and we walked down it after dinner and took pictures. I can't wait to work on the photos I took while down there. That night the girls had a dance party. It's so awesome to have these girls as friends. Dancing, Photography, Make Up, Hair, Shopping. It's who we are. lol.
Saturday the 8th. It was our last day in Garmisch. We woke up and had to be out of the loft by 10:00 AM. We left around 10:30 and went back to the little road that we were on the night before. We all shopped and got brots for lunch. I got myself a cute little antique pottery that is green. I love it. I couldn't not buy it. It was too cute. After shopping around the street, we decided to go to a lake and rent paddle boats. It was so much fun! Me, Sarah, and Michelle would dance on the back while the boys peddled, and then Jake and Mike jumped into the freezing glacier water. We laid out and all got a little sun. I didn't know you could get a sun burn in the Alps ;). We even saw a butt naked man while out on the lake. These Germans have no care in the world. They will strip right in front of you with no worries. It was so relaxing being on the lake. I wish we could have stayed all day, but it eventually became time for us to go and head back home. We stopped for subway and then drove. Jake and I got home around 1:30 in the morning and got to bed by 2:00.
The trip was all together a great one. The car was a huge hiccup, and we aren't too happy about needing to buy a new one, but whatever we do buy it will be one that will be reliable while we are here in Germany. We had a blast and it really was so relaxing. Jake and I kept saying how we wish we could have just stayed there. We will for sure be going back many times in the next coming years just for relaxing. I love all my friends and I'm so happy we were able to share this time together and grow closer together. We are all so different, but a lot a like as well.
I can't wait for our next adventure....Paris ;)
Until next week.... Tschüss
No comments:
Post a Comment