The Missing Posts (Part 1)

This is so out of the ordinary for me... Mike and I just got back from Australia and New Zealand (third time there for me!) and I didn't write a single entry about our travels. (GASP)

A lot of you don't know this, but last year I paid wordpress to get an actual site for my blog. I was so excited about it and really wanted to launch my travel blog and turn it into something. There was an always an excuse though of "not feeling it today," or "too busy," "too tired..." so I let the site expire and I think it was very discouraging for me. I could have done something and I chose not to.

We had dinner with both my parents and Mikes parents last night and the missing blogs were brought up in conversation. (And a few times before last night.)

So here you go... part 1.

We arrived in Sydney on Sunday, March 3. We were greeted by beautiful weather and an early check in!! (When you've been traveling for 20+ hours and you arrive at 6am early check in is always SUPER nice so you can at least shower before going out!) Below are some pictures of Darling Harbour and of the city itself!

I really enjoy Sydney. It's not the best city ever and not my favorite city that I've ever been to, but it's just a nice, chill, place. Everyone speaks English, there are no complicated procedures to get into Australia, everything is in a central location and if it's not, it's easy to get on a bus or train and get there. There's a relaxed vibe, good people that make you feel safe... it's just a nice breather compared to some of the other countries I've been to lately. 

We spent most of the first day just walking around the harbour, seeing the opera house, touring Sydney on our own... 

It really is a beautiful city... and I LOVE that everything is so accessible and within walking distance. There's also that European flare of finding a nice outdoor restaurant, seating yourself, and enjoying the view.

The second day we did a tour with AAT Kings. Since I had been to the Blue Mountains and Featherdale Wildlife Park before, I made sure to add that onto our tour of Sydney. Booking with AAT Kings made it easy to not have to worry about transport, getting lost, etc. I did miss the hiking at the blue mountains that I had done previously, but the weather was a little toasty, so I won't complain about that!

Who can resist Australian wildlife?! Featherdale is such a nice park and if you ever go to Sydney, I recommend visiting them instead of another zoo. There's just something about this place that's so special! 

And now for the Blue Mountains:

New Zealand is up next so save your fork! **

** "Save your fork" is a reference to a story I saw on facebook. A lady who was near death said she wanted to be buried with a fork in her hand. The pastor asked her why and she explained that whenever they had meals, her favorite part of the meal was hearing the host say "save your fork" because that meant dessert was coming.  I like the spiritual significance, but I also like it in reference to our time in New Zealand.  ;)

Berlin

We've been home a couple of days now and I'm just now writing about Berlin.... yikes! I've never gotten this behind before! Guess that's what happens when your husband brings his board game collection on the trip! LOL

The first day in Berlin was quite nice... we took a city tour which included quite a couple WWII stops- We saw the Holocaust Memorial site (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is its official name) 

as well as Hitler's bunker and the site of the famous book burning. (not pictured here)

We also saw remnants of the Berlin wall.

I'm not a HUGE history nerd, but some history is particularly interesting to me and this trip was full of just that-WWII sites. Seeing the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam as well as the sites in Berlin, and a concentration camp on the last day were all things that I had the upmost respect and appreciation for.

My favorite part of the day however was the Berliner Unterwelten tour which was extremely fascinating. We did tour M which was about escapes from under the Berlin wall. We went underneath the city to take the tour and our tour guide, Joep, was absolutely fantastic. He was so passionate and into telling these stories...we learned so much! 

^^These are replicas of tunnels used to escape from the east to the west in Berlin during the cold war.
By the way, this company also does other tours which seemed just as fascinating, but we unfortunately didn't have enough time to do them all! 

The second day in Berlin we spent visiting the Sachsenhausen Concentraion Camp. It's not a place that people WANT to visit... and it's not something you do for fun, but there is a lot of history there. 30,000 people lost their lives there and the camp has turned into a memorial. Our tour guide repeated over and over how thankful he was that we were coming to pay our respects. So many survivors of the Holocaust fear that once they pass on, people aren't going to remember or believe that the Holocaust actually happened. By showing interest and taking the time to visit and learn, we can educate future generations while at the same time saying NEVER AGAIN will we let this happen. 

I leave you with this quote from Elie Wiesel, an author whose book I read in school:

Catch up....

Yikes!! Falling behind again... speaking of falls... We had one more day in Interlaken in which we did another biking tour. We went to Lauterbrunnen within the Swiss Alps. It's commonly referred to as the land of 72 waterfalls. We went through the Trümmelbach Falls cave, but it was a little rushed as we had to make it back to town to catch a train. The falls produce 20,000 liters of water per second!!

You can see some pictures below:

This tour, again, was done through Flying Wheels. One of the highlights from the tour was traveling with my hund! (that means dog in German!)  ;) I really hope my dog is adventurous as this little one!! (you can see him strapped onto his owner in the back!)

After our time in Interlaken we went over to Hamburg to see Miniatur Wunderland!  It was exceptionally done and a LOT of thought has gone into the display... just like that of EnterTRAINment Junction. We took a behind the scenes tour and so much of the tour was similar to the behind the scenes tour at EJ.

I'm a bit partial, (obviously) but I was hoping Miniatur Wunderland would be more immersive and it wasn't.... (with the exception of one part) Most of the exhibit is walking around looking at trains running around on a table... not really feeling like you're IN the display. Don't get me wrong- the trains, cars, planes (!!) and boats were fully automated and very impressive... and there are so many hidden details you could spend FOREVER looking at everything. It has its pros and cons for sure, but we easily spent 4-5 hours there and that wasn't even seeing every little detail!! 

Three of my favorite parts about Miniatur Wunderland:
1. THE PLANES TAKING OFF/LANDING. The airport is mighty impressive.
2. THE FRICKIN' CHOCOLATE BAR THAT COMES OUT OF THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY WHEN YOU PRESS THE BUTTON.
3. The fact that they honor so many different cities and countries in their displays!

Next post will feature our time in Berlin!

Mt.Titlis and Interlaken

Ahhh! Got behind on the blog so this post covers two days!

Yesterday: we had a day trip up to Mt. Titlis. The ride up included a cable car and rotating gondola... once we got up there we rode the ice flyer which is basically a ski lift... was a nice view! We also did a cliff walk, ate some really yummy gelato, and walked through a glacier cave.

 Today: we arrived in Interlaken.... oh my gosh.... beautiful!!!

Started off with a bike tour of the city. Thanks, Flying Wheels! We visited some small villages that were really cute, a couple lakes, (thunersee and brienzersee) and farms as well. It's amazing to be biking along with mountains all around you! Did I mention the bikes were e-bikes?! Electric assisted bikes... you still have to do the work, but it gives you an extra boost! Makes going up hills a LOT easier!

After a 3 hour biking tour we decided to paraglide! Great view of a beautiful city!!

beautiful Switzerland :)

Back in Lucerne for the first time 11 years. Can't believe it has been that long!!

This time around has been much better...  I like the city last time, but this time it's actually SUNNY and beautiful weather! No rain and clouds like last time!

To start, our hotel is directly across from chapel bridge, which is super nice! We walked up and down the bridge, visited the Lion monument, and walked along the Musegg Wall. (didn't get to do musegg last time!)

The construction for the Chapel Bridge began in 1333. It's the world's oldest surviving truss bridge! (It also has interior paintings throughout!)

                                                             Iconic Jesuit church

      The Lion monument commemorates Swiss Guards who were massacred in the French Revolution

                                                          View from the Musegg wall

Part of the Musegg Wall!

 

We also did paddle boating on lake Lucerne and came back out at sunset to take some AMAZING pictures!!! 

I must have taken hundreds just at sunset alone...  :)   I love travel and I love taking photos. I hope that photos can be used to encourage people to visit new places and try out new things... it's funny because I take 50 photos of the same exact spot at the same exact time because I don't want to miss any of the beauty. I want it all to be captured in my photos, but real life is always better than pictures.