Ok ok, after today, I PROMISE not to mention Germany again for at least a month. Deal?

To continue where I left off…after visiting my second cousins in Munich, I took a brief day-and-a-half trip to Innsbruck, Austria.

If you’re ever anywhere remotely near this little town—like, even just on the same continent—you must go. This is the view when walking around downtown:

It was completely unreal. The Alps were so close I felt like I could just reach out and touch them.

Unfortunately my lifelong dream of becoming an honorary cast member of the pre-Nazi part of The Sound of Music by frolicking in the Alps like Maria was thwarted when the mountains clouded over, but I still got my Alpine fill for now. Even the bus ride back to Germany was stunning:

The last two weeks of my German vacation were spent with my grandmother, two aunts, and first cousin in the Rhein River area. I don’t get to see this part of my family much—the last time was EIGHT years ago—so it was wonderful to catch up.

We mostly did commonplace, every day things, like grocery shopping and cooking, but I honestly loved every minute of it. I’ll spare you the boring posed family pictures, though, and just show you some of the fantastic countryside and little moments I enjoyed.

My Oma lives in the town of Hochspeyer, outside of Kaiserslautern, in a sweet 1-bed apartment on the first floor of this charming house:

I got totally spoiled getting to play with her neighbor’s dog. Did I ever mention me and Alan are dog crazy? (Yes, we’re cat crazy too. I guess we’re just crazy animal people).

 

Yes, that is a cigarette vending machine! Cultural differences are funny.

We took a million walks around the country and in the forest. I’m a country girl at heart so I was in absolute heaven.

I also got to visit my aunt Dagmar’s village of Lötzbeuren—only 400 residents and nothing but amazing views.

 

The stretches of yellow flowers are rapeseed, which smell awful but are breathtakingly beautiful.

We took a horse-and-buggy ride with Dagmar’s friends! Oh yeah, I’m a horse crazy person too.

And that was that! After 30 full days of being off in my home country, it was time to come home. Alan did an excellent job of keeping the plants (and cats) alive while I was gone, but you can’t leave your S.O. at home alone too long, you know?

What trips are you planning this year? I’m ready for a good staycation to recover from my vacation!