Top 5 Favorite Trips in Germany

Unlike the list of our favorite international trips, this list was harder to rank because we loved each of these places for different reasons. Here are our favorite trips in Germany:

Berlin

Ahhh, chilly, frosty Berlin! The nonconformity and edge of the people in Berlin was in such contrast to the conservative nature of Munich - it was so refreshing. If you're looking for a place to visit with great museums, food and design inspiration, Berlin should be on your list.

Don't let the snow in these pictures scare you - it's probably gorgeous May through October.

Lindau


The harbor at dusk



Greg planned this trip on his own for our second anniversary in November. It was the perfect time to visit because the folliage was beautiful and Lindau was quieter than it probably was in the summer. To get to the city, the train crossed a bridge across a section of the lake and Lindau looks just magical. Most of the weekend was spent walking around the small city and Lake Constance, but we did also check out their fabulous museum while there.

 
Nuremberg


One of Nuremberg's fountains



Greg calls this city "the city of fountains" because there were really so many fountains, including a huge, amazing one featuring various sins like gluttony, avarice, hatred, etc. Of course, there were many other things to see in the town, but that and the house of Alfred Durer, a painter, stuck with us.

During the war, the city was almost completely wiped out, but they did a wonderful job rebuilding it and making it look like it did in the pre-war days. This was a very fun place to walk around in and they also have a few good museums... and supposedly an amazing Christmas market, but we didn't see it.

Bayerischzell

We saw Bayerischzell first in the winter when we went cross-country skiing and loved it. The track was fantastic and wound its way by a river and through a plain, ending with a warm plate of kaiser schwarm at a local restaurant.

I think Bayerischzell was the best cross-country skiing we did while in Germany and it was too bad we found it so late. At least we have the memories!

Eichstatt

Unlike our other vacations on this list, this trip we took with our family that lived there - my aunt Na'ama and uncle Gil, and their kids: Shai-Li, Amit and Yuval, and their friends. It was a full weekend with canoeing, exploring ruins, hikes with kid-and-Greg-friendly activities, and chipping away for fossils. When we eventually have a home in the US, ask us to show you our fossilized worm poop slate.

I think this trip was important for us because it was our first and we really bonded with our family through it. Greg hardly knew my family at that point and it was a pretty quick way for him to get to know them all. The German-Portuguese family that also came with filled us in on the history of the area we were in and about Germany in general. It's hard to believe that we took this trip in August of 2009 and we had just moved to Germany a few weeks before. 


Greg swinging across a murky pond







Our canoe, which was always the last one in