Alright y'all.
Make sure you have a nice comfy seat and a cup of coffee because you are about to read three weeks of the Neitzel Girls traveling Europe. You might want to go the bathroom first too.
Ready?
My mother and sister flew from California to Paris and then Paris to Amsterdam on December 17th. They would have made it to Amsterdam by 2pm but they missed their connecting flight. Even after the plane taxied for 20 extra minutes running through the entire Paris terminal, going through customs and running to the gate, they still missed their flight. So while the airline booked them on their next available flight and they wiped the buckets of sweat from running the terminal, I snuggled into bed, started the Santa Claus 2, took a nap and awaited their arrival.
Amsterdam
We had two days in Amsterdam before we left for Germany. I tried to squeeze as many fun Amsterdam things in before we left. We spent the first day biking around the city and through Vondelpark. Much to my surprise, no one got ran over or hit by a car... or a bike. I told them, you just need to ride your bike with the same confidence and aggressiveness as you do when you drive a car in LA. Which is true. Riding a bike in Amsterdam isn't for the weak.
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"I'm not sure the last time I was on a bike,"-Mom
"Don't worry, it's just like riding a bike..."-Me |
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| Amanda's Favorite part: biking in Vondelpark |
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| Street Art, Yo. |
The next day Amanda and my mom went to explore the Rikjsmuseum and walk around the area. I however did not join because I was doing this the night before (pictured below).
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| Final Partyyyyy |
Even though our time in Amsterdam was short, I knew we still had two more days when we returned to do other things.
Munich, Germany
Next stop: Beer and Schnitzel
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| CHUG CHUG CHUG |
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| My mom always finished her beer first. And she wasn't even in a sorority. WTF |
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| Tres cervazas por favor |
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| And Schnitzel obvi |
Out of all the palaces we explored, the one in Munich was by far our favorite.
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| A little Christmas shopping for myself. |
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| Love this door |
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| I would hate to be the kid in this family when the mom was like, "Hey can you go set the table..." |
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| YAASSSSS |
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| #HallwayGoals |
Next stop: Dachau, Concentration Camp
Very eerie. I didn't take many pictures because I felt it was a place one needs to experience versus looking at pictures.
Next Stop: Castle Shopping
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| Castle Hohenschwangau |
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| Castle Hohenschwangau |
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| View from Castle |
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| Neuschwanstein AKA Sleeping Beauty's Castle |
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| Welcome to our new summer home |
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| View from Neuschwanstein |
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| This is still my favorite castle though |
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| Our first Christmas market on our trip |
Munich was great, not my favorite though. I enjoyed the castles the most. And the beer and bratwursts. SO DELISH.
Salzburg, Austria
For the rest of the trip until going back to Amsterdam, we took the train. Amanda and my mom embarrassingly played cards throughout the entire ride. And not a little card game like Uno. No. It was Hand and Foot. It involves 6 decks and a whole table. So, I just sipped on my cappuccino and judged them. And no, I didn't play because I was too busy reading The Help.
In Salzburg, we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Which was very interesting to say the least. We enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve dinner at a Chinese restaurant down the street from our hotel. While everyone else was having their roasts and pies, I was having fried rice and sesame chicken. On Christmas we went on a Sound of Music tour. In a big tour bus. With Julie Andrew's face plastered on the side. IT WAS FANTASTIC. Touring a country while singing a musical? Hello, winner winner (sesame) chicken dinner. However, it didn't really feel like Christmas. It was super strange being away from home. PLUS Santa had no idea where I was and DIDN'T come. WTF.
Salzburg was so pretty. It sucked that every single shop was closed every single day we were there. Except the Chinese Restaurant. That was open. It was a fun place to do Christmas BUT I wish there had been snow. C'mon.
Vienna, Austria
I think this was all of our favorite place we visited. It was a small town and it didn't have that big city feel to it, which I enjoy more. But it was also soooo cutttteeeee. I loved all the streets and the buildings. Although this was our favorite place, it was our least favorite hotel. Hilton can SUCK IT. Also, PSA, queen sized beds in Europe are not the size of queen beds in America. Like maybe half the size. So if you are the youngest in the family you will probably have to sleep uncomfortably on a pull out cot because THE QUEEN SIZED BEDS ARE NOT QUEEN SIZED. The best part of the Hilton was that sometimes the entire room's electricity would go out for no reason. Fun. Also they forgot to give us coffee creamer. BUTTHOLES.
Anywho. Besides our horrible room, we had a fabulous time in the town. We went to the zoo on the side of a mountain, all the way to the top of the mountain on a tram, the Swarovski Museum and ice skating. We also spent New Years Eve there too. Which was surprisingly fun. They had three different stages with two DJs and one live band. We went back to the hotel for the fireworks for a better view. Literally so cool. The fireworks went off from 7pm-2am. Around 11pm they were being fired off all across the horizon, in the streets and over the river every 1-2 seconds. It was FANTASTIC. Best NYE firework show ever.
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| I mean LOOK AT THIS PLACE. |
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| Quit moosing around. LOL. I just made that up |
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| He is literally moosing around. HAHA |
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| Yakity yak. Don't talk back. It's actually a bison though. Not a yak |
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| I did get a New Year's kiss haaaaayyyy |
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| PROOST! |
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| No one would sled with me! |
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| Finally found some snow. Barely any. |
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| NYE... at a Christmas market... Another Christmas market... |
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| NYE |
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| Swarovski Entrance |
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| Cinderella's Slipper!!! |
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| Frost yourself |
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| Tinkerbell? WANTTTT. |
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| Crystal ceiling |
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| No idea what this is |
Zurich, Switzerland
Now, I'm a little disappointed with this stop. Only because we only had one full day there, Sunday. And guess what happens on Sundays... everything is closed. It literally could have been a holiday it was so dead. Want to go shopping? Closed. Cafes? Closed. Chocolate stores? Closed. Cheese stores? Closed. WHYYYYYYY??? All I wanted from Zurich was some god damn chocolate and some god damn snow and I got neither. That isn't true. I got hot chocolate. My mom said maybe it was a good thing all the stores were closed because everything there is sooooooo expensive.
Since everything was basically closed the only things we did was go on a boat tour, walk around and eat fondue.
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| The only day it rained on our whoolllleeee entire trip |
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| Streets |
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| So pretty. Felt like it went on for miles |
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| Fondue night one. Yes Amanda did dip the pickles in cheese. "Everything tastes good covered in cheese" -Amanda |
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| Boat cruise on Lake Zurich |
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| And we froze |
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| But it was pretty |
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| Fun fact. You aren't allowed to take pictures in here. MY BAD |
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| I liked this little downtown area. S'Cute |
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| For some reason the bells in Zurich ran for like 15 mins every hour. And there were like 10000 bell towers. |
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| I want some goddd damnnnn chocolate! |
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| But I had to settle for hot chocolate |
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| YAS. Fonde night 2. SO GOOD. |
Amsterdam, Round 2
We flew back bright and early to Amsterdam so we could have about two full days in the Dam before I sent them back home. While I went back to my dorm to drop my stuff off and pack an overnight bag, Amanda and my mom went to the Van Gogh museum. After I met back up, we went and got huge, homemade stroopwafels. I don't have a picture because I accidentally devoured it. Whoops. The next day, I took them to my favorite little town in the Netherlands; Haarlem. We had afternoon tea at my favorite tea place and I showed them their first dutch windmill. And of course it was under construction. For dinner Amanda found this SUPER AMAZING restaurant with 9 delicious courses. Oh it was so fabulous. My mom said it was the best meal she ever had. And she's old, so you know she's had alooooootttt of meals. Sorry no pics. I didn't want to be basic and take a picture of each course. I was trying to be fancy, yo!
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| Lil finger sandwiches for our fancy selves |
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| Yas SCONES Yas |
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| Dessert. |
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| Windmill |
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| Amsterdam at night |
After all that, I dropped them off at the airport and waved goodbye, sad that our trip was over. Well actually it was more like, " Can you guys figure it out from here? I want to go back to bed. Bye."
I really was sad to see them go.
But I was also very tired.
It was a fabulous trip and we had a fabulous time. I wish it had snowed and I wish things weren't closed all the time. I now know that even though it is a perfect time to take off from work or school and go travel around the holidays, I probably won't do it again. Everything was closed and it became very annoying. I guess I'm used to everything always being open in the US haha. I will also never stay in a Hilton in Europe. Oh well, lessons learned for next trip.
Speaking of the next trip... I leave for London in the morning.
Goodbye my pretties.
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