Germany Trip Blurb

My mom asked for a blurb about our trip to Germany... this is what I wrote. I thought I'd share it with you:

It was exhilarating visiting Europe again. I had heard Dad and Mom talk about there trips to Germany when Dad would go on business, I always thought it would be neat to go! What I loved most about this vacation was our family unity. I can't recall any significant tension during this trip, and that's quite the success. Memories that I will treasure came from each of the places that we visited. I definitely won't forget the huge family van/tank we drove around Europe. It continued the Branham legacy of keeping the search for parking as exciting as possible. I loved the immediate and overwhelming green hills and trees that we passed on our way out from the airport, everything was so green! I won't forget that cheese! That huge wheel of cheese that we found in Riquewihr and the piece that fed us for days! The French vineyards were way more imposing than I would have imagined. They seemed to go on forever!! They reminded me of the corn fields around the central US. I really liked the view from the top of Haut Koenigsbourgh. The eerie mist reminded me of all the Medieval movies that I've seen. German spa.... wow. Buchen was a huge highlight of the trip of course. It was really exciting to recount the infamous Buchener story and see the legacy embedded throughout the town. Being there and kissing the actual brass behind brought additional depth and connection to Dad's birthplace. I enjoyed seeing the street that Dad was raised on and imagining what it would have been like. Exploring the town and even it outskirts were a treasured time to be together (Ben!!!!). Rothenburg was extremely cool. The views from the old town where we stayed were amazing. I had the added privilege to go on a morning run in that town and I got to delve a bit more into extremities. There was a picturesque bridge and a peaceful path through the woods and then I made my way over to the new part of Rothenburg where I got the modern view of Germany (a part I think we avoided during our trip in general) and it was cool to see some residential homes and streets and how they differed from the historic towns were in. I also really enjoyed the watchman tour, walking/running around the city wall and standing at the top of tower in the city center. And that Christmas store!!! What a place! Salzburg was excellent because of all the Sound of Music stuff. At first I was skeptical of the bike tour idea but I really really enjoyed it! My favorite was biking down the road between the trees, past the "Von Trapp Mansion", with peaceful field aside and glorious mountains in the background. Fussen blew me away because of the Castles. I wasn't expecting Neuschwanstein to be as fantasy as it was explained, but it truly was! I need a man cave like his, eh? Remember when we got that troubadour to have Laura crank his instrument so her could sing her a song that included the harmonica? That was awesome! Swans are huge!! My absolute favorite part of the whole trip were the experiences in Lauterbrunnen Switzerland!!! The views were spectacular and those mountains were... beautiful!!! I knew that mountains got big but those were just ridiculous and they were accompanied by waterfalls, crazy base jumpers, sausage, amazing lakes, water bottle kick and catch, sheep with bells, glaciers and Ben!!! I just could not get enough! What a great family trip! I'm thankful for the smiles, excitement, debates, conversations and even the disagreements we share together! We are truly blessed! Thank you for such a great time!!