We left Berlin and headed to Dresden. The stop here has multiple reasons. There are a lot of beautiful building and rich history here in Dresden, my cousin (my dads niece) lives here, and it is about 40 minutes from my dads hometown.

We were able to meet up with Katja and Axel (her partner) when we got into town. We explored a bit, had something to eat, video chatted with my dad, and had a beer. They had to head off to another get together and we took the evening to relax. Tomorrow we will head out to Großenhain so Wade and Keely can see my dads house, his school, the park he spent a lot of time in, and the Kupferberg (my favorite restaurant in Großenhain).

We were so wiped out yesterday that I didn’t post. So here is the post for yesterday.

Oh Berlin! While it is still not my number 1 city in Germany, it is still in my top 3. Berlin embraces its history; the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m a nerd and a sucker for history and Berlin has it.

We did a hop on hop off tour again because we knew there was just so much to see. If you are going to be in Berlin for 3 days or less, we HIGHLY recommend it. You can see all the things and then decide what you want to go back to later (ie the zoo).

Once we got to Checkpoint Charlie, I got a tad emotional. It hit me that my dad has lived on both sides of the wall as a German and as a German-American. He was born in and lived in East Germany until the age of 14 (he turned 15 in Munich on the west side). Then he came back and lived in Bremerhaven as an American solider. Reading the stories of people trying to get across that border, many surviving and many not, it hit me just how lucky he was.

And cut the emotional scene

Anyway, there were so many beautiful buildings and so many historical sites. Definitely spend some time if you can!

Side note; the photos are not in order. Between editing and consolidating mine, Wade’s, and Keely’s photos there were just too many and I’m still tired lol!

Today was unintentionally eventful. We took the train from Frankfurt to Berlin and got to our hotel relatively easy. We stopped at a cool little place by our hotel for lunch and then headed out. We were SUPPOSED to be making a quick trip to Charlottenhof Palace and then back to go to the Spy Museum. Wellllllll….the train from one point to our final point is out for construction. So we hopped on the replacement bus……or so we thought. Let’s just say, we did NOT go to the palace. But, we got a couple photos. I, of course think the cross walk people are hilarious, so there’s that.

We DID get to the spy museum. It was actually pretty cool. Keely is pretty decent at morse code. She passed the lie detector test (except one question about hand washing, but we will move past it). She also got a chance to use a rotary phone. I included the video of her second attempt. I cracked the safe in less than 37 seconds after watching a dude struggle with it for over 5 minutes and Keely quit in 3 minutes. Wade watched some James Bond and found some shows he wants to watch now. We just got a chance to have fun and be silly. Tomorrow we will hit the major points of Berlin.

I like Frankfurt. It’s a cool city. I like their airport and train station. However, in the spirit of honesty, it’s not my favorite German city. If you need a German city that has a lot of English speakers, then Frankfurt is the place to be. It has a lot of commerce, conventions, and travelers. I highly recommend checking it out. I think 2 days is good for someone who hasn’t been here before.

We slept in a bit. Keely had a waffle slathered in Nutella. We visited the Euro sign, the European Central Bank, and went to the observation deck of the Main Tower (all repeats for Wade, but cool nonetheless). We found some cool buildings and fountains. We…..well, I ate a warm apfelstrudel and we did laundry lol! It was a busy, but slow day in Lotz land.

Off to Berlin tomorrow!

Today we headed to the Lindt Chocolate factory. We got to do the museum tour. We learned a little more about chocolate. They confirmed that the reason chocolate became affordable for the masses is thanks to Portugal. So, yay Portugal! Listen, they had three chocolate fountains and spoons. Then they had a chocolate tasting station. They passed out chocolate at the end and in the store.

After the Lindt factory, we headed back into Zurich for some fondue before heading to Frankfurt. Now it’s time for some much needed sleep!

Yup. I said Liechtenstein. We did a day trip over to the 6th smallest city in the world.

Listen, sometimes dumb ideas turn out bad. Sometimes, they turn out great! Heath Ledger in A Knights Tale had me wanting to go to Liechtenstein. (Ya know….Sir Ulrich Von Liechtenstein….aka William Thatcher). Anyhoo, I’m gonna have to put this at the top of my must sees. We went to Vaduz and it was worth it. It is VERY tourist friendly. The people are lovely, they have wine, and the city is so beautiful! Also, they are ruled by a prime minister and a prince. The Vaduz Castle that sits 120 m above the city, was acquired in 1712 by the royal family. The ruling prince and his family actually live there. In a castle of that age, that’s pretty darn awesome imo. Also, the train ride there and back is pretty cool.

So, go see Liechtenstein! The only disadvantage was the train back was cancelled. They did provide a bus to the next closest train station….in Austria. Side note: when traveling between countries, you should still have your passports. Don’t be dumb and leave them at the hotel. Maybe you’ll be lucky and the officers doing a random check will skip you like the dingdongs who left theirs at the hotel….

Anyway, we came back and explored Old Town Zurich for a bit before deciding to call it an early evening.

We made a quick pit stop in Geneva on our way to Zurich. The original plan was to go to CERN. However, they aren’t open on Monday……and today is a holiday in France and Switzerland soooooo…..that didn’t happen. Instead we wandered around old town Geneva and saw some cool stuff. Geneva likes their fountains. I also found out that there was a Frankenstein statue and, for some reason, just HAD to see it. The water in the Rhône is ridiculously clear, the people were SUPER friendly, but it’s also very expensive. Nevertheless, it is a cute town that we enjoyed.

Then we boarded the train again and headed to Zurich. With it being the end of a holiday weekend, the train was crazy packed. Wade had to stand most of the 3 hour trip. We had a 1m pizza and Keely and Wade proved I can’t take them anywhere. The people are friendly and it’s an easily navigable city. The train station has been our favorite so far. So far, I’m loving Switzerland.

Lyon is definitely a must. It wasn’t part of the original plan. However, when we looked at train routes from Barcelona to Geneva, almost all routes had a stop in Lyon that required a train change and a layover. So, we decided to add the city and stay a couple nights. I’m so glad we did! The people were so friendly, the wine was tasty, and the town is beautiful! We also did a quick scavenger hunt through an app called Explorial that took you to some of the key places, gave you some interesting information, and had some fun tasks. We are looking at doing this in some of the other cities. (They have US cities too). We definitely recommend looking into it. Okay…..enough rambling. Here are some pictures.

There was a celebration of Bulgarians in the square that was kind of cool. They had music and dancing while in traditional dress.

More photos…..

So, Lyon is on our list of places in which we must come back.

Remember those slower days we intentionally built in? Today was one of them. We took the train from Barcelona to Lyon. We enjoyed a bit of the French countryside.

We are able to do laundry…..all of it. Thank goodness!!

Funny (to us) story; When Keely would get panicked in Portugal and Spain about speaking Spanish, the one word that always came out was “biblioteca”. Then she would randomly use it whenever she wanted to “blend in” lol! Imagine our surprise (and laughter) when the first place we see coming out of the train station is a “bibliotheque”.

Oh, and Keely is in HEAVEN with the amount of Nutella readily available everywhere!

Tomorrow, we explore Lyon!

Ummm soooo…….. there is A LOT to see in Barcelona. I mean A LOT. So, I’m gonna give my spiel and the post a bunch of pictures.

1. They have a beach that is the most handicap accessible beach I’ve ever seen. Like, wooden walkways almost to the water, beach wheelchairs, seated rinse off showers and hose attachments.
2. Chupa Chups were created in Barcelona. The design for their logo was done by Salvador Dali.
3. Barcelona has a TON of architectural structures by Anthoni Gaudi. Like, he designed half the city I think.
4. La Sagrada Familia is a gigantic basilica. It is amazing. It is also not finished. Gaurdi died while it was being built. Between money, war, and other things it is STILL not finished. They are expecting the outside to be done next year. The full completion timeline has it being done in 2034…..152 years after they started building it. It’s super cool though and you could sit there for hours finding all the intricacies of the design.
5. The hop on/hop off tour is the best way to see the city. Refer to the intro…..
6. Portugal and Spain are trying to kill me with their hills and stairs. That is all.