Our First Week: Germany By: Ryan

During this trip our plan is to be intentional about what we do and what we spend money on. In our first week in Germany we didn’t do a lot of activities that cost money. We chose do this since there are a lot of other things we have on our mind that we’d like to do.

• The five towns of Cinque Terre
• Neuschwanstein in Munich, Germany
• Mountain coaster Kandersteg, Switzerland

If you have suggestions, you can submit them to us here.

So, instead of spending money eating out at local restaurants or touring around various spots we decided to tone it down a bit. In the mornings we walked 10 minutes to the local market. We would get enough food for the day and stop at the bakery on the way out to grab a breakfast item.

Sprichst du Deutsch?

Even though we’ve been learning German with Duolingo since the beginning of 2019 it is still quite difficult to communicate. At the grocery store we are able to find what we need, get to the register and pay based on the read out on the display. However, when a clerk starts saying a couple of lengthier and more complex sentences it can be nerve wracking.

Most of the time that conversation ends up being about wanting a receipt or not.

It got easier. Which is surprising since we were only there a week. Maybe it was the clerks recognizing us and taking it easier on us, or maybe we started to pick up on things.

What didn’t get easier though was interacting with a bus driver. We never wanted to hold up the line for very long. A couple times, the bus drivers indicated for us to just get on because they didn’t speak English and we barely spoke German.

The Gorgeous Countryside

Later in the week, Jamie was chatting with our Airbnb host and she told her about where their vineyards were located. After we found out that was a good place for us to walk, we added that to our morning and evening routines.

What a great piece of advice that was. That same evening we took a walk to check it out. We spent more that an hour checking out the countryside and the grapevines. There were also many interesting flowers along the way that completed the experience.

As the sun was setting we were looking for the way back and we came across the small tower Jamie had also been told about. It was an amazing spot to rest and appreciate the sunset.

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