Neuschwanstein

When we got our orders to Germany all I could imagine was Neuschwanstein Castle and how many times we were going to see it. Now that we are leaving (a year early) we made the trip down there and it was beautiful. Even though I'm not a lover of winter or snow or cold, I really wanted to see the castle all covered in majestic snow.
Lucky for us there was just the right amount of snow. Although we did almost freeze to death, we were pretty lucky to get there when we did. The hike up the mountain helps warm you a little but the tour is freezing! You can warm up a little by pretending to look at stuff in the gift shops, but then the hike down is frigid. There's a little cafe at the bottom that sells gluhwein, which is probably what saved us from hypothermia and allowed us to make it back to the car. The Prius takes a while to warm up so we had to suffer just a little longer than most. Haha. It wasn't that bad.
If you do go in the winter:
Wear real snow boots (not Uggs or mocassins. I was happy to have on my legit snow shoes and I saw some nice shoes ruined along the way)
Wear real snow gear (it's seriously cold there)
Bring the hand warmers (you won't regret it)
Don't ride the horse drawn wagon up the hill (you'll freeze. You need that thigh burning hike to keep you warm)
Get a pretzel at the little cafe (best one I've ever had!)
Mary's Bridge is closed in the winter so don't expect great locations for perfect castle pictures

Prague's Pedestrian Zone

Prague is on the "must see" list when you're in Europe. We drove there a few weekends ago and I was excited to see that it was only a 2 lane highway entering the city. I'm not afraid of driving in big city traffic, but it's always less stressful in a foreign country, if there aren't a lot of lanes. We were seriously just meters away from our hotel and about to take the final right turn when a cop in the street stopped me. He was a little angry and speaking Czech very rapidly. I told him that I only spoke English. He continued in Czech. I apologized for my lack of Czech and repeated that all I speak is English. In a very Russian sounding accent, but perfect English he asked, "You did not see the big pedestrian zone sign?" "No sir, I'm sorry, I didn't see the sign." Kind of disappointed he asked, "And the medium sign, you did not see the medium sign?" "Mmmmm, I didn't. I didn't see that one either." He shifted his weight to his other leg and questioned, "How about the two little signs? Did you see the two little ones?" I was getting a little worried at this point. "Uh, no, I didn't see any signs about a pedestrian zone."
Well, he let us go and I was slightly concerned that this trip was not going to be as flawless as I had imagined. We found our hotel, checked in and got settled. We took off pretty quick to see as much as we could but our first stop was not where Trip Advisor claimed so we went in the opposite direction of all the stuff to see. We were not impressed with the city so far and were getting cold and hungry so then I was confused about what was so great about Prague.
After regrouping in our hotel we found the right direction, immediately found street food and delicious treats, along with all of the beautiful sights to see. Crisis averted, we had a great time and we're on the "Oh my gosh you have to go to Prague!" wagon.

It was cold and overcast, but didn't rain. You can't ask for much better in November :)

Back side of the cathedral

City center

Oldest working astronomical clock in the world 

Endless streets of beautiful things to look at

Lots of color

Entering the Charles Bridge. Be warned, there are a lot of bridge pics

Corey on the Charles Bridge

If you go, get up early and there will only be a few people. Wait until noon and it's like Lollapalooza on that bridge

The other side

I thought this was the world's cutest balcony

Old water mill

Buildings that I love

Door at the Prague Castle

I could live up there

In front of the Charles Bridge. A scared Czech woman took this photo for us and I was very happy with how it turned out. Corey scared her.

Swans make everything look fancier

Such a great skyline. I wish I had a better lens. And knew what to do with it.

Nuremberg

Corey has been wanting to check out Nuremberg for a while and it happens to be right on the way to Prague so we stopped for a day and night. I had no idea how adorable it was going to be and I ended up loving it. Aside from the WWII history, I didn't know what we would see but I was wrong. Corey was right. 

Our lovely hotel

Famous German artist from Nuremberg

Beautiful streets and buildings 

Door handle

Windows

Fresh food market

Cathedral

Nuremberg

Nuremberg Trials Courthouse

Nuremberg Castle

Castle

Stalker

I want this in my home

Tough Mudder

I signed up for the Berlin Tough Mudder several months ago thanks to a very convincing coworker. A few weeks before the event, I found out that I was selected for flight school, so I tried to back out to prevent any injuries before I leave. Luckily, said coercer kept me on track. During a meeting which I was absent for, our team of 9, decided on wearing onesies. I love team spirit, but I could not get on the onesie boat. I hate seeing adults in them and definitely didn't think they would be comfortable during a 12 mile obstacle course. All I could think about was the inevitable camel toe of my life. No thanks. So I pretended to order one but never did and when the day finally arrived, I confessed that I never wanted one and didn't buy one. I felt a little bad but reminded everyone that I wasn't there for the team's worst decision.
As you can see in the pictures, I am wearing real work out clothes and not the least tactical sportswear ever. It turns out that all but one person shed the onesie before or within 5 minutes of the race anyway. All I missed out on was a photo op. A photo op that I wanted nothing to do with. I am proud to say that I still do not own an adult onesie.
The race was more fun than I expected. I always thought they were a little dumb and I secretly judged the people who wore their "Finisher" shirt to the gym. I also secretly vowed never to wear mine in public. I did the course and had a great time. I was freezing and tired at the end. I skipped two obstacles that I thought I could hurt myself on. All I could imagine was being 65 years old and telling people that I was going to be a helicopter pilot but then I hurt myself in a Tough Mudder. I was more than happy to skip two obstacles.
Upon finishing, you get a beer and your shirt. I snuck a couple extras (beers) and threw my shirt in the back of my car. I got home, washed it and realized that it was the softest shirt ever. I started by wearing it around the house. Then I gave up and I wore it to the gym. I'm sorry to all the people I secretly judged. I'm a bad person. I wear my Tough Mudder Finisher shirt in public!

The walk to the course. A few teammates were already in costume.

Before the mud began.

Wearing oh, I don't know, running clothes. They write your number on your head so you can view photos taken of you along the course. Mine sweated off in about 10 minutes. Also, the photos are ridiculously over priced so I will just look at these pictures and imagine them with mud rather than paying for them.

The whole team...in onesies. We started out with close to 20 people and only 9 made it to race day. It was definitely better going as a team. We all had so much fun!

Berlin

I did a weekend Berlin trip for a Tough Mudder. It was great but I'll post those pictures later. Luckily I wasn't too sore to get some tourist action in before we had to leave. It was such a great trip with beautiful weather, good friends and no injuries :) We didn't have much time to see the city but it was so cool to checkout some of the historical sites. My father-in-law was stationed in Berlin when he was in the Army and he has the best stories. It was fun to see where he traded a German soldier a Playboy for a piece of the Berlin wall and I can only imagine what other adventures he had. 

The Brandenburg Gate

Holocaust memorial

Random building

Another random building

Pieces of the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

Building

Former Soviet side of Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie!

4 Tough girls! And our best fake smiles :)