Author: JD Mills

Things always have a way of workig themselves out. Originally, we had planned on making our way back to Frankfurt today (even though our fight is tomorrow) to avoid any weather or train-related delays. But….when the weather looked alright and the thought of having one more day with our second family rather than hanging out in Frankfurt seemed much more appealing, changes needed to be made. We cancelled the airport hotel and our am train and are instead taking the night train to Frankfurt. It’ll make for a super long (24 hours) transit, but what better way to spend our last day in Germany than exploring the cute town of Schwabach, eating delicious food one last time and getting some fresh air and sunshine before being cooped up on planes, trains, and automobiles!
Schwabach was so cute and historic – we really enjoyed strolling the cobbled streets while Verena went bridal gown shopping with her best friend. We enjoyed seeing cute homes along the canal, old timbered houses, picking up a pastry from the local bakery and having one last Doener (it will be missed). We then went to pick up some flowers for Anne and a couple of last chocolates for the plane ride home.
Suitcase was repacked and then Anne came home and fixed us such a wonderful meal of leftovers…smoked salmon with horseradish on toast, field salad with sunflower seeds and beets, bratwurstchen and leberkaes and leftover potato dumplings with bacon, eggs, and cheese (think fritata). So delicious! Better to eat good food now than on the plane 😉
We will do a trip recap when we get home, but we will certainly miss our family and friends in Germany very much!

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Today was a day of grandeur. We started with the world-famous Schoenbrunn Palace, which was a short tram ride from our hotel. I can’t tell if the outside or inside was more magnificent, but seeing as they wouldn’t let us take pictures inside, the Rick Steves highlight reel and some postcards will have to suffice.

The grand ballroom and the millions room were definitely show-stoppers. We hiked up to the Glorietta, and noticed that the cold had reached a new level – you’ll notice icy trees in the background. We came back to the hotel, warmed up with a Doner and some chocolate from the Austrian Aldi then heaeded into town.

We met up with Tucker at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. He and JD climbed the 350 steps to the tower, while I toured the Nave – some pretty awesome carvings, paintings and general ornateness about that church. We then made our way over to the Hofburg. Our combo ticket included Schoenbrunn, the Hofburg imperial aparmtents, the Sisi museum and the silver collection (as well as the imperial furniture gallery that we’ll see tomorrow.) The tour starts with the silver – suprisingly interesting and impressive. I enjoyoed seeing the Meissen porcelein (shoutout to Germany!), the 30m long gilded table centerpiece, service sets for 140 people, and candelobras and tiered serving dishes out to wazoo.

The Sisi museum was also interesting – go look this woman up. The wife of Franz Josef who was devastatingly beautiful, mysterious and sad (it sounded like she definitely had some serious depression going on). After being murded by an Italian anarchist, she became somewhat of an icon. The museum even had her murder weapon on display, which was kinda crossing the line into creepy territory. Lastly, the Hofburg imperial apartments. Very nice, but not quite on the same scale as Schoenbrunn.

We then rounded out the day with a dinner meetup with Tucker and Priscilla then a trip to the Haus der Musik, which was a good way to stay out of the cold and get to play around in the interactive museum.

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