Days 28-42: Paris, L´Abri, Swiss Alps, Munich, Salzburg

there´s no way we can summarize all of these days. but, we´ll do our best to give you an update on our travel lately! it´s been an amazing time, and blogging has been hindered by expensive internet and the inability to load photos on internet cafe computers. but here we go!

*we updated the settings so you can comment without needing a blogger account. sorry, we didn´t know it was set up like that! please comment!!

okay...Paris.
everyone seriously walks around holding baguettes. and lots of them have little dogs.
Sophie ate three crepes in two days. (and Jared helped)
Petite Ecolier are the best cookies we´ve found so far.
our priciest purchase was macarons from the original bakery on the Champs Elysees.
we ate at a restaurant where they filmed Inglorious Basterds. they don´t advertise this, it was just recommended to us by a local for the food. and it was delicious.
Aunt Debby saved us by hooking us up with her friends apartment as a place to stay. in conversation later we voted Debby a hero of the trip. (tied with Marte Samuelstuen for upcoming Prague and India connections!)
we ate picnics at the Eiffel Tower...twice. and then we went back to watch the lightshow at 1 am. beautiful.
Sophie got a haircut. she failed at using very good French at the salon, but luckily it still came out great.

Switzerland.
the keyboards switch the Y and Z in German speaking places, aka Swityerland, Munich, and Salyburg for us.
we stayed at L´Abri for 3 nights. we loved it. check out the place here: http://www.labri.org/swiss/index.html
the view was incredible...but it was covered by clouds, so we have to trust what people say. but it was still an incredible location nonetheless.
We worked half the day and studied half the day, with formal discussions over lunch and hangouts at night. Super welcoming people and best food ever. We would go back if given the chance!

Let´s play Switzerland word association: chocolate, cheese, cheese smell, EXPENSIVE, cows on road, green fields, base jumpers, Swiss flags, wood piles, garden gnomes, cows on hills, snow on Alps, Asian tourists, puppet theatre, bears.

the Lauterbrunnen Valley felt like Yosemite valley surrounded by rock cliffs and too many water falls to count. (Actually, Rick Steves said there are 72 -Sophie)
We ate fondue and other cheese foods, rode cable cars up to tiny villages, and wandered the area. It was a great relaxing stop.

Germany.
let´s start with the word association...beer, beer halls, bratwurst, and people wearing lederhosen. It´s everywhere. Bavaria (the southern province of Germany where we were) started brewing beer in the 1300s. Munich means 'monk' because the monks founded the city and invented beer for the purpose of sustaining through long fasts. the city is very proud of their culture and their food/drink products.
we´ve had some amazing pork products and some of the best pretzels in the world. Sophie even enjoyed the meat.
Munich is full of Nazi history. we saw the hall where the Nazi party got a big start and Hitler gained power, then we walked the route of an important march.
Couchsurfing. we had our first surfing experience with a very proud Bavarian named Michael. he was full of helpful information for making the best of our stay in Munich. it was a crazy experience. we´re excited to tell stories when we get home.
for a day trip we went to Neuschwanstein castle, the castle Disney modeled his Sleeping Beauty castle after. we were surprised by the snow there, but it mixed beautifully with fall colors. and we ate fried dough balls with sugar...might be better than State Fair mini donuts! it was a wonderful day trip with great photos.

Salzburg.
we came here planning to spend one night, and now we´re here for a couple! it turned into a relaxing weekend.
Mozart was born here and they are VERY proud of it. we went to church today where he was baptized and was later the organist.
we found the best chocolate shop we´ve ever seen.
we followed a Rick Steves walking tour to see the Old Town, and stumbled into a few places playing  jazz for the weekend jazz festival.
it feels like Christmas is around the corner with chilly weather and Christmas decor stores.
in an attempt to see a dance performance in a dance festival, we attended what turned out to be an installation with some speeches and readings, all in German. maybe being able to read the festival program in German would have prevented us from being 2 of the 5 audience members, watching a 6 person performance. hahaha.

after lots of research and internet catch up, we´ve figured out some route details. We head to Croatia next! we´re excited to see some of Eastern Europe. we´ll be making our way back up to some other countries in Europe before heading to India. we have 2 weeks left of European adventure.

we love you. keep praying for us. Go Giants.
Jared and Sophie Callahan