july 2014 | poland

The second day in Poland, we got serious about Pottery: 

After a minor meltdown on my part about finding the different pottery places, we eventually found quite a few stores to purchase a lot of pottery at :)

And driving around pretty Poland was not hardship.

july 2014 | poland (Palac Brunow) part 2 / 2

Palac Brunow had bikes you could borrow to explore the countryside, which was fun. My Mom and I went out, then it stormed! So we came back for dinner, then when the storm was gone, we went again with Jamie and Chaz. 

The storm looked (and was) really bad! The power went out at our hotel quite a few times while it passed us.

  

Pam peddling as fast as she can, away from the storm!  She was SO mad at me for not going fast enough. At one point she stopped to wait for me and said, "hurry up, look I have to wait for you!!" and I said "you're my MOM you're supposed to wait!" She wasn't impressed. :) I should add we got back in plenty of time to not get rained on. Though, to be fair, it would have not been fun to get stuck in the downpour / thunder / lightning storm. 

These are from after the storm. The sky was so pretty. 

Jamie & Chaz! :

The only picture of us all together: 

Staying here was awesome! A total highlight! I only wish I would have remembered my swimsuit (there was a really cool pool/spa), and that we could have stayed longer!

july 2014 | poland (Palac Brunow) part 1 / 2

My Mom and I were determined to drive to Poland and buy pottery, and Jamie and Chaz were down for the drive (five long hours!) so we woke up super early and drove down. I'd like to say it was an uneventful drive but a GPS with a mind of its own and a huge storm means that would be a lie! I had found a place for us to stay that were were all pretty excited for : Palace Brunow. It was a little on the outskirts of the pottery-buying town, Boleslawiec. But WELL worth it. 

The little town, outside the little town with the little castle we stayed at:

Annnndd where we stayed the night:

It was AMAZING. The palace was built in 1750 and built on over the years. It was a hotel, a private home (I wish it was mine!), a summer camp for Hitler Youth, abandoned and is now a hotel again. 

 Every room was huge, and beautiful. We had a great view out of ours, with a balcony, too!

The weather was pretty bad for a few hours at night, but we ate a (really good) dinner and relaxed while the storm blew over. 

july 2014 | frankfurt, germany

Despite all the times I have flown into Frankfurt, I have never actually been to the city before, so we decided to make a day trip of it. It was not (to be honest) the coolest city I have never been to, but it was pretty. I mean there was this :

 and this : 

 and some very German looking streets :

 where we sat and had a German apple juice... which was really good.

But maybe.... well .... maybe it's just not my place. Though I hear the nightlife is great, the day life was less then impressive. Spoiled traveler for even thinking (let alone saying!) such a thing? Yes. I'll own that.

July 2014 | Kletterwald (ropes course)

Our friends Jamie and Chaz came to visit for a week when we got back from Scandinavia and having them there was so fun! They were great from day one, strangely they didn't even seem to have jet lag. It was very impressive. 

Josh and I had done the kletterwald (an insanely cool ropes course in the trees in the forest near his apartment) when I visited him before and we really wanted to do it again. We couldn't convince my Mom, but Jamie and Chaz were willing, so off we went, into the forest :) 

After a quick lesson from an adorable German (who I would later totally embarrass myself in front of) we climbed up and immediately I realized I was terrified... I can't speak for anyone else but ... I mean, you know you're NOT going to die (the ropes will catch you) but somehow that isn't compleatly  comforting. Because you could still be totally miserable hanging and having to pull yourself to the next stand...and yes, I speak from experience! haha

We (okay, I) made Josh go first for most of the course. My thought is that 1. I like to watch him complete them, so I know what to do/not to do (slightly heartless? maybe) and 2. he should be able to do it the best because they teach you this stuff in the army, right? ....I think number 2 is only slightly true but that's what I tell myself. He could repel better then any of us, I'll give him that. 

 ^ Josh showing off his mad skills.

^ cute couple!  

 ^ Josh may have slammed into the stand on this one (apparently his army training failed him) and I may have laughed really hard (apparently my sisterly concern failed me). 

All done! No pictures of me, because I was covered in dirt after an epicly embarrassing repel fall in front of our teacher.    He was really funny, and told us that no one has ever died or even been seriously hurt on the course. Though they do occasionally have to go up and get people down that are too scared to continue! Thankfully no one in our group... though maybe next time. Being rescued out of a tree by a hunky German doesn't sound awful. :)

july 2014 | oslo, norway part 4 / 4

We were getting on a boat to Germany at 5, so before we hopped on that we went to see the Oslo City Hall, which is pretty impressive. It's RIGHT on the waterfront, just this huge brick building. It's kind of pretty on the outside, I guess, but the inside is amazing. 

  

Walking up to the entrance there were all these cool pictures in the wall:

But it was these murals inside that Josh and I thought were amazing! They were SO bright and fun! So different then what you usually see ...loved them. 

Then we got onto the boat:

and sailed back to Germany!

with a little patriotic gambling thrown in, for good mix. :)

^ It was the fourth of July, so a celebration was in order! 

The next morning we docked in Germany and had a long ride back to Wiesbaden. 

Scandinavia was SO beautiful, and spending a week there with my Mom and brother was an amazing experience that I feel so lucky to have had. There were definitely highs and lows on the trip (I maybe cried at a point) but overall.... how could I be anything but incredibly grateful to have such an amazing family, and the opportunity to do such amazing things with them?