I’m back from Germany! Happy to be home, but sad to leave such an amazing place of castles and fabulous horses, definitely two of my favorite things.
It was an incredible learning experience. On the horse side, I learned so much about the stallions, the breeding, the inspection process, training, and handling. It is a process, and a serious business, and they do it well. I got to hang out with incredibly knowledgeable breeders and professionals, and I’m really happy that I’ll be following up with them to learn as much as I can from them. It really feels like a whole new world has opened up to me.
On the Germany side, I learned so much about the country and culture. The people there are really friendly, a lot of them speak English, and the ones that don’t will still try to figure out how they can help you. The towns and cities are vastly different from America, and the buildings are dripping with history. There are castles everywhere! We went to several different types, from a palace to an unmanned ruin that we could climb all over. Also weird – having to pay to use public toilets. I am not used to that one and avoided all pay toilets on principle which required having to plan carefully ahead for all toilet use. Also, tap water is not a thing, and all water is carbonated unless specified. I think I got a bit dehydrated as I attempted to make a stand against having to constantly pay for bottled water.
But I’m really just nitpicking there – the country was beautiful, and it was wonderful to be there. I loved the cities, I loved the lack of suburban sprawl, I loved the country, and everything was felt like a moment to take a picture (which is why I have several thousand of them). The food was amazing (my diet is ruined, and I don’t even care), the wine was delicious, and the restaurants were gorgeous.
I have so many pictures and things to share, so it’s going to be all Germany, all the time here for a while. Because I am glad to help with providing inspiration for your eventual trip.
