Along the Rhine

(View from Bacharach ruins)

Bacharach is located along the Rhine and was the last town we stayed in. It's one of many very very small towns that are only a few minutes drive from each other along the river. Each had it's own castle and was completely adorable.

In Bacharach we visited some ruins on a hill overlooking the town. There were just a few towers left of what used to be a small castle. (at least I think it was a castle... could have been some kind of religious building too) The red window is a Jewish memorial:

The Rhine floods for about two weeks every year and covers the major freeway in front of all the towns. It was really interesting to me to see how high the water reached. The city wall has markers that measured how high the water reached during certain years.

On the second day we took a river cruise to the town of St. Goar where we saw the ruins of Rheinfels Castle, the largest castle ruins along the Rhine.

Kimi: Made of Steel

My bestie Kimi ran in her first half-marathon this Saturday in Park City. Don't worry, she finished 16th in women's overall and first in her age group! I am still so excited for her and can't even handle how amazing she did. Seeing her afterwards was seriously so inspirational and I felt like I wanted to run a marathon or something just so I could even be half as awesome.

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Linderhof

On the fourth day of the trip we went to Linderhof Castle, which was modeled after Versailles. It was the only castle finished by Ludwig II when he was king of Bavaria during the latter half of the 19th century. Ludwig was kind of obsessed with Louis XIV. He had portraits and busts of Louis and his mistresses throughout the palace and he didn't really even know him. I think they might have met once (maybe just a little bit creepy). Ludwig was completely eccentric. When he lived in this castle he would always dine alone and because he didn't want anyone in the room while he was eating he had his table placed on a platform, which could be lowered into the floor. The servants would place the food on the table and then raise it back up to the king. Crazy? Yes. The inside was gorgeous, however. The castle has its own "hall of mirrors" too, which was completely amazing, but you were only allowed to take photos outside of the castle.

From the gardens:

Where Beer is cheaper than Water...

I traveled through Bavaria the first week and a half of August with my cousin and aunt and just got back a few days ago. We mostly spent time in Germany, but a little in Austria too. The Bavarian countryside is one of the most beautiful places I have visited and we got to see some amazing things while we were there.

First... On the second day I broke my mom's digital camera:( so I don't really have a ton of photos from the trip right now. Just waiting to share with my cousin and aunt :) These are a few pictures I took with a disposable camera I bought from the third day of our trip in Reutte, Austria. We hiked up to the Ehrenberg Castle ruins. The castle was built in 1293. They were so pretty and the view of the city below was beautiful.

So we decided to hike down the back of the mountain to get back into Reutte instead of taking the same path we took to get there because we thought it would be faster. It was maybe one of the most terrifying things of my life. The path (if you can even call it a path) was so steep (and I was in a skirt) and muddy and I seriously thought I was going to die... not even joking. Hopefully I get some pictures of the path we climbed from my cousin so I can show how truly ridiculous it was that we even made it to the bottom alive. And it ended up taking us twice as long to get back... terrifying. Other than that, the castle was awesome and Reutte was completely charming:)

24th

I ran in a 10K in Salt Lake with some of my family on the 24th of July. This is the second year we've done it as a family and I love that it is becoming a tradition. Eight of us ran this year.

I stole this photo of us after we all finished off of Kristi's blog because I was too lazy to find my own picture:)

Also, I leave for Germany this morning with my Aunt and cousin. Just decided to write a blog post and paint my nails before we left. I should be getting ready instead, but no big deal:) Hopefully they don't confiscate all my liquids at the airport or dump my suitcase on the floor to see if I have a bomb inside because, you know, I can see how some people could mistake me for doing something like that.