Germany, bavaria, kempton, dirndl, lederhosen, traditional german clothes

Cinderella's Castle, gummy bears, Christmas trees, Hanzel and Gretel, pretzels, hops, wiener schnitzel, THE boot, Pinocchio, gingerbread houses, Easter egg hunts, the "Here Comes the Bride" song, Albert Einstein, Octoberfest and so much more! Germany is so full of rich culture and traditions, and as you can see above, Drew and I had a blast being a part of it!

After exploring Paris and Italy, we finally arrived to what was the last part, and the highlight, of our trip, our best friends were getting married in Germany!! As we made our way to the small Bavarian village of Kempton, where the celebration was to be held, we indulged in all things German. Here are some of our FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT GERMANY:

1. Prost-ing in Munich

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After arriving in Munich, the first thing Drew wanted to do was find a nice cold, frothy beverage, so we looked at the bulletin board in our Hostel and quickly learned where the best beer could be found. Now, one thing you should know about Germany is that they have a "German Beer Purity Law," also known as Reinheitsgebot, this law was put into place in 1487 and states that the only ingredients allowed in the production of German beer are water, barley and hops. Now, I am not a beer kind of girl, but German beer? Now that's a different story.

Augustiner Keller, which has the 2nd largest beer garden in Munich, seating 7,000 guests, is famous for its house Augustiner and its awesomely, authentic indoor beer hall. We also visited the grounds of the famous Octoberfest and Drew enjoyed a traditional brew at one of the beer and sausage carts located on the grounds.

Note: After taking this photo Drew learned the proper way to hold a Stein, you place all 4 fingers through the handle and hold the Stein, NOT the handle. Apparently it's a big deal.

2. Visiting Neuschwanstein aka. Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle

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One of the most beautiful and unique castles we had ever seen, Neuschwanstein, lies along Germany's picturesque Romantic Road, yes that is a real place! This is also the castle that Walt Disney fashioned the famous Cinderella Castle in Disney World after. We were grateful that our group had purchased tickets in advance and that they were for 8:30am because by the time we left (11am) the line was unimaginable, this castle is visited by over a million people each year! If you find yourself in this position, long line + no advance tickets, we recommend you skip the ticket altogether and use your time to visit Marienbrücke, the suspension footbridge located just behind the castle where some of the loveliest shots of Neuschwanstein can been taken. This bridge, which is older than the castle, spans the gap over a waterfall nearly 100 metres below and provides a beautiful home for love locks, check out the photo we took of our colorful love lock below :)

3. Visiting Dachau concentration camp

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On a more somber note, a friend who had visited Munich prior to our trip recommend that we visit Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany, opened in 1933. It was definitely a bit more serious and eerie than anything else we did on our trip, but we were glad that we took the time to see and learn about it.

What makes Dachau different from other museums is that things aren't guarded behind display cases or "red tape," we were actually able to walk through the same gate that over 200,000 prisoners walked through (pictured above), as well as walk right up to the crematories and into the gas chambers. Like I said, eerie.

Cost: $9 for 1 roundtrip train ticket from Munich; $2.50 for the headphones; you can pay extra for a guided tour if you'd like but we learned a lot with the free audio tour

Time: 3 hour visit; best in the morning as it can get very hot walking around in the sun

4. Taking a boat ride on Lake Constance to the town of Lindau

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Drew and I always crave being on or near the water, and Lake Constance, which borders Germany, Switzerland and Austria, was exactly what we were needing. The view of 3 different countries at once, the crisp, fresh air and the quaint little town of Lindau, which we docked at (photo below), are just a few reasons why we loved this experience. You can swim, sail, windsurf and canoe on the lake, check out this site to learn more.

5. Purchasing our very own set of lederhosen and a dirndl!

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Before going to Germany we thought that lederhosen and the dirndl (which we had no idea what it was called) were used only as costumes. Upon arriving to Munich we saw a couple people wearing them, but we figured it was just part of their work uniform, as a waitress or something. Then we saw a couple more, and people riding their bikes in them, and stores on every corner selling them, and we finally realized that people in Germany where these "costumes" just as Americans would wear jeans! We thought it was the coolest tradition ever, what a fun and bold way to preserve a country's history.

Remember above how I mentioned that we came to Germany to celebrate our friends' wedding? Well, we decided that as a surprise we would buy our very own traditional German garb and wear it to the reception! The morning of the wedding we rode into the nearest town and stopped in C & A, which a friend explained is equivalent to H & M in the US, except they have dirndls and lederhosen!

Not only were our outfits a hit at the party, but we're trying to devise ways to create a new trend in LA... or at least find somewhere awesome to celebrate Octoberfest!