Düsseldorf, Germany was the first place where we felt as though we were true backpackers. Since we were waiting for Hannah's friend from Germany to meet us we explored the quaint city on foot for four or five hours, backpacks in tote. We walked along the Rhine River to see a World War II look out tower and stopped at an adorable cafe along the Rhine for a famous German pretzel. We walked around, explored, tested our German context clues, and our ability to read a map. We are getting really good at it!

While walking we saw two women with Dunkin' Donuts cups, of course the three Bostonians who have gotten around fifteen hours of sleep so far, which counts our train and plane naps, and sniffed it out and got an ice coffee while we waited for our German hostess, Julia.

Julia is the best! She's a few years older than us and so adorable. We walked around Düsseldorf with her as she showed us a beautiful church, square, and all the shops. Of course we found our way to a German pub, definitely gives Ireland a run for it's money! It was awesome. The pub was mostly outside, took up both sides of the street and the bartenders just walk around putting beer in front of the people siting at the tables. Did you know the drinking age in Germany is 16?

We hopped on our last train of the day to Dortmund, a really tiny city, where Julia lives in the cutest apartment with a cat named Finloose! He is so playful. I miss my Sassy!

We had our first German Schnitzel at another pub in Dortmund. It was SO yummy! It was also similar to the pub in Düsseldorf with a ton of outdoor seating. In Europe it's so nice to not get rushed out of a restaurant, before we knew it three hours had passed and we went back to Julia's apartment and Finloose.

Julia has gone all out for us! She got us lots of Nutella, Kinder bars and breakfast foods. She also had the most comfortable set up for us to sleep. It was so nice to shower in somebody's home and do laundry. I will never take advantage of Mama's laundry and my clean shower at home again!

We are now on a train to Brussels, Belgium for the day! Waffles anyone?

XOXO,

Al