berlin doesn’t get the rep it deserves.

out of the places i have been to in europe, berlin has become one of my absolute favorites!

the city is full of so much history, art, incredible architecture and some of the best food!

we had thai, italian, american, germany.. everything!

and gelato of course..

twice a day..

of course..

the drive from köln to berlin was 6 hours so when we arrived to our hotel i immediately put on my running shoes and headed out to see the city.

i was walking on a road and looked to my right and said

“hm, that looks like the berlin wall”

only to find out it WAS the berlin wall.

the museum is full of SO much history and informative information regarding germany and all the history even leading up to the wall.

we stood and read every word for an hour because it was all so fascinating.

then we took an open air bus tour to see the rest of the city!

big tear being shed for this being my last family trip before mitchell leaves!!

how is he old enough to go on a mission?!

there was a street fair going on one day & of course i stopped at this haribo station for a good half hour.

they had limited edition haribo candies EVERYWHERE.

you paid by weight so you would probably feel sick if i told you how many euro’s i spent on this delicious candy.

the licorice ropes… SO GOOD.

castle gardens are the best gardens.

i think checkpoint charlie is so cute!

i love that they have kept it exactly how it was back then.

only exception is that it is now guarding a mcdonalds.

no one better than kare bear

this trip really has been one of the best trips of my life and i am so sad to see it coming to an end.

i loved seeing isabelle’s mission, meeting her mission president, going to her wards, eating at her members houses, seeing her apartments, eating at her favorite restaurants and seeing the places she talked about for so long.

i also loved seeing kassel and seeing where my diederich family came from.

i loved spending time with my siblings and family.

they seriously made me laugh so hard and those car rides were memories i will cherish forever.

being apart from Will was SO hard but distance makes the heart grow fonder am i right?!?!

until next year, europe!

in preparation for this trip.. my dad put each kid in charge of a city where we went.

that kid had to do their research on what there was to do in the city, the history, the must-sees, the best restaurants etc.

and köln was my city!!

obviously the number 1 stop was the cologne cathedral.

i have been to a lot of cathedrals in europe and this by FAR trumped all!

it was the tallest, most intricate cathedral i have ever seen.

we visited the Lindt chocolate museum and store…

preeeeetty sure i ate my weight in chocolates that day and preeetttty sure  i am 100% happy about it.

after we left, we were probably half a mile down the road and i made my little brother turn around with me and run back so i could buy more chocolate bars

big LOL.

i have priorities okay?!

we did a river cruise on the rhine river while it was raining which was fun!

neat to get the history of the city that way.

i brought locks for my family to lock their love on the famous love lock bridge over the rhine river!

after you lock your love you throw your key into the river so it’s locked forever

ooooobviously gelato was on our to-do list.

their coconut gelato?

DEAL BREAKER

taught my grandpa how to take a selfie

VISITED MY CRIB ^^

and we found the BEST japanese restaurant in all the land.

sooo ya i guess you could say köln was kool

here’s to my 3rd gelato of the day!

#cantstopwontstop

our last two stops have been two of isabelle’s areas she served in.

bremen & kassel!

bremen was filled with farmers markets, the best italian food and lots of castles.

hahahahahahahhaa

touching the donkeys foot for good luck…

and laughing because it looks like we are dating.

this is a real pirate ship that they serve pancakes out of now!!!

how fun is that!

during our drives, we loved reading Fitz’s journal (my great-grandpa).

 he wrote about their everyday life, their experiences with the church, his work life, his kids and everything else about the war while they were living in west germany.

on our first day in germany, my dad called my grandpa and said,

“you have got to get over here.. this is a trip you don’t want to miss.”

so what did they do?

booked the next flight out.

after church on sunday my grandpa took us to the street he grew up on and showed us the bomb shelter he stayed in.

90% of the city of Kassel was ruined in the war by bombs so this is the door step to his newly built apartments. his house was completely bombed.

those holes you see in the bomb shelter were the only breathing holes for all of the residents staying in the bomb house.

this is where my grandpa developed his lung disease from being in such tight corridors with so many other people carrying various diseases.

the first night my grandpa slept in kassel on this trip, my grandpa woke up in the middle of the night crying because he thought he heard bombs dropping and felt like he was in the war again.

how heartbreaking is that!!

his stories touched me so deeply.

i loved hearing how his family handled everything handed to them and how strong they are because of it.

they were able to get visas and  journey to america in 1950.

one night he remembers rushing from his apartment to the bomb shelter and forgot his shoes.

he ran across complete shards of glass and got into the bomb shelter to see that his feet weren’t sliced an inch.

he knew that was one of the many miracles that happened to him and his family.

each of his 5 siblings are all alive today with families in utah and still strong in the church!

my family is starting to REALLY make fun of me because every time i see these fields of flowers i scream.

they are SO pretty!!!

my grandpa finally made my dad pull over the car so he could get a picture of me in them.

and probably in hopes i would shut up every time i saw them.

off to Köln, Germany!

hamburg, germany

home of the first hamburger!

and home of my new favorite place!

actually it’s not fair for me to say that..

because every german city i am going to is becoming my new “favorite” place ever.

today we went to a little, old city that definitely stole my heart.

every street had cobblestone, every bush was full of flowers and every corner had a bakery.

what’s better?

they even had a farmers market going on.

fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, flowers, olives, bread…even homemade noodles!

i was in heaven.

AND THEY HAD SAMPLES!

it was like costco x29308

couldn’t resist this one.

or this one.

this specialty is one of isabelle’s favorite p-day treats… it’s called spaghetti ice cream.

the ice cream is shaped like spaghetti!

we went to a castle and there just so happened to be a wedding ceremony that just ended.

mitchell decided to throw their flowers in the air and pretend like he was the one getting married.

constant laughs with this one around.

does this place not remind you of fantasy land at disneyland?

it’s actually perfect.