Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland!

At this point in our honeymoon, we'd worn all of our clothes at least once, our feet were tired, and I was going through severe Chipotle and Dr. Pepper withdrawal. We were also dreading our flight home and the eventual return to reality. So, in an effort to ignore the fact that our dream trip was quickly coming to a close, we pretended we were professional tourists and dove right in to...

Day 11

 Munich and Cologne, Germany

12,857 steps

Highlights: Nymphenburg Palace, Cologne Cathedral

While researching for our trip, we realized that flying out of Cologne would be much cheaper than flying out of Munich, so we arranged for a train ride to Cologne on the night before our flight back to the States. This was all well and good, but that meant a super short last afternoon in Munich, which we didn't anticipate would be as big a bummer as it was.

Originally, I wanted to take a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, but that was a two-hour drive from Munich one-way, so that plan was quickly scrapped. Instead, we decided to spend our last afternoon exploring the gorgeous, opulent Nymphenburg Palace, the summer residence of the royal Wittelsbach family. It felt like an appropriate alternative because King Ludwig II, who built Neuschwanstein, was actually born in Nymphenburg Palace.

We kicked off our day with a huge breakfast at the hotel, then left our luggage at the front desk before heading to the palace, which is easily accessible by bus. It was hard to tell how massive the palace was from the main road, but as we walked closer, we began to realize how impressive the building(s) was. The lawn and gardens were meticulously manicured and gorgeous, while the ponds and lakes on the property (complete with countless swans, geese, enormous fish, and even gondolas) were breathtaking.

Our trusty Rick Steves guidebook included a section solely on the palace, so we paid for admission and slowly meandered through the rooms open to the public. Fun note: Descendants of the royal family still live in parts of the palace! The main room, with a painted ceiling that belongs in a museum and chandeliers that would make Sia jealous, was staggering. We spent the majority of our visit in that room, trying to imagine what life must have been like for the royals with so many visitors and lavish parties. We saw the room where Ludwig II was born, Ludwig I's "hall of beauties," and several other impressive spaces before venturing outside.

As part of our admission ticket, we were also able to explore the royal family's mind-boggling carriage collection, which is housed in the southern wing of the palace. Seriously, the decadence in the carriages, sleighs, coaches, and even hearses was astounding. The carriage house (or Marstallmuseum) also included a taxidermy horse, who was one of King Ludwig II's personal favorites. From there, we wandered through the beautiful forested area behind the palace to Amalienburg, the royal family's pink hunting lodge. Again, it was stunning to see the opulence and detail that was used to decorate the building. Between one room decorated in only mirrors and another designated for hunting dogs (with individual houses for them), it was clear to see the family spared no expense when it came to their hobbies.

Hunting dog cubbies - so cute.

At this point, we were running out of time at the palace, so we soaked in our final gorgeous views of the gardens in the back. The grounds of the palace are free for anyone to explore, so I daydreamed about returning one day with a picnic lunch and a blanket. Instagram heaven.

We wanted a quick lunch before hopping on our train to Cologne, so we stopped at a small beer garden across from the palace. I finally ordered a proper wiener schnitzel and, though service was a bit slow, it was the perfect (delicious) way to cap our time in Munich. German food is no joke.

With full bellies, we hurried back to our hotel, picked up our luggage, rushed to the train station, and boarded our nearly five-hour train to Cologne. The ride was actually quite pleasant and provided some gorgeous views of the German countryside. We also had the foresight to download Sisters ahead of time, so we spent a couple of those hours laughing at Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

When we arrived in Cologne, we were immediately greeted by the city's crown jewel - the beautiful cathedral situated right next to the train station. With promises to check it out later, we walked to our hotel for the night, Hotel Cristall. The room, which was definitely the most spacious of our entire trip, came with more gummy bear treats on the pillows and a hilarious Eastern European vibe complete with bizarre decor, a painting of a creepy man in the middle of the room, and bright green lights in the bathroom.

Russian bathroom rave, anyone?

We found dinner at a local Turkish place, then spent the next hour exploring the gorgeous exterior of the cathedral. Like everything else in Germany, it was also under construction, but we were still enthralled by the gothic architecture and dark color. Much of the building was destroyed when Cologne was bombed during World War II, but the twin spires never fell, possibly because they were used as a visual reference by pilots during attacks. Unfortunately, we were not allowed inside, but we did hear beautiful organ music emanating from behind the closed door. On our way back to the hotel, we also spotted the store that gave cologne (as in the fragrance) its name. The first cologne, 4711, was invented in and named after the city in the early 18th century.

I wish we'd had a little more time to explore Cologne, but hey - I'm always looking for reasons to go back.