Europe Trip: Luneburg, Germany---our last stop...

An exchange student, Laura Heinkele, from Germany came to my high school my senior year. We became really good friends and I could not pass up the opportunity to see her when we came to Europe. So, we traveled up to Luneburg, Germany (near Hamburg) and stayed with her family. It was really great to see her, meet her family and boyfriend, and eat home cooked meals. They showed us around their home town and Hamburg. It was wonderful to be shown Germany by locals. I am so glad I got to see Laura again and lucky for me she is coming to the US this summer to visit Tyler and I on the East coast and then fly to Portland and see everyone from high school.

So here are a few pictures of our time with Laura: Luneburg-Laura's home town Walking around in Luneburg with Laura, her sister and her mom. One of the many churches in Luneburg--note how crooked the tower is. Some very lovely stained glass in the above church.
Erik, Jessica, Laura, me and Tyler

Laura drinking a milkshake---which are much different than the milkshakes we have. They are basically just milk with a syrup added and maybe some chopped up chocolate or coconut depending on the flavor you choose. Weird that they don't use ice cream, huh?

Me, Laura, and Jessica drinking milkshakes

Hamburg:

The next day with Laura we went to Hamburg, which is about a half hour from Laura's house. Laura and her mom did a great job showing us around the city and they took us on a boat ride through Hamburg. This is Laura's mom, Laura, me and Tyler on the boat.

A view of Hamburg from the water
There was a sailing class out on the water while we were in the little tourist boat.

Erik took this lovely photo of Mom---I think this is a reflection on the window, not taken from the outside of the boat.

Laura and I--and I am listening intently to my English translation of the boat tour---which by the way was hilarious--The guy had a strong German accent, some of his phrases were really awkward in English, and he was extremely proud of being German (and liked besting the English whenever possible-'this palace has 12 more rooms than Buckingham Palace..etc' ) I really think Germans love their country--more than Americans love the US or the British love Britain or Brazilians love Brazil etc.. It was a great boat ride and the scenary was beautiful. This is Laura's Mom on the boat. She was a great hostess, made excellent food, and we are very grateful for all she did! Thank you!
Erik looking at all the swans.

I think the building to the left is some sort of government building and it was a beautiful building.
All of us walking the streets of Hamburg.

After spending a few days with Laura we drove west towards Belgium to catch a ferry back to England. We stopped off in a little town in Belgium to pick up some chocolate and then rushed and rushed and almost missed our ferry--but we did make it!

Leaving the country gives you a different perspective and I am glad I live here in the US. I could easily live in Great Britain though. It was an amazing trip and I am so thankful my Mom took us! I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and stories!

After Tyler and I landed in Washington D.C., we were able to go see Coldplay (my favorite current band as The Beatles are my favorite band of all time)!!! Christian and Heidi picked us up and came with us to the concert as well (which they already blogged about). It was an amazing concert. Coldplay is great to see in concert, they have so much energy and are great performers.

After the concert, we headed back to Buena Vista and I was actually very glad to be back. The little town of BV felt like home.

We have been back for about a month now (I know...it took me a long time to post the whole trip). This blog is already much too long, so I will just have to let you all know what we have been doing lately in the next blog post. Until next time!