When in Germany...

... buy German books!

Oh my goodness, I have so much to say about our trip across Austria, Germany and Switzerland! But I want to start with books. Here's where we shopped in Vienna, Austria (where they also speak German):

...and here is the children's bookshelf:

I chose  to carry home UNSER ZOO because it has pictures, which makes it much easier to translate. So far I've learned that a giraffe is a giraffe, a tiger is a tiger, a panda is a panda. But an hippo is a flusspferd, a penguine is a pinguine, and a leopard is a gepard. 

See? Picture books are awesome. :)

The Eric Carle book is going to take me a bit more time -- unless I cave and buy the English version!

Other highlights of my European adventure:

Castles!

Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany), after which Walt Disney
modeled Cinderella's castle in Orlando!

Markets!

fruit! chocolate! bread! art! and lots of dyed Easter eggs!

Postcard-cities!

Heidelberg, Germany

...and so much more! I loved discovering it all with my niece JuliAnna (and the whole group), and I will be sharing more about this trip in the coming days. Meanwhile, as wonderful as travel is, is there anything better than coming home? I think not. Happy day, all!