Germany and London - 2009

I wanted to share some of my favorite photographs and experiences from my recent trip to Europe. I've always wanted to go to Oktoberfest ever since a good friend of mine went a few years ago and said it was her favorite experience she had in Europe. I went with my fiancé, Eric and two of my girlfriends, Monica and Megan. We had a blast! We also added on a few days in London to round out the trip.

Here I am with Eric in my Dirndl (traditional German dress). Those are the beers they serve at the fest. These things bruised my hands!

German food is excellent. My favorites were the 1/2 Rotisserie Chicken, the potato dumplings, and the spätzle (a cheesy pasta). During the festival, servers would carry around these giant pretzels. We would share one four ways.

And of course there were the desserts! I didn't get a chance to sample as many as I would have liked but I definitely got my hands on some apple strudel. It was amazing, light pastry crust and stuffed to the gills with gooey apple filling.

We took a break from beerfest one day to go see Neuschwanstein Castle, commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria. This castle inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle seen in the animated film as well as at Disneyland Park.

During the long trek up to the castle, you get an awesome view of Castle HohenScwangau and Forggensee Lake which inspired Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

After 5 very full days of bier drinking, we were ready for our tour of London.

We saw the sights...

Enjoyed some theater...

And made sure there was time left over for dessert!

We liked the pastry selection at this small Italian restaurant and each ordered a different slice of cake and an espresso drink. I had the carrot cake (after making sure there were no raisins included!) and it was quite good. The frosting was closer to a buttercream than cream cheese but it still complimented the cake nicely.

I sampled everyone's and decided that my favorite was Monica's chocolate-chip cheesecake. The cake was the dryer form of cheesecake, not like the recipe I use, but it was very good and it just looked so pretty loaded up with all that chocolate.

AND, we happened to come across a cupcakery in Convent Garden called Candy Cakes. I guess they are chain and have four locations throughout London. These little cupcakes may not have been my favorite I've ever tasted, but check out the colors! They were hypnotic.

Monica and Megan split the Double Chocolate and the cake was a bit dry. Eric and I split the Berry Blast. It was more like a blueberry muffin than a cupcake, with a very sweet sugar glaze on the top. This cake, however was very moist and enjoyable.

So that's about it for my trip. If you have an opportunity to visit either of these two countries, I would highly recommend it. We had so much fun and are already planning our next trip abroad!