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Vacation 2010 Switzerland - Austria - Germany

In September of 2010, we went back to Europe, mainly to Germany, for the second time. This time, we flew from San Francisco via Philadelphia to Zurich in Switzerland. We spent two and a half weeks in six German states, two Swiss Cantons and one Austrian state. First, we spent a couple of days at Lake Constance, visiting Switzerland, Austria and the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Then, we took a road trip through Bavaria, Thuringia and Saxony to reunite with Volker's Family in Potsdam. We ended the visit with a couple of day trips within the German states of Brandenburg and Berlin.

We couldn't put all our pictures online, but the best 1,047 of them you can find on the following 35 pages. Click any of the links or pictures to get there.

9/11 - 9/27 Everything on one page Here you can see our 30 favorite pictures and get a general overview of the entire tour. Below are 34 detailed sites covering every part of our trip.

09/12 Castles Laufen & Wörth, Switzerland The Rhine Falls are bordered by two ancient castles, located in two different Swiss Cantons.

09/12 Rhine Falls, Switzerland The Rhine Falls are Europe's largest water fall and definitely worth a visit.

09/13 - 9/15 Lake Constance, Baden-Württemberg We spent three days with Volker's friend Frank at Lake Constance. Frank took us on a number of amazing trips.

09/13 Schwangau, Bavaria Our first day trip took us to Bavaria. First stop was Schwangau, a picturesque Bavarian village.

09/13 Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria Near Schwangau is Neuschwanstein Castle, the fairy-tail castle of Bavarian King Ludwig II. Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle was modeled after this one.

09/14 Lüner Lake, Austria On a second day trip, we went to Austria, into the heart of Europe's highest mountain range, the Alps.

09/13 - 9/15 Immenstaad, Baden-Württemberg While staying at Lake Constance, we enjoyed the hospitality of Volker's friend Fank in the small town of Immenstaad.

9/15 From Immenstaad to Rothenburg, Bavaria After three days, we left Lake Constance. On our way to Rothenburg, we crossed River Danube and passed an ancient meteor crater. We arrived in Rothenburg just in time for a tour with the night watchman.

9/16 Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria The next day, we admired Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the best preserved medieval town in Europe.

9/16 Museums in Rothenburg, Bavaria We didn't have time for all the museums in town, so we choose the two extremes: The Torture Chambers and the Christmas Museum.

9/16 Rothenburg City Wall and Towers, Bavaria Rothenburg's City Wall is 27 feet high and one can walk around town on top of the wall.

9/16 Over the Rennsteig to Jena, Thuringia On our way from Bavaria to Thuringia, we crossed the former German- German border and the highest mountain ridge of the Thuringia Forest.

9/17-9/18 Jena, Thuringia Jena is Julia's home town. She showed us the old and the modern parts of the city and took us to a geocache on top of the town's highest mountain.

9/17 Erfurt, Thuringia One afternoon we spent in Erfurt, Thuringia's 1,300 year-old capital.

9/18 Battle of the Nations Monument, Saxony On our way from Jena to Potsdam, we stopped in Leipzig, Saxony, to see Europe's largest monument.

09/19 - 9/25 Potsdam, Brandenburg The second week of our trip we spent almost entirely in Potsdam with Volker's family, revisited old places and discovering new ones.

9/20 Downtown Potsdam, Brandenburg During our first day in Potsdam, we checked out some of the downtown sights like the churches at Basin Square and the Church of Peace.

9/20 Old Market Square, Potsdam, Brandenburg On our way back home from the Church of Peace, we made a quick stop at Potsdam's Old Market Square.

9/21 Velten, Brandenburg Potsdam is surrounded by forests, lakes and orchards. On a road trip, we visited Volker's aunt and checked out Germany's only Oven Tile Museum.

9/21 Sachsenhausen, Brandenburg This former Nazi-Concentration Camp was a sad reminder that Germany's history wasn't always a blaze of glory.

9/21 Bärenklau, Brandenburg For about 20 years, Volker spent pretty much all of his summer and Christmas vacations with his grandparents in the small village of Bärenklau.

9/22 Havelland County, Brandenburg The countryside around Potsdam is famous for its apple orchards. Jutta and Jürgen took us to places where we could pick our own apples.

9/22 Lake Beetzsee and Swedish Lime-Tree, Brandenburg The trip also took us to the village of Brielow, home to Volker's favorite lake and Brandenburg's most famous tree.

9/22 Werder, Brandenburg On our way back home, we stopped in a fishing village and visited an old windmill.

9/22 Go Trabi, Go! The last leg of the road trip we finished in one of East-Germany's infamous plastic cars.

9/23 Film-Museum, Potsdam, Brandenburg Potsdams oldest building now hosts Germany's oldest Film-Museum.

9/23 Museum-Village Düppel, Berlin Based on archaeological excavations, an entire medieval village was recreted here, demonstrating life in the 13th century.

9/24 Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin In 1961, this former border crossing almost became the spark starting World War III.

9/24 Eastside Gallery, Berlin This is the largest remaining piece of the Berlin Wall. For almost one mile, its paintings tell the story of Berlin and Germany.

9/24 Alexander Square, Berlin This square used to be the political center of the former East German capital. Its buildings tell the interesting story of a state that faded away.

9/25 Havel Bay & Wide Street, Potsdam, Brandenburg Wide Street is one of Potsdam's main streets. It presents some of the most interesting architecture in town.

9/26 Lake Griebnitzsee, Babelsberg, Brandenburg Here, we walked along the shores of Lake Griebnitzsee, checked out the Villa where President Truman lived in 1945 and found out why the place in front of it is called Hiroshima Square.

9/26 Hunter's Castle and Great Star, Potsdam, Brandenburg On the very last day, we visited a small castle right next to Star Borough, where Volker's family lives.

The Last Good Bye Right before we went back home, the entire family came together for a birthday party and we had a chance to say thank you and good bye to everybody.

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