Back in August, one of my best friends and her cute little fam moved to Germany for her husband’s job.  Heather and I went to high school together, college together, and even throughout our post-grad years we had never lived more than an hour apart until now.  As much as it hasn’t been fun being so far apart, the one benefit is that it’s given me a built-in fun place to visit!  A couple weeks back I got to go visit for the first time and it was just the best.  It’s one thing getting to stay connected through texts and FaceTime, but nothing beats actual face time—getting to just hang out and share in the every day type of stuff.  Some of my favorite moments from the trip were the simple ones spent talking over dinner or busting out the board games in the evenings once Dylan (Heather and Cory’s son) went to sleep—then totally crushing them in Monopoly.

While I was there, we took a handful of day trips to some cities in Germany near where they live, and we also road-tripped to Switzerland where one of my other best friends and her guy (Alexis and Simone) have been living for a couple months.  One of my favorite days from the whole trip was the one we spent with them in Lucerne.  After exploring Mount Pilatus and Old Town, they cooked us a homemade Swiss fondue dinner then we played games and talked and laughed.  Nights like those are my absolute favorite!  All that to say, it was super special to get to spend some in-person time with these long-distance friends.  Below are some snapshots from the trip!

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Have you ever been to any of these places?  Or if you’re a blog reader who happens to live near one of these places, come say hi down in the comments!