In August, I stayed close to home and travelled around Germany for a bit, at a slow pace, as I continued to work remotely during this trip.

My first real stop was Nuremberg, a town I had been wanting to visit for a long time. While I had expected more traditional old houses than there actually were, it was still a very nice city to explore. The streets that did contain the old houses were my favourites, so maybe I need to check out Bamberg next time!

I also visited the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rallying Grounds, which unfortunately was under renovation, so I decided to just walk around the lake and visit the outside areas. With the climbing area Frankenjura being so close, I’m sure I’ll be back at one point!

I also managed to visit my friends Nadja and Frank who live near Nuremberg and spent two relaxed days with them. We then drove back to Munich together as friends of us were getting married near Munich. The wedding was in a beautiful garden location and a very relaxed atmosphere.

I then found out by chance that the European championships in sport climbing were taking place in Munich! Spontaneously, I booked a ticket to see the women’s bouldering finals and the men’s lead finals. It was a sizzling hot day and my friend Zali and I were getting roasted under the sun. But it was so cool to be there and watch all our idols up close! I was really excited to see Janja boulder and to watch Megos, Ondra and Jakob Schubert battling it out in the lead finals.

From Munich, I took a flight to Dresden, another city long overdue on my bucket list – together with the national park Saxon Switzerland. And they delivered! Dresden was really cool, lots of beautiful old restored buildings and just generally a pleasant city to walk around.

I then went on 2 hikes in Saxon Switzerland and was wowed! I had expected a lot, having seen many pictures – but found that it was even better. Of course, the Bastei is the main highlight and so one day I did a long hike up to the Bastei Bridge and down on the other side. However, I also really enjoyed my hike at Pfaffenstein, which was much less popular, but really cool paths squeezing between rocks, climbing up steeply and stunning views all around. The rock looks really nice for climbing and there are many routes, but you’re not allowed to use any metal on the rock and they’re supposed to be very run-out…so yeah, not really my thing plus not having a partner! Maybe I’ll be back one day.

From Dresden, I took a train to Berlin where I met up with Kesh for 2 days and celebrated my birthday. On our first day, we visited all the main highlights of the city, walking all around the centre. For our second day, I had booked a tour of the old airport Berlin Tempelhof which explained about all the history that happened there, with a focus on the architecture of the buildings. It was interesting, but maybe a bit too detailed for me. From Berlin, I took a flight to Salzburg and went back to my home base and yet another wedding for a few days…

Here are some more photos of my time in Germany.