September -- Return to the USA

September 15 

Goodbye Freihung .... it all started at this train station.

Goodbye family ... love you. miss you.

here we go ... the adventure continues ....

Our last train trip on our German Bahn Card was to Amsterdam where we'll catch an IcelandAir flight on 9/19. In over a year, this was our first experience with a train breakdown and route cancellations.  Not a bad record for government-run services!  We arrived in AMS 3 hours late, but it was the start of 4 glorious days of sunshine and warm weather.  We rented a VRBO in the Red Light District, very close to the train station for our departure to the airport.  We have now stayed in all 4 of the main districts in Amsterdam.

Love this city. 

Fitting place to say goodbye to all the good things we’ve experienced in Europe.

Our final night out ... a riverboat dinner cruise.

13 months and 14 countries later, I struggle with the proverbial question, "What was your favorite part?".  We have favorite cities (Amsterdam, Prague, Salzburg, Barcelona). We have favorite tours (bike tours in Berlin, London, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam; the all-day WWII tour in Normandy; Auschwitz). We had our favorite trips (overnight train to Budapest, flying to London for Thanksgiving, high-speed ferry to Morocco, pottery shopping in Poland, German Christmasmarkets, the birthday weekend in Interlaken, Switzerland).

But still, what was my favorite part?

Living in Europe for over a year was the opportunity of a lifetime.  The history, the architecture, the culture, the food, the people .... and getting to spend it with our daughter, son-in-law, our son, and our good friends Dan and Renee Devereaux.is what truly makes it memorable. 

Who would have thought we'd get the opportunity to be part of Michelle and Craig's home and family for over a year?   Who would have thought that James would spend 8-weeks during his summer break travelling to 6 countries with us? We haven't been with our kids on a full-time basis like this since they were in high school.  And we had so much fun doing it. It makes my heart swell to recall how easily we fell into a family rhythm again with Michelle, except this time she was the travel-planning-ninja who planned 22 trips for the 3 of us! She took such good care of us while we helped with the household chores and enjoyed yard work again.  And James was a real trooper, walking the streets and museums of Paris for hours with us, sleeping on the awkward 3rd bed in every hotel, serving as our personal driver on the autobahn, and talking us into renting a houseboat in Amsterdam.  Too much fun.

September 19

Everything about the return trip was wonderfully easy.  Easy train ride from Amsterdam to the airport.  Easy flight back. We left Amsterdam at 2pm and arrived in Minneapolis at 6pm.  Unlike the trip from the USA to Europe – which is overnight and involves sleep! --- the return trip seemed more like a long train ride.  We left in the daylight. We arrived in the daylight. We watched a movie. We took a nap.  We landed.  Done.

Landing in Minneapolis was a piece of cake. So much easier to clear customs when you understand the language. The Garfunkel/Devereaux welcoming party was there to collect us and whisk us back to reality.  Besides the language, I definitely appreciate the roads in the US.  They are so much bigger and wider than what you find in Europe. Especially in the smaller towns where you’re not sure if you are on a single-lane road or a sidewalk.  Even the Autobahn is just two lanes of traffic, travelling at incredible speeds, hop scotching around the steady supply of trucks in the right lane, with virtually no shoulders.  US roads have wide medians and ample shoulders.  Just saying.

Good beer. Good pizza. Good friends. A good night's sleep.  Welcome home!