The Aerie

The End of the Adventure

Well, it's over. I just finished processing the last few photographs from the trip, and our return home.

What a fantastic journey this was, and what an opportunity to share with the kids - and with you out there reading - this great adventure.

We were so lucky to have the chance to take this trip. And we were lucky to meet our German hosts, who contacted us about making this exchange. They turned out to be wonderful people.

We were lucky to meet so many wonderful people on our trip, from our hosts' neighbors (who were friendly, kind, and hospitable) to their families, who were all generous and friendly. So many people in so many places helped make this a marvelous trip.

Our final couple of days in Germany were relaxed. We had plenty of time to clean, so it never felt rushed. I took the boys into Nuremberg one last time in order that they could visit Ultra Comix one last time, and while they did so I strolled around Nuremburg and got some of the photos in the last set, including that crazy fountain.

With everything clean and ready, we waited on Thursday for one of our hosts' fathers, Joseph, to come drive us to the airport. It certainly was a treat not having to drive that way myself, I was able to grab a few snapshots of the countryside that I had been passing by. As Joseph drove us to the airport he told us how sixty years ago, when he was ten, his family left Czechoslovakia after the war and settled in Neumarkt. It was fascinating, as always, to speak with someone with memories of that tumultuous time.

He dropped us off at Nürnburg's small airport, and our journey home was uneventful, but LONG. It didn't help that we had a crying baby three rows in front of us, all the way back across the Atlantic. But we survived and when we arrived in Minneapolis, our host and his daughter were waiting to drive us home. Yay! Actually I drove home, but still, it was nice to not have to take the bus or train.

We stayed up late that night, fighting jet-lag and trying ot reset our internal clocks, and also chatting with our new friends from Germany. But eventually they headed upstairs where their family was staying this last night, and we settled in on the main floor - home, but not yet in our own beds. At least not the adults.

The next morning we celebrated the birthday of one of the girls in our friends' family, who turned eight. Poor kid had to travel on her birthday, AND lost seven hours off of it to boot Hopefully she'll have a proper party when she returns home.

And we have settled back into our home. Jet lag is still waking us up at 6 a.m., but with school and work starting Tuesday that's not such a bad thing.

But now it's September, and time to get back to work. Reality is staring us in the face just two days away.

In preparation for the resumption of normality, I went out yesterday and got my hair cut. I am no longer the incredibly shaggy-headed fool you see in these family pictures - now I am a neat, trim fool!

We have a party at our friend Debbie's house tonight, but otherwise we have no plans except to prepare for school and work on Tuesday. Continue to clean up, unpack, and prepare, that's about it.

The adventure is over. Reality waits just ahead. A year of No Big Plans, paying down bills, and just taking it easy.

Hopefully!

Posted by Albatross at September 3, 2006 11:20 AM | TrackBack