Post-Europe observations.

I have now been home from Germany for two whole weeks and yet, all I ever posted were the first two days. Why? It's a complicated combination of factors including no internet in our hotels, laziness, exhaustion and having too many other fun things to do while there.

Now that I'm home, I have successfully processed all photos into a printed hard-back photo album and have proceeded to begin helping my daughter adjust back to life with her boring parents, instead of fabulous grandparents who doted upon her daily and took her all over the county to exciting parks, zoos and other attractions we locals somehow manage to miss.

I can share a few observations of our time in Germany however, now that I've had time to reflect:

1) Germany is a beautiful country with a complicated history, not unlike our own.

2) Everything smells and tastes better when you're on vacation.

3) We are not "traveling" types, we are "go somewhere and people-watch types." While we were happy to see all we saw, we both agreed we tried to squeeze far too much in and would have just been as happy in a tiny town in Bavaria for the whole trip.

4) Never, ever doubt your instinct to bring your rain coat on a trip. Even in July. You will regret leaving your rain coat. You will regret it most when you are in the mountains and find yourself in the middle of a torrential downpour where your "rain resistant" wind breaker starts sticking to your skin, through your shirt.

5) It turns out, even though I once studied there as an impoverished student and only got around via trains, I do not know how to drive on the autobahn from one German city to a town in Austria. Even if my husband asks me if he should "turn left or right," I won't know the answer because I never drove in Europe, nor did I ever stay in a hotel.

6) It is in fact possible to take 2.5 hours to drive to a location 5 miles away ; especially if you don't understand the map or the directions being given to you by the locals. Things can also get muddy when there are two versions of the street you are trying to find. For example, if you are trying to find "Eppelheimer street" it's helpful if you know that there is "Eppelheimer street, and there is also "OLD Eppelheimer street," and the one you want is the OLD one. Very key.

7) I get very cranky in car museums, car factories and car showrooms, especially when I haven't eaten for several hours. This is something I never knew about myself.

8) 220km/hour= 136mph. In case you weren't sure, that's very fast. I can't tell you however, what the scenery looks like @ 220km/hr, as I was in the fetal position on the floor.

9) After 10 years, I still remembered enough German to order food and drinks (especially drinks) buy things and ask basic questions of salespeople, understand most road signs and successfully navigate from Frankfurt through the Alps and back. It may have taken longer than it would other, more prepared folk, but we did it.

10) Even if there was some tension on the road and auto museum, it's hard to stay cranky for long when you're on a two week European vacation with your husband.