This was our day to fly home, and of course no interesting photos were taken. We left the anodyne hotel at 7 am on the free shuttle, got through security relatively quickly (although I was randomly chosen for an extra explosive check on all of my electronic devices when they checked our passports again at a special US-entry-only check point). The flight was uneventful; I continued the trend (begun on the way here) of watching movies about music icons whose music I actually know–the Bob Dylan biopic on the way here and new-ish documentaries about Liza Minelli and Led Zeppelin on the way back. But I also watched an adorable movie by a Korean-American director, Past Lives, and that was definitely the best of the three. The airplane food was mediocre and my hip got a little sore in spite of regular stretches, but otherwise, the flight was very pleasant. We had a long layover in Chicago, but it seemed long primarily because we had the fastest-ever Customs and Immigration check–it took about 5 minutes in the line and 30 seconds to be image-scanned and sent on our way. The second security check to our connecting flight actually took longer. In all my years of flying, I have never had that.
The upshot of this was that the wait time in Chicago airport was almost four hours, and of course FELT even longer, since the time change added seven hours to our day (rude!). But our connection flight left on time, and our friend James picked us up in Omaha and took us to our car (at Kai and Christine’s house); we picked up a handful of groceries for breakfast en route home, and were in the apartment before 7 pm. All was very much in order–the cats were happy to see us (climbing all over the open suitcases) but had clearly been very well taken care of by our June catsitter and then Kai and Christine!! We managed to unpack and put everything away (my job) and plug all the electronics back in (Mark’s job), except for a very small pile of “Mitbringsel” (literally, with-bring-ies, little gifties that we collected in Germany) to give away. We even got to sort through our (minimal) mail!
I want to wrap up this blog with a miscellany of reflections gleaned on this trip, in random order.
- Luggage (notes to self that I will hopefully review when we pack next year). We have almost perfected the art of light travel: we travel with an under-the-seat-size backpack each and two small wheeled suitcases that do not have to be checked, and have a handy top pocket for the liquids from our toiletry kit. The toiletry travel bag that I got years ago from Judith, with a hanger, is very handy, but we should wait to buy toiletries in Germany rather than bringing them because they are so much cheaper at the DM or the Rössmann, and we can leave them behind at the end. We do need to remember next time that we packed the right number of shirts but too many sets of pants (two sets of zipoffs for Mark and three pairs of tights and a pair of shorts for me should be enough; maybe I could take one more skirt instead). We also should bring more clothes that are on their last leg and then leave them here at the end (who cares if we look a little scruffy?) And by the next trip, maybe I need a better travel backpack, with a hip support so I can carry a bit more when needed. Mark’s investment in two super light foldable mini backpacks years ago was brilliant, and we regularly take those on our daily outings, even as they won’t do when we take everything from A to B.
- As much as train travel in other European countries (Switzerland, Belgium, Spain) is now supposed to be much superior to train travel on Germany’s tracks, which are in need of expansion and repair, we had no major issues with delays; the word on the street (with some statistical evidence supporting it) is that the regional trains are now typically MORE punctual than the ICEs because things are a bit congested, and we traveled exclusively on the regional trains with the Deutschland-Ticket, so that means that 58 Euro per person per calendar month (i.e. in our case 236 Euro total) covered ALL of our German train travel, as well as public transportation by bus, subway, tram, elevated, and boat (all cities are obligated to accept this ticket and get a cut for that). NB: you have to know someone residing in Germany who is willing to get the ticket for you and reimburse them, but that does work and is not illegal or anything). As for traveling outside of Germany, Belgium had a pretty nifty deal with ten trips for 100 Euro, and even though we only used six of those, that was still well worth it and a great tip from Ralph and Ingrid, who regularly travel in Belgium.
- Walking routes in cities and in the countryside in Germany are fantastic, and I can’t wait to explore even more of them. Walking is really and truly our favorite mode of getting around and really seeing things, and in Germany, it is always rewarding and involves a myriad of pedestrian-only (or walk/bike) paths away from car traffic. The fact that German city planners are trying very hard to make sure that the remaining green spaces STAY green and more spaces are “begrünt” (literally, “made green”) and made cooler to ensure that cities can deal with climate change (which nobody is denying here) always fills me with hope and delight. There are fewer insects and birds, just like in the US, but people are actively concerned about this (climate-change denial is rare, even among conservatives) and the number of “weedy” and “wild” meadows instead of lawns and mowed park areas is really encouraging. This is one of the things I will truly miss; our green spaces in Lincoln are lovely, but I wish there were more of them, and more “wild” gardens and fewer irrigated lawns!
- Minor changes in food culture we noticed: while Germans still smoke quite a bit more in public than Americans (and the Belgians even more so), drinking seems to be getting less popular. Several friends are now drinking exclusively alcohol-free beer, and although open-container laws are still quite lax here, drinking on trains and in various restricted public spaces (like the train stations) is now more frequently prohibited and clearly also frowned upon. I saw very few people reeling around drunk on the streets (excepting the occasional small groups of obviously homeless people that tend to congregate near train stations), and that used to be the norm especially after soccer games or big concerts. On the other hand, the casual picnic-with-wine-or-beer in parks, totally legal, is still around and very relaxed, with everyone behaving rather civilly and just having a good time. When it comes to food, more people seem opt to eat vegetarian or vegan and have certainly reduced the amount of meat they eat. I suspect that this is partly to save money (since groceries have gotten more expensive), partly for environmental reasons (with livestock consuming so much more energy), but partly also just a matter of taste–big Schnitzel are out, as are, even, big Döner, and veggie options are plentiful. And while small bakeries are still everywhere, there seems to be a little less interest in classic German baked goods, especially “Brötchen,” which I still love. Turkish-style flat breads and baklava, American-style donuts, brownies, and muffins, and French croissant and brioche seem to actively compete with the German breads and pastries in every bakery. Also, all those bakery items have gotten quite a bit pricier. That said, the standards are all still there for the sampling, and we did sample many. And thank goodness, Italian gelato is still plentiful, even as the kind of premium ice cream that is available here is making inroads.
- While many of our German friends asked about and discussed day-to-day American politics with us, and typically expressed shock as well as empathy (since they know we don’t agree one bit with what is currently happening in either domestic politics or in American foreign affairs), we never got the side eye from anyone because we are / sound American, and I never felt like anyone was lording it over us–there was more of a sense (or hope) that what is happening in the US in terms of authoritarian and/or unconstitutional overreach by the president and his cabinet and advisors will be a warning to Europeans as to what they do not want, but where they could end up if they do not watch out. After all, the rise of right-wing parties, of anti-immigrant sentiment, and of macroeconomic decisions that hurt the less affluent and carry the risk of fraying the social network are also concerns over here. The conversations we’ve had have been interesting and are often as much about parallels than they are about the new American exceptionalism. Everyone is quite well informed about the political news from the States (much more so than Americans typically are about news from abroad; I am no exception!). I have noted with interest that one of the American commentators that the Germans find especially useful to follow is Anne Applebaum of the Atlantic, who has a keen sense of European and especially Eastern European politics and of the history of totalitarianism that Germans are often very familiar with. Someone like Heather Cox Richardson, who is primarily explaining the situation in the US in terms of its own history, does not have the same reach here precisely because of that (I love her work because she always teaches me new things about American history, since I am still so deficient on much of it.)
- All told, I love our mode of traveling, which combines retracing our own well-trodden paths in places where we’ve been many times with exploring new places and new sights. I love being surprised and delight in new discoveries, especially when it comes to new landscapes or cityscapes, but I also love the nostalgia-adjacent heart leap of, say, strolling through the Botanical Gardens in Osnabrück or along the quayside in Hamburg for the umpteenth time. I am happy that we’ve newly experienced Brussels and other locations in Belgium and along the Belgian border–Belgian sites were the perfect bookends at the beginning and the end of our trip–and finding new spots in Berlin sometimes just a few blocks from where we had been on earlier visits was a lot of fun. But none of this would be what it is without being with our friends and family here. The conversations with them, hanging out at their homes, being shown the places they have discovered and love to visit, and exploring things jointly together with them is what makes us cherish these annual trips to Europe, without the pressure of “ten cities in ten days” or even “ten museums in ten days” in one city. I can’t sit still for the life of me when we’re traveling, but I also don’t want to rush through our vacation, so this always-on-the-go but still slow mode of traveling that we aim for when we are here is just about perfect. And Mark is always open to and curious about everything and has a good time regardless, so we are always highly compatible traveling companions (we are also good at packing, unpacking, and not leaving things behind thanks to a pilot/co-pilot style double-checking system). But I am always especially grateful to him during our travels in Germany because he loves our repeat destinations and all my friends, and is so very patient when we suddenly all veer into German, so that even the translation app which comes in so handy cannot keep up. I am very lucky that he has come to love being in Germany as much as he has! This was a wonderful trip, and although I am a little sad that it is over, I am happy about all the memories that we are bringing home (and that this blog preserves some of them, because they’d evaporate like dreams in the morning otherwise).