Back to Europe!
For summer vacation this year, we went back to Europe. Last year it was Italy and Greece; this year it’s Germany and France (Paris, specifically).
Petra was born in Würzburg, Germany, and moved with her family to the United States when she was 12. I had visited Germany many times while stationed in Vicenza, Italy – mostly for training purposes, but also for R+R (mostly in Berchtesgaden). It had been a long time for both of us, and it was time to let the kids explore their Germany heritage first hand.
Petra maintained close friendships with a couple of her childhood friends, both of whom offered their homes as sort of base camps for our travels. Alexandra lives in Stuttgart, and her brother, Christian, lives in Ochsenfurt, near Würzburg. We stayed with Christian and his family while visiting Würzburg, Eibelstadt, and Frickenhausen. We stayed with Alexandra and her husband in between our other adventures.
Week 1: Fly into Frankfurt, rent a car, and drive to Stuttgart. Then drive to Ochsenfurt, visit Wurzburg, Eibelstadt, and Frickenhausen.
Week 2: Drive the ‘Romantic Road’ down to Fussen, then Oberammagau, then to Berchtesgaden, followed by Munchen, Dachau, and back to Stuttgart.
Week 3: Visit the Black Forest, then take a river cruise up the Rhein River, regroup in Stuttgart, and then take the high speed rail to Paris. And then head home.
Our Journey to Europe
The flight
We flew with Lufthansa on a 747B out of LAX on a direct flight into Frankfurt. It was a first time flying a jumbo jet (for any of us), and we chose the four center seats to keep the family together. For some reason, we thought a jumbo jet might offer roomier seats, but no, that’s not the case!
The older we get, the more apparent it becomes that we need to upgrade to business class for these longer flights.
But we managed the 12 hour flight like champs.
Our wheels
The car rental in Munich went much smoother than last year in Milan. We were able to reserve a 7 seater which would accommodate our family of 4 (plus luggage), so no need to play Tetris with our luggage. Our ride was a Volvo XC-90. This was perfect for our upcoming adventures; it was a solid ride, drove buttery smooth, had a powerful engine, and was roomy! The only issue was the speedometer alarm that would start “dinging” if you went over the posted speed limit.
