Our visit to Southern Germany - Part One - Back in my homeland

I hadn't been back to my homeland Germany in eleven years. So this spring, after talking with my Dad on the telephone and realizing that everyone is getting older, and there is no way of telling if we will ever see each other again, my husband and I made an executive decision: Let's go to Germany!

I had seen some of my German family members when they came to visit us in the US, but some of them I haven't seen in over a decade.

My dream came true in July, when my husband, three kids and I got off the plane in Munich, and when I set eyes on two of my sisters who picked us up, we all broke down, hugging, weeping, laughing... Finally, together again. Why the heck did we wait so long? Oh, right. Money!

I love my sisters. We have so much shared history, a blood bond that can't be replaced. Now that we renewed our connection, I can't even look at the picture above without tearing up.

So let me take you on a journey of our first week in Germany.

I grew up in Wangen, a gorgeous, medieval town in Southern Germany, with cobblestones and towers and fountains... It's like a fairy tale. A bunch of my family still lives there, so we started our adventure there.

We started most of our days in a bakery, because there are several bakeries in each town (and even the tiniest villages).  My hometown has a 500-year-old bakery called "Fidelisbaeck", where we bought our wood fire baked bread when I was just a baby.

It was incredible introducing my own children to the comfort food I grew up with. Leberkaeswecken, Seelen, Semmel, Bretzeln...

Here we are in the back of the bakery after a bike ride with my Dad and his wife, drinking Radler, which is beer mixed with Lemonade. Our 16-year old son Kai was eager to partake.  When in Germany...

We bicycled a lot.  You have to bike when you are in the region I grew up in.  Lots of rolling hills, lush pastures, cows grazing, views of the Alps in the distance, bakeries to stop at...

When we were kids, my family was pretty poor. Lots of my friends vacationed in Italy or Greece, but we made due with cheap youth hostels and biking and hiking trips.  I'm so grateful for these experiences. They instilled a huge love for the outdoors in me, and I'm passing it on to my kids.

My next blog post will show you pictures of our hikes, including cows with huge bells around their necks, and gorgeous scenery.  I have too many pictures to share, so I'll save these for the next blog post.

For now, I'll stick to the first week, where we explored the region with bikes.  We also day-tripped to Lake Constance, a super popular tourist region. We splurged on a ferry boat round trip on the Lake, which was so very, very charming and included a visit to Konstanz, a famous old town on the other side of the lake.

The whole trip was a great mix between nature and picturesque, charming towns. Everything always included tons of German food, of course. 

You know how people always want to see castles when they are in Europe? The world-famous Neuschwanstein Castle is close to where I grew up, but I refused to go there, with its insanely expensive entrance fee and wayyyy too many tourists. 

So we stopped by our local castle, the "Waldburg", and even found an English tour guide to give us some history. After climbing to the top for a windy view, we got to dress up in old-fashioned garb!

And of course, connecting with my sisters, parents, nephews and nieces was the most priceless of it all.

I'm gonna stop now before I start bawling again. 

Keep your eyes out for my next blog post, which will blow you away with its scenery.

Also, I will announce a new idea I have. You might really, really like it.