Auf wiedersehen, Deutschland!

It has been a very long and interesting adventure. Though, like most great adventures, I don't know if I'll fully appreciate it until I'm home, looking through photos and reliving the memories.

Appropriately, last night it stormed early in the evening, and the temperature dropped significantly. It was a beautiful cool evening, and Charlotte and I took one last pass through town -- revisiting the places and many of the people we've encountered over the past two and a half weeks.

And it has been a very long and full two and a half weeks.

Here's a before and after picture of Charlotte, comparing the way she looked on my first day to the way she looks today. I think she's grown a lot!

In fact, my first week here, we walked to the park and she squeezed between the bars on a fence by the duck pond in Kurhaus Park, leash and all. Last night she could not get her head through.

Leaving some place you've come to call home, even if only temporarily, is always bittersweet.

Much as I long for the feel of Wauwatosa grass under my feet again,

I'll miss the way the way the streets are so full of friendly people.

Impossibly beautiful women bicycling to work in the morning in impossibly short skirts.

Children in the park kicking a soccer ball against a wall.

The cafes filled with people.

The excitement of running into a family speaking English and asking where they're from.

And I'll never forget the picture-perfect moments.

The view of the city from the hill at the Neroberg vineyards.

The brilliant gold towers of the Russian Orthodox church sparkling in the sun.

Coming around the beautiful Biebrich palace on my bicycle to catch my first look at the Rhine.

Watching the old men play chess in Warmer Damm park.

Walking Charlotte through Kurhaus Park in the cool twilight.

Fellow dog-walkers I met so frequently that they were practically friends -- and people who recognized Charlotte and introduced themselves as Cookie, Cheri, Humphrey, Blacky and Charlotte exchanged kisses and sniffs.

And, above all, I'll remember my dear friend Charlotte and our countless walks down narrow German streets and deep into tree-lined neighborhoods.

It's going to be strange not to have her at my feet as I work.

To those of you who've joined me on this adventure, I thank you for coming along. This blog, and e-mail, have been my best friends while I was here. A chance to interpret and share what I've experienced here. A chance to review and record each day's adventure.

Thank you, Glen and Betina, once again, for your generous gift of this great adventure. Thank you for sharing your home and your city. Thank you for sharing dear Charlotte. Thank you for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It has indeed been a Gute Riese.