Epilog

So what did we learn during Wanderung 15? Well, first off, getting at least a few hours of sleep on the red-eye flight from Washington to London made it possible to easily stay awake until the correct bedtime the next day in Hamburg, and that plus eating on the correct time schedule seemed to be key in reducing the jet lag effects to an absolute minimum. In fact, we didn't feel tired or groggy during the day for our entire first week in Hamburg despite not having any afternoon naps, which was the first time the time zone adjustment has gone so easily for us. The only adjustment effects I still had were that I awakened at 3:00 a.m. during the second night in Hamburg (probably during the first night I was just too exhausted to awaken!), at 4:30 a.m. during the third night, and at 6:00 a.m. on the fourth night. By the fifth night I was sleeping as normally as I ever do these days.

The moisture-control polyester socks and underwear worked great. Even though I was generally active for long hours outdoors during most days and during the rainy days I was wearing rain gear that could really made me sweat, the socks and underwear could last me 2 or 3 days. That, however, was a big difference because it meant that packing for a 2-week cycle of washing our clothes would require only about 5 pairs of everything. Our new rain gear, by the way, was very effective in shedding rain, which was absolutely necessary in the rainy climate of Germany in the Fall, but it was only moderately effective in being "breathable". Still, moderately breathable was far better than a rubberized rain parka or things like that which do not breath at all.

Touring Germany in October was simply great. The fall foliage was turning beautiful colors just about everyplace we stayed, and that made the scenery magnificent. Both the Harz region and the Black Forest were low, rounded mountains covered mostly with evergreen forests. The web of hiking trails that wound through both of those areas certainly invites walking tours as well as driving tours like ours. I would really rather walk than drive to see beautiful areas like those. My dream, in fact, would be to hike 15-25 kilometers a day from one pension to the next without any luggage besides what I could easily carry on my back.

The other places we stayed each had different attractions that initially drew us there. Rothenburg was an excellent example of a well preserved walled city from the late Middle Ages. I enjoyed the Volksmarch circuit around the city as well as the time we spent meandering its streets, and I certainly would like to return so that I could leisurely enjoy the museums there. I would also like to hike or maybe bicycle along the Romantic Street that connects Wuerzburg to Neuschwanstein Castle. The small section of that street that we drove had an interesting little town about every 10-20 kilometers, so at least in the off-season I would expect to have plenty of places to stop and stay the night as well as plenty of opportunities to stop and stretch our legs while cycling or stop and rest while hiking.

Lake Constance (Bodensee) was very pretty although the surface mists prevented us from seeing the Alps on the Switzerland side of the lake while we were there. I would probably not return to Friedrichshafen but rather stay at the other small lakeshore villages if we return. I think that driving, bicycling, or walking around the lake might be a lot of fun, and I expect that the scenery on the Switzerland shore of the lake is if anything more rugged and impressive than on the Germany side of the lake and I would like to find out if that is true or not. Unlike the Germany-Austria border or any of the borders in the European Union, however, the border between Switzerland and Germany or Austria is a real border crossing complete with a change in the required currency and a $40 road use tax that adds to the hassle factor in circumnavigating the lake.

At the Rhein, I think we saw the most spectacularly picturesque stretch of it on our boat tour, but probably the stretches both upriver and downriver from the section we toured are also well worth a visit. In fact, Monika and I would like to take a riverboat excursion along the entire length of the Rhine and just watch the banks flow by as we sit and take pictures of it all! Failing that, I think bicycle touring or even walking the trails that follow along both banks of the Rhine would be a great way to really see the river in the detailed way it really deserves.

We will always return to Hamburg, of course, both because we have wonderful relatives to visit there and because for Monika it is "returning home". Even for me it feels like a second home now. In fact, I think the small town I mostly grew up in would feel considerably stranger to me now than would Hamburg, Germany, which may be an odd thing to say but quite true. We have already discussed renting an apartment there for a couple of months and living like we did at Tante Size's old house in Reinbek during Wanderung 5. That wouldn't, of course, have the sentimental family connection that Tante Size's house had, but at least we could feel like we were a part of the Hamburg scene again for a while and that would be very "Gemuetlich".

Taking a cruise ship back across the Atlantic Ocean was a very pleasant, civilized, and luxurious if slow way to travel home. We visited three new ports of call: Le Havre, France, La Coruna, Spain, and Funchal, Madeira. Each was quite interesting but they were all quite different Le Havre and La Coruna were both nice, medium sized port cities, but the French culture of Le Havre and the Spanish culture of La Coruna made them feel very different. We enjoyed wandering about each one and wouldn't mind stopping there again. I particularly regret having missed the art museum in Le Havre that reportedly has the second largest collection of Impressionist paintings in France.

Since the Madeira Islands are an autonomous region of Portugal, the dominant language and culture is clearly Portuguese. I would have liked to have walked around Funchal and experience the local ambiance for a day. Our fellow passengers who did local tours in Funchal reported that the gardens they saw were quite nice and the city itself was interesting, so Funchal definitely seems worth another visit.

The hinterlands of Madeira were fabulous. The rugged, volcanic mountains and verdant vegetation, especially on the northern side of the island, were spectacular. The second highest cliff in the world was, well, just a cliff and not particularly interesting beyond a "Gee, that's a LONG, LONG way down!". But the seashore lava ridges that had been turned into swimming pools where we had lunch were quite picturesque, as were the waterfalls along the northern shore. So we wouldn't mind going back to Madeira and doing some more sightseeing.

The six days at sea from Funchal, Madeira back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, might be quite boring for folks who do not enjoy the shipboard activities or even quite unpleasant for folks who suffer from motion sickness. For us, however, it was a wonderfully relaxing way to end our trip. We found a routine of light exercise and dance classes that kept us pretty fully occupied and happy during the trip back. The most unpredictable factor of a cruise is your dinner companions, and we were once again fortunate to have the company of some very nice folks on the way back to Florida.

It also helps to be welcomed back home by your family when you get back off the ship, and we were again fortunate that it so happened for us. We had a marvelous and all too brief visit with Tanya's family before flying back home to face reality again. "Reality" in this case meant hassling with insurance companies and repair shops to get the repairs of the Saturn completed, having Monika's chipped tooth fixed (successful), and having my thallium stress test (unsuccessful). We also noticed that unlike being on a cruise ship, we now had to cook our own meals and make our own bed! Oh well. Still, we had fun looking at the 7,500 pictures we brought back home with us and figuring out which ones we should print to show our long suffering relatives!

In the end it was also very satisfying to see my Cunning Plan that had led to Wanderung 14 and Wanderung 15 finally completed. Taking a cruise ship from Miami over to Spain, touring Spain, and flying back to D.C. to spend the summer (Wanderung 14) had worked perfectly. Using the second half of our round trip airline tickets to fly from D.C. back to Hamburg and then touring Germany before boarding another cruise ship to return to the U.S. had also worked like a charm. As a result, we were able to see Spain, Germany, and other exotic places like the Azores and the Madeira Islands as we gallivanted back and forth across the Atlantic. Since this worked rather well, we will probably try to see if we can string together other packages that combine cruises and driving tours (or even walking or bicycling tours) of different countries in the future.

However, being in a different culture, albeit briefly, seems to leave me with some knotty questions about what in the world is really going on. So here are my set of questions about each of the cultures we experienced on Wanderung 15: Why do a goodly proportion of German drivers on the Autobahn seem to enjoy driving at speeds that in any other culture are considered insanely fast? Why did the English allow an eyesore like the London Eye to be erected right across the Thames River from the Parliament building? Why do the French produce a mouthwash so vile tasting that we gratefully threw the remainder away as soon as we reached land? Why did the Spanish build a small replica of part of Stonehenge at the seaside park in La Coruna? How do the Portuguese residents of Madeira swim in pools that have floors and sides of rough volcanic rock? How can Americans have a store called "Guns R Us" in Fort Myers, Florida, that makes buying a gun sound like buying a toy from Toys R Us? Each culture has its mysteries, I guess, but I surely wish I was better at figuring out some of these cultural puzzles!