Okay, okay, okay. Let's talk travel.

Daunting. There is no other word to describe the task of coming home from a European vacation with 1,216 photos and trying to put them into some type of reasonable presentation. There is also no other word to describe the process of trying to answer the question, "How was it?". But I've been trying to come up with a few satisfactory words: fantastic, smooth, crazy, incredible, sometimes exhausting...

I thought about doing a day-by-day recap, but even my mother would be bored by the end of the 23th entry. So, here you have it more or less by location. Without further ado, here is our life in Location #1: Munich, Germany.


We arrived in Munich on September 3rd. This is a picture of Marcos on the airplane - either excited about going to Europe, or very delirious after our overnight flight during which neither of us were comfortable enough to sleep even five minutes.


Before we left, I deliberated for weeks before deciding that we should travel with backpacks. I've traveled with packs before when I was young and bohemian and although it worked great then, I thought that maybe we could be a little more 'posh' this time. However, traveling with packs was one of our better judgment calls. For as much traveling around as we did, there is no way we would have enjoyed dragging our little wheeled suitcases through dog poop on European sidewalks, and down thoroughly uneven Renaissance streets like the unhappy hoards of other travelers we saw.


Munich! This is where I lived in high school for a semester, and so we called it our touchdown spot. We stayed at the home of my exchange family from so many years ago, and it was a lot of fun showing Marcos some of the places that I have loved from my life there. Above is a spot in the English Gardens, and below is Marienplatz, the center of town, and the old city hall. About half-way down the main tower is a green-ish outcropping called the Glockenspiel - the clock with moving, dancing figures that entertains the entire plaza of tourists every day at 11am and 5pm. This photo was taken from the top of a church we hiked up with our friends Philipp and Louisa.


Odeonsplatz, where Hitler kicked off his infamous career. Adolf Hitler stood at the top of these stairs and rallied support in Munich. Below is us with sweet Louisa, the wife of my friend Philipp who saved my social life when I first arrived in Germany as an exchange student.


Fact: Marcos becomes more handsome every year. It's baffling. Below: Marcos, Louisa and Philipp in the English Gardens. I love this picture.


Sites from downtown Munich. Marcos panting outside the butcher shop. Me at Viktualienmarkt in front of the flower stands, reproducing an exact photo I have from ten years ago when I was young.


And then this. I loved being at home with my exchange "brothers" (who used to be smaller than me, for the record), and sitting down to eat together. Below is our regal meal: artichokes, some kind of amazing salad, and bow-tie pasta with meat.


Brother Gwion playing with friend Karsten, and future sister-in-law Martina with brother Gwion. They are dating, and we have our poker chips on her. Amazing.


Brother Johannes and his pasta. Although some of the places we saw in Europe were 100% breathtaking, I think it was these moments over dinner with our friends that will top the cake of memories to love. Stay tuned for chapter two: Elsass!