There's No Place Like Home...No Matter Where Home Is

When you return to a place you have called home after a long absence, things always look a little different. I am back in Germany after a 6-month absence and have returned to the Munich Residence Inn where my husband and I lived for two months last fall. I know it’s funny to say that you live at hotel, but when you’re in a place for longer than a week (according to my arbitrary designation) it becomes the place you live, even if it’s only temporary. When we arrived last week, there was so much that was familiar, and yet many things were also different. To make it easy, I have compiled a list:

• Upon our arrival at the train station, there were all the familiar shops and smells of freshly baked bread, pastries and lamb roasting on a spit (ahhh, the Dönerkebabs!), but there was also a new place, one that sold BURRITOS (which are few and far between)! We have hesitated to try it out, because last fall we went to a Mexican restaurant that was highly rated on Yelp but were sorely disappointed by it.
  
  
  
• People were still waiting patiently on street corners for the green walk sign before crossing the street, even if there were no cars coming in either direction. We, however, have brought our flagrant American ways with us and boldly cross when no one is coming.
• We are back on the 5th floor of the hotel (which really means the 6th floor because of how Europeans number their floors), but we are on the side so we have a different view of the courtyard than we did last fall. Also, some of the same front desk workers are still here and so it was like seeing old friends again. But there are also quite a few new employees as well.
  
  
  
• Everything is SO GREEN here--almost impossibly green! Given how much it’s rained the last few days, however, I guess it does seem possible. We came in time to see all the leaves turn colors last year and when we left, all the trees were barren.
  
  
  
• It was always dark when Joel came home from work at 6, but there is so much more daylight now; the sun rises at 5:30am and sets at 9pm.
• Maybe I was imagining it last fall, but people seemed much more closed off and less friendly on the streets. But yesterday when the sun was shining all day, there were several elderly Fraus who actually smiled at me on the street and on the trams. and wherever there was sunshine on a patch of grass, people were lying down soaking it in (often removing most of their clothes first, completely unconcerned about it being a very small park near a busy street, or surrounded by people in the English Gardens).
• I have been on a couple of longer runs since we’ve been here and am loving the beautiful paths along the Isar River. They were covered in crunchy leaves last fall, but are now covered with spring green growth.
  
  
  
  
  
  

So those are a few quick impressions of "coming home" to Munich this time. Our children are all coming out next week and we look forward to showing them around our second home, so stay tuned for more travel adventures!