Tschüss!

Wow! Time flies! The last few weeks have been busy and here it is time for me to say goodbye to Germany. It is with mixed feelings that I view my impending departure. On the one hand, I am glad to be going home. I have missed my family, friends and not to mention I will be happy to sleep in my own bed! On the other, I am really going to miss everyone here. It has been a great experience. I will miss the eis and gelato stores, the bakeries with the fresh bread, the public transit system, and the squares and pedestrian shopping areas. I think I will even miss the canteen! Okay, so maybe not the canteen, but definitely stopping for coffee after lunch in the canteen. But I will miss my German colleagues the most.

The last few weeks have passed by in a flash, culminating in my last day in the office. I should realize by now how fast time passes, yet when I first arrived, the time seemed to stretch out. And here I am about to leave. Dinner with Mandi at a Persian restaurant, a visit to a winery for a goodbye dinner, a trip to Cologne and another hike up the stairs of the cathedral, and a trip down the Rhine to visit a castle sums up the last week or so before leaving Bonn.

Leaving Bonn behind I travelled to Frankfurt for a couple of days before heading home. I arrived Thursday afternoon and walked around Frankfurt. Friday I visited Nürnberg, wandering around the old town and up to the castle. When I reached the castle, I was a bit short on time and so looked around a bit but did not go in. Seen one castle, seen them all! Ha! I bet you never thought I would say that! From there I visited the Nazi Documentation Center - a museum housed in the unfinished Congress Hall, a gigantic building that was to be used to hold Nazi Party gatherings. The construction was never finished. Saturday morning I visited Heidelberg, taking a funicular up to visit the castle ruins. I just love funiculars!! Mainly because I think the word is just so much fun to say. I walked through the old town before heading back to Frankfurt to meet up with an ex co-worker for coffee.

And now I'm procrastinating before packing everything up. Sound familiar? I tend to procrastinate before packing a lot! :)

And as a funny P.S. I was mentioning to someone that for as clumsy as I can be I hadn't really spilled anything. And then at the winery I spilled a glass of wine and then in Nürnberg I decided to get a cappuccino after lunch and completely spilled it all over. And when I say all over, I mean all over! I tried to clean it up and the waitress was quick to come over and help. So much for not spilling!