A Road Trip Through Germany

Jun 2019 · 4 min read

The five of us standing on the cobblestones at Rothenburg's Plönlein corner

It's been one of those weeks where I look back and it feels like I've lived three or four weeks in one. It started out at a nature-based "camping" wedding on a beautiful river property about 40 minutes outside of Leipzig.

Kids gathered around an older woman, learning a handwork project outdoors

The Johann Sebastian Bach statue outside St. Thomas Church in Leipzig

Our group in front of Leipzig's grand old Hauptbahnhof

We were invited by our friend Bruno, who we were staying with in Leipzig, and even though we don't understand much German, the people there were so friendly. Bruno arranged for us to have tents to set up, which was an experience we don't get very often. His daughter Antara and Aysia also had a lot of fun playing together in the hammock and on an inner tube in the river.

This river also became a hot spot for skinny dipping, where adults and kids cooled off after the wedding ceremony, climbing trees and swinging from the rope swing. As in much of Germany, nudity just wasn't a concern here, which was refreshing.

After a night's sleep in a tent, serenaded by some of the loudest laughing frogs we've ever heard (so cute!), we said goodbye and drove on to one of the cutest medieval towns we've ever been to – Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Aysia lying in the grass, cuddling the little stuffed bunny she found in Rothenburg — Aysia and the bunny that followed her home.

This place is just oozing with charm, surrounded by stone walls and towers, and filled with cobblestone streets, wooden lattice houses, and all sorts of quaint shops, like:

German bakeries: Great places to go for breakfast or lunch, with large soft pretzels, sandwiches, and delicious pastries of all types, including a doughy Rothenburg special – Schneeball (snowballs).

Medieval armor and weaponry – from swords, knives, and chain mail to costumes, chess sets, and journals.

Stuffed animals - with pretty much every creature we could imagine, costing from a few euros to several thousand. Aysia fell in love with a little bunny there, so it's joined us on our journey.

Many other shops with cute decor, toys, intricate cuckoo clocks, ice cream, restaurants, and more.

A bakery bag full of big, soft German pretzels — Big soft pretzels — a standard German bakery breakfast.

We also took a fun "night watchman" tour, learning about what it was like to live here hundreds of years ago, and the challenges that came with sanitation, war, and the plague.

The night watchman in his black cloak and hat, holding a halberd on a Rothenburg street — Our night watchman, halberd in hand, leading the tour through the old town.

A single candle burning in the quiet, vaulted interior of a village church

After a couple nights here, we drove around to visit several potential venues for Family Adventure Summit on our way down to the last one, where our friend Ka Sundance happened to be holding his own gathering (Peace Week) at the same time we booked our stay. It was great to visit with their family again and the other mostly German families in attendance, including the family we visited with in Berlin and who will be joining us at our At Home in the World Retreat in Transylvania in July.

Baking bread over the fire during Peace Week

From there, we went to Tübingen to stay with our new friend, Janice Lupas, who invited us over for a few nights. Her sweet family provided such interesting conversation around delicious meals. The husband, Andrei, is a biochemist at the nearby Max Planck Institute, currently researching the evolution of proteins and the origins of life. From the future evolution of humans into cyborgs, to solutions for our planet's climate crisis, it was fascinating to hear his perspectives and discuss the challenges and opportunities we're faced with as a species. (And he even gave Emily a tour of his lab!)

Kids spread out on the floor around a colorful board game in a sunlit living room — A board game with new friends in Tübingen.

In between these places, we're loving the peaceful southern German countryside, with farmland, forests, and hiking seemingly around every turn, interspersed with quaint German towns. Through all the driving we've done this week, we've also learned some German, listened to music, but mostly had great conversations in the car as a family about our struggles, dreams, and plans.

And while we all have slightly different ideas about what we want moving forward, one thing we all seem to be in agreement on is our desire to slow down, to let go of some of the complication we've added to our lives the past few years, and to push our internal "reset" buttons to start over with even more intention in the next phase of our lives – and in fewer locations.

We don't know exactly what this will look like, but we're all feeling a big purge coming, and a more peaceful, simple, and less hectic stage opening up for us in the months ahead. We'll see how it all unfolds.

It's an interesting time in our family, where things seem more in flux, and we're having to trust a bit as we step into the unknown. At the same time, we're carefully balancing our time with work projects, visiting with friends, exploring Germany, spending time just as a family, as well as personal time, and we're being more conscious about trying not to overexert ourselves in one area to the point it will cause burnout. So far, it's working out for the most part, and we're enjoying this trip overall. How do you deal with transitionary periods in your life, while balancing what's important to you?