A Visit With Family - 31 Days

Welcome back to 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.  Click the logo at the bottom of this post to visit our hostess, Kate Motaung.  There you'll meet the crew of brave bloggers who have been willing to take on this challenge.

For today Kate has offered the writing prompt VISIT.

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For a time around 1990, my brother-in-law was stationed in Germany.  I was thrilled to have an (affordable) opportunity to visit him and my sister.  I'd never been out of the United States, so the trip was huge for me.

Amy and I tried to see everything in the ten days or so that I was in Germany.  We went to Oktoberfest in Munich.  I still have the 32-ounce mug, but I think that amount of beer would land me in the hospital now!  (I don't drink alcohol at all, so I have zero tolerance.)  We had sausages (served without rolls, which was foreign to this American girl) and pretzels, schnitzel and lebkuchen.  Lebkuchen cookies are traditionally worn on ribbons around the neck, which I'd never seen before.

We took side trips to Amsterdam, Switzerland, Austria, and northern Italy.  Most, if not all, of these were bus trips.  I remember sitting in the front row of the top level of a double-decker bus.  Sounds pretty cool until you're on a road in the Alps and feeling as though you're going to tip over and plunge to your death at any moment.

Now Amy has a family, but they live many miles from here.  We treasure visits with them.  My older niece is just a few months older than my son, and we have precious videos of them playing together from the time they were toddlers.  Now they're teens and have less in common, but they still enjoy their time together.  Amy and I try to have "girls' day out" and our husbands--bless their hearts--usually hang out with the kids.  Definitely some sweet memories!

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photo credit: Natashenka via photopin cc