6/27/14. The post where we celebrate the end of our vacation with one last hurrah.

6/27/14: a little more about our hotel in Strasbourg.  The building was previously an ice factory, located over one of the canals.  The machinery still exists on the first floor.  Would we like to see it?  Why yes, we would!  One of the hotel employees walked us through the ice factory, showing us the different equipment and explaining its functions.  In keeping with European sensibility, it had not been destroyed.  Nor had it been refurbished.  There the equipment stood, just as it has since the last time it created ice more than a century ago.

Our room looked out on one of the canals right at a filtration point, which made it sound like there was a raging river right outside our room.  Perfect for sleeping, actually.  We left our windows open all night long and enjoyed the "white noise".  I suppose that may explain my long dream about being on a pirate ship.

After a leisurely breakfast, we drove to our final trip destination: Frankfurt, Germany.  It was a pretty drive through the heart of German farmland.  There was no time for sightseeing, but that is not why we were there.  Instead, we were there to meet up with more of my patient, long-suffering husband's family friends.  When he was in college, his parents met a lovely couple from Frankfurt with a son the same age as him.  The families became friends and arranged for each son to spend three months living with the other family.  The families remain close to this day.  I had heard much about the couple, but had never met them.  

We went to their home to meet them for champagne and snacks, then went to dinner at a very elegant French restaurant.  It was quickly obvious that, after his father, this man had been the biggest influence on my patient, long-suffering husband's life.  While the parents see each other regularly, he had not seen them in 25 years. Yet they greeted him like a long-lost son and fell easily back into conversation.  They were excited to meet me and immediately made me feel at home.

Throughout the course of the evening, I heard many stories about my patient, long-suffering husband's college and travel years.  Since we met later in life, I am always happy to learn more about his life before we met.  And since I am rather fond of him, I appreciate the influence this family had on him in his early adult years.  It was a real treat and I hope to see them again soon.  

After another marathon dinner,  we went back to our hotel at the airport to get a little sleep, pack for our flight, and make sure we still owned clothes that would fit for our journey home. Otherwise, I will have to fashion something out of our comforter and safety pins.  Good thing I carry a lot of them with me at all times.