We set out Friday morning for Hohenzollern Castle, which felt more medieval fortress than royal retreat. After lunch capped with spaghetti eis, we admired the cuckoo clocks in Triburg and indulged in original Black Forest Cake from Hotel-Café Adler before marveling at the world’s largest cuckoo clock in Schonachbach. With 6-pack tickets, we raced toboggans at Sommerrodelbahn Gutach, then settled into Hotel Bell Rock with its American-themed buffet and pool. Our early access to EuropaPark next day gave us a whirlwind tour of the continent through roller coasters, dark rides, wet rides, and even a bobsled ride, along with a daredevilish Zorro stunt show and a hilarious Magic Atlas puppet show. We stayed until closing before driving to Baden Baden for dinner. Next morning’s breakfast at the stately Hotel Belle Epoque evoked the romance of the bath town. We ditched our hiking plans to soak ourselves at Caracalla Spa, picnic with takeout shawarma, and tour the glitzy Baden-Baden Casino. The punishing heat cut short our tour of the Burg Hohenbaden ruins and Heidelberg market square, but fortunately cooled down for shipboard tapas and paella with my old lab friend Monika. Despite lacking overnight AC, our host greeted us with a generous breakfast spread of pastries and homemade jams before taking us up the funicular to Heidelberg Castle to circle the giant barrel, and educating us about Student Kisses and the Student Prison. After souvenirs from a closing apothecary and salads for lunch, we caught our train to Luneburg, where we bumped into my parents and headed to our hotel together. We lost our sense of time with the prolonged daylight and belated dinner, but managed a morning start for a Hamburg day trip Tuesday. We picked up a jean jacket and sweater to keep us warm for our rainy stroll past the Rathausmarkt, Binnenalster, Mellin Passage, and Alster Arcade, where pastry shops lured us in for strawberry tarts and Nutella shakes. The ornate interiors and spiral staircases of the Hubner Haus and Kontohaus buildings were a photographer’s dream, but we were more intrigued by the paternoster at the Sprinkenhof building, where we decoded the lift’s mechanism with an apricot before testing human subjects. We roamed the Speicherstadt district, took our obligate photo from Poggenmuhlen Bridge, then recharged with fish & chips and fishburgers at Fleetschloesschen en route to Miniatur Wunderland. The world’s largest model railway offered much more than trains – with interactive VR, day-night cycles, F1 racers, and even an Airbus Beluga model that can take off. After dinner with mom’s family and a mellow morning of mall and market browsing, we headed to my cousin Jasmine’s wedding at the city’s water tower and banquet at the groom’s family restaurant. Between Melody’s stilettos clattering on cobblestones and Westley’s dwindling patience with the 4-hour meal, we were wiped out for family time afterwards, and crashed early to prepare for our train and flight home. We had enough time to graze at Frankfurt and SFO, and reflect on the satisfying mix of friends, family, and fun on our Germany vacation.

Westley and I embarked on our trip to Germany on Father’s Day, stopping for bun mee and MTG in SFO before our 11-hour flight to Munich to rendezvous with Melody. We picked up our VW convertible, settled into our artist apartment, then set out to explore Marienplatz and nearby Asamkirche, St. Peterskirche, and Frauenkirche, followed by kaiserspatzle and crispy pork at Viktualienmarkt for lunch. BMW did not offer factory tours this week, so we checked out BMW Welt instead and slurped Max’s beef noodles before turning in early. Not having adjusted our biological clocks, we awoke at 2am Tuesday and kept ourselves busy until breakfast at Café Rischart with weisswurst and kaiserschmarrn ahead of our morning tour of the Munich Residenz. The Rathaus glockenspiel was underwhelming as I expected, but at least put us back near Viktualienmarkt for shweinwurst, leberkassemmel, and liver dumpling soup for lunch. After a short nap, we headed to the kid-friendly Deutsches Museum to explore the science of aviation, bridges, particle physics, and musical instruments, followed by dinner at Zum Alten Markt for delicious mushroom soup, crispy schnitzel, and more kaiserspatzle. On Wednesday, we sped through the autobahn and steep climb up Neuschwanstein Castle to catch our timed tour of the iconic Bavarian palace, including an impressive throne room and singer’s hall. We squeezed past other tourists to snap photos from Marienbrucke Bridge, then rested our legs at Café Kainz over spatzle and spaghetti on the way to tour Hohenschwangau Castle, from where Ludwig II observed his fairytale palace. After a sunny treetop walk across the Austrian border at Walderlebniszentrum, Westley cooled his feet at the alluvial forest trail, while I detoured to photograph Lechfall and bring back ice-cream. We barely made the last English tour at Linderhof Palace and its gardens, and enjoyed a traditional costume parade passing by our dinner in Oberammergau. We relaxed with a serene boat ride on Lake Königssee on Thursday, with a short hike from Salet to Lake Obersee, before returning to Seelände for crepes and bubble waffles. At the Berchtesgaden Salt Mines, we donned overalls to ride the miner’s train, slide, and raft across an underground “mirror lake,” but sadly left our souvenir alpensalz behind. Our day concluded in Salzburg, where we ate Barenwirt’s famed fried chicken, braved the catacombs at St. Peter’s Abbey, and learned about Mozart at his birthplace, before crossing Makartsteg Bridge to Mirabelle Gardens where the Sound of Music was filmed. Marionette shows were sold out, so we drove back to Munich for pho and to pack up our belongings in preparation for the Black Forest.

Having watched our kurapia lawn die slowly each year, we finally hired someone to install new fescue sod that promises to be both sun- and shade-tolerant, along with some creeping figs and more lava rocks. We also chipped in our own yard work planting a new Jade Butterfly Maidenhair gingko tree and repairing landscape lights. The refreshed lawn helped prepare us for another backyard camping adventure with the Deas on Memorial Day, including a viewing of E.T. on our back patio. Our movie night inspired us to catch up on 80’s nostalgia with other vintage movies like the Goonies, Labyrinth, Back to the Future, Batteries Not Included, and the Sound of Music to prepare for our Salzburg visit. We also met up with Ala for hot pot, and our cousin Pam to check out their fancy new digs over tri tips and pool time. Our home projects this month included my new undercabinet lights in the butler pantry, and Westley’s GaoGaiGar to expand his growing gundam collection. My car was stuck in the shop for a drivetrain issue for a few weeks, so I drove our X3 loaner to check out Taffach’s Ethiopian fare, Estelle’s pastries, and Maya’s birria ramen for my lab lunch. With looming threats of rising tariffs and car prices, Melody also test drove an Ioniq 5 and 6 in preparation for joining the EV evolution. Nico’s recurrent cheek mass required a pricey work-up and nightly antibiotics that added to our checklist for the pet-sitter ahead of our Germany vacation. With Melody heading out first for her fellowship reunion, I spent Father’s Day weekend with Westley tiring ourselves out with a Black Ops 6 campaign and Rush Hour marathon to prepare for our 11-hour flight together. I can hardly wait.