summers in germany

our first flight to germany without parents
from left to right, our friend christopher, my brother steve, and me (looking a bit anxious)

i spent every summer of my childhood with my grandparents starting from the age of seven when my then ten year old brother, a family friend and i boarded our first lufthansa flight sans parents from lax to frankfurt.  we wore orange and clear plastic envelopes containing our passports and tickets on our chests that were attached by a plastic strap around our necks.  the flight attendants, still called stewardesses in those days, gave us special attention, mini metal lufthansa planes, wing pins, and if we were lucky a trip to the cockpit during the long 12 hour flight.  they helped us deboard the plane after everyone else was off and brought us to a special room in the airport for children traveling unaccompanied by an adult.  our grandparents would be waiting for us with open arms and we would spend the next month living with them in a whole other world.  it was a total sensory experience with the different language, sights (cobblestone streets in my grandparent's neighborhood to name just one), sounds (tatu tata tatu tata - the euro siren, the phone ring and dial tone, the otherworldly church bells ringing), tastes (schnitzel, brattkartoffeln, and kinder bier), and feelings (down comforters and wearing my grandfather's birkenstocks in the house and dare i say feeling homesick for the first time).  i loved my summers in germany and learned how to cope with "heimweh."  my grandparents became like another set of parents to me.  i am so grateful for my summers in germany and wrote them many a letter in their later years telling them how thankful i was for all the wonderful times we shared together.  those are some of the best childhood memories of my life and i'd like to share them here on the blog.  i hope you enjoy them.