14 Day Trip to Europe

My in-laws live in Germany – for the last 39 years as missionaries to our American military who are stationed there.  They left Lancaster, PA and moved to Ulm, Germany when my husband was four years old.

That’s my husband, swinging on his Grandpa’s arms with his brother at the airport. (I know – a cutie, right?)  You can see his mom and Grandma seated to the left.  My husband has great memories of growing up in Germany.  He came back to the states for college.  Then the year we got married, 1993 my in-laws moved to Vilseck, Germany because the base in Ulm closed.  The last 22 years they have had a vibrant ministry in Vilseck. My brother-in-law and his family have moved to Germany and Duane has been the senior pastor of High Point  for the last 10 years.

My in-laws are celebrating their 70th and 75th birthday’s on the same day and their 45 wedding anniversary the following week.  We decided it was a good time to take a family trip to celebrate with them and do some sight-seeing at the same time.

Our itinerary was busy, but that’s how we like to travel.  We spent the first 4 days with my in-laws in Vilseck, Germany.  We then took a train to Paris, France for 3 days. Another train took us to London, England for 2 days.  Plans changed when we returned to Fussen,  which is in southern Germany near Austria. We had planned to spend 2 days there with my in-laws and then travel back to their home four hours north in Vilseck for the remaining 3 nights.

After the first night in Fussen my father-in-law awoke with chest pains. He was having a severe heart attack.  We were so thankful to be there with them during that time.  He had a triple bypass surgery the day after we returned to the states and is now recovering.

I’m excited to do a mini series and share some tips, suggestions and thoughts about our trip.  I will cover packing light – which I highly recommend! Also, we’ll talk about traveling gluten free; best money saving tips, transportation and sights in Paris and London.