Last Day

After a lovely breakfast, we left Wipperfeld mid-morning for the train to Frankfurt (via Köln): 

 
It was speedy and very comfortable, and it only took a little over an hour to arrive. It was now early afternoon and since our return flight is very early there wasn’t much to do aside from preparing for our return. 

 
We went into town for a bit of shopping but we were all very tired and it was an early night. 

 
Tomorrow we’ll say goodbye to Germany and return home to the U.S.

We’ve seen a great deal of Germany these past two weeks, and it’s always been exciting or historic or funny or beautiful. Best of all was seeing dads homeland and meeting the family I’ve known about forever for the first time! This is a trip that will stay with me for the rest of my life 🙂

The Contest

Bernard and I had an art contest this trip. We would each submit two photos for judging. Manipulation of the photos was allowed (colour balancing, focus adjusting etc) and the photos had to be taken on the trip. The judges (A, J and K) ranked the four photos independently, and the final results were based on average rank. Here I present the results:

1st place: Subway 

 
2nd place: Bike 

 
3rd place: Al 

 
4th place: Bernard 

 
I took the 1st and 4th placed photos; B took the other two. What do you think of the judges decisions?

Yesterday

Yesterday we went to Köln zoo… 

 
And then went to Wipperfeld for a wonderful party with many (at least 30!) of the extended family. Here’s dad with his four brothers: 

 
It was really a special event. I met about a dozen (of my 22) cousins id never met, and many of their kids. Often I was told I have a “Schmitz face”.

Sorry for the brevity of this post but internet availability has been poor these past few days. Hopefully I can make up for in today’s post, which will be the last of this trip.