We’re back home. Not on this map, but on our map of the American southwest. We got here as we left, by airplane. Though on this leg we arrive with a ton of jet lag. The map I share with you details the route of our travels while in Germany and a few surrounding countries. The highlighted roads are what we covered in eight days of traveling within the EU. If only we’d had all 27 days to meander.

Along the way we collected some souvenirs, things to remind us of where we’ve been. For Caroline, a large part of that memory stash is in the form of yarn. Out of this pile of wool will arise a sweater, some socks, a hat, and other fibrous things of beauty and comfort. For those with an eye for quality, yes the majority of the yarn comes from Wollmeise down in Pfaffenhofen, Germany. Please forgive me, but I neglected two skeins from being included in the photo as they were sitting on Caroline’s desk where she was likely fondling them.

In Lübeck, we raided the Niederegger store; home of the best marzipan on Earth. In Rothenburg, we bought the obligatory cuckoo clock refrigerator magnet and in Frankfurt collected nearly a dozen Bembel key-chains for friends in Phoenix.

There’s a health food store in Frankfurt I couldn’t appreciate two decades ago, now I’ll miss it more than my wife will know. The place is called Reformhaus and only sells items that conform to the idea of “lebensreform” a 19th-century movement focusing on healthy products. All of these sweets are incredibly yummy but not laden with so much sugar to bring on guilt from the indulgence.

Caroline picked up this bowl on a side street in Görlitz, the cup in Prague, and the sheep in Bautzen. The sheep chime is not ours though, it is going to a friend, a particular friend who is also obsessed with all things sheepy and fibery.

And these are my gifts to myself. Actually, there are reference materials for a project I’m embarking on as soon as a piece of technology reaches me. The common thread between these books is that they focus on medieval towns, cities, and buildings that will play a large role in what I’m creating. Along the way, while buying these I complimented the collection with a few thousand photos that will lend themselves to my goal. These things are a small part of the reminders we’ve brought back to the States with us, most everything else lives on in our hearts and memories.