Ready to fly back after Holidays in Germany

Today is the last days of our five-week holiday in Germany. Tonight we will catch a plane back to India but of course not without giving you an end report of Apra’s first journey to her mother’s home country which has over the years become my second home, too.

We had a beautiful last week here in Wiesbaden. Not only did we have wonderful weather and some really warm summer days, we also had the best company you can have with great friends and thus simply enjoyed our last days with Apra in Germany. Together with Thomas and Iris we had a beautiful summer evening in their garden on one of the hot days, eating pizza and enjoying the nature around us. More friends came to visit, like Lena who especially came over from Switzerland or Ursula whom we had also not seen for two years. We visited our friends Zelly and Mike in Mainz where Zelly had cooked delicious dinner for us – another beautiful evening!

On the last weekend we did some shopping for India, getting presents for family, friends and the boys at the Ashram. Yesterday we then did something that we had planned for years together with Thomas and Iris! We took a boat tour on the river Rhine! It was windy and nearly a bit cold but it was lots of fun! Apra was sleeping when we entered the boat but woke up soon and was immediately amazed by her surroundings. She saw the water and pointed at it open-mouthed. She stood in the wind and let it blow in her face, laughing with joy. It was a fantastic experience for her and us and after we had arrived back on land, we completed the adventure with a delicious ice-cream at our favourite ice-cream parlour.

Ice-cream was definitely something of which we had a lot during our stay. Strawberries, German bread and bread rolls – all are things that we wanted Apra to taste while in Germany and she loved all of it! Yesterday when we were eating our last scoops of Italian ice-cream in Germany, she ate her part fully on her own, managing the spoon very well and Thomas and Iris remarked how much she has learned and progressed in the time we have spent here!

It is true, she is talking even more than when she came, she has lots of new German vocabulary, she understands much more and even has some new teeth! Friends who had seen her in the beginning of our trip and now at the end said that she has grown a lot only in this month and that will definitely be very clearly visible to the Ashram family in India, too!

To make a summary of our complete trip, I can just say that we had an amazing time. We had lots of adventures with Apra, were out a lot, showed her so many new things and introduced her to so many people that there was no chance to get bored. She managed really well and stayed her joyful, excited self even though we changed places often, had a few long journeys and had to say good-bye to all the new friends she had made. She remembers all of them though and names them randomly throughout the day.

Now Apra, too, is ready to go home. We have told her that we would fly in the evening in a plane to India and she understands this, telling us whom we will meet at the Ashram. So we are looking forward to the final step of our adventure – and to coming back home!

See pictures of our holiday in Germany