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Euro Homecoming 2014 | Revisiting the Places That Shaped Me
Location
Munich, Germany
The German Black Forest
Zurich, Switzerland
Milan, Italy
Date
July 2014
- Our record-breaking third vacation of 2014 wasn't about ticking another destination off our bucket list - it was about returning to places that, in many ways, helped shape the person I am today.
As Dubai's summer once again marched toward its annual furnace, we did what had become our favorite tradition: escape to Europe. Munich has long since become our unofficial second home. There is something wonderfully comforting about the city. It possesses the charm of a historic Bavarian town while still offering all the energy of a modern metropolis. We spent our days wandering through Marienplatz beneath clear blue skies, indulging in hearty German food, and, naturally, satisfying my completely rational obsession with sneakers before pointing the car south.
The drive through Switzerland eventually brought us back to the Black Forest, the region where I spent my childhood summers. Returning home always carries a different kind of emotion. As a boy, I dreaded family walks through those forests. Decades later, they have become exactly what I crave. Standing atop Hochblauen, the highest point in the region, breathing impossibly fresh mountain air and looking across the endless sea of pine trees, I was reminded that some of life's greatest treasures are the very things we fail to appreciate until much later.
Our next stop was Zurich, a city that will always hold a special place in my heart. It was here that I truly became an adult. My first apartment, my first job, my first taste of independence, friendships that have endured to this day, and countless memories that quietly shaped my character. Walking the same streets years later with my wife beside me allowed me to see the city through entirely different eyes. I was no longer rushing through life trying to figure who I was and where I wanted to go in life. I was finally appreciating it.
No road trip through Europe would ever feel complete without visiting our favorite Italian city, Milan. Between authentic pizza, fresh pasta, the magnificent Duomo, and one of the world's largest Foot Locker stores, it remains a city we never tire of returning to. The journey there, however, became an adventure all its own after a tyre burst just beyond the St. Gotthard Tunnel. Faced with thunderstorms, darkness, and hundreds of kilometers still ahead, we made the slow, nerve-racking drive into Milan before eventually nursing the car all the way back to Munich. It remains one of the most stressful drives I have ever undertaken, and one that reminded us once again that God's protection often becomes most evident when we need it most.
Looking back, this trip wasn't defined by famous landmarks or carefully orchestrated surprises. It was about reconnecting with my roots, sharing pieces of my own story with my wife, and discovering that places which once felt ordinary or that I perhaps took for granted, can become extraordinary when you're sharing it with the one you love...
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