Things I miss from Germany

Been home a few days now, but I started this blog post on the way home.  Here are a few of the things I'll miss.

1. German breakfast - yeah I missed American breakfast at first, but I'm really missing the great spread of meats, cheeses and breads every morning.
2. The autobahn - there's nothing quite like a country that as a principle has no speed limit; there's also nothing like going 210 klicks in a minivan.
3. Pulling into a town that has a castle; or an eight hundred year old church.
4. The bread, it is absolutely amazing.
5. Authentic German food - the variety of pork, sausages and cured meats was a treat as well as the cabbage and potato dishes.
6. The beer and schnappes - their beer is heartier than ours and tasting the schnappes is truely an experience I won't soon forget. 
7. The sights, history and traditions of this great old country. 
8. The agriculture - this was more eye opening to me; I was expecting much smaller farms (granted we we're in the larger farming regions of Germany); we noted several times that there was as much difference between our group (Ohio, Oregon and Colorado) as there was between the U.S. and Germany.
9. The German people, we always felt welcome in their country; and most Germans spoke English very well.  
10. My new friends - it was a pleasure traveling with such a great group, Tracy, Shane and Katherine.  We always found a way to have fun and had some great discussions along the way.