South of Frankfurt (the airport I flew into and out of) I visited friends in and near Karlsruhe and Bruchsal, and made a day-trip to Idar-Oberstein.

North of Frankfurt, my itinerary went through (listing major cities only): Koeln (Cologne), Oberhausen and Bochum (in the Ruhr region), Goettingen (at the edge of the Harz Mountains), the beautiful and historic town of Hildesheim (between Goettingen and Hamburg), Hamburg (in the north), Sankt Peter-Ording (on the North Sea coast), and an overnight stop in Muenster (North Rhine-Westphalia) on the way back to Frankfurt. Again, I was fortunate to meet with wonderful friends, both old and new, and to enjoy seeing a wide variety of sights. I especially won’t forget the time spent playing boardgames, or seeing Beauty and the Beast in Oberhausen and The Lion King in Hamburg.

(I was mostly able to avoid World Cup fever, although once there was a long slow traffic jam resulting from people headed toward a game being played in another city, and on another occasion the game was on tv as background to our conversations.)