The motivations were different. Circumstances this year required a reevaluation of prior Thanksgiving traditions. And trips are different when you are going to see loved ones rather than a place. I mostly needed a change of scenery, and, in that sense, my trip succeeded. But I can’t shake the sense that the trip lacked something. It’s an unfamiliar feeling.

Frankfurt surprised me mostly because I had a picture in mind of some sleek transportation/financial services hub with lots of steel and glass, suits and cell phones. A slate wiped clean by war and rebuilt for efficiency. But Germans are much more sentimental and romantic than non-Germans realize and so we get more of a Frankfurt that looks like the past – although much newer – with all the modern stuff going on largely unseen. It’s also a smaller city than I expected, but that’s always the case with European cities where their place in my American mind is too large to fill with any physical presence.

And I finally added Germany to my wine tasting resumé. Taking the train from Frankfurt to Geisenheim allowed me to see some of Germany outside cities. After our tasting, we walked the 4 kilometers or so back to town in the quiet darkness of the early evening exercising our imaginations about what might be lying in wait behind this corner or out in the nearby field. It was one of those moments that you can’t plan but that you know will always be a cherished memory. Cold and tired, we ate a hearty dinner before taking the train back to Frankfurt.

I’m not sure what to say about Prague other than it’s pretty and romantic and possibly unknowable. I almost always come away from a place with a strong impression – good or bad – except for this time. Is that what I feel is missing? An impression? And will I go back? I simply don’t know. And I do think Prague is the source of my unease about the trip as if it’s haunting me. I’m going to need to process that for a while.

I did the things you do on trips: ate good food and drank better wine, wandered museums and roamed magical Christmas markets, stayed up too late, was too lazy and didn’t see as much as I wanted, said goodbye to people I love. I’m returning home more relaxed and well rested and feeling ready again to meet the daily challenges we all face. When you think of it that way, what more could I ask?