We lived in Germany twice (Peter lived there also as a boy). The second time was when Leif was two-and-a-half years old until he was five-and-a-half-years old. During those three years, we lived in Furth (by Nurnberg) and Sachsen bei Ansbach. I don't know whether Leif had many memories of those years, he was so young, but he had a terrific memory.
In May 1988, when he was thirteen, we took a military "space available" flight from the military side of O'Hare airport to Germany for a whirlwind five day trip, flying into Bitburg and then driving to Heidelberg to see Peter's family. It was always magical to be in Heidelberg, Peter's home town, the place of his birth. It's a romantic city on the Neckar River. While we were there, we hiked up the Schlangenweg (Snake Path) to the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Path) on the side of the river opposite the castle and the old heart of the city. Peter W. took this photo of us with the Alt Stadt behind us. It was a good trip with Leif and I was glad we all got to see Peter's Germany relatives again.
We haven't been back to Germany since then. We planned to go last April, after 20 years, but we canceled the trip due to Leif's death. I hope we will be able to find another time to go. I will enjoy being back there again, but I will remember that young boy with the Walkman who was there with us last time and will never be there again.
He was already a lot taller than me at the age of thirteen. Peter W. took this photo on May 19, 1988.
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