I’m currently writing from 30,000 ft in route from Chicago to London. From there, I’ll connect to Munich and arrive around noon, just in time to head off for a half-day of delirious wandering. The jetlag sure makes those half-days interesting, especially if you throw in a beer or two. Since it’s Germany, I’ll have to pair them with pretzels, for sure.

This is my first time visiting Germany, and I must admit it’s one of the most intriguing places I can think of in terms of preconceived notions to overcome. Whether you lived through World War II or simply grew up reading about it in school, Germany has always been portrayed as the evil ying of the yang, the enemy, the country who set up concentration camps and performed all those heinous crimes. I’m not saying other countries haven’t been without fault in their existence (no doubt the rise of the US was soaked in the blood of the natives), but Germany has always had a weird ring in my ears because of that upbringing.

What I hope is that this trip is the first step in getting past all that, in discovering the beauty of the country and replacing those bad insights with good ones, thoughts and memories of living and breathing citizens as opposed to dead dictators. I’ll start my journey in Munich, then move on to Dusseldorf and Dresden via train before rounding out the trip with a few nights in Prague.

Stay tuned for updates as we go along, and check out Wake and Wander’s Facebook and Twitter pages for on-the-go photos.