Well, your report was really entertaining! I´m a little curious to know what your family members are thinking about the trip and all the new impressions.
My younger daughter, the German speaker, had a great time. She's rather a perfectionist, so early in the trip she was reluctant to exercise her German for fear of not being exactly right. Later as she loosened up she did great. I decided to just not care -- if I don't conjugate this verb correctly, or if I use the wrong gender for a noun, people will still understand me even if they roll their eyes a little! My older daughter speaks no German, but she has a pretty good ear and within a few days had mastered all the basic polite phrases for hello, goodbye, please, thank-you, etc.
My wife was somewhat uncomfortable throughout the whole trip. For her, it was frustrating to always need someone to translate the menus, often to order for her, to help her buy something. She's usually the trip planner, so having no control on what was going on was hard for her. If it were the other way around, say if we'd gone to Spain, I'd feel exactly how she did. Oh, and she constantly thought I was driving too fast. Even when I was just doing the speed limit, which was most of the time (or even just a touch slower). :angel:
