The little pack is complete again . . .

Naturally, Birdie was more interested in the uneaten croissant than these souvenirs.
And the Belgian Chocolates got her sniff test before a swift intervention.

The German agent in Munich froze the conveyor to inspect the suspicious material in the Zip-loc bag in the carry-on, squeezing it between his thumb and forefinger. "It's sand from Omaha Beach," I explained. Everything in order, the traveler continued on to await boarding his American Airlines flight to Philadelphia.
Nothing was ever said about the pine cone from The Ardennes.
Hours later, the yellow Volkswagen was a welcome sight at MSP arrivals, it contained my sweetie and a happy greeting to end this most wonderful two-week experience.
The return home had required 24 hours of bus rides, confusion, passport this, customs that, boarding documents, denial of records, three forms of identification for a bottle of water inside the secure zone, over an hour to get the AA luggage carousel to spit up bags in Philadelphia, and other ordinary reasons to hate travel, but in the end it was a worthy exchange:: a 24-hour gauntlet of exhaustion, frustration and security for a most memorable and fulfilling two weeks.
Time to reflect with loved ones and a jubilant dog who seemed very happy to have her little pack complete again.