PHOTOS: Y&R's Eric Braeden returns, shares photos of trip to Germany, speaks out on recent casting news

His overseas break has come to an end, and The Young and the Restless' Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) is on his way home. But he's none too thrilled with the recent cast changes at the CBS Daytime drama.

Good news for fans of The Young and the Restless' Eric Braeden (Victor Newman): the actor's journey to his home country of Germany is over, and he's on his way back to Genoa City.

Braeden has been on a several-week-long long break from the CBS soap opera to visit family overseas and celebrate the 60th anniversary of his German Youth Championship win. He's been keeping fans abreast of his vacation with various updates and photos on social media (some of which you can see below), with the latest pic revealing his time in Germany has come to an end.

"On way home over Greenland," he tweeted along with a photo showing snow-covered terrain outside his airplane window.

Though Braeden has been thousands of miles away from Los Angeles for the past couple of weeks and has been busy enjoying the country where he grew up, he still managed to find time to keep up with Y&R goings-ons.

After news broke that longtime cast member Doug Davidson (Paul Williams) had been dropped to recurring status, the actor wrote a very opinionated Twitter message directed to the powers that be. The outspoken tweet calls the decision to take Davidson off contract a huge mistake and points out that underutilizing other veteran actors like Christian LeBlanc (Michael Baldwin), Greg Rikaart (Kevin Fisher), and Eileen Davidson (Ashley Abbott) is also a major loss to the show he's called home since 1980.

"I normally don't express my opinions reg the casting on Y&R! That's the privilege of those who produce the show! However, this is a time when I have to make an exception! I'm still on vacation, hence my comment comes a little late: to let DOUGIE DAVIDSON GO is an egregious [mistake]," he wrote, followed by: "My plea to management: we have lost some all time fan favorites! D DAVIDSON has been with the show for, i think, 39 years, and people have loved him! Same for CHRISTIAN Le BLANC, GREG RIKART, Eileen DAVIDSON ( who left on her own volition)!"

Braeden's message has received immense support from fans, many of whom have also been quite vocal about the recent cast changes on daytime's number one drama.

As for Braeden's status with Y&R, he took to social media to once again quell fans' fears about a possible exit.

"I will tell you all one last time, I AM NOT LEAVING THE SHOW! I am simply on vacation!" he wrote.

Check out a few photos from Braeden's German Youth Championship reunion below, and don't forget to let us know how you feel about the actor's return to L.A. and his Twitter message about Doug Davidson's Y&R status in the comment section below.

Are you happy to hear that Braeden is returning from his overseas vacation? How do you feel about his Twitter message regarding Doug Davidson's status at Y&R? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.