Wednesday, May 31, 2006

It was raining cats and dogs the day I was to fly out of Houston. The Weather Channel was reporting flooding, so I decided to leave even earlier than I normally would have. My flight was around 4pm, but I left Lake Charles around 9am (for a 2.5 hour drive). They were right about the downpour, and I was glad I left that early. I did arrive at IAH-Bush shortly after noon, but the rain had been horrendous, and at times I had to slow down below 30mph. I easily found the parking garage for Terminal D, parked in a protected place where I could find my car on my return, and set off for terminal D. I found the Air France counter easily, and was glad I was tipped off by Delta that I would be flying Air France (Terminal D) instead of Delta (Terminal A), otherwise I would have been "lost" before I even left out on my Bavarian Adventure. I found my check-in counter, and there was one agent setting up all the counters. I waited for eye contact, and then asked if I could ask a question - when was the earliest time I could check my luggage and walk around freely for my 3+ hour wait. He checked me in, even though he was closed. A family of four came up as we were finishing, and he told them "we're closed". I was so grateful for his favor that I forgot to ask him to change my aisle seat for a window for the long flight, which meant I did not sleep well without my wall to lean against. On the other three legs of my flight, I had window seats. With time to kill, I explored the airport, scoping out people and scouting for restaurants - slim pickings in this particular terminal, but I found a nice small bar/restaurant and ate a good bacon cheeseburger and cottage fries. We boarded very early, and my aisle seat was next to a couple headed for a cruise out of Rome. The seats were nice, and there was a flat screen in each of the seatbacks. The movie choices were Roman Holiday (1953 with Peck and Hepburn), Brokeback Mountain (2006 with Heath and Jake), and some assorted foreign comedies with subtitles. The game choices included Millionaire, Trivia, Checkers, and Chess (using a neat little remote control). The TV choices included Frasier and MacGyver. Dinner was Beef Bourgignon, beverage was white wine, and eventual breakfast was sweet roll, yogurt, fruit, and juice.

Thursday, June 1, 2006

We landed at Charles DeGaulle (CDG) in Paris around 0845, to connect with a 1245 Air France Regional flight to Stuttgart (STR). I had trouble finding the gate, because CDG is neither well-organized nor well-marked. I explored the terminal, did a little window shopping for electronics the US doesn't have, and stopped for coffee. This particular terminal was old and not as picturesque as I remembered CDG to be, so no pictures were taken, and very little eye candy was observed. The best eye candy turned out to be an American from Austin, Texas, going with his wife and son to pick up their new Mercedes-Benz E350CDI at the factory in Stuttgart, and then a two-week driving tour of Europe in their new Benz, before transporting the car to the Austin dealership.

My flight landed at STR at 1405. Once my luggage was retrieved, I went through Customs and then through the sliding solid door to face all the greeters looking for their family member or friend. I didn't see Wolfgang at that point, so I veered to the left and made a wide circle around the group, looking for him. I found him seated and staring at that door - he hadn't seen me. I walked up to him and spoke first - he didn't recognize me. He said I looked different (younger) than my avatar ( the six-year-old pic of me at dinner on the Carnival Inspiration) - I was hugely flattered, especially after a grueling long flight. After placing my bags in his Peugeot van, we went off in search of the webcam in the main terminal. After we located it, we went into the casino where there was an internet connection, and he PM'd Liz to look for us. She found us, and posted it on the Forum. Then we were back in the casino, with WB watching the Forum, and me watching the gate for Jeff. When I saw people arriving, I went to sit closer and wait for the captain. He didn't recognize me either, and said "we must change your avatar". After joining WB, we three went back to pose in front of the cam, but this time the stalk was unsuccessful. WB then took us to the new Mercedes museum while still in Stuttgart. It was now 1700, the museum closed at 1800, and Wolfgang persuaded them to give us a discount - he told us afterwards that we got in at the child's rate, so we acted accordingly. We had a good whirlwind tour -the museum is designed in a spiral like the Guggenheim, "winding" up at a museum cafe for a good cup of coffee. The best cups of coffee were awaiting us in Ronsberg, and boy did Jeff and I partake over the next few days. We made a speed run (190kph+) to Ronsberg, because Connie was waiting dinner, and that "traffic jam" did not help things - my white knuckles are just now, as I write this, reaching their normal color. Connie had prepared a beautiful salad and a casserole-type dish with spinach, ricotta, sour cream, and pancake-batter crepes, all baked and served hot under a creamy sauce. It was so delicious I had two servings, and I wasn't even hungry. So this is how herbivores eat - who knew??!!

Friday, June 2, 2006

I was up early, shortly after 0600, and waited for others to stir. Not wanting to wake anyone up, or use all the hot water, I didn't shower or wash my hair that early - I intended to do that later. Jeff and I both had only coffee for breakfast. Wolfgang and Connie were amazed that we could survive on just that, and they were always trying to get us to eat something, or at least make sure we had a good early lunch. After coffee, WB took us on a car tour of his village and all of its surrounding countryside. It was still too cold and rainy for a bike trip, and that bike trip never happened this whole weekend. Wolfgang was disappointed, and he won't believe this, but so was I. I looked forward to riding bikes, just not to the degree he is capable. This flatlander's legs are incapable of riding a bike over the Alps into Italy - that's just a fact of life LOL.

Lunch back at "home" was white asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and a tomato salad with a clear, tangy dressing. I had never heard of white asparagus, much less tried it, but it was good. Nina (11) came home from school by schoolbus after noon, and ate "asparagoose" like it was candy, with so much Hollandaise that Connie had to stop her. After lunch, there was a knock on the French door, and there stood a cute young boy with a huge grin on his face. I thought he was there to court Nina, because of her unimpressed reaction when she opened the door. Turns out they are cousins who fight often, but like each other. He was grinning because his father (WB's brother) had given him a tractor. A toy, a model you ask?? - NO - a real one, to add to his collection!! He was ecstatic. I will always remember that grin on his face, and how happy he was. (We saw him driving that tractor the next day.) After coffee, Wolfgang took Jeff and me on a tour of a farm museum. I wasn't sure what a farm museum is, but I told WB I wanted to shower before I went, and before Iris and Ralf arrived home from Augsburg. He laughed and said I didn't need to wash my hair for cows, and I would have time before the "kids" got home. So off we went to a farm museum where we saw a whole village, farm exhibits, machinery, cows, sheep, Coldblud horses, and some very aggressive pigs. Of course, Ralf and Iris were home when we got home - so much for first impressions - think Alfalfa !! Dinner was salad, fresh garlic bread, and spatzle (with and without grilled onions.). Spatzle is a pasta dish with a creamy, cheese sauce - sort of a Bavarian mac and cheese, only better. For the record, both were good, but those onions were grilled to perfection YUM!!

Saturday, June 3, 2006

I was the first to wake up, so I took advantage of that wonderful glass shower and that special switch for quick heating the water. I loved this bathroom Jeff and I shared, with its URINAL and its cruiseshiplike toilet (think whooosh). They left the heater/radiator on in here, making for a very pleasant morning experience. Breakfast was coffee again, and I let Wolfgang and Connie talk me into half a pretzle with butter - I was curious - it was good.

They were taking us to Oberstdorf (WB's hometown) to see the Alps, so we picked up Wolfgang's mother across the road, next to his bikeshop. There, we again saw "tractor boy", who demonstrated his new prize. Wolfgang chuckled, and we all smiled. We drove to Oberstdorf, dropped Nina off at her cousin's, dropped WB's mom off to play cards with family, and started off on our tour of the town, pointing out ski jumps in the distance. Our first stop was a ski jump on a natural hill - a steep grassy slope with a bowl cut out at the bottom to stop the jumper. The four of us went up the ski lift - my first, EVER !! We next went to a cable car lift up a large mountain, where there was snow at the summit. It was actually snowing (check the date), and a man was using a snowblower to clear the deck at the observation / info /refreshment center. After the lift down (the lift?down?), we did a walking tour of Oberstdorf. Wolfgang and Connie were worried that we ate no breakfast, so we stopped for a snack in town. They quickly odered their veggie rolls, Jeff stepped up and ordered fish'n chips, then me - no preparation, no English on menu, yeah, fish'n chips, sounds good to me too. The cod turned out to be small, crisp, and delicious, and the fries were just like I like them - this snack hit the spot. After coffee, we walked through town, heading toward the huge ski jump center that seemed to tower above everything. There were 5 or 6 huge ski jumps, covered with artificial turf for summer enjoyment. Several skiers were there, but too quick to catch on video. WB asked me "how's your breath?". I could have taken that personally, but I knew what he meant. He wanted to walk up the road to the top of the cablecar ride - I told him I could breathe just fine, and I wasn't even very cold, so we set out walking up a 45 degree angle (I swear). There were no flat places, no rest - are we there yet - I'm starting to sweat under the slipover parka they loaned me, breath getting labored - came upon a park bench beside the road - this is it for this flatlander, pick me up here on your way down LOL - said I wouldn't be able to move my spindly little legs the next day if I attempted that climb, so we turned around (praise the Lord). At the bottom, we saw a little children's area with what looked, to Jeff and me, like a toilet plunger (yellow handle, black base) hanging from a cable. WB demonstrated the ride, and I attempted it - FIVE TIMES. Wolfgang said he would hold my cameras - oh yeah, like I'm going to fall for that - I proceeded to drag my black leather camera bag the entire length of the cable ride - he held it the next four times. After a quick window-shopping tour of town, and a moment of relaxation at the park, we picked up Nina and Wolfgang's mom, and went to dinner at a family-owned restaurant. I had schweineschnitzel mit kartoffeln, which was grilled boneless pork chop covered with mushrooms, and smothered potatoes. My drink was water, which turned out to be a small bottle of mineral water that I couldn't drink. They got me some tap water, and I was happy - the meal was great.

Upon arriving home, we made a second attempt to get the webcam set up in Wolfgang's bikeshop - no avail.

Sunday, June 4, 2006

I woke up early again - I was always first or second - met my little friend Findus waiting at my door - meow!! It was once again rainy and cold, so our last chance at a bike ride was gone. Over coffee, we decided to visit the concentration camp at Dachau. WB had never been there either, so we took the opportunity to witness the darker side of German history. It started raining hard when we were walking up to the camp, so we reteated under some trees until it let up. We then took a long, somber, quiet tour of the memorial, museum, barracks, and crematorium. Everything was written in English and German, so there wasn't much need for conversation - not much talking was done.

Late lunch at home around 1500 was Belgian waffles with big strawberries. Nina (11) took over the kitchen from Mom, and prepared and served most of the waffles.

Last attempt to set up the webcam - did not happen - compatability problem - wasn't meant to be - I was disappointed. Oh well, I now know what WB and his shop look like - NA, NA NA, NA NA NA

Late dinner - what, we're eating again?! - they were amazed at how little Jeff and I eat - we had potato soup with a tuna puree on top, and a spinach roll with smoked salmon and sour cream - rich, and at least five stars * * * * * They were discussing which photo album to show us (an apparent tradition that I personally love) - we looked at several, including wedding, birth announcements, and pics of the whole family at various ages, including "tractor boy". Then we looked at the pics Wolfgang took, on his digital cam, on their TV. His cable wouldn't fit our cameras, so we couldn't view ours. However, I was able to finalize my first DVD-R from my video camera, and watch it through their DVD player. My second DVD was not finished until the next day - wanted to take pics of the family, house, cats, rabbits, etc., and couldn't do so if I had finalized the disc.

Turned in around 2300 - met Ralf coming out of shower- said our goodbyes then, since he doesn't do mornings. Did my packing, and went to sleep.

Monday, June 5, 2006

I was up early for a shower and last minute packing, and taking pics and video around the house before everyone got up. We had our last coffee at their house around 0730, and said goodbye to Iris. Ralf had already said goodbye - he doesn't do mornings, remember - Nina just covered her head (did I mention she's 11). WB and Connie took us to Stuttgart to catch our flight at 1100. For the first time, I had my luggage searched. (For the record, it's not as much fun to have your underwear fondled if you're not in them.) We had our last coffee in Germany with the Buergels at the airport cafe, and said our goodbyes around 1000. We boarded our flight early, left early, and landed in Atlanta early. Transatlantic flight to Atlanta seemed shorter than the other direction, even though it was actually longer, possibly due to all daylight. Lunch was a veggie pasta, dinner/snack was veggie pizza - is this all a conspiracy against carnivores?? Movies were Failure to Launch, Firewall, and Eight Below - all new, and I hadn't yet seen any of them. I lost track of the time by changing my watch during the flight, but we landed at ATL around 1600 for a short layover. We had to pick up all luggage, go through Customs, then check it back in by placing it on the right belt. Jeff and I had window seats on different rows, opposite sides of the plane, so we didn't get off together (behave, Dani). We spotted each other at times in different lines, but lost contact at the point we went looking for our gates. It turns out that Terry and Mike were very close to us at ATL, but since we didn't know about each other, we didn't search for each other - pity, would have been fun. My flight landed in Houston before 1800, and I was in my little red Benz headed home by 1830, treating Interstate 10 like it was my own personal autobahn. I got home around 2100, and went straight to a Burger King for my Fast Food Fix. I was in my own bed by 2300.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

I slept in until around 0830 to prepare for my set of nights/graveyards. A severe case of jet lag, as well as Post Adventure Depression, made these the three worst nights of my life so far.......