Aug 7: Today it rained! E read his book and I worked on my drawing.
Aug 8: It rained again!
Aug 9: Guess what???? It rained all day!
Aug 10-11: Can’t remember, but I think it rained again?
Aug 12: Our neighbors, Gerd and Sabine, invited us over for lunch. We hung out for a while then went to Sabine’s to use the computer. Sabine made some plum cake and coffee so we ate and talked for a while.
Aug 13: We went with Sabine in the evening to play beach volleyball in Eisenach. She plays every week (as long as it doesn’t rain) with some associates from Bosh. Eric and I had a great time playing again, even though it was a bit of jungle ball. The court was very nice… located in a park up in the woods just outside of Eisenach. We were very happy that Sabine invited us and gave us a ride!
Aug 14: Scott arrives today, so we are off to Eisenach to meet him at the train station. Everything worked out well, he made it to Eisenach without any issues. We quickly jumped on a train to Wutha and then walked home from there. We stopped at Tegut to pick up some groceries then Scott had the chance to drag his bag the rest of the way through the town past the chickens, cows, goats, rabbits, you name it and someone has it in their yard here. We caught up on all the south bay news, then met up with Sabine later that night for food and beers at the Eisenach Irish Pub, where she holds an English speaking open table once a week. We had a good time there and talked about the differences between our cultures. We met a guy Tobias who spent some time in Detroit and complained about how many questions we are asked in the US when trying to order food…How do you want that cooked?, What do you want to go with that?, What kind of dressing do you want on your salad?...Germany is more on the order of the “I’ll have the #9”…ok good next person…
Aug 15: Took Scott to Eisenach today, we tried to take a tour of the Eisenacher brewery, but after going in through the shipping entrance found out all they had to offer was a smokey office, with a couple of glasses for sale, a bikini calendar and a German speaking German lady that had no idea what the word ‘tour’ meant…well so much for that. We were off to the Wartburg castle. We took a bus up to the castle then walked around and as always beautiful views of the countryside can be seen in every direction. Scott spent 15 minutes trying to take a picture of a green pasture off in the distance. After a few minutes of discussion we agreed with Scott that it was ‘the greenest pasture ever.’ We also stopped for lunch downtown and had one of our local favorites…rolled beef, red cabbage and dumplings…ask Scott it is a lot better than it sounds. We finished the day off with a barbeque with Gerd, we made German vegetable salad and bratwurst! We had a great evening and it was our first opportunity to act as interpreters, it is definitely a good thing this happened now and not when we first got here. The conversation was pretty basic but I think we did a pretty good job.
Aug 16: Sabine Probst invited us over today for making pancakes (more like crepes) and a South American mixed drink along the lines of a mohito…it started by smashing a bunch of limes, after a couple I can’t remember what else went in them. We hung out there for most of the afternoon and enjoyed lots of conversation. We rode our bikes home, made more bratwurst and I finally started packing for our trip to Berlin and Prague at about 10 o’clock. I don’t know how I manage to always screw myself like that.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Rainy Germany, Paris and Normandy
July 26: Eric woke up early (5:30 am) with his father. I woke up briefly to say goodbye and thanks for this great opportunity and place to stay. Then Randy was gone. E and I went back to bed for a few more hours. We didn’t have much going on the rest of the day… just a little house cleaning! So in the evening we fixed a nice dinner with Champagne and ate outside.
July 27: This evening we went on a walk… there was a very nice sunset (check out the pics). The farmers had just started cutting the wheat so the air was a little dusty. Eric was completely interested in the large tractor that was being used to do the job. After our walk we called it a night!
July 28-30: It rained the whole day… every day… for three days straight! We played a lot of Rummy 500, and watched a lot of CNN ☺
July 31: Today we leave for Paris! I am so excited to visit Paris… I am a little worried about the Parisians attitude you so often hear about from other travelers, but E and I are excited because we are meeting Rob and Cody tomorrow! Our train doesn’t leave until later this evening… we are taking a night train (natch zug) from a city named Karlsruhe to Paris arriving around 7:30 am! So I made some pizza and we ate outside… seems like the weather has turned sunny! Our neighbor Gerd stopped by because he saw our suitcases outside and offered us a ride down to the train station. We are so lucky to have met all these nice and generous people here. When we got to the train station we ran into this German guy who seemed to be telling us that the train was not coming! We tried to talk to him but couldn’t understand anything…. Then we realized that he might be just a bit off his rocker because usually we can understand something from a conversation. Then the guy left and we waited anxiously for our train, hoping that it would come. It came and all our worries were washed away! The rest of our journey went so smooth that we ended up in Karlsruhe early. We walked around to find something to eat but all the restaurants had closed at 10:30 am and our train wasn’t coming till 1 am. This is the first time that we had to bite the bullet and eat Mc Donald’s.
After our long wait our train arrived and we boarded in search of our compartment. We had a private room with a washbasin in it… and the stewardess asked for our breakfast preferences. It was kind of like a hotel room, but very small with a bathroom around the corner with a shower! E and I went to sleep and woke up early in the morning to the alarm clock that was set for breakfast. Our stewardess brought us breakfast and coffee (hot chocolate for E) and we ate our food as we looked out our window at the passing French countryside. Oh… I am into the next day!
Aug 1: So as I wrote before we had breakfast in our compartment as we waited for the train to reach Paris. After we got off the train we went to the metro to figure out what line we had to take to get to our hotel. A French train station worker approached us and was more than happy to help us. We were very surprised by his friendly demeanor. We checked into our hotel in the Marias neighborhood just north of the Seine. We walked to the old Parisian Cemetery (Pere Lachaise Cemetary) from our hotel first. We saw Jim Morrison’s grave and Chopin’s grave. There were so many very old graves mixed with more recent ones. It was very interesting walking around and reading those stones that were still readable. In the afternoon we went to the Catacombs located underground in old quarry tunnels. Starting in 1785, six million people were relocated from cemeteries around Paris underground (then) just outside the city. It was very strange almost unbelievable walking through so many stacks of bones. Many of the famous people that are located here were executed during political unrest. We have pictures of this too! After our depressing sigh seeing day we made our way to the Luxembourg Garden. These gardens belong to the Parisian Senate and they had strict rules on what activities can take place in what areas of the park. On our way back to the hotel we passed Notre-Dame!
This evening we met Robb, Cody and their parents at dinner (they just arrived this afternoon). There was Robb’s mother, father, sister, and Cody’s mother and father. We ate at a neat restaurant right by the Place Des Vosges. It was so nice to see them since we have been gone so long! We wish all our friends had been able to make it out for a visit! (I have to give props to Scott, Mike, Dan, Dylan, and Mike L. – all are visiting while we are here!). After dinner we called it a night because we were getting up early to site see with Rob, Cody and the families.
Aug 2: Eric and I woke up at 7:30 am because we were meeting the gang at their hotel at 9 am. First on the itinerary was Sacre-Coeur on Montmartre! We walked up the steps to go through the famous church. You could see a lot of the city from this 420 high hilltop. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower (one of my favorite sites). We didn’t stand in line to go up the tower but we walked all around and under it and got some great pictures. Next we went to Napoleon’s Tomb… E and I didn’t go in, but we heard it was a very big Tomb for such a small man! The rest of the afternoon was a little more laid back with a nice lunch (E and I had Lebanese Food). The ladies did a little shopping and then met the men at the bar for a drink! Then we walked through Notre-Dame.
Later in the evening we met the whole group and took a riverboat cruise along the Seine River! We made the 9:20 pm trip (the best time to see all the sites at night because they were all lit up). This city is really amazing at night, and the view is very different from the river. We saw so many of the main sites in Paris on our boat tour (L’Orangerie, Orsay Museum, The Louvre, Grand Palais, Notre-Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Eiffel Tower, and the many bridges of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was all light up and for about 15 minutes was sparkling like a diamond with strobe lights. The night boat cruise will be a great memory of our time in Paris!
Aug 3: Today we slept in and met up with Rob, Cody and Cody’s parents at the Louvre. They went into the Louvre early and we met them around 12 PM so that we could get some sleep! From The Louvre we walked through the Tuileries, Orangerie to the Place Concorde. We kept going up the Champs-Elysees, stopping in some stores and car showrooms. Eric, Rob, Cody and I entered a pit-crew challenge in the Renault Showroom (Eric and Rob’s idea). Cody and I were on a team and Eric and Rob were on the other team. We had to change the tire of a Formula 1 car as we were being timed. Of course Eric and Rob won, but Cody and I gave a good fight. They guys working there told Eric and Rob that they had the fasted time of the week (they seemed really impressed with their time)! Now that Rob and Eric were smiling from ear to ear we finished our walk to the Arc de Triomphe. We all paid to go up to the top for the great views of the city. Later in the evening we all went out to dinner (after a little walk to find a good dinner spot) for our last evening in Paris. It was another great day in Paris!
Aug 4: Today we left Paris and headed to Bayeaux, a small town in Normandy, to tour the infamous battle beaches of WWII. We had a little trouble getting our rental car since they didn’t speak any English, but eventually we were given the car. We drove to the Chateaux just outside of Bayeaux. This place was very nice, and we were served a bottle of Cider when we arrived (they can’t grow grapes there due to the cold weather, so they make Cider instead of Champagne). We went back into town for a little dinner and went to bed early since we had to get up early for our tour!
Aug 5: Our tour of the Normandy WWII beaches started at 9 AM. The first beach we went to was where the British arrived. The tide along the Normandy beaches rise and fall about 25 feet. They set up a harbor just off the beach in about 3 days… this was complete with a floating road so that the tanks could go back and forth from the ships no matter the tide. They used huge 4 story tall concrete bocks, towed across the bay, and then filled with water so that they would sink. It’s pretty incredible how quick they were about to create this harbor… and just a few days after it was made, a big storm destroyed the man made harbor. There are still many parts (huge concrete blocks etc) that remain today… nothing has been changed since.
Next stop were the German fortifications up on the cliffs. These fortifications had the original guns (huge guns) within them. One of the forts took a direct hit and there are pieces of concrete and the gun spread all around. The barrel of the gun was half buried in the ground! The concrete walls of the forts were so think… maybe about 10 feet thick in some areas. Then we learned about the pipe line that the British laid along the bottom of the bay to bring fuel, and water (because they thought the Nazi’s poisoned the local water supply).
We went to Omaha Beach (aka Bloody Omaha Beach) next and walked around. This place was pretty strange… this was the most deadly battle (as seen on Private Ryan) of D-day. There was a French man who walked up to our tour guide and told him that his wife doesn’t come out the trailer when they are there out of respect for all the men who lost their lives helping liberate the French people. There were not many people on this beach. There were no seashells… only pebbles. It is said that the water was red for days following the battle here. The solders had to swim to the beach, then if they made it that far they had to run 300 yards up the beach since it was low tide. Perched on top of the hill stands the American Cemetery. They French gave this land to America and is considered American soil. We walked through this cemetery where only about 1/3 of the dead solders are buried. The remaining 2/3 of the dead were shipped back to the United States. Many of the head stones were unknown, while others contained names, rank, hometown, date of death, but none of the stones contain birthdays.
The last stop on our tour was an area that was so heavily bombed there are still huge craters all over the ground. There were rangers that climbed the cliffs here only to find out that the guns were fake and the real ones had been moved inland. There are huge pieces of concrete from the forts just tossed to the side!
Aug 6: Today we traveled back to our home in Wutha! It was a long travel day, so we took a taxi home from the train station!
July 27: This evening we went on a walk… there was a very nice sunset (check out the pics). The farmers had just started cutting the wheat so the air was a little dusty. Eric was completely interested in the large tractor that was being used to do the job. After our walk we called it a night!
July 28-30: It rained the whole day… every day… for three days straight! We played a lot of Rummy 500, and watched a lot of CNN ☺
July 31: Today we leave for Paris! I am so excited to visit Paris… I am a little worried about the Parisians attitude you so often hear about from other travelers, but E and I are excited because we are meeting Rob and Cody tomorrow! Our train doesn’t leave until later this evening… we are taking a night train (natch zug) from a city named Karlsruhe to Paris arriving around 7:30 am! So I made some pizza and we ate outside… seems like the weather has turned sunny! Our neighbor Gerd stopped by because he saw our suitcases outside and offered us a ride down to the train station. We are so lucky to have met all these nice and generous people here. When we got to the train station we ran into this German guy who seemed to be telling us that the train was not coming! We tried to talk to him but couldn’t understand anything…. Then we realized that he might be just a bit off his rocker because usually we can understand something from a conversation. Then the guy left and we waited anxiously for our train, hoping that it would come. It came and all our worries were washed away! The rest of our journey went so smooth that we ended up in Karlsruhe early. We walked around to find something to eat but all the restaurants had closed at 10:30 am and our train wasn’t coming till 1 am. This is the first time that we had to bite the bullet and eat Mc Donald’s.
After our long wait our train arrived and we boarded in search of our compartment. We had a private room with a washbasin in it… and the stewardess asked for our breakfast preferences. It was kind of like a hotel room, but very small with a bathroom around the corner with a shower! E and I went to sleep and woke up early in the morning to the alarm clock that was set for breakfast. Our stewardess brought us breakfast and coffee (hot chocolate for E) and we ate our food as we looked out our window at the passing French countryside. Oh… I am into the next day!
Aug 1: So as I wrote before we had breakfast in our compartment as we waited for the train to reach Paris. After we got off the train we went to the metro to figure out what line we had to take to get to our hotel. A French train station worker approached us and was more than happy to help us. We were very surprised by his friendly demeanor. We checked into our hotel in the Marias neighborhood just north of the Seine. We walked to the old Parisian Cemetery (Pere Lachaise Cemetary) from our hotel first. We saw Jim Morrison’s grave and Chopin’s grave. There were so many very old graves mixed with more recent ones. It was very interesting walking around and reading those stones that were still readable. In the afternoon we went to the Catacombs located underground in old quarry tunnels. Starting in 1785, six million people were relocated from cemeteries around Paris underground (then) just outside the city. It was very strange almost unbelievable walking through so many stacks of bones. Many of the famous people that are located here were executed during political unrest. We have pictures of this too! After our depressing sigh seeing day we made our way to the Luxembourg Garden. These gardens belong to the Parisian Senate and they had strict rules on what activities can take place in what areas of the park. On our way back to the hotel we passed Notre-Dame!
This evening we met Robb, Cody and their parents at dinner (they just arrived this afternoon). There was Robb’s mother, father, sister, and Cody’s mother and father. We ate at a neat restaurant right by the Place Des Vosges. It was so nice to see them since we have been gone so long! We wish all our friends had been able to make it out for a visit! (I have to give props to Scott, Mike, Dan, Dylan, and Mike L. – all are visiting while we are here!). After dinner we called it a night because we were getting up early to site see with Rob, Cody and the families.
Aug 2: Eric and I woke up at 7:30 am because we were meeting the gang at their hotel at 9 am. First on the itinerary was Sacre-Coeur on Montmartre! We walked up the steps to go through the famous church. You could see a lot of the city from this 420 high hilltop. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower (one of my favorite sites). We didn’t stand in line to go up the tower but we walked all around and under it and got some great pictures. Next we went to Napoleon’s Tomb… E and I didn’t go in, but we heard it was a very big Tomb for such a small man! The rest of the afternoon was a little more laid back with a nice lunch (E and I had Lebanese Food). The ladies did a little shopping and then met the men at the bar for a drink! Then we walked through Notre-Dame.
Later in the evening we met the whole group and took a riverboat cruise along the Seine River! We made the 9:20 pm trip (the best time to see all the sites at night because they were all lit up). This city is really amazing at night, and the view is very different from the river. We saw so many of the main sites in Paris on our boat tour (L’Orangerie, Orsay Museum, The Louvre, Grand Palais, Notre-Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Eiffel Tower, and the many bridges of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was all light up and for about 15 minutes was sparkling like a diamond with strobe lights. The night boat cruise will be a great memory of our time in Paris!
Aug 3: Today we slept in and met up with Rob, Cody and Cody’s parents at the Louvre. They went into the Louvre early and we met them around 12 PM so that we could get some sleep! From The Louvre we walked through the Tuileries, Orangerie to the Place Concorde. We kept going up the Champs-Elysees, stopping in some stores and car showrooms. Eric, Rob, Cody and I entered a pit-crew challenge in the Renault Showroom (Eric and Rob’s idea). Cody and I were on a team and Eric and Rob were on the other team. We had to change the tire of a Formula 1 car as we were being timed. Of course Eric and Rob won, but Cody and I gave a good fight. They guys working there told Eric and Rob that they had the fasted time of the week (they seemed really impressed with their time)! Now that Rob and Eric were smiling from ear to ear we finished our walk to the Arc de Triomphe. We all paid to go up to the top for the great views of the city. Later in the evening we all went out to dinner (after a little walk to find a good dinner spot) for our last evening in Paris. It was another great day in Paris!
Aug 4: Today we left Paris and headed to Bayeaux, a small town in Normandy, to tour the infamous battle beaches of WWII. We had a little trouble getting our rental car since they didn’t speak any English, but eventually we were given the car. We drove to the Chateaux just outside of Bayeaux. This place was very nice, and we were served a bottle of Cider when we arrived (they can’t grow grapes there due to the cold weather, so they make Cider instead of Champagne). We went back into town for a little dinner and went to bed early since we had to get up early for our tour!
Aug 5: Our tour of the Normandy WWII beaches started at 9 AM. The first beach we went to was where the British arrived. The tide along the Normandy beaches rise and fall about 25 feet. They set up a harbor just off the beach in about 3 days… this was complete with a floating road so that the tanks could go back and forth from the ships no matter the tide. They used huge 4 story tall concrete bocks, towed across the bay, and then filled with water so that they would sink. It’s pretty incredible how quick they were about to create this harbor… and just a few days after it was made, a big storm destroyed the man made harbor. There are still many parts (huge concrete blocks etc) that remain today… nothing has been changed since.
Next stop were the German fortifications up on the cliffs. These fortifications had the original guns (huge guns) within them. One of the forts took a direct hit and there are pieces of concrete and the gun spread all around. The barrel of the gun was half buried in the ground! The concrete walls of the forts were so think… maybe about 10 feet thick in some areas. Then we learned about the pipe line that the British laid along the bottom of the bay to bring fuel, and water (because they thought the Nazi’s poisoned the local water supply).
We went to Omaha Beach (aka Bloody Omaha Beach) next and walked around. This place was pretty strange… this was the most deadly battle (as seen on Private Ryan) of D-day. There was a French man who walked up to our tour guide and told him that his wife doesn’t come out the trailer when they are there out of respect for all the men who lost their lives helping liberate the French people. There were not many people on this beach. There were no seashells… only pebbles. It is said that the water was red for days following the battle here. The solders had to swim to the beach, then if they made it that far they had to run 300 yards up the beach since it was low tide. Perched on top of the hill stands the American Cemetery. They French gave this land to America and is considered American soil. We walked through this cemetery where only about 1/3 of the dead solders are buried. The remaining 2/3 of the dead were shipped back to the United States. Many of the head stones were unknown, while others contained names, rank, hometown, date of death, but none of the stones contain birthdays.
The last stop on our tour was an area that was so heavily bombed there are still huge craters all over the ground. There were rangers that climbed the cliffs here only to find out that the guns were fake and the real ones had been moved inland. There are huge pieces of concrete from the forts just tossed to the side!
Aug 6: Today we traveled back to our home in Wutha! It was a long travel day, so we took a taxi home from the train station!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
France, Monaco and Switzerland (FiVB Beach Volleyball World Championships)
July 18: This morning Eric decided that he was going to be able to make it to Nice, so we jumped on the subway headed to the train station. The subway was hot and E started feeling sick again. Luckily (so we thought) we made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. After sitting around for a while I checked the boards for our train. It was only 30 minutes till we were supposed to leave and our train was not on the board. As I took a closer look at our tickets, I realized I had made a big mistake! We were at the wrong train station in Barcelona…. We needed to get across the city and on a train in 30 minutes! So we ran out to catch a taxi. I showed the taxi our tickets and he said that it was most likely impossible to make, but we gave it a shot (what else were we to do). I felt so bad because I knew E was not feeling well (of all days to make this mistake)! Somehow our old little cabbie got us to the train station with 10 minutes to spare! We gave him a gracious tip and ran to the security line (new in Spain for train travel). Thank goodness we got our train because I think it was the only train available that day for our destination. The remainder of the day was spent traveling to Nice. We arrived in Nice later in the evening. We checked into our rickety room that had a kitchenette and a great location. Our hotel (wouldn’t consider this place a hotel) was right outside of the Old Town in Nice not far from the rocky beach. We grabbed some pasta at a little Italian restaurant, walked around the Old Town and called it a night. I was just happy that E was feeling a little better.
July 19: This morning we went to the grocery store and stocked our refrig with some snacks and breakfast foods. Then we went to the beach (Nices beach is all rocky). It wasn’t what I had in mind for Nice and the French Riviera. Although Nice is a huge travel destination, I would recommend some of the smaller towns just outside of the big city area. There were two sand volleyball courts available that were fenced off (which you had to pay to play). So E and I paid 4 Euro to play a game. We waited for a while, but ended up playing a good team/game with two other guys. We lost by a few points but were happy considering E had been sick and wasn’t at a 100% and we hadn’t played in over 4 months! So we went swimming in the very blue water to cool off.
Since E wasn’t 100% we heated up our leftovers for dinner in our room and had a nice little meal. We walked along the beach on the walkway called the Promenade. There were many people out, and we saw many casinos along our way.
July 20: Today we woke up early to climb to the top of Castle Hill. First we started with a walking tour of Old Town Nice. Our walk took us through the open air market on Cours Saleya. We made it up to Castle Hill where there is no Castle! There once was a castle that stood here, but Louis XIV destroyed it in 1706. We had the best views of Nice from the top of this hill! After lunch we rented bikes (E’s breaks didn’t work and my chain fell off once) and road along the beach towards the airport. These bikes sucked! E almost ran into a few people because they were not paying attention and he had no breaks. Oh well, it was nice to be riding bikes along the water again…. Just not quite like the South Bay!
Later this evening we went out to dinner. E was feeling better and was ready for some good seafood. Eric and I split pasta and a mixed grilled seafood plate! The fish, mussels, calamari, and shrimp were great! We had a nice dinner and went to this place called Fenocchio’s for gelato! We had gelato last night here too! They had over 90 flavors… I got Mango one night and Baileys the next. Eric got Baileys the first night and Cinnamon the 2nd night! Good stuff!
July 21: Time to move up on our trip and catch the train for Monaco! It only took us 20 minutes by train to get to Monaco. This place is amazing! I think it might be the cleanest and safest place I have ever seen. We exit the train station (which is underground so that it isn’t seen) and walk a few minutes to get to Hotel De France. We are here early so we left for some site seeing in Monaco Ville. Monaco Ville is on one side of the harbor and Monte Carlo is on the other side. Monaco Ville is up on top of a cliff that overlooks the sea! This is where The Palace (still a working palace today) is located with guards on patrol. The two princesses live in Monaco Ville as well just outside the palace. We walked through the old town and went to the royal cathedral where Princess Grace is buried. Then we walked down the other side of the hill through the gardens and past the aquarium. This place is just beautiful!
After walking through Monaco Ville we headed for Monte Carlo (where the casino is located). We walked down by the harbor where are the ships were docked… these boats (ships) were the biggest and most expensive (I’m sure) private water crafts I have ever seen anywhere! A lady walked out of her ship into her Rolls Royce (with driver) as we were passing and staring☺ Anyway we walked along the Formula One Race Track through the tunnel. I can’t tell you how many Ferrari’s drove by as we were walking. This place is so small only about 30,000 people live here (only 10,000 of them are full time residence)….the other 20,000 use it as a playground for their expensive toys.
Later in the evening we ate dinner along the harbor with a great view of all the ships. As we started to walk back to the hotel Eric noticed two Ferrari’s parked on the sidewalk with a sign reading, “Drive a Ferrari”! Well that was all it took (and about 90 Euro) and Eric was off in a red 360 Spider Ferrari! He drove the formula 1 racetrack in this nice car! When they drove by the crowds at the casino, tourists were taking his picture!!!! His adrenaline was pumping all evening from that one ride. Once you get a taste of the good life there is no going back (isn’t that what they say?).
July 22: Today we were headed to Milan for an evening on our way to Gstaad…. That is until we found out that the Italian Trains were on strike! So we met this other couple that were suppose to get on the same train and decided we would try to rent a car and drive. We walked to Hertz only to find out that it would cost 700 euros alone just to drop off the car in another country. So we went to Avis to check on there fees… Avis was a bit cheaper but still not worth the 300 euros! So we went back to our hotel and booked another night and hoped that we would have better luck tomorrow. Now that we had an unexpected extra day in Monaco we went to the swimming pool down by the harbor. There was a process to this place! Eric and I had to enter separately (you hd to go through the women’s and men’s dressing rooms). You had to change in the dressing room and put your clothes in a tote (that had a number). Then you checked your tote with the people behind the counter, and shower before you went into the pool area. When Eric and I met up we found a small spot by the lifeguards chair trying to steal some of the shade from his umbrella. Since it was so windy, they made everyone take down their umbrellas…this was bad for Eric. So we stayed about as long as we could without E getting too burnt!
July 23: Our train was not canceled today! That means we have to get from Monaco to Gstaad in one day! This is a really long distance, but we were up for the challenge. When we got into Milan (over an hour late!) we had to get a reservation for our train to Spiez (we had 40 minutes). Well, three lines and 45 minutes later we missed our train. So we got on the next one that left about 15 minutes later (not too bad). Our train was nice, and the scenery was magnificent! Northern Italy and Switzerland are so beautiful (beyond description). We got off in Spiez and boarded our third train of the day! In Zweisimmen (small town) we switched onto a bus in the pouring rain that took us two towns over then back onto a train for one stop to get to Gstaad! WOW (4 trains and 1 bus) we got in at 10:30 PM and found our way to our hotel in the rain. The kitchens were closed but we had salad and beer for dinner!!! Not to bad… Our room was great…. We had a balcony with a view of the Swiss Alps. Hopefully tomorrow with be sunny!????
July 24: Today we woke and it was still raining! So we had a huge breakfast at our hotel. They had cheese, meat, fruit salad, yogurt, Croissants, 5 different types of bread, energy bars, 3 different types of cereal, coffee, orange juice, and hot chocolate! This place was only a 2 stare, so you can imagine that Gstaad it a pretty nice little resort town (like Vail?) E and I walked to the village where the main volleyball court was set up just as Misty May Treanor, and Kerri Walsh were playing their first match. Since it was raining there were plenty of wet seats available. Needless to say they won their games and the whole tournament (later that week). After a few more games E and I decided to go back to the hotel to dry out, warm up and eat lunch. After lunch we went to Court 2 for the USA men’s teams (there were about 3-4 consecutive USA men’s matches in a row). Just as the first game starts Eric starts congratulating someone, so I look up and there is Kerri Walsh walking up the bleachers and sits down right behind us. So I get my picture taken with her (I was very nervous asking, but what the hay!). As the game progressed most of the USA women’s players were sitting all around us including Misty May, Wacholder (sp?), and Youngs! E and I were the only non AVP groupies of the crew (we were the only fans (non players) in the stands ☺.
July 25: We had to wake up really early today to catch our train(s). So we had an early breakfast and walked to the train station (only about 5 minutes away). Today was another long travel day… we were traveling all the way back to the house in Wutha Farnroda. We arrived in Wutha around 5-6 pm and decided to walk back to the house. As we were walking, a car stops by the side of the road… it was Sven (our pilot)! So he gave us a ride to the house (it would have been about a 25 minute walk). We were saved by Sven! Eric’s dad was leaving in the morning so we spent the rest of the night at the house with him.
July 19: This morning we went to the grocery store and stocked our refrig with some snacks and breakfast foods. Then we went to the beach (Nices beach is all rocky). It wasn’t what I had in mind for Nice and the French Riviera. Although Nice is a huge travel destination, I would recommend some of the smaller towns just outside of the big city area. There were two sand volleyball courts available that were fenced off (which you had to pay to play). So E and I paid 4 Euro to play a game. We waited for a while, but ended up playing a good team/game with two other guys. We lost by a few points but were happy considering E had been sick and wasn’t at a 100% and we hadn’t played in over 4 months! So we went swimming in the very blue water to cool off.
Since E wasn’t 100% we heated up our leftovers for dinner in our room and had a nice little meal. We walked along the beach on the walkway called the Promenade. There were many people out, and we saw many casinos along our way.
July 20: Today we woke up early to climb to the top of Castle Hill. First we started with a walking tour of Old Town Nice. Our walk took us through the open air market on Cours Saleya. We made it up to Castle Hill where there is no Castle! There once was a castle that stood here, but Louis XIV destroyed it in 1706. We had the best views of Nice from the top of this hill! After lunch we rented bikes (E’s breaks didn’t work and my chain fell off once) and road along the beach towards the airport. These bikes sucked! E almost ran into a few people because they were not paying attention and he had no breaks. Oh well, it was nice to be riding bikes along the water again…. Just not quite like the South Bay!
Later this evening we went out to dinner. E was feeling better and was ready for some good seafood. Eric and I split pasta and a mixed grilled seafood plate! The fish, mussels, calamari, and shrimp were great! We had a nice dinner and went to this place called Fenocchio’s for gelato! We had gelato last night here too! They had over 90 flavors… I got Mango one night and Baileys the next. Eric got Baileys the first night and Cinnamon the 2nd night! Good stuff!
July 21: Time to move up on our trip and catch the train for Monaco! It only took us 20 minutes by train to get to Monaco. This place is amazing! I think it might be the cleanest and safest place I have ever seen. We exit the train station (which is underground so that it isn’t seen) and walk a few minutes to get to Hotel De France. We are here early so we left for some site seeing in Monaco Ville. Monaco Ville is on one side of the harbor and Monte Carlo is on the other side. Monaco Ville is up on top of a cliff that overlooks the sea! This is where The Palace (still a working palace today) is located with guards on patrol. The two princesses live in Monaco Ville as well just outside the palace. We walked through the old town and went to the royal cathedral where Princess Grace is buried. Then we walked down the other side of the hill through the gardens and past the aquarium. This place is just beautiful!
After walking through Monaco Ville we headed for Monte Carlo (where the casino is located). We walked down by the harbor where are the ships were docked… these boats (ships) were the biggest and most expensive (I’m sure) private water crafts I have ever seen anywhere! A lady walked out of her ship into her Rolls Royce (with driver) as we were passing and staring☺ Anyway we walked along the Formula One Race Track through the tunnel. I can’t tell you how many Ferrari’s drove by as we were walking. This place is so small only about 30,000 people live here (only 10,000 of them are full time residence)….the other 20,000 use it as a playground for their expensive toys.
Later in the evening we ate dinner along the harbor with a great view of all the ships. As we started to walk back to the hotel Eric noticed two Ferrari’s parked on the sidewalk with a sign reading, “Drive a Ferrari”! Well that was all it took (and about 90 Euro) and Eric was off in a red 360 Spider Ferrari! He drove the formula 1 racetrack in this nice car! When they drove by the crowds at the casino, tourists were taking his picture!!!! His adrenaline was pumping all evening from that one ride. Once you get a taste of the good life there is no going back (isn’t that what they say?).
July 22: Today we were headed to Milan for an evening on our way to Gstaad…. That is until we found out that the Italian Trains were on strike! So we met this other couple that were suppose to get on the same train and decided we would try to rent a car and drive. We walked to Hertz only to find out that it would cost 700 euros alone just to drop off the car in another country. So we went to Avis to check on there fees… Avis was a bit cheaper but still not worth the 300 euros! So we went back to our hotel and booked another night and hoped that we would have better luck tomorrow. Now that we had an unexpected extra day in Monaco we went to the swimming pool down by the harbor. There was a process to this place! Eric and I had to enter separately (you hd to go through the women’s and men’s dressing rooms). You had to change in the dressing room and put your clothes in a tote (that had a number). Then you checked your tote with the people behind the counter, and shower before you went into the pool area. When Eric and I met up we found a small spot by the lifeguards chair trying to steal some of the shade from his umbrella. Since it was so windy, they made everyone take down their umbrellas…this was bad for Eric. So we stayed about as long as we could without E getting too burnt!
July 23: Our train was not canceled today! That means we have to get from Monaco to Gstaad in one day! This is a really long distance, but we were up for the challenge. When we got into Milan (over an hour late!) we had to get a reservation for our train to Spiez (we had 40 minutes). Well, three lines and 45 minutes later we missed our train. So we got on the next one that left about 15 minutes later (not too bad). Our train was nice, and the scenery was magnificent! Northern Italy and Switzerland are so beautiful (beyond description). We got off in Spiez and boarded our third train of the day! In Zweisimmen (small town) we switched onto a bus in the pouring rain that took us two towns over then back onto a train for one stop to get to Gstaad! WOW (4 trains and 1 bus) we got in at 10:30 PM and found our way to our hotel in the rain. The kitchens were closed but we had salad and beer for dinner!!! Not to bad… Our room was great…. We had a balcony with a view of the Swiss Alps. Hopefully tomorrow with be sunny!????
July 24: Today we woke and it was still raining! So we had a huge breakfast at our hotel. They had cheese, meat, fruit salad, yogurt, Croissants, 5 different types of bread, energy bars, 3 different types of cereal, coffee, orange juice, and hot chocolate! This place was only a 2 stare, so you can imagine that Gstaad it a pretty nice little resort town (like Vail?) E and I walked to the village where the main volleyball court was set up just as Misty May Treanor, and Kerri Walsh were playing their first match. Since it was raining there were plenty of wet seats available. Needless to say they won their games and the whole tournament (later that week). After a few more games E and I decided to go back to the hotel to dry out, warm up and eat lunch. After lunch we went to Court 2 for the USA men’s teams (there were about 3-4 consecutive USA men’s matches in a row). Just as the first game starts Eric starts congratulating someone, so I look up and there is Kerri Walsh walking up the bleachers and sits down right behind us. So I get my picture taken with her (I was very nervous asking, but what the hay!). As the game progressed most of the USA women’s players were sitting all around us including Misty May, Wacholder (sp?), and Youngs! E and I were the only non AVP groupies of the crew (we were the only fans (non players) in the stands ☺.
July 25: We had to wake up really early today to catch our train(s). So we had an early breakfast and walked to the train station (only about 5 minutes away). Today was another long travel day… we were traveling all the way back to the house in Wutha Farnroda. We arrived in Wutha around 5-6 pm and decided to walk back to the house. As we were walking, a car stops by the side of the road… it was Sven (our pilot)! So he gave us a ride to the house (it would have been about a 25 minute walk). We were saved by Sven! Eric’s dad was leaving in the morning so we spent the rest of the night at the house with him.
Spain!
July 11: After a good nights sleep on our train we arrive at our last connection and board our train to Pamplona. We are in on of the ‘tourista’ cars along with a bunch of college age American backpackers. Everyone was in good spirits and excited to get to Pamplona. Everyone was discussing if they were going to run with the bulls or not and about how dangerous it was. A girl sitting behind us was convinced she would be running but seemed to be changing her mind when she found out you could actually get hurt or better yet gored in the ass. Leslie also noticed out of all the pictures and newspaper articles about Pamplona, few if any girls are seen running.
We arrive in Pamplona a couple of hours later, it is a much bigger city than we expect and English speakers are few and far between, after a couple of trips to the informacion desk we realize we are to get on a bus and head to the city center where we can catch the second bus we need. About two bus stops past what we later found out was our stop we got off the second bus and started our hike to our hotel, complete with a couple of jogs along guardrail lined blind curves with no sidewalks we finally made it to our hotel.
We are here! And ready to check out the festival. By now we have figured out that we are not dressed correctly for Pamplona, everyone is dressed in white pants and shirts with red belts tied around their waists and red bandanas tied around their necks. So we are off back to down town to get our garb, lunch and a bottle of sangria! Good times! We’re now wearing our new stuff, we are full and on our way to our second bottle of sangria. We were hanging out on the fence that lines the Bull Run when the crowd started filing into the stadium for the bull fight. Scalpers were out in full force and we scored tickets just before the start, although I hate blood and we don’t really like the idea of killing animals we were going to give this a shot. Hemmingway made the spectacle famous in the US, enough so that he has a street there named after him right next to the Bull Ring. We headed into the stadium and up to our seats, fairly high up on the top tier and in the shaded area, later we found out this is the dry area. In the sunny area of the stadium, fans carry in huge jugs and coolers full of sangria and spend the whole Bull Fight covering everyone within range with their special sangria concoction.
Even being pretty far up in the stadium the scene is definitely gruesome and for me almost stomach turning. Leslie and I made it through two Bull Fights, after the second dead bull was dragged from the stadium we left and to the unknown pleasure of the people in front of us I didn’t end up throwing up on them, they never knew how lucky they were. We came to the consensus that although this was definitely not our thing we were glad we experienced it. We conceded that if we ever go back that we would participate in the ‘Running of the Nudes’, a demonstration we saw on TV prior to going where a bunch of protesters dress up, well don’t dress up and make their way through the streets of Pamplona.
July 12: 6 am and we are on a bus on the way to see the Bull Run, which starts in 2 hours. We are decked out in our festival garb, and half asleep, but excited. Surprisingly we were not the only people on the bus at this hour, but it wasn’t overly crowded either. So we got off and started walking towards the Bull Ring to scope out our spots. On the way there we saw a guy passed out in a bank by the ATM, which was enclosed by glass! We also saw many people passed out on benches and grass in the middle of the sidewalk. These people must have thrown in the towel, but there were many more sangria covered people that had been out all night and still drinking! Once we got to the running area the number of spectators that were already claiming their spots surprised us. So we found a windowsill of a bank and thought that it would probably be the best spot we were going to get. So we climbed up into our spot, which was right behind the two fences where the bulls and runners come from the streets into the bullring! The first fence is off limits to spectators (mainly used for photographers and media) but many people were sitting on the second fence. The police, and emergency personnel, used the space between the two fences. This space was also used as a little safe haven for a few injured or feeing runners. Most of the running took place through the streets that are completely blocked off creating no space for runners to hide for safety; only the end of the track from the streets to the bullring had some kind of escape.
Now we wait! We stood in our windowsill for almost 2 hours just watching all the people walk by. Many people watch the very end of the running inside the bullring when the runners and bulls enter the bullring. Most the people we saw on the streets had been up all night drinking etc. Across the way two men climbed up a pretty large tree for a great view! Then the firework was lit and heard by all, runners, bulls and spectators! For a little while we were wondering when we were going to see them. That is when a large group of people really started running by and we could see the tops of the bulls. E and I thought to ourselves… is that it!? But it seemed like there was more going on. Then another group ran by…. This running took about 7 minutes. Most runs last for 2-3 minutes, but this morning the bulls (and steers) got separated which is the worst thing that can happen. Once the bulls get separated they start getting disoriented and start running the wrong way etc. I think some of the bulls got turned around 2 different times: once in the streets and once right in front of us! A bull stopped and turned around and charged right at the fence (and runners) right in front of us. I think two people were injured, one person was gored in the leg (shin) and the other had a head injury. To make a long story short we were very happy that we didn’t run, because this ended up being the most dangerous run of the festival. There were a total of 12 people injured, 7 people gored, and 2 people were in critical condition in the end. There was a Mexican man who was gored in the gut and thrown up by the horn of the bull (we saw this on TV later that night), then trampled. 2 men from Ohio (brothers) were gored (in the butt) by the same bull at the same time (one of them now lives in Hermosa Beach).
We went back to the hotel room to grab some breakfast and a little nap before going back down to the festival. That night we went to the park to watch the best fireworks show! Each night the city puts on a fireworks show… actually the fireworks are a contest between different city’s around the world… so a different city sponsors the fireworks each night during the festival. After the amazing fireworks show we grabbed some food and went back to the room since we were leaving early the next morning for Madrid! All in all Pamplona was quite the experience and we were very happy to have been able to take part in the celebrations!
July 13: Today we woke up early to catch the bus to the train station for our train to Madrid. We were sad, but ready to leave the party town of Pamplona for a new adventure. We got into Madrid and found our hotel quickly. Then we took a walking tour of Madrid, through the Puerta del Sol and to Plaza Mayor. Our walked ended at the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) so we decided to buy a ticket to see the inside. This palace was simply amazing. It is said to the Europe’s 3rd greatest palace. Maybe it is because it is still a working palace, although the Royal Family does not live there anymore, they live in a mansion just outside of the city. The inside was very impressive… just a few things that E and I thought were funny. The Royal dinner chairs were just a couple inches taller than all the rest of the dinner chairs and the 3 feet in-between the doorways were for the servants! The servants would work and walk in-between the walls to get around the palace unnoticed! The Throne Room was covered with Red Velvet, and the dinner table was the size of a bowling lane (seats up to 150 guests).
This evening we went to a restaurant called Restaurante Puerto Rico. We had fried chicken, even though we ordered grilled or roasted chicken. The food here was ok, but not really our taste? We should have brought our translation book so that we could have ordered what we thought we were ordering ☺
July 14: We slept in today, but made our way out around noon. We went to Chocolateria San Gines for some of Spain’s famous Churros con chocolate for breakfast. They give you a bowl of chocolate (with a pudding consistency) to accompany your churros. All the people in this café had ordered some. They were very unhealthy but tasted very good. Our next stop was the Retiro Park. The park was very pretty and well maintained! It was extremely hot outside, but we made our way to the lake to rent a rowboat! E rowed us around the lake a couple of times (I took the oars a couple times too). It was a neat experience, but you had to be careful of all the other boats and unskilled rowers! We made our way back to the hotel to take a break from the heat. Later that night we had dinner near our hotel in search of something healthy! Then we went to bed because we had another early train to catch the next day.
July 15: Waking us early has become a habit now again (not really). We got on our train to Barcelona, we were both ready to be by the water! The Barcelona train station was a wreck, with people everywhere. We waited here for an hour to try to make our reservations for Monte Carlo to Milan (later in our trip), but only to find out that they could not make reservations for other countries? Spain, Italy, and France are all this way… seems like the best place to plan trips and make reservations is in Germany! We made it to our hotel right on the Ramblas (very exciting pedestrian street). Our hotel was great, we had air conditioning, free drinks and snack bar all day! Yes, beer was included with the free drinks. We also had breakfast every morning. We drank a few drinks and took a walking tour of the Ramblas all the way down to the ocean. We had a great time looking at all the street performers etc. We passed and old burial ground that was discovered during the construction of a new building. We bought some pop corn and strolled across the La Rambla del Mar (wooden pedestrian bridge). There was a huge Columbus Monument there, strange since his discovery of the New World hurt the Spanish trading power and economy. E started feeling bad so we headed back to the hotel for a rest. By the time we got back E was feeling worse. He was sick for the next three days with a bad case of food poisoning!
July 16: E was not feeling better… very sick and in bed all day. I went down stairs to read a little, and checked on him every hour. Started to feel a little scared since we were in Spain…. So far away from home and Germany.
July 17: E was still sick… but he was able to keep down some fluids. Things started to look just a little better as the day passed. I went to the beach for a little 2-hour site seeing adventure. It was a little nerve racking to be by myself in a foreign city. I took the subway to the beach area and took some pictures to show E! I went back to the hotel after a quick 20 min rest in the sun. E was still feeling a little better. I grabbed some pizza for dinner at a restaurant next door. We decided to see how E was feeling before heading to Nice tomorrow (it was a 9 hour travel day). All in all I think Barcelona would have been a cool city to see…. I know Eric was very frustrated that he was unable to see most of the sights here. Maybe we will come back sometime????
We arrive in Pamplona a couple of hours later, it is a much bigger city than we expect and English speakers are few and far between, after a couple of trips to the informacion desk we realize we are to get on a bus and head to the city center where we can catch the second bus we need. About two bus stops past what we later found out was our stop we got off the second bus and started our hike to our hotel, complete with a couple of jogs along guardrail lined blind curves with no sidewalks we finally made it to our hotel.
We are here! And ready to check out the festival. By now we have figured out that we are not dressed correctly for Pamplona, everyone is dressed in white pants and shirts with red belts tied around their waists and red bandanas tied around their necks. So we are off back to down town to get our garb, lunch and a bottle of sangria! Good times! We’re now wearing our new stuff, we are full and on our way to our second bottle of sangria. We were hanging out on the fence that lines the Bull Run when the crowd started filing into the stadium for the bull fight. Scalpers were out in full force and we scored tickets just before the start, although I hate blood and we don’t really like the idea of killing animals we were going to give this a shot. Hemmingway made the spectacle famous in the US, enough so that he has a street there named after him right next to the Bull Ring. We headed into the stadium and up to our seats, fairly high up on the top tier and in the shaded area, later we found out this is the dry area. In the sunny area of the stadium, fans carry in huge jugs and coolers full of sangria and spend the whole Bull Fight covering everyone within range with their special sangria concoction.
Even being pretty far up in the stadium the scene is definitely gruesome and for me almost stomach turning. Leslie and I made it through two Bull Fights, after the second dead bull was dragged from the stadium we left and to the unknown pleasure of the people in front of us I didn’t end up throwing up on them, they never knew how lucky they were. We came to the consensus that although this was definitely not our thing we were glad we experienced it. We conceded that if we ever go back that we would participate in the ‘Running of the Nudes’, a demonstration we saw on TV prior to going where a bunch of protesters dress up, well don’t dress up and make their way through the streets of Pamplona.
July 12: 6 am and we are on a bus on the way to see the Bull Run, which starts in 2 hours. We are decked out in our festival garb, and half asleep, but excited. Surprisingly we were not the only people on the bus at this hour, but it wasn’t overly crowded either. So we got off and started walking towards the Bull Ring to scope out our spots. On the way there we saw a guy passed out in a bank by the ATM, which was enclosed by glass! We also saw many people passed out on benches and grass in the middle of the sidewalk. These people must have thrown in the towel, but there were many more sangria covered people that had been out all night and still drinking! Once we got to the running area the number of spectators that were already claiming their spots surprised us. So we found a windowsill of a bank and thought that it would probably be the best spot we were going to get. So we climbed up into our spot, which was right behind the two fences where the bulls and runners come from the streets into the bullring! The first fence is off limits to spectators (mainly used for photographers and media) but many people were sitting on the second fence. The police, and emergency personnel, used the space between the two fences. This space was also used as a little safe haven for a few injured or feeing runners. Most of the running took place through the streets that are completely blocked off creating no space for runners to hide for safety; only the end of the track from the streets to the bullring had some kind of escape.
Now we wait! We stood in our windowsill for almost 2 hours just watching all the people walk by. Many people watch the very end of the running inside the bullring when the runners and bulls enter the bullring. Most the people we saw on the streets had been up all night drinking etc. Across the way two men climbed up a pretty large tree for a great view! Then the firework was lit and heard by all, runners, bulls and spectators! For a little while we were wondering when we were going to see them. That is when a large group of people really started running by and we could see the tops of the bulls. E and I thought to ourselves… is that it!? But it seemed like there was more going on. Then another group ran by…. This running took about 7 minutes. Most runs last for 2-3 minutes, but this morning the bulls (and steers) got separated which is the worst thing that can happen. Once the bulls get separated they start getting disoriented and start running the wrong way etc. I think some of the bulls got turned around 2 different times: once in the streets and once right in front of us! A bull stopped and turned around and charged right at the fence (and runners) right in front of us. I think two people were injured, one person was gored in the leg (shin) and the other had a head injury. To make a long story short we were very happy that we didn’t run, because this ended up being the most dangerous run of the festival. There were a total of 12 people injured, 7 people gored, and 2 people were in critical condition in the end. There was a Mexican man who was gored in the gut and thrown up by the horn of the bull (we saw this on TV later that night), then trampled. 2 men from Ohio (brothers) were gored (in the butt) by the same bull at the same time (one of them now lives in Hermosa Beach).
We went back to the hotel room to grab some breakfast and a little nap before going back down to the festival. That night we went to the park to watch the best fireworks show! Each night the city puts on a fireworks show… actually the fireworks are a contest between different city’s around the world… so a different city sponsors the fireworks each night during the festival. After the amazing fireworks show we grabbed some food and went back to the room since we were leaving early the next morning for Madrid! All in all Pamplona was quite the experience and we were very happy to have been able to take part in the celebrations!
July 13: Today we woke up early to catch the bus to the train station for our train to Madrid. We were sad, but ready to leave the party town of Pamplona for a new adventure. We got into Madrid and found our hotel quickly. Then we took a walking tour of Madrid, through the Puerta del Sol and to Plaza Mayor. Our walked ended at the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) so we decided to buy a ticket to see the inside. This palace was simply amazing. It is said to the Europe’s 3rd greatest palace. Maybe it is because it is still a working palace, although the Royal Family does not live there anymore, they live in a mansion just outside of the city. The inside was very impressive… just a few things that E and I thought were funny. The Royal dinner chairs were just a couple inches taller than all the rest of the dinner chairs and the 3 feet in-between the doorways were for the servants! The servants would work and walk in-between the walls to get around the palace unnoticed! The Throne Room was covered with Red Velvet, and the dinner table was the size of a bowling lane (seats up to 150 guests).
This evening we went to a restaurant called Restaurante Puerto Rico. We had fried chicken, even though we ordered grilled or roasted chicken. The food here was ok, but not really our taste? We should have brought our translation book so that we could have ordered what we thought we were ordering ☺
July 14: We slept in today, but made our way out around noon. We went to Chocolateria San Gines for some of Spain’s famous Churros con chocolate for breakfast. They give you a bowl of chocolate (with a pudding consistency) to accompany your churros. All the people in this café had ordered some. They were very unhealthy but tasted very good. Our next stop was the Retiro Park. The park was very pretty and well maintained! It was extremely hot outside, but we made our way to the lake to rent a rowboat! E rowed us around the lake a couple of times (I took the oars a couple times too). It was a neat experience, but you had to be careful of all the other boats and unskilled rowers! We made our way back to the hotel to take a break from the heat. Later that night we had dinner near our hotel in search of something healthy! Then we went to bed because we had another early train to catch the next day.
July 15: Waking us early has become a habit now again (not really). We got on our train to Barcelona, we were both ready to be by the water! The Barcelona train station was a wreck, with people everywhere. We waited here for an hour to try to make our reservations for Monte Carlo to Milan (later in our trip), but only to find out that they could not make reservations for other countries? Spain, Italy, and France are all this way… seems like the best place to plan trips and make reservations is in Germany! We made it to our hotel right on the Ramblas (very exciting pedestrian street). Our hotel was great, we had air conditioning, free drinks and snack bar all day! Yes, beer was included with the free drinks. We also had breakfast every morning. We drank a few drinks and took a walking tour of the Ramblas all the way down to the ocean. We had a great time looking at all the street performers etc. We passed and old burial ground that was discovered during the construction of a new building. We bought some pop corn and strolled across the La Rambla del Mar (wooden pedestrian bridge). There was a huge Columbus Monument there, strange since his discovery of the New World hurt the Spanish trading power and economy. E started feeling bad so we headed back to the hotel for a rest. By the time we got back E was feeling worse. He was sick for the next three days with a bad case of food poisoning!
July 16: E was not feeling better… very sick and in bed all day. I went down stairs to read a little, and checked on him every hour. Started to feel a little scared since we were in Spain…. So far away from home and Germany.
July 17: E was still sick… but he was able to keep down some fluids. Things started to look just a little better as the day passed. I went to the beach for a little 2-hour site seeing adventure. It was a little nerve racking to be by myself in a foreign city. I took the subway to the beach area and took some pictures to show E! I went back to the hotel after a quick 20 min rest in the sun. E was still feeling a little better. I grabbed some pizza for dinner at a restaurant next door. We decided to see how E was feeling before heading to Nice tomorrow (it was a 9 hour travel day). All in all I think Barcelona would have been a cool city to see…. I know Eric was very frustrated that he was unable to see most of the sights here. Maybe we will come back sometime????
Flying to Berlin and off to Spain
July 8: This morning (only after 6 hours of sleep) we woke up at 8 AM and headed to the airport where Sven’s plane is kept. I was soooooo nervous because I don’t necessarily like flying for fun. I also have never been in a small plane that only holds 4 people. Sven met us at a small airport just outside of Eisenach. There was a jumping group and about 10 of them were all parachuting into the middle of the airport every 20 minutes! So we went into the hanger and Sven proceeded to pull the plane out by hand (that’s how small the plane was). Then we all got in (I in the back with Randy and E up front) and settled with our earphones on so that we could talk to each other. As we taxied to the runway Sven was very quickly explaining to E how to fly. Then all the sudden he puts the gas on and tells E to fly… faster, faster, left, right… etc. Eric had no idea what he was doing, and the lift off was very rocky, but he did it! Then Sven took over (he was probably making sure that E didn’t mess up too bad during the whole take off). I was freaking out in the back, but I have to admit the view was amazing. It was a very sunny day with a few scattered clouds. We got to our 9,500 ft cruising altitude (just above the clouds) and an alarm went off and the plane dove down and I thought it was all over! This happened twice about 20 minutes later… something to do with the autopilot and Sven not paying attention (that didn’t help). Well actually I have to say that Sven was very careful and I felt pretty safe with him in charge. We landed in Berlin about 1 hour later and I was very excited to get out of the plane ☺
We walked around the airport, Tempelhof, which was built by Hitler and the Nazis. This building was the largest building until the Pentagon was built. Nearby a monument dedicated to the 'Air-Bridge' was dedicated to the pilots that died during the flights that were made between West Germany and West Berlin until 'The Wall' fell in 1989. These flights were made to bring supplies to West Berlin, many of the people that lost their lives were Americans. They are planning on closing the airport soon. I don’t think there are any solid plans for what it’s going to be turned into as of yet. We had coffee and cake, then it was back to the plane for our flight back to Eisenach. I sat in front this time and Eric and Randy sat in back. This plane had it’s own parachute that you can use in case of an emergency. This made me feel a little better. The take off was good, but got really bumpy because it was warm outside. Sven explained that this was normal because the warm air lifts you up all the sudden. We had a little head wind so it took us a little longer to get back. Sven explained the radar to me and showed me when we passed planes etc. We saw a few gliders on our way into Eisenach. Sven doesn’t like them because they are nor required to have radar on them. On both landings Sven did a quick dive and turn thing that made you lose your stomach a little, but I have to say it was cool. It was all a very cool experience, but I was very happy to be back on the ground!
After all the excitement this morning we met Silke, Ryan & Girlfriend in the Bosch parking lot to take the bus into Eisenach for a festival called Thuringen Tag! It was the largest medieval/modern festival (state festival) I have ever been to. There were so many people and sausages ☺ We walked around and watched the parade of people go by. Then, thanks to Ryan’s infatuation with Bratwurst, we found a food stand and had some good old German food (AKA Bratwurst) and ice cream. After walking around the markets and food stands we were ready to go home and have a BBQ of our own. Reggie met us at the house to help eat all the left over party food. It was a nice, but very long day!
July 9: Eric here, back in the driver’s seat of the blog, so for my first day back, I have nothing to report, pretty sure today was just getting ready for our trip and possibly running a few errands.
July 10: Today we are off for our trip to Spain, France, and ???, luckily my dad hung onto his car so we had a ride to the Eisenach train station which makes things quite a bit easier. So the trip to Pamplona should be a smooth one, well not exactly, once in the train station the board says ‘Zug fallt auf’ which as everyone knows means, train cancelled, and as we soon found out do to a German train strike. Not really sure how we got this lucky but another train due 2 hours earlier was 130 minutes late, so we were able to get on this one and get to Frankfurt, with a nice little sprint through the Frankfurt train station we were able to catch our train to Cologne and get back on track.
We had a layover in Paris (Leslie saw the top of the Eiffel Tower from the train) and had to use the subway to get to a different train station, that worked out all ok. It was now time to board our night train and see what we were in for considering we were booked for a reclining seat with a sheet, at least as far as what we understood from the German lady we made the reservations with said. To our surprise our seats were actually beds and there were only 4 per cabin, much more spacious than the 6 per cabin we experienced in 2005 when we traveled overnight from Frankfurt to Milan. Good night, we’ll see you in Spain in the morning.
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