Reflections of My Travel

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What a long day! We got up early this morning and took all of our luggage down to the car and checked out. We got to the airport about an hour and a half before our departure time, which was good since the lines for screening turned out to be very long. I was actually surprised because, for all of our security consciousness since 9-11, they have much more thorough security than we do. First, we went through a screening much like what we’ve got here. Then we went through Passport Control where they gave me another stamp to check me out of the country – I love having stamps in my passport! Next, as we approached our gate, there was another screening point. There was the standard x-ray belt for our carry-ons and all shoes, but there was also a man and a woman at each line. Every person going through the line got a full body wand and patdown, women by the woman and men by the man. And even if the wand made no alarm, if they found something on you during the patdown, you were to present it to them and explain it. I had to remove my wallet and chapstick from my pockets and open them up to prove that they were what they seemed. Next, the woman had me sit down and proceeded to patdown my feet too. I felt bad for her and voiced my apologies for what a crummy job this was for her (feet are so ewww!) but she seemed of the opinion that it was just a part of her job. She rubbed my feet thoroughly and even felt between all of the toes. To me, they’d be smarter to just ask me to remove my socks and make me spread my toes apart so that they could see that there were no nefarious objects hidden rather than have to touch my feet. I feel badly for them. And they repeated this same process for every single person in line. After we got our shoes back on and grabbed our bags, we continued to our gate. They checked our boarding passes and passports before allowing us into the seating area and once we were in there, we were locked in. The entire area was roped off with security personnel watching over the gate. I was just surprised at the level of security. It didn’t bother me at all, I figure I have nothing to hide so why would I get bent all out of shape about some minor inconveniences that result in a higher level of safety for me? But that’s just my opinion. The flight was fine. It was an hour longer than the flight over there but it didn’t seem as bad since it was all daylight so there was no expectation of sleep. I can’t sleep on a plane so night flights where I feel like I should be sleeping are a bit rougher. Our seatmate was nice but must have had on about three bottles of perfume which made me sick and headachy for the first few hours. I am a firm believer that perfumes and colognes should be outlawed. Most people who wear these odors have no consideration for others when applying them. And then she turned off my air vent because she was cold (I was window, she was aisle, Randal in the middle – what did my air vent have to do with her?). Most of the flight I spent reading the Dean Koontz novel that I brought with me. When we landed, we had to go to a baggage claim, pick up our luggage, and then recheck it to be scanned again while we went through Passport Control where I received a United States stamp in my passport. Finally, we went to another baggage claim, retrieved our bags, rode the MARTA train to the north-most stop and Beth picked us up from there and took us back to her house where our car was waiting for us. Now that we’re home, the day is starting to catch up with me. It was a fun trip. It was the most cerebral trip I’ve ever taken. Just constantly trying to translate the language and figure out the signs and maps. It was much more different than I would have thought. The only negatives I can really report are the extensive smoking and rough toilet paper. Those two things aside, it was a wonderful place.

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We chanced another Frühstück this morning. Probably should’ve left well enough alone. Once again, the rolls were quite yummy. However, this time the lunchmeats were not as safe looking and the eggs were still runny and the beverages were still warm. It was okay. Nothing at all to write home about. I’ll keep my good American Waffle House. After breakfast, we headed back to Frankfurt and got a hotel near the airport so that we could organize and rest up for our flight home. Once we got checked in, we obtained a city map from the front desk and drove to the down town area to walk around. This was going to be our shopping day. See, we have been looking at souvenirs all along, but most of them were breakable and we didn’t want to take the chance of something getting broken while we were throwing stuff around in the car everyday so we figured that we’d wait until our last day to get all of our souvenirs and be able to pack them right for the trip home. It was a great plan. What we didn’t anticipate is that Germany has some screwy business laws and, as such, all stores are closed on Sundays. Even grocery stores. Clearly, that would have been useful information to have, say yesterday, when stores were opened. I’m very upset that we won’t have any souvenirs for any of our family. Heck, We don’t even have any souvenirs for ourselves. We made the best of it and enjoyed our downtown wandering. When we got back to the hotel, we brought in all of our stuff from the car and spent the rest of the afternoon organizing, packing, and relaxing. We just got back from a sub-par dinner downstairs and now it’s time for bed.

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We drove along another section of the Rhine this morning and stopped at several Schloßhotels trying to find a room. I really wanted to spend at least one night in a castle while we’re here but they were all booked up already. A shame, yes, but next time we’ll know to prepare better. That’s fine. It was still a nice drive and fun to look around the lobbies of the castles a bit. When we had come to Koblenz, where the Rhine meets the Mosel, where we had really started this trip, we decided to follow the Mosel again and spend another night in Cochem, the town that we stayed in our first night. The town doesn’t seem the same as it was last week. The vacation season must have started because there are people everywhere, whereas last weekend we were just about it. This meant that most places were already booked up and we couldn’t stay in the room we stayed in our first night here. However, we did find a nice little zimmer frei on the other side of the river and we have a nice cozy little room with a lovely view of the castle up above the vineyard across the river. After a short nap, we went out to walk about town and grab some dinner. We ate at a little Italian restaurant that was owned by the son of the innkeeper with whom we were staying. When we sat down, we were served rolls with a garlic spread on the side and a shot of sherry each. The rolls and spread were very yummy and the sherry was pretty good too. We both ordered pizza (hey, it’s not McDonald’s!). Randal got a #3, Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapples. They did not have a number for just a plane pepperoni pizza and since we were speaking fairly good English with the waiter, I chose to be daring and order a pizza with just pepperoni. Yes, I realize that wasn’t smart. I made the mistake of assumption. I assumed that since he was speaking fairly good English, he would understand what I wanted. I am completely and totally aware that the fault was all my own. I was served a pizza with peppers only. Pepperoni = peppers only. I can completely understand the misunderstanding. No big deal though, I had a fork and was able to pull them all off – causing the poor guy to come over and asked if he had mixed up the order to which I responded that it was my mistake, not his. Once I got all of the spicy peppers off of my pizza, it was fabulous! The best pizza I’ve ever tasted. It was the best meal that we’ve had here yet. If I had a complaint, it would be all of the chimneys seated all around us. I don’t understand how they even manage to eat when they never put their cigarettes down during the course of their meals. After our very satisfying meal, we crossed the river and continued to walk around the town. We observed the river, looked through the shop windows, and smiled at the passerby. We even saw a chocolate dalmation! I have never seen a dalmation with brown spots instead of black. I wonder how rare they are. [turns out they're actually called liver spot dalmations and they are fairly common. curious that I've never seen or even heard of such an anomaly.] And then we stopped fooling ourselves and stopped for a couple of ice cream cones. We meandered some more while we ate our eis and then we headed back to our room across the river. Back in our room, we were excited to find some English programming on MTV. Generally, I can’t stand Jessica Simpson, but boy was I enthralled with her show when it was the only real English that I’ve heard in days. About half of the MTV programs have been in English. Time to veg out and get some rest.