I didn’t bother to try to go to sleep tonight. I just stayed up and finished packing and took a long bath to relax. I weighed my backpack/roll-aboard once I got it packed, and it came out to a whopping 26 pounds. Yay! I get to carry that everywhere! But it’s cool because it rolls and then if I need to huffle up stairs, I can backpack it. Very versatile! I was prepared, too. Magazines for the plane ride, an umbrella, sunglasses, camera with charger, rechargeable batteries, extra memory, seven outfits that were all mix-and-match and all of which perfectly matched the new pair of tennis shoes I was wearing. I even had room for a pretty sundress with matching espadrilles in case we went somewhere nice and a bathing suit in case we went to the beach. All my sundries fit “comfortably” (if “barely being able to zip the sucker up” counts as comfortably) into a quart-sized, ziplock bag (which I brought extras of in case it busted or got messed up), and all my valuable stuff (e.g. passport and money) fit into a lanyard around my neck, because we had heard bad things from my sister and my good friend Beth about pickpockets in Italy. We left my mom’s house; it was dark and we were TIRED! I can’t believe Brandy made it practically on time!!!
We arrived at Hartsfield International Airport
4:00am The booth finally opened!!! We hopped up in anticipation and scurried to the booth….only to discover WE WERE IN THE WRONG LINE!!!!! Unbeknownst to us, United Airlines was really US Airways, or some such nonsense, so with “Do not pass go; do not collect your tickets…” ringing in our ears, we slumped down the breezeway to find the CORRECT line and grumbled as we wheeled ourselves into the last spot in the queue, OF COURSE!
6:00am Yes, we made it through the ticket line…through customs (What a joy, but apparently their concept of sundries fitting “comfortably” in a quart-sized ziplock were the same as mine because I made it through with them without comment.)…and we are now lifting off to our vacation… Heathrow or BUST (I know, technically it should be BURST, but let’s not get technical at this hour.)!!! At this point I’m too tired to care that I have practically the worst seat on the whole plane: the middle seat in the middle row. At least it’s not by the potty... now that would’ve been bad!! Did someone say naptime???? Where’s my blankey??? ZZZzzzZZZzzz….
7:45am Arrival at Dulles in Washington DC
Nothing exciting on this stop. We finally lift off to Heathrow with several more napping attempts. Brandy managed to sleep through both a lovely breakfast AND lunch. How does she do it??? I’d sue if no one woke me up to eat! Thus, I didn’t miss a meal, of course.
Oh, nightmarish plane ride, why dost thou torture me so????? Thank goodness it’s over. Eight hours cramped into the middle row (yes, again) is too much even for a dwarf like me. How do tall people stand it?? We spent an hour in customs where I got my first official passport stamp! Yay! I’m now a World Traveler! The fact that we are on vacation just sunk in….
Hopped the Tube (that’s the London Underground for those of you who don’t know.) to Hammersmith to find our hotel. It cost us L 4.00. That’s $8.00 American! Whew! Throughout our experience with the London Underground we were continuously admonished to “Please, mind the gap between the train and the platform.” Not only would the automated recording give us a friendly warning, but often the live train operator would mention to us to “Mind the gap,” as well. Apparently there has been some real trouble with people falling through the cracks in England…hmmm…I wonder if they’re only talking about the train, or is it something else? If you really think about it, that simple suggestion could mean anything. Very esoteric of them.
Arrived at St. Chris topher’s Inn & Belushi’s Bar…our hotel errr...hostel. This is going to be interesting. Went directly to the…bar…for check in.
After languishing there for what seemed an eternity, we finally got the room key. By this time we are past the point of exhaustion. We lumbered up seven (oh, yes, seven) flights of stairs with our backpacks on our backs to room 304 to discover to our horror that we were not alone! There were two smelly guys sitting on the floor playing cards and two other couples already in bed. There was no AC (did I mention those guys were smelly?) and only a community potty…HELP! This isn’t Kansas
After standing in the room in utter shock for several moments, we ditched our backpacks, and headed back down the SEVEN flights of stairs in search of sustenance & to search in vain for alternate lodging. Of course, since it was after , we were pretty much out of luck on that. We did find an internet café, which was closed at that hour of course, and vowed to rectify our lodging dilemma the moment it opened the next morning.
12:30am Right next to our hostel, we found a little greasy spoon that was open all night. It served, you guessed it, greasy stuff. I had a veggie burger and coke, and Brandy had a cheeseburger and sprite. How original! Then we went back to the bar/hostel and had a drink to fortify ourselves for the lesson in endurance we were about to experience…the room.
We finally had to brave the room out of sheer exhaustion. No showers or jammies for us! We slept with all of our clothes on, as well as with our luggage. I made sure to get a top bunk, so it would be more difficult for someone to steal my stuff. Brandy braved a bottom bunk, since that was all that was left. Luckily, the stinky guys were leaving as we came up, and they stayed gone all night. The two couples were already asleep when we got there.
 |
| Big Ben |
We awoke alive, yay! We traversed the seven flights of stairs again in order to buy a towel so we could shower. We went for a shower, and I discovered to my chagrin that there was a limited supply of water. Hooray! Laughing hysterically and with soap still in my hair, I ended up “finishing” my shower in the itty-bitty sink and still having to wipe off most of the soap with my towel. Boy, did I feel refreshed and rejuvenated!!! Oh, and towels weigh a lot…I think my backpack is up to 30 pounds with its addition…sigh.
We ate the free continental breakfast offered by the hostel. I had toast, tea and granola, while Brandy ate Fruitloops that she had brought from the States. What a cheater!
Off to the internet café we go! We found our new lodgings: The Continental. We also wrote emails to family. It cost us L1.00. This was also our first real experience with European traffic. Now I was expecting craziness based on my experiences in Mexico City several years earlier, and it lived up to my expectations. Traffic lights and pavement markings are only *suggestions* there. Thus, Brandy and I made it a habit of searching for our favorite crossing guard, The Little Green Man, to assist us with our crossing needs. If he’s red, you’re dead. When he’s green, he’s making a strong suggestion that now is your best chance of making it across alive, but no guarantees…
9:00am We got on the tube and went to Hounslow Central to check in. It was L195.00 for two nights.
We checked our bags at the hotel and then took a walk down High Street. It was a lot dirtier than I thought it would be.
We saw The Bell
Found Sanaa Travel and met Matt the Travel Agent. We wanted to put him in our pocket for a personal tour; he was so cute! Black, spiked hair, blue eyes, tall, thin, very sexy! Ooooh the accent! He gave us a Tube map and marked all the sights on it for us. We had to give him some business for helping us figure out what to see, so we bought our Eurail passes from him. It cost L135.00.
We finally were allowed to check into our room. The lift (that’s an elevator) was broken so we had to trudge up another seven flights of stairs. However, it was all worth it! The room was awesome, though small. It had the works, even towel warmers, just ask Brandy’s rear end! LOL The lights were run by a timer, so you had to leave your room key in it to keep them on. What a cool way to save energy. We weren’t sure what the deal was with that, so we had to ask the desk staff if the lights cost extra. We told her not to laugh at the dumb Americans before we asked her, but she did anyway...argh!
We got back on the Tube & went to Green Park Thames River Tower Bridge
5:00pm We walked from Westminster Pier to Trafalger Square for the Ghosts by Gaslight Walking Tour (& Pub Crawl) that started at 6:00pm. Unfortunately, all of the pigeons have been eradicated from the Square through laws banning their feeding and the use of hawks by the City to chase them away.
6:00pm Before the Walking Tour got started, Giles our Tour Guide mentioned that we should all pay attention to The Little Green Man and to mind the notes painted on the curbside to look left THEN right when crossing. He even suggested that if you’re American, to look EVERYWHERE before crossing the road, just to be sure. On the Tour, we learned of where Benjamin Frankin’s ghost teased women by unscrewing lightbulbs in the lady’s restroom. We also saw the “residence” of Sherlock Holmes, nicely made up to look like his library (it was above a pub). And we also saw a house where there is supposed to be a female ghost that walks around and looks out windows. A famous writer lived in this very same house, as well. We also met some very nice people: Giles, the Tour Guide, and local lush apparently; Fly Boy (I can’t remember his name) and his parents from Texas New York Sydney , Australia
We were finally kicked out of Gile’s apparently favorite pub, Ye Olde Cock. I had to ride the bus home (which was free since I had a Tube pass, thank goodness) because the Tube was closed. Brandy took a taxi to the tune of L100.00 with Flyboy…Very interesting evening!
Day Three
7:00am We awoke for the first time. But I told Brandy that we should’ve gotten our butts home a helluva lot earlier if she wanted to get up that early, so we went back to sleep.
We finally got up. Brandy took some ibuprofen, we showered, and went in search of food.
12:00pm We found the train to Stonehenge only to realize that we couldn’t do it in one day, so we decided to go to Buckingham Palace instead. We ate lunch across the street. I had tuna salad and a coke. Brandy had chicken & duck wrap with a powerade. L5.00 per person. (Does everybody remember that that would be $10.00 US???? This place ain’t cheap!)
We walked through St. James Park to the palace. This park was started in the Middle Ages by King James...how cool! We chatted up the Palace guards (AK47s (I guess) and all!) and took pictures. Unfortunately, the Queen wasn’t home because her flag wasn’t flying above the palace. Then we decided to walk to Westminster London Bridge Tower Bridge Tower of London
We went into the Tower, L16.00 each, and only had 50 minutes to closing. The tour usually takes 2-3 hours. We saw the Medieval Palace White Tower
We’re booted out of the Tower by the Beefeaters (Tower guards). We went across the street to eat dinner at an American favorite: Subway. The view of the Tower was great while we ate. I had my usual: 6’ seafood sensation on white, with lettuce, cucumber, green bell pepper, and black pepper with a coke and two cookies (sadly, only one came with the meal here unlike the States where you get two, so I had to pay extra for the second one.) for L5.00; and Brandy had Ham & turkey with salad fixin’s, no oil and vinegar, one cookie, and a large Sprite for L4.80. The portions were about half the size of American portions!!!!
Got back on the Tube to go to the hotel. We weren’t in a hurry.
Got back to the room. I went straight to bed and Brandy got a shower, called home, then crashed.
Day Four
We got up at a decent hour today.
10:30am Hopped on the Tube to Green Park Waterloo
11:50am Arrived at Waterloo
We got our E-ticket for the Eurostar, went through customs and we both got another stamp for our passports. Yay! We didn’t realize that there were assigned seats and coaches, so we sat down in the first coach we came to.
We realized that we were in the wrong coach (we sat down in coach #1) and hauled butt to coach #16 (the one we were assigned, and of course the last one in the line) with four minutes left before the train rolled out. You’ll find this becomes a trend with us much to our chagrin later on…
12: The train rolls out; Bye England English Channel , and it was all the same, just dark, and it made your ears pop. We lost an hour on the way to France
We arrive in Gay Paris at the Gare du Nord station and started hunting for the correct RER to hop on (part of the Parisian Metro system).
We got off the RER and spent several minutes trying to figure out which way to go to find the hotel. Remember, we are both carrying backpacks, and it’s pretty hot outside. I began to sweat profusely…yuck! We finally figured it out after getting some dumb directions from a Parisian (go figure). And checked into our hotel: Hotel Doisy Etoile. The clerk spoke great English to our relief. We got room #11. According to Brandy it was big by Parisian standards, which means pretty small… It had a tub and that one fixture I couldn’t live without…a bidet! Unfortunately, there was a scaffold up on the front of the building because they were cleaning it, so we got to see the main street through it the entire time. As an added bonus on workdays, we woke up to hammers and people crawling around outside our window.
Off to dinner and to see the Arc du Triomphe. We ate at Chez Clement, a brasserie around the corner from our hotel. I had roast duck with fennel, Roosevelt potatoes (mashed with gravy) and Apricot Foam (also known as mousse here in the US
We walked under the Arc, literally under the street under the Arc, to the Champs Elysees and on to the Seine River England England
We took a boat tour of the Seine around the Ile de Cite and watched the sunset around . It could’ve been very romantic…sigh. Some days being single sucks. I got misty-eyed over that fact, just a little. I've only been separated for about two months now.
After we left the boat, we hung out near the Seine so that we could watch the lights on the Eiffel Tower Chris tmas tree; it was beautiful!
Three trains back to the hotel and off to sleep.
Day Five
We got a late start. We went to an internet café and searched for Eurail passes. We also emailed family.
11:00am We walked toward the Arc and ran into a huge crowd of people with military police, the Gendarmie, everywhere. At first we thought, “Oh boy, we’re going to be held hostage or something.” Then we asked someone, and they told us that it was a holiday: July 14th, and I figured out that it was Bastille Day! It was like our July 4th. You know when Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI got their heads chopped off. There was a parade, and they flew a flag under the Arc and helicopters flew over. I got video of it, too (but yeah, remember I lost my camera later.). Very cool!
We grabbed “breakfast” at a Patisserie & Boulangerie. I had a Boston
We ate in our room…I tried to ask the maid for a fork, and she had no idea what I was trying to say. So I just got one myself.
Started looking for a hop-on, hop-off tour and finally found one at about .
We sat on the top of the double-decker bus and rode the tour around the city which included Notre Dame Cathedral and the Bastille. I never did see the actual Bastille which leaves me with the question, “Does it still exist?” Brandy swears it does, but I’m not convinced.
We stopped for dinner. I got beef bolognaise with a Pepsi and Brandy got Peach Melba ice cream with a lemonade. I told her she needed some protein, but she doesn’t listen…
We headed back to the hotel to wash clothes.
8:00pm Got to the Lavarie (laundrymat) which was pretty nice and hung out while our clothes washed.
Went down the street to a Thai place and got dinner. I had Legumes with mushrooms and broccoli and peche tea, and Brandy had Kung Pow shrimp and noodles with water.
Fireworks begin. I try to ignore them and go to bed.
Day Six
Today is the day!! We are going to see Versailles
We then went back to the Patisserie for breakfast. I had a mint chocolate éclair with peche tea, and Brandy had a croissant with apple juice.
We rode the open tour bus to the City Rama office and got our tickets for Versailles Paris Museum
We ate lunch at a corner sub shop near CityRama. It was pretty nasty. Mine was a French baggette sliced in half longways with crab, wilted lettuce, cheese and soggy tomatoes with peche tea for E6.00 (Euros which was about E1.36 per one dollar). Brandy had tuna & egg salad with water for E4.60. Mine tasted very fishy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had both been there since last week. Yuck! PLUS, we had to specifically ask for our drinks to be cold; people over here just don’t know the joys of ice like Americans do. We also got run off from some chairs that we sat in because we hadn’t bought anything at that particular restaurant; no one else was even sitting there!!!! BAH!
We got on the bus to Versailles
We arrived at the chateau. It was AWESOME! This was my absolute favorite part of France Europe , I managed to forget them in the room on today of all days, too. I was so hot I decided that I wanted to stick my feet in one of the ponds. So, I decided to dip my toes in the farthest pond in the gardens which were at least a mile if not more from the buses. We were supposed to be back by , and I was dipping my toes at . I had 15 minutes to make it back! I literally ran back to the bus. When I ran past where Brandy was sitting, I said, “We’re late. Better run!” She wasn’t happy. We got there at on the nose, but the bus was nowhere to be found. I about had a heart attack. I thought, “Brandy is going to kill me for causing us to miss the bus!” Luckily for us our guide trotted up about that time and said the bus was late getting back. And sure enough, it rolled up about 10 minutes later. I could’ve walked!!!
The bus rolled out and we got back to Paris
We went to Gare St. Lazare train station and finally bought our Eurail passes, whew! We thought we’d never find them! They cost us around E535.00.
We were now running a bit behind for the Illuminations tour at because it took us so long to figure out where to buy our Eurail passes. So we thought we’d be smart and stop to grab some food quickly at McDonald’s around the corner from the Tour office. Little did we know that “Take Away” in France
We ran around the corner with our food and scrambled on the bus for the tour. We sat on the bottom where there was a table, and we ate and talked to a couple from New Zealand
2:00am The tour ended, and we trekked back to the hotel and crashed!!!!! Night, night!
Day Seven
9:00am Got up and got going.
We ate breakfast at a different Patisserie this morning. I had a yogurt muffin and fruit cup with Orangina (kind of like orange soda) and Brandy had a water. We sat with some people who were originally from Canada Miami Green Man.
10:45am Got on the Tour bus and went to Napolean’s Tomb. Then we decided we wanted to visit the catacombs, but missed the stop. It took the bus a good 30 minutes to circle back to it only to find out it was closed. =( Then we decided to go to Notre Dame Cathedral. I got a cool pilgrimage medallion, and we walked around the church in amazement. Buying souvenirs from pilgrimage churches has been a tradition since the Middle Ages…How cool! Next we hopped on the tour bus to go to the Picasso museum. The bus didn’t go right by the museum, so we ended up having to walk a fair distance through what seemed quite a bit like a ghetto. We weren’t terribly sure we were going the right way, but we pressed on. Remember how I said I brought my umbrella and to date all I’d been able to use it for was a sun shade? Well, today, I decided not to lug it with me…and it poured rain! Luckily, Brandy bought an umbrella earlier in the morning, so we had a little protection, but not much. The museum was what I expected: a bunch of Picasso stuff, some I really liked, others not so much.
6:00pm They kicked us out of Picasso because it closed, so we followed the crowd and finally found a metro station not too far away (of course, muuuch closer than the bus stop had been). It was across from a church that looked abandoned and was marked as St. Peter’s on the map. It was just odd to see such a big, beautiful building almost in ruins. We rode the Metro up to Champs Elysees to find dinner.
We decided upon Pizza Vesuvia on Champs Elysees and ate under their red awning in the rain. It had all the markings of a romantic dinner sans the man. *sigh* Anyhoo, I had Vegetarienne Pizza which consisted of cheese, eggplant, tomato, and mushroom with a coke and hazelnut icecream with a Boston crème, puff pastry with hot fudge for dessert. Brandy had Rerie Pizza with cheese, ham, and mushrooms and a 7-up and a “verendie nevoir” for dessert which was vanilla, chocolate, and butterscotch icecream with hot fudge and biscotti. It cost us E57.00. After the ice cream we were freezing!!! We need a hot shower!
We walked to the Metro in the rain, pretty much giving up on the umbrella at this point, and headed for the hotel. We ended up having to change rooms because of the plumbing. The cold water just decided it was no longer going to work. The desk clerk said, “Oh, yes. This has happened before,” which made us feel even better. Regardless, our new room, #1, was great, and we got to bed at after moving everything and showering.
Day Eight
9:00am We got up, checked out of the hotel, and headed for our new favorite Patisserie. I had a chocolate chip muffin and fruit salad with Orangina, and Brandy had jus de pomme (apple juice) and water.
10:20am Went to the internet café so I could get directions to Marty’s house.
10:40am Then we went one by one up the Arc de Triomphe so we wouldn’t have to carry our backpacks. The view was awesome! You could see for miles. I could see the Arc of Constantine all the way over by the Louvre!!! The Eiffel Tower
11:30am Then we headed for the Metro to go to the Rodin Museum
We got to the museum and were told by a very rude, French woman that we could not take our bags in. Even after I said, “Je ne parle pas Francais.” She still kept jibbering in French. Sheesh, what an idiot! So, each of us had to go in separately. What a joke because other people were going in with backpacks on, and there was even a bag check inside! I think the problem was we had them out rolling them instead of on like a backpack. Oh well, it was great though. We saw “Thinking Man” and smelled the perfume of roses in the garden whenever the wind blew. There is a neat café in the garden that I wish we could’ve eaten in.
Then we hopped back on the Metro to go to Notre Dame because I wanted to go up into the tower. Brandy didn’t want to go, so I told her that if I didn’t get in by , I’d be back. Well, I didn’t get in. The line moved once the entire time I stood in it, and is was suuuper long! It stretched along one entire side of the Cathedral. So I jumped out and headed back to where Brandy was waiting.
We had lunch at Le Soliel d’Or Café on the Ille de Cite across from Notre Dame. Very lovely view. I had Pizza Royale made of ham, green pepper, egg, mushroom, red sauce, cheese and olives with a coke for E18.50. Brandy had Salade Italliene made of lettuce, sliced ham, sliced cheese, olives, tomato, basil and oil & vinegar with a coca lite for E16.50.
We hopped back on the Metro to catch the Eurail to Germany
We got on the TGV and settled in. This time we were early and found the right coach on the first try. Amazing! Traveling through the French countryside was beautiful! The landscape was a picture of rolling hills; powder blue skies with white, cottonball clouds; and fields that resembled a patchwork quilt of gold, mauve, purple, yellow and green. Church steeples surrounded by clusters of quaint stone & Tudor–style houses dotted the landscape. It was truly picturesque! A few times we even saw groups of modern windmills. They weren’t ugly like I thought they’d be and didn’t really mar the landscape either. They looked very futuristic like maybe they were the tips of something bigger deep under the surface of the Earth.
We were served dinner on the train. First class is so wonderful! We had rose (Gamay red wine from Comte Tolosan) and I kept the little glass it came in, some type of mystery slaw with raisins, chicken pasta salad, a crusty roll with camembert cheese, fruit salad and water. Magnifique!
9: We arrived in Stuttgart
Marty met us in the metro tunnel. It was a really warm welcome! I recognized him immediately eventhough it had been almost ten years since I last saw him. It took about 15 minutes to get to the house where we met Elena (well, this is the second time I’ve met her but the last time was about 15 years earlier…she looked the same!). We toured the house. It is very nice and airy! Then we toddled off to bed exhausted.
Day Nine
9:30am Got up and made a slow start.
11:30am Finally we all got out the door to take the puppies, Jack and Netty, Jack Russell terriers, for a walk. We took a long walk near a stream and through some fields. It was really lovely and relaxing! After the walk we chilled at the house with Elena.
Marty came home from work, and we were starving! We decided to walk through their little town, called Merklingen, for dinner. We stopped at Gasthof Zor (Guesthouse Rose) to eat. I had Grillteller which was grilled pork, beef and chicken, with fritas (fries) and a Hefeweizen (beer) for about E15.00 (I know not very vegetarian of me this trip!). Brandy had Jagerschnitzel which was pork loin in mushroom cream sauce and sprudel (noodles) with a beer for about E13.00. It was verrry good! Then we all walked home.
Made it back and walked the puppies on a different trail. The landscape in Germany
Well, Elena talked us into trying an experiment. She’s been reading a book about regression therapy and wanted to try it on us. We figured, “What the heck?” and so we tried and IT WORKED!!!! Brandy was our subject, and she went under like a pro. At first we didn’t know if it was working, but when Elena asked Brandy the first question, she friggin’ answered!!! It was so cool! Elena wanted to wake her up right away, and I was like, “No way! Ask her more questions!!!” I got pages of notes, but due to “doctor-patient confidentiality,” I can’t post them, lol!!!! Y’all just have to trust me on this: it worked, and it was VERY COOL!
4:00am After waking Brandy up and freaking out about how cool it was (She didn’t remember a thing because Elena screwed up the countdown and forgot to tell her to remember it all.), we finally went to bed!
Day Ten
Ummm, what’s that about early to bed, early to rise??? I think I need a refresher course…*sigh* Then it took us (errr…Elena) FOREVER to get it together.
We finally took Jack and Netty on a walk. The scenery was gorgeous as usual. Elena snapped away with her favorite digital camera that Marty had given her for Chris tmas or her birthday, I can’t remember which. She took literally hundreds of pictures for us, all the ones in Germany
6:00pm Marty finally came to get us, and as we walked to the car, I supposedly stood on the spot where they hung the seven witches during the Inquisition, but that myth was later debunked by one of the town residents, Harry. I did not stand on the witches’ spot!!!!! HA!
We walked to Morrow’s Italian Restaurant. I had Rigatoni with four cheeses and a coke. The servings were HUGE!!! I actually had enough for two full dinners on my plate alone. Brandy had Cappricosa Pizza which was made of ham, cheese, black olives, artichoke, and mushrooms and a beer. Then the owner brought everyone a yeager shot and a schnapps shot on the house. Who could say no?!?!?!
We finally left the restaurant and walked home. We took the dogs on a short walk just down the street.
We looked at some of Elena’s old photos and antique books for about an hour and hit the hay.
Day Eleven
We got a little bit better start today, so I had time to learn namaste yoga with Elena. It was cool! I sweated my butt off because it was so hard! I like it so much I asked Elena to write down a quick little routine for me, and I’ve learned it by heart as of this writing!!!
We took the puppies for a walk around town and to the Black Forest , today. We walked to the Protestant church, which has a rooster on top to symbolize Martin Luther. The church was super old, and we walked in its moat. It was built in the 1400s. Then we walked up the ridge into the Black Forest . It was steep, but fun. We stopped about halfway up and sat on a bench in an apple orchard looking out over the valley. You could see for miles! The fields were an amazing quilt of color, and the sky was that perfect, periwinkle blue. Finally, we continued our journey into the Forest . It was thick and dark and quiet, just as I had always envisioned it would be. It was a place of cool secrets and mystery. A place were children could lose their way and meet up with Big, Bad Wolves easily!
We finally had to head back to prepare for a cookout we were going to have that evening.
Our guests arrive and the cookout begins! We had feta-cheese burgers, three kinds of bratwurst: mild, spicy and German, baked beans, and corn-on-the-cob. Marty is a GREAT cook! We met Marty’s friends Kell and Bob. They were the invited guests, then as the night wore on, people started dropping in. I guess the smell of food lured them to our house; it was a good thing we had plenty to eat! It was cool! First, their neighbors Augusta, Harry, and their son, Henrick, dropped in. Then Norbert came by, another German friend of theirs. Augusta Augusta Augusta
Day Twelve
11:00am Yoga for Elena and I. Then we tried to rush Elena into getting ready quickly, but we didn’t make it out the door to Calw until very late…
Finally, left for Calw. Marty was irritated because we took so long to get ready, hehe. We brought the dogs with us, and it was raining, too. We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant. We all had different versions of pizza. Then we hopped back in the car after wandering around Calw for a while to see a ruined monastery in a nearby town, Mottlingen. Both towns, Calw and Mottlingen, were in the Black Forest . It’s very beautiful here. Elena was taking pictures diligently, and Marty was trying to convince her that she didn’t need to take two of everything. She pretty much ignored him. =D The monastery was very cool. It was built in the 11th century and was bombed in one of the World Wars (I think II). There were graves with headstones that were almost unreadable, one 11th century tower was still standing and many of the surrounding service buildings, like the wagon house, were still standing.
We finally made our way home to get ready for a festival they were having in Merklingen that evening. Yes, the show must go on, even in the rain!
Brandy, Marty, Kell, Bob, Harry, and I all walked to the festival. Elena stayed home with the puppies to have some quiet time without us. Brandy and I both drank cokes and I had half a henchen (chicken) and Brandy had a bratwurst for dinner. Marty had a steak and fries. We ate in the rain with no umbrella, well, Harry held one over our heads for a few minutes while we tried to eat, and we listened to a German band for awhile. After we ate, Brandy and I headed home to get out of the rain and to let the boys have some bonding time.
Back home, we tried to regress me again, but once again it didn’t work!!! Then, we regressed Elena, and it worked! But it was much more difficult than Brandy had ever been, and Elena spoke in a whisper and cried a lot. Two things Brandy never did. We regressed Brandy for the last time, as well. Marty came home at some point and laughed at us. He even said, “Why don’t you go put on your donkey suits and parade around town honking a horn instead,” LOL!!!! It was 2:15am when we went to bed.
Day Thirteen
8:00am Well, we leave Germany
We finally roll out of the house and head for Weil der Stadt for lunch. We ate at an Gyro Wrap shop. We found out as we left that Elena had been calling the Turkish owner of the store by the wrong name for several months, hehe. Silly girl! We all had Yufkas. They were made of turkey, cabbage, pepperchinos, yogurt, and lettuce. Next we headed for the train station since time was running short for us and we had a 40 minute S-Bahn ride to our train station. It was sad as we stood in the doorway and waved goodbye to Marty and Elena. The doors slid closed and the train pulled away far sooner than I was ready for it to. Of course, Elena was taking a picture as it did, so I don’t think she actually got to wave goodbye!
4: We hopped on the ICE train headed for Zurich
We arrived in Zurich Switzerland Zurich Switzerland
7:45pm We took Michelle’s advice and headed out in search of a restaurant named Chuche (pronounced kind of like “cookie,” but the “ch”s are made in the back of your throat like your going to hark one up.). It means “kitchen” in Swiss-German. It was a fondue restaurant, and I thought since fondue is from Switzerland
We were rewarded for our diligent search. We found the restaurant and as Michelle promised, it was delicious!!! Apparently though it was so popular that we were supposed to have reservations, but when the manager saw how disappointed we were, he came over and said, “I am here for you,” and seated us right away at a lovely table outside, so we could see the crowds pass by. It was on a really cute walking-only, cobblestone street full of shops and restaurants. He helped us with the menu, and we ended up ordering cheese and vegetable fondue with a three-meat fondue as well (veal, beef and chicken. Brandy ate all the veal, yuck!). We also had the pleasure of sitting next to a really nice Swiss couple who chatted with us and laughed at us eating our fondue. What can I say, we’re American! Or it could’ve been that I almost broiled Brandy alive with the hot oil, but it couldn’t have been that!!! Ummm, you don’t want to know how much dinner cost…It was over E100.00! Whew!
We headed back to the room and to bed…we’re beat!
Day Fourteen
10:00am We got up and went down stairs to the adjacent restaurant, The Crazy Cow, for breakfast. It cost E14.00 each for basically a continental breakfast!!!!
We arrived at the train station to meet our bus tour of Switzerland Old Town Danube River Lake Zurich Switzerland Austria Buckingham Palace England Buckingham Palace Alps , and what scenery we saw!!!! It is very pretty here, and a bit on the chilly side, even in July. There were goats and chickens to feed, but they wanted more money to go inside Heidi’s Cottage, oh well, lol. We were late leaving because two people managed to “forget” to get back on the bus. How inconsiderate!!!!
We arrived back in Zurich
We left the hotel and rode the trolley back to the train station because it was still raining buckets. We ate a very dismal meal at the station and then waited around for the train.
The train finally came, and we hopped aboard, on time again! Little did we know the experience we were about to have!!!! Well, this was our train to Italy
1:00am(ish) Several hours into this hellish evening, I felt the train slowing down…then…stopping…I thought, oh well, we’ll get going again soon…ummmm…NOT! Minutes passed by…nothing. Then to my utter amazement and horror, they cut the train off and, drum roll, please, the AIR CONDITIONER WENT OFF! I wanted to cry. Seconds turned into minutes and finally after about an hour with the utter, stagnant stillness of the air pressing in upon me and threatening to suffocate me to death, I crawled down the ladder and went and stood in the hallway to cool off. Poor Brandy was stuck in her bunk and as I sneaked out the door into the hallway, I heard her say, “Leave…the door…open…” Which I, of course, gladly did because I figured by now if somebody tried anything with me, they’d regret the day they were born. I swear to god it was at least 100 degrees in that dang car. Was this the friggin’ train to Auschwitz or something?!?!?!? Who put me on the wrong GD train?!?!?!? I’m an AMERICAN! You can’t treat me like this!!!! LOL
2:00am(ish) Well, what do you know? After an hour of waiting for who knows what in who knows where, the train finally started up again. By this time, I wasn’t even expecting the air conditioner to do any good. I just wanted to fall into a coma or something until the whole fiasco was over with. In fact at this point, I was just glad no one had farted, because you know EXACTLY where that would end up!!!! It already smelled of rotten socks, anyways. Has anyone this side of the friggin’ ocean heard of Tide???? (Oh, have I mentioned that it’s true…people just don’t bathe here…EGA DS!) We roll on into the night and something akin to a coma overcomes me, finally.
Day Fifteen
7:00am We are still on the train, yay. People are up and moving about, washing in the nasty little sinks as they hover over the toilets in the nasty, little train bathrooms. GROSS! I opt out and try to console myself over the fact that at least my morning cooties will not reach up and grab anyone like the ones in those funky bathrooms will. When I was forced to go tinkle (you gotta squat…NEVER sit!!!), I would always wonder, “Is that the train swaying or has this toilet grown legs and is running around under me???” SCARY, y’all, and people were BATHING in there!!!! The girls and the Korean boy got off in Florence
We arrived in Roma, quite a bit later than scheduled. I think it’s Italian time or something. We got off the train as fast as we could; I even considered jumping out while it was still moving and just walking the rest of the way. It would’ve been worth it just to get off! We galloped through the station, stopping only once so I could buy a choccolata gelato (that’s ice cream in Italian) in order to break a large bill. Gelato was awesome! We got a cab straight away and rode pell-mell through the streets to my sister’s house. The ride cost us E10.00, and I gave the little dude a E1.00 tip. I think he thought we were cheap, but that was 10%!!! Oh, did I mention the traffic here was bad??? We called Sharon, the nanny, to get directions to the apartment from the road, and were glad to finally be there! When I opened the door, Keegan, my nephew, ran out and I said, “Hi, baby, do you know who I am?” and he said, “Auntie Beanie !” I was so excited that he remembered me! He loves his Auntie Beanie !
Exhausted from our practically sleepless night, our showers knocked us out, and we slept until Keys and Jake came home from work. Once they got home, we chilled and ate dinner: spaghetti. It was awesome seeing them again. I missed Keys so much! Then we had an early night: to bed at , a first for this trip!
Day Sixteen
We got up early, ate and headed for the bus stop near the apartments. Jake was sweet enough to buy us week passes for the city bus lines which made getting around super easy! We took the express into Termini Station, where we came in on the trains, and looked for our ever-faithful open bus, hop-on, hop-off tours. We found one right away and took a 90-minute tour of Roma in a not-so-air-conditioned, air-conditioned bus.
We got off the tour and ate lunch at a Pizzeria across from the Tour Bus Agency. Brandy had potato pizza and water, and I had tomato pizza and a coke. As we ate, we decided what sights we wanted to go see.
We hopped back on the bus and headed for the Coliseum. It was awe-inspiring just like in the pictures. We stood in line in the hot sun just long enough to be easily convinced by a tour guide to join up with a guided tour group for E21.00 each. We went directly inside, and it was worth every penny! We climbed the stairs that so many Roman feet had climbed that they were slanted backwards; we touched bricks that had been laid 2000 years earlier; we stood in the stands and gazed out over the expanse of the excavated floor where so many men, women, children and animals had met their fate. You could almost hear the roar of the rabid crowds shrieking for blood! Oh, and we even got to see the remains of a latrine used in the arena!!! I think that was the scariest part! After goggling over the Coliseum, our tour guide peeled us away and led us up to Capitoline Hill which was very close. Here, we got to hear a wonderful rendition of the Founding of Rome, and we got to walk the halls of Domitian’s Palace. In some places the marble floors and wall tiles were still intact and when wet with water looked almost brand new...they were stunning: gleaming white background with veins of green, purple and black. Our tour guide said that you could tell how far the Empire had extended just by studying the types of marble used in the construction of the buildings in Rome
We headed home so we could be there when Keys and Jake got home from work. Brandy and Sharon went to the grocery store and cooked dinner: chicken stir fry and jasmine rice. It was very good! Then everybody hung out for awhile and went to bed.
Day Seventeen
7:30am We got up early because we were supposed to meet the tour guide again for a guided tour of the Vatican, which was on the other side of town, at 9:00am; however, as seemed to be our lot on this trip, we got on a non-express bus which took FOREVER to go anywhere, then we got on the Metro which took forever to get anywhere and then once we got to the Vatican, we couldn’t find the spot where we were supposed to meet everybody, so we ended up missing the tour. *sigh*
We decided to check out the Vatican Vatican Museum Vatican City Constantine
We crossed over the Tiber River Tiber until we had been in Rome
We got on the bus and headed for the rest of the stuff we had planned to see for the day. Our goal today was to see the Vatican England Chris tian church. Next, we saw Trevi Fountain, supposedly if you toss a coin in, you’ll visit the city again one day. I didn’t have any coins, so I stuck my fingers in instead…I hope it works! This fountain was built in 1762 at the terminal end of the Aqua Virgo, one of the major aqueducts for the city. One of the virgins in the relief carvings around the fountain actually points to the source of the spring that feeds the fountain. Pretty cool, huh?
Then we walked on over to Piazza Navona. This area is now just a town square, errr oval, with restaurants and such; however, it was originally built as a stadium for boat fights (yes, they flooded it) by Domitian between 81-96 BC. Well after much perplexity and map studying, we never did find the Spanish Steps, so we decided to head back home and hopped on the bus. As we rode back through the city, I recognized the spot where we had originally gotten off the bus earlier that afternoon. Then, low and behold, as we turned the corner, what did my eyes see??? You guessed it! The Spanish Steps! Round of applause for the epitome of flawless navigating everyone… *sigh*
Home in time for Keys and Jake, and Jake fixed everybody tortellini and pesto sauce for dinner, yum! We had big plans for the morrow, so we all hung out for awhile, then hit the hay…
Day Eighteen
6:30am Yes, we are up and alive, but barely! Jake and Keys took the day off, so we all hopped in the car and headed north toward Tuscany Siena
11:00am We arrive at Siena Siena
We walked to Piazza del Campo, a large shell-shaped plaza in the middle of town, and ate lunch at a restaurant there. I had spaghetti with clam sauce, Brandy had pizza, Jake had sausage pizza, and Keys had spaghetti with meat sauce. None of which was very original, but it was very tasty! We saw a bank named the Montedei Paschi which is the oldest bank in the world and which was started here. Wall Street, beat that! We also saw a basilica and a cathedral which were both gorgeous, and a cute shop full of Tuscan pottery. I wanted to buy it all! When I get a house I’m going back there!
Home again…Keys made steak, salad, and gnocchi for dinner. It was super good! Then we hung out and hit the hay.
Day Nineteen
Today we took it easy and hung out at the house. We were exhausted from so much going on. Keys had to write a paper for school, and Brandy needed to work on her new syllabus for her brand new job as a high school teacher, which incidentally she had to start the day after we arrived home from our trip. And it’s not just a teacher in-service day, the kids will actually already be there!!! Sharon, the nanny, was off and touring with her brother, who was visiting, around town. He’s a real popular rock singer in the Netherlands
Day Twenty
We got up and headed out the door to go see the Sistine Chapel today. We were determined to get in this time because on the last Sunday of each month, it is free to the public, but it also closes early at .
We caught one of the first buses of the day and are on our way!
We arrive at the Vatican Museum Tiber was really gorgeous, too. There were only about 100 people ahead of us today, which is pretty good considering we’ve been en route for almost an hour. We were also in an area that was shaded by the Vatican City
9:00am Finally we got into the museum!!! First, we looked at the paintings including Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Giovanni Bennini. We also saw several tapestries that dated back to the 1400s! Gorgeous! The tapestry rooms were really cold, too. We looked at the statuary and funerary objects, some of which dated back to the 4th and 5th centuries, and then moved on to the Sistine Chapel. It was breathtaking, almost more than you could take in. There was so much painted on the ceiling that the pictures of Adam and God were actually much smaller than I expected. They weren’t allowing photos, but we tried to sneak one anyways (flash off of course!), but it didn’t come out. Then we saw more statues and the Egyptian room were we saw a cuneiform scroll from Nebuchadnezzar IIs rule. Very cool!
We left the museum and ate lunch across the street at the Vatican Ristorante. I had ravioli, pork roast, salad and a peach with coke and Brandy had ravioli, chicken roasted in basil, rosemary, and thyme, a peach and diet soda. It was about E14.00 each.
We decided to go see where Julius Caesar was assassinated by his Senate on the Ides of March in 44BC. To our surprise, where a Roman king once ruled, feline royalty now claimed their territory. What am I talking about? Well, a cat sanctuary is now housed in the plaza, which is about a story below modern street level, where Julius Caesar was killed. You can read about them at http://www.romancats.com/index_eng.php. They are a charity run on donations only! Besides the sweet babies, yes I did give the sponsor all the money I had on me at that moment, it was chilling to know that I stood less than 100 yards from the spot where the infamous moment took place. It was all weeds and what looked like a pile of broken bricks and dirt now. But it had been the stately Senate building some 2000 years ago…can you believe it?! To think that such a place existed, and if you didn’t know where to look, you’d look right over it now! In fact Brandy and I had seen this area earlier in the trip and had no idea what we were looking at! It’s just amazing what history and archeology can preserve for us: things that would otherwise be overlooked and lost, yet things that have such an illustrious past as the place of the assassination of Julius Caesar no less!
2: We got back to the apartment only to discover that we were locked out due to the Italian “Ripose,” i.e. siesta. So we got to sit outside the gate for 10 minutes like hobos until a car came through it. Then we were ever so lucky that Jake had been watching for us and he let us in the building because we had left our cellphone at the apartment. Whew!
Jake made Jumbalya for dinner and then we all went to be early so we would be prepared for Pompeii
Day Twenty-one
6:30am Rise and shine! We are on our way to see the infamous city that was frozen in time: Pompeii
8:00am Out the door and on the road. We headed south toward Naples Pompeii
After several wrong turns due to the lovely Italian system of road signs, we arrive at Pompeii August 23, 79 AD !!! It cost E11.00 each to enter the archeological site, and we paid it gladly (thanks Jake!!!). We saw soooo many things! I’m just going to list some of them:
First a little history lesson, though, there were witnesses to and survivors of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. In fact Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to Tacitus in which he described his uncle’s, Pliny the Elder, valor in his attempts to rescue Pompeian’s from the catastrophe, which led to the Elder’s own demise. After the eruption ended and the ash and lava cooled, survivors went back to Pompeii Pompeii
So, as Mount Vesuvius loomed menacingly in the background (always there was the little question in the back of your mind…is today one of *those* days?) we set out to see the sights. We saw one set of Roman baths, there were three in the city but we didn’t get to all of them. The set we saw had a changing room with cubby-holes for your clothes set into the walls. The tiles were magnificent and actually reminded me a bit of those in the Vatican Temple of Jove Temple of Fortuna Augusta Temple of Vespasian Temple of Jupiter
3:15pm Jake, Keys and Brandy had petered out by now, so they had to pry me away from the ruins and drag me back to the car. On the way home, we got the briefest glimpse of a hazy, blue Mediterranean Sea out of the left-hand window of the car….One day, I’ll stick my toes in THERE!
Back home. We had leftovers for dinner, then, we had to start preparing for our train and plane journey home. =(
Day Twenty-two
through
Well, the last few days we didn’t keep up with the times of things, since we were really en route home. The train ride to Paris
9:03pm We arrived at the platform, only to be told by a lovely, blonde, French woman that we had “missed” the train (ummm…it’s sitting RIGHT THERE!!!) because boarding finished 30 minutes before departure (ok, nobody told us THAT!) and that since it was the last one of the day, we’d have to wait until tomorrow for the next one at 7:15am!!! The only problem with that was that MY PLANE left Heathrow airport in London
The next morning we were at the damn platform early! I was for sure going to miss my plane, and Brandy was most likely going to miss hers, too (and she ultimately did). The joy of it all was that in order to reserve a seat on another flight it would have cost us $1600.00! Are you kidding?!?!? So stand by became our friend, and we ended up on the last flight of the day at headed back to Dulles, then Atlanta
We made it home to Atlanta
Well, you have experienced the entirety of our European Vacation. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did… Two pieces of advice learned on this trip: Always hold Travis’ hand when crossing the street, and please mind the gap…Now, I just need a vacation from my vacation!
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