Monday, June 11, 2018

June 8, 2018 – Day Twenty-Four – Frankfurt to Tampa and HOME

June 8, 2018 – Day Twenty-Four – Frankfurt to Tampa and HOME


So glad that we spent the night so close to the airport!  We get up early and go down to breakfast.  It’s my last latte mochaccino, and croissant, and all the usual breakfast buffet components.  Back upstairs we pack for the last time, neatly gather the debris from last night’s pizza, and head back to the reception desk.  Marilyn asks for a receipt and the lady thinks we need to still pay the city taxes.  No, no.  She explains that the young man last night kept asking for money for one thing and then another and then a third and the receptionist says, “He must have been very stressed” and lets it go. 

Immediately adjacent to our hotel is this view!  Each garden plot is rented to a different person.  They are usually people who live in apartments and have no garden of their own.  It is required that each garden be kept up and the people don't really live in the little houses, the way it looks.  Many of them are flying flags from different countries.  Check out the mural and the rain barrel!


We get our parking ticket validated again and head to the car.  Did I explain last night that you can park in their protected lot for twenty-four hours for six Euros;  but every time you want to leave during those twenty-four hours you have to get your ticket validated so you can use it to leave;  and when you return you get another ticket that will have to be validated, etc. etc.

At the car we stash the last little things in our suitcases, to make our backpacks a bit lighter and plug in the Garmin.  Since we’ve done this once, getting to the airport isn’t difficult.  Parking is another story!  There are multiple parking buildings and Henning didn’t know which one he used, or which one we should park in.  We finally just pick one.  They have a really neat system for finding an open space, though.  There are green arrows to follow toward the open ones.

Once parked we take careful note of the car’s location so we can tell Henning where we stashed it and try to figure out where to go.  Since Lufthansa wouldn’t let Marilyn print her boarding pass we go from pillar to post to find out where to do that.  We are even sent upstairs at one point before being successful.  Then we drop out luggage, which is a multiple-step process, and go off in search of baggage services, to drop off Henning’s keys.  Down an escalator, into Lost and Found where a wonderful lady actually knows what we want and how to get there!

That done we can head for our gate, first passing through Passport Control (easy) and Security (not so much!).  They don’t require you to remove your shoes.  They do require you to remove not just your computer but all your cords and chargers!  I forgot a tiny knife in my wallet;  but the nice man lets me keep it.  Really, unless you stabbed someone in the eye, it would be hard to do any damage.  I usually travel with it in my suitcase;  but I had moved it to my wallet, so it would be accessible if I ever needed it.  I didn’t!  Oh well!

We’re finally at our gate.  We left the airport hotel around eight thirty and are at our gate at noon!!  Whew!  It will be good to be home.  I love our airport!  I hope to never have to fly to, through, or from Frankfurt ever again!  While we’re waiting for our flight I take one last tour through the tourist traps and before you know it, it’s time!!

Odd, after they call all the “special” people, they don’t call zones or rows, everyone just lines up to scan their passes and go downstairs.  We were told that we would have to present our passports one more time.  They didn’t tell us that, like cattle, we would blindly follow those in front of us and wind up boarding busses!  Or that the busses would drive half way across the country to get to our plane, out in the north forty!  We even pass a Thomas Cook’s Tours plane that was closer to the terminal than we were!

We climb the stairs of our Star Alliance A340 and are pleasantly surprised!  There is actually some leg room!  AND no one is in the two middle seats next to me!  And there is no one else in Marilyn’s row!!  Life is improving!  The Universe is making up for that bus ride!

We begin the ten-hour journey.  First there is a packet of mini-pretzels, then a beverage of your choice, including wine.  Then everyone gets a hot cloth to refresh themselves and rinse their hands. Next comes dinner (?) after about an hour or so in the air.  There is chicken breast in red sauce, with mashed potatoes (I think) and mushrooms, mixed greens with Italian dressing, roll and butter, a wedge of brie, strawberry shortcake and a square of chocolate!  Another round of drinks (water seems prudent) and the lights in the cabin are dimmed.  A bottle of water goes to everyone, and later there is a KitKat bar!  When the lights come back up, hours later, we get our second hot meal, pasta in pesto sauce, roll and butter, and vanilla pudding with chocolate sauce. 

During the ten hours I watch a lot of movies – “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”, “Abracadabra”, “Her”, “Gone, Baby, Gone”, “Hitchcock”, and “Puss in Boots” (who can resist Banderas?)  I think “Hitchcock” was my favorite.  Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins would always be hard to beat!

We arrive a bit late, due to the bizarre bus ride across the airport;  but we don’t care!  We’re home and just have to make it to Marilyn’s car and our homes.  We deplane and trek through the international terminal to passport control and customs.  With our GOES cards, we just have to put our passports in the GOES machine, let it read our fingerprints (I always have trouble with this part) and go straight to collect our suitcases!  I guess they no longer care how much money we’ve spent on souvenirs.  As long as we don’t bring in animal products, we’re good! 

It takes a bit for the carousel to begin running.  My suitcase comes along fairly quickly;  Marilyn’s isn’t quite so cooperative.  In fact, it takes so long that she goes off to find someone to question.  He assures her that when all the bags have been unloaded, the sign on the carousel will say “all bags are unloaded”.  Eventually it shows up and there are no outward signs of a broken wine bottle inside, so YAY!

Now we just have to exchange our Euros for dollars and retrieve the car from Valet Parking.  Easy Peasy.  The exchange part goes really well;  the nice lady does both our exchanges as one transaction so she doesn’t have to charge us two fees!  She saves me eight dollars!  Now we schlep our stuff across to Valet Parking and ask for Marilyn’s keys.  Henning didn’t give her a claim number,  but she knows the car was dropped off around eleven and that should help.  While the earnest young man is searching I realize that I left Stu’s hat at the currency exchange!  I run back and along the way my boots stick to the floor and I pull a muscle in my back, upper thigh!  I still manage to get back to the window before anyone has made off wit it!  It would have really reeked to have carried is safely all across Germany and the Atlantic Ocean, just to lose it in Tampa!

When I get back, I learn that the car isn’t actually at Valet Parking.  Henning had send a message saying that he couldn’t find Valet Parking and had left the keys at eh reception desk for the Marriott.  You may not know;  but the Marriott isn’t very close to Valet Parking.  We hike across the airport and explain our dilemma to the desk clerk.  The good news is that he actually has the keys!  The bad news is that we have to hike all the way back to get to the parking building where the car is patiently awaiting us, and that we only know the level and the row.  TIA doesn’t have space numbers.  But Marilyn’s keyless entry system lets the car call us!!  Beep Beep!!

We pile everything in the car, praise the Universe for getting us home, and head out.  It only costs us eighteen dollars to get out, which is a huge improvement over what we paid in Frankfurt!  The ride home features a classically beautiful Florida sunset and light traffic.  It’s good to be home!

Good thing I remembered my gate clicker!  I couldn’t have called my cell to click nine, since the phone is dead!  Another reason this new system stinks.  But not a problem today.  I unload all my worldly goods, tote them to my front door, and inset my key.  Presto Chango, I’m home and my kitties are my welcoming committee!  I’m sure going to sleep well tonight, in my own bed, with my furry companions vying for bed space.  Good trip!

Thursday, June 7, 2018

June 7, 2018 – Day Twenty-Three – Kreuztal to Frankfurt


June 7, 2018 – Day Twenty-Three – Kreuztal to Frankfurt

Yesterday's group of miscreants!

"All good things must come……."
our last breakfast, washing the linens and making the beds, cleaning out the fridge and taking out the trash…it’s time to pack and head to Frankfurt.  We’ll be making a dry run to the airport to figure out where in the world we are supposed to leave the car.  Searching on line gives lots of information;  but it doesn’t make much sense, or answer our questions.  Even the Garmin is less than useful.  Sure glad we won’t be fighting this fight for the first time in the morning!!

The house is filled with the scent of roses!  With it closed up for a couple of days, that aroma should intensify and we a lovely welcome-home for Henning and Kerstin!  Ahhh, the churchbells are ringing again.  Sometimes it’s logical, like at seven a.m. and noon;  but now it’s 1:25 in the afternoon!  What’s that about?  Evelin said last night that she doesn’t even hear them!  I guess it’s all in what you become used to!




I’m anxiously awaiting the time that we can check in and print our boarding passess.  Yesterday, Henning’s computer insisted that our tickets had expired!  The theory is that it means our tickets to come here, because all our flight information comes up when you just access the Lufthansa portal, instead of trying to check in.  We’ll see in about an hour!  Another interesting thing – when Marilyn tried it on her laptop (p.o.s. though it may be) the site was in English.  Mine was auf Deutsch!  Hmmmm.

OH!!  The doorbell rings and we figure it must be Eveline come to say good-bye.  NO!  Two very good looking young men are coming up the stairs, all dressed in black and carrying brushes!  They’re chimney sweeps, some to clean out Henning’s chimney for the summer!  We don’t actually know where there is a chimney;  but that doesn’t matter since we can’t really let them do anything anyway.  But we sure can ask them for photos!!  They think that’s just grand and THEY suggest that we also each need a photo taken with them.  You bet we do!!  Life is full of surprises!!








And the joy goes on!  Evelin comes over to say good-bye and wish us a safe flight home.  She has brought each of us a tiny Krombacher stein! Marilyn's is because she is just learning to drink and mine is to help me keep from drinking!!  She says that back when there were free tours and you got free beer at the end, the tiny replicas were used to signal to the wait staff whether you wanted another beer, or if you were finished.  For one you put it upright in front of you, for the other, you laid it on its side!

Hugs and kisses and she's off to an appointment.  We have to be off, as well.  We close and lock all the windows/doors, unplug the TV and computer/router, take out the last of the garbage and recyclables, and cart all our luggage downstairs.  We load up the Golf, crank up Evelin's Garmin and we're off to Frankfurt.

It certainly is less stressful to navigate with an assistant.  Maps have been my friend;
but this is a wonderful way to get where you’re going.  I’ve enjoyed using Waze, but this gal is easier to understand and the screen is much bigger!  She takes us right to our hotel, the Premier Classe Airport Hotel Frankfurt.

There’s some discussion during check in about what has been charged by Booking.com and what is still owed;  but it all gets straighted out and we go up to our little room.  It has an ensuite and the beds aren’t touching, so it will be fine.

After settling in and waiting for the traffic to clear a bit, we take our “test drive” to the airport.  It’s pretty difficult to figure out which of all the parking options will be best for Henning and not make us lug our luggage (giggle) all over hell’s half acre!  Maybe Henning will be able to give us some guidance and leadership!
 

June 6, 2018 – Day Twenty-Two – Kreuztal and Kindelsburg Tower


June 6, 2018 – Day Twenty-Two – Kreuztal and Kindelsburg Tower

The day starts like all days and we’re working out how to use up our leftovers and get all our goodies in our suitcases.   Mainly, though, we are cleaning up our home-away-from-home.  I vacuum and clean the bathroom;  Marilyn is cleaning out the car.  When I go out to see how she’s doing, we wind up taking another tour through the jungle which is Henning’s yard.  The roses are outrageous!  And there is a flowering tree tht smells like a cross between jasmine and orange blossoms.  Marilyn things we should cut some of those extravagant blooms and make arrangements for inside the house.  The only cutting tool she can find is a dull pair of hedge clippers;  but we persevere.  Many thorn pricks later we got two armfuls of divine fragrance!  We bring them into the laundry room, clip, arrange, water, and distribute three lovely arrangements!

We taking a break and have lunch with the first episode of “Outlander”!  Marilyn has seen the first three seasons, but is very happy to watch them over again!

The day takes a surprise turn for the divine when Eveline comes over and invites us to go with her and her friend, Heike, to the top of the Kindelsberg, to see the Kindelsberg Tower.  Marilyn look skeptical until Evelin says we’re going by car!  Now it’s an adventure!

Heike and Eveline have been friends a long time and only live about a kilometer apart.  Heike is retired from Krombacher!  (I think most of the town works for Krombacher!)

It’s a good think she’s driving because there are a lot of tiny, narrow little roads to get there.  Kindelsberg is the second-highest mountain in Kreuztal at 618 meters (about 2,000 feet) and the Kindelsbergturm sits atop it, adding another 22 meters (72 feet).  It’s a lookout tower that was built in 1907 by the Sauerland Mountain Club.  There is also an historical note;  the location was a “refuge fort” and offered the locals protection from invaders.  I guess, now, that would be us!

















Later, while we're eating, we learn that there is a huge fund raiser for a disabled child.  That's why there are so many bike riders out today.  It was organized on Facebook.

After we've been walking a while, Evelin says not to let this plant touch you!  It's like stinging nettle!  But you can make a tea out of it and it is supposed to be good for you - but tastes awful!

I promised a better picture of the tower that graces the Krombacher label!

If you were a serious hiker, you could spend a couple of intense hours reaching the tower.  Luckily there is also a real road and we arrive sweat-free and refreshed!  We stroll to a lookout point from which we can see the entire valley spread out below.  I’m told that on a clear day, if you climb the tower, you can see almost all the way to Bonn

We wander back to the tower and the rathouse and we offer to buy the ladies a drink!  Good idea!  There are two radlers ordered, one pils and one dunkel.  When the waitress asks “Kronbacher dunkel?” I reply, “Of course!” which gets a good laugh.  (You must have know mine was the dunkel! ) Actually, there is a whole lot of laughing going on, even before the beers arrive.  Eveline and Heike are both very entertaining and although Heike claims to speak no English, she has quite a bit!

The waitress brings us paper place mats and they are for children!  Maybe because we’re acting like kids?  We also get the colored pencils to go with!  Evelin puts a doorbell on her drawing of a house and Marilyn rings it!  Soon a family with a little girl arrives and we give her the pencils, saying that we’re through with them!

The inside is charming...

but we opt to sit outside.


Yummy schnapps! (We didn't keep the bottle, just had one drink each!)

I'm not sure why Heiki put the coasters over them.  Seems like it would hold in the hear!


Our new friends are hungry.  We had just finished lunch a bit before Evelin came over, but it seems churlish to refuse, so we split a “small” order of schnitzel with mushroom sauce.  The kindly waitress splits everything in the kitchen so we each get our own plates.  It’s been so hot and I’m so thirsty that my beer is gone and this time I order a radler, so as to minimize the alcohol content!  And because it’s so good!

The conversation is far-ranging, covering everything from the Siegerland dialect, to what it was like in Berlin when the city was divided, to their opinion of Angela Merkel and the refugee problem.

Heike suggests that we finish off with an order of schnapps!  Sure!  In for a penny, in for a pound, after all!  It is served HOT!  It has to sit for a minute before anyone can touch the tiny little dipper-like cups’ handles.  Mmmm!  It tastes like anise and goes down ever so easily, especially after the first sip!

We’ve sat enjoying ourselves for so long that it is sundown!!  It must be nearly ten o’clock!  On the way home Heiki drives us past her house, which is very pretty, and deposits us in front of our home (coincidentally that’s also in from of Eveline’s!) and we exchange hugs and thanks. (We’ve picked up the tab for dinner. It was the least we could do after all the joy that Evelin and Heike have brought us!  Also, Evelin is going to let us keep her Garmin until we’ve gotten to Frankfurt!  We’’ll leave it in the envelope for Henning at the airport, and he can return it to her when he gets home.  She won’t need it for a couple of weeks, when she goes to Berlin to meet her classmate from Calcutta.)







It’s late.  We’re beat.  But not too beat for one more episode of “Outlander”!  (I have to remember to tell Natalie that it is now on Netflix!!)

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

June 5, 2018 – Day Twenty-One – Kreuztal


June 5, 2018 – Day Twenty-One – Kreuztal

We’re winding down today.  We had thought to go to Koln/Cologne today;  but last night we asked each other if we really wanted to make another trip to see a gorgeous cathedral and the fatigue factor kicked in!    Instead we’re having a lazy day catching up details that we’ve let slide while being full-time tourists.

Breakfast was the all-America fried eggs and toast, with the wonderful European addition of scrumptious sliced tomatoes.  For lunch we concocted a huge salad with most of our left-overs and baked potatoes.

We need to get out of the house and into some nature, so we drive to Dresler’s Park.  The park is now owned by the city and contains four large structures, the White Villa, used for conferences and cultural events, the Yellow Villa, which houses the archives and registry office, the carriage house which is now a restaurant, and the white mansion, which is now a daycare.

The area was originally much larger and was owned by the Dresler Brothers. They had livestock, orchards, vegetable gardens, and crop land.  There is a garden behind the Yellow Villa where flowers are just starting to bloom.  


























On the way home we stop at the Lidl to try one more time for another bag of popcorn.  Guess it didn’t come from here!  But they do have one of my chocolate croissants left in the bakery, so it’s not a total loss!

Dinner is the rest of our superb salad!  Can’t let it go to waste!! And there are ice cream bars!  And “Lie to Me”.  Tomorrow we’ll clean.  Thursday we’ll do the linens, make the beds, and drive to Frankfurt.  Our plan is to spend the night close to the airport and to make a dry run so we can figure out where to park the car for Henning and Kerstin (Yes, I’ve been spelling it wrong all this time!!)