Eurotrek07 - Part 1
Writing from lovely Freiburg, Germany!!
Here's what's gone down so far...
Saturday 2/24 -
11:30 a.m. Gwen picks us up and drives us to the MSP airport. It is wet outside but the weather seems to be hanging in there for us.
1:00 p.m. Board flight to Detroit (scheduled to leave at 1:14 p.m., arriving in Detroit at 4:10 p.m. with a connecting flight headed to Frankfurt at 5:07 p.m.)
1:45 p.m. Deboard flight to Detroit (still at MSP) because the weather has caused them to shut down two runways at the airport and there is a giant pile of planes awaiting de-icing ahead of us. The flight is not cancelled, but we are definitely going to miss our connecting flight to Frankfurt!
2:30 p.m. We are rebooked on the 3:20 p.m. flight from MSP to Amsterdam, although our luggage is still headed to Detroit and will not get on the flight to Frankfurt until Sunday morning so it will be travelling about a day behind us.
3:00 p.m. Board the flight to Amsterdam and wait while the runways are plowed and the plane is de-iced.
4:15 p.m. Success!! Our flight departs for Amsterdam!
Sunday 2/25 -
12:00 a.m. (CST)/7:00 a.m. (Amsterdam) Touchdown! We land in Amsterdam... weary, but happy to be on foreign ground.
9:55 a.m. Our flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt was scheduled to depart at 8:40 a.m. but was delayed over an hour. We are now on our way to Deutschland (Germany)!
4:00 a.m. (CST)/11:00 a.m. (Germany) Guten Tag! 16.5 hours after we left our house in Minneapolis, we have arrived safely in Frankfurt, Germany!!
12:15 p.m. Depart Frankfurt in our sweet Mercedes wagon rental car, hop on the Autobahn and start cruising down to Freiburg (pronounced Fry-burg), our first destination in Germany.
1:15 p.m. We are soooooo tired so we pull off to a rest stop along side the Autobahn for an hour long nap. Once that is out of the way, it's smooth sailing the rest of the way to Freiburg. We stop at a gas station along the way where we have to pay 0,50 euro for a ticket to use the WC (toilet). Funny!
4:00 p.m. Our 2.5 hour drive has taken us nearly 4 hours due to our nap and WC/snack stop, but we have finally arrived in Freiburg. It's difficult to tell the difference between cobblestone streets and walkways so we nearly ran down a few folks, but we made it to Hotel Victoria. Nap time!
7:00 p.m. Walk to the Casanova for (what else?) Italian food. Oddly, the Germans are pretty into their Italian food. Dinner is followed by a stroll around town, including a brief tour of the Freiburg Munster (church). It's ornate architecture and beauty is breathtaking!
Monday 2/26 -
7:30 a.m.Guten Morgen! What to wear today? Oh yeah.. same thing I wore the last two days. Nice.
8:15 a.m. Air France calls. Our luggage has arrived in Frankfurt! They hope to get it delivered to us tonight!
10:00 a.m. We are on the road headed for France. Au revoir!
11:30 a.m. Bonjour Francais! After a slight detour, we just crossed the Rhein river into France.
12:30 p.m. "Deux s'il vous plait!" We purchase two tickets to tour the 1000+ year old castle Le Chateau Haut-Konigsbourg. It sits high upon a hill overlooking the town of Saint Hippolyte. The castle has been attacked and rebuilt many times. The castle pre-dates photography so renovations have been implemented based on illustrations that have been preserved for hundreds of years.
3:00 p.m. Arrive in Strasbourg, France. Stop a pattisserie (pastry shop) where I manage to order "une PP Chocolat" en Francais. I am so very proud of myself! Next is a tour of l'Oeuvre Notre-Dome (a massive, old church). The first stone of the Notre-Dame was laid in 1015; it was eventually destroyed by fire and was rebuilt circa 1400. That is one old church! We continue to walk all around town, although it is pouring rain and my only pair of pants are drenched and have stretched to about 40 feet long by this time. Anyway, there are many shops and very few English speakers. Strasbourg is a circular town surrounded by water with bunches of swans-a-swimming! Pretty sweet!!
7:00 p.m. Back in Freiburg and my suitcase is waiting for me. Hooray! I promptly change out of my drenched and dirty clothes and feel 100 times better.
8:00 p.m. Decide to try German food for dinner tonight (or, as they call it here "original" food) at Hausbrauerei Feierling. I order a Brauerbrot (bread with melted cheese, ham, onions and tomatoes). It is not great. The highlight of dinner is a fire in the kitchen of the Feierling Biergarten across the street. We are sitting by the window so we are able to watch the "feuerwehr" as they tackle it. Cool!
10:00 p.m. Brian is off to the mountains for meetings for the next two days so I will be going it alone. Guten abend! I am off to watch some movies on my laptop and get a little shut eye.
Tuesday 2/27 -
10:00 a.m. I slept in and am feeling great! Walked and shopped around Freiburg all afternoon. The language barrier is far more intimidating when going it along. Shopping ended up being the easiest thing to do.. I happen to be very good at it and all I have to understand is money. No problemo!
2:00 p.m. There are menus posted outside of every restaurant and they look like this...
Vorspeisen: Aufschnittplatte, Fleischpastete, Gemischter Salat, Ganseleberpastete...
Um, yeah. I opt for McDonald's and order a Cheeseburger, Small Pommes Frites (fries) and Fanta. Phew! They are playing Roxette on the radio (as Brian says "Germany is where bad American music goes to die"). Yes, I realize Roxette is actually Swedish, but they sing in English and were popular in America 15 years ago, so there!
3:15 p.m. I am in my room and have discovered the wireless connection. Thus, all my awesome friends get the pleasure of this update.
4:15 p.m. Head back out into Freiburg to see what I can see.
I will post some pics on Kodak Gallery later today...
Here's what's gone down so far...
Saturday 2/24 -
11:30 a.m. Gwen picks us up and drives us to the MSP airport. It is wet outside but the weather seems to be hanging in there for us.
1:00 p.m. Board flight to Detroit (scheduled to leave at 1:14 p.m., arriving in Detroit at 4:10 p.m. with a connecting flight headed to Frankfurt at 5:07 p.m.)
1:45 p.m. Deboard flight to Detroit (still at MSP) because the weather has caused them to shut down two runways at the airport and there is a giant pile of planes awaiting de-icing ahead of us. The flight is not cancelled, but we are definitely going to miss our connecting flight to Frankfurt!
2:30 p.m. We are rebooked on the 3:20 p.m. flight from MSP to Amsterdam, although our luggage is still headed to Detroit and will not get on the flight to Frankfurt until Sunday morning so it will be travelling about a day behind us.
3:00 p.m. Board the flight to Amsterdam and wait while the runways are plowed and the plane is de-iced.
4:15 p.m. Success!! Our flight departs for Amsterdam!
Sunday 2/25 -
12:00 a.m. (CST)/7:00 a.m. (Amsterdam) Touchdown! We land in Amsterdam... weary, but happy to be on foreign ground.
9:55 a.m. Our flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt was scheduled to depart at 8:40 a.m. but was delayed over an hour. We are now on our way to Deutschland (Germany)!
4:00 a.m. (CST)/11:00 a.m. (Germany) Guten Tag! 16.5 hours after we left our house in Minneapolis, we have arrived safely in Frankfurt, Germany!!
12:15 p.m. Depart Frankfurt in our sweet Mercedes wagon rental car, hop on the Autobahn and start cruising down to Freiburg (pronounced Fry-burg), our first destination in Germany.
1:15 p.m. We are soooooo tired so we pull off to a rest stop along side the Autobahn for an hour long nap. Once that is out of the way, it's smooth sailing the rest of the way to Freiburg. We stop at a gas station along the way where we have to pay 0,50 euro for a ticket to use the WC (toilet). Funny!
4:00 p.m. Our 2.5 hour drive has taken us nearly 4 hours due to our nap and WC/snack stop, but we have finally arrived in Freiburg. It's difficult to tell the difference between cobblestone streets and walkways so we nearly ran down a few folks, but we made it to Hotel Victoria. Nap time!
7:00 p.m. Walk to the Casanova for (what else?) Italian food. Oddly, the Germans are pretty into their Italian food. Dinner is followed by a stroll around town, including a brief tour of the Freiburg Munster (church). It's ornate architecture and beauty is breathtaking!
Monday 2/26 -
7:30 a.m.Guten Morgen! What to wear today? Oh yeah.. same thing I wore the last two days. Nice.
8:15 a.m. Air France calls. Our luggage has arrived in Frankfurt! They hope to get it delivered to us tonight!
10:00 a.m. We are on the road headed for France. Au revoir!
11:30 a.m. Bonjour Francais! After a slight detour, we just crossed the Rhein river into France.
12:30 p.m. "Deux s'il vous plait!" We purchase two tickets to tour the 1000+ year old castle Le Chateau Haut-Konigsbourg. It sits high upon a hill overlooking the town of Saint Hippolyte. The castle has been attacked and rebuilt many times. The castle pre-dates photography so renovations have been implemented based on illustrations that have been preserved for hundreds of years.
3:00 p.m. Arrive in Strasbourg, France. Stop a pattisserie (pastry shop) where I manage to order "une PP Chocolat" en Francais. I am so very proud of myself! Next is a tour of l'Oeuvre Notre-Dome (a massive, old church). The first stone of the Notre-Dame was laid in 1015; it was eventually destroyed by fire and was rebuilt circa 1400. That is one old church! We continue to walk all around town, although it is pouring rain and my only pair of pants are drenched and have stretched to about 40 feet long by this time. Anyway, there are many shops and very few English speakers. Strasbourg is a circular town surrounded by water with bunches of swans-a-swimming! Pretty sweet!!
7:00 p.m. Back in Freiburg and my suitcase is waiting for me. Hooray! I promptly change out of my drenched and dirty clothes and feel 100 times better.
8:00 p.m. Decide to try German food for dinner tonight (or, as they call it here "original" food) at Hausbrauerei Feierling. I order a Brauerbrot (bread with melted cheese, ham, onions and tomatoes). It is not great. The highlight of dinner is a fire in the kitchen of the Feierling Biergarten across the street. We are sitting by the window so we are able to watch the "feuerwehr" as they tackle it. Cool!
10:00 p.m. Brian is off to the mountains for meetings for the next two days so I will be going it alone. Guten abend! I am off to watch some movies on my laptop and get a little shut eye.
Tuesday 2/27 -
10:00 a.m. I slept in and am feeling great! Walked and shopped around Freiburg all afternoon. The language barrier is far more intimidating when going it along. Shopping ended up being the easiest thing to do.. I happen to be very good at it and all I have to understand is money. No problemo!
2:00 p.m. There are menus posted outside of every restaurant and they look like this...
Vorspeisen: Aufschnittplatte, Fleischpastete, Gemischter Salat, Ganseleberpastete...
Um, yeah. I opt for McDonald's and order a Cheeseburger, Small Pommes Frites (fries) and Fanta. Phew! They are playing Roxette on the radio (as Brian says "Germany is where bad American music goes to die"). Yes, I realize Roxette is actually Swedish, but they sing in English and were popular in America 15 years ago, so there!
3:15 p.m. I am in my room and have discovered the wireless connection. Thus, all my awesome friends get the pleasure of this update.
4:15 p.m. Head back out into Freiburg to see what I can see.
I will post some pics on Kodak Gallery later today...
posted by TanSwan at 8:05 AM
1 Comments:
The pictures look cool - even though they don't do it justice. Hope you guys are having a great time. See ya!
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