Flights and Germany

Our flight over to Europe was uneventful other than the fact the airplane earphone jacks were broken on both the east coast and transatlantic flights and we couldn't watch any of the movies to help pass the time on the long flight over. Oh yes, and the flight over to the East coast was freezing cold! Since you could only have a blanket if you paid $5 for one, everyone sitting around me had their coats on and tons of people were asking for coffee. I told the stewardess several times that I was freezing and she said they would have them raise the temperature on the plane, but it never changed the entire five hour flight. Seems a little fishy to me...so I was stubborn and refused to pay the $5 for the blanket. Consequently, I felt like I was in a refrigerator the whole time (even with my winter coat on). Luckily on our transatlantic flight they passed out complimentary blankets and pillows and what do you know?...the temperature was normal.

I was so excited about going to Europe that the flight problems didn't really get me down. I tried to sleep on the plane (to simulate sleeping time at our destination), but I had very little luck as my excitement got the best of me. It was morning in Amsterdam when we landed there. We headed straight to the rental car place, and as Joe took care of the arrangements, the jet lag seized me as I sat in the airport chair waiting. All of a sudden I was living in the twilight zone. My head was spinning and I felt like I was about to pass out with exhaustion, so I stood up, trying to wake myself up by walking around, but could barely put one foot in front of the other, so I sat back down. Joe came over and said it was time to go, so we walked to the car which was a little mini car.

We had to drive three hours to get to our destination in Bunde, Germany from Amsterdam. I wanted to sleep so badly, but was afraid Joe needed back up in case he drifted off and started to get sleepy while driving. He assured me he wasn't tired at all, but I still didn't feel like I could let myself sleep. So I would drift off for a couple of minutes then wake with a start, make sure Joe wasn't tired, and look out at some farm fields and gorgeous, old farm houses. Then I would drift of again for a few minutes and wake up with a start to make sure Joe wasn't sleepy and look out to see a countryside full of green trees. Then I would drift off again and wake up with a start to see if Joe was exhausted (he never did get sleepy the entire time) and Joe said we had crossed the border into Germany but we still had an hour and a half to go. At that point I noticed a series of highway signs on the right side of the highway that said "Ausfahrt" with an arrow pointing at the exit. After the third one, I said to Joe, "Wow, Ausfahrt must be a bigger town if it has three exits". Joe kindly pointed out that "Ausfahrt" meant "exit" in German. Sure enough, every exit contained a sign with that word. I felt really dumb, but I'll blame it on the jet lag. :)

Before I knew it we arrived in Bunde, which is small town about the size of Pullman. We checked into our quaint little German hotel that was full of old German charm on the outside, but had a modern, IKEA feel in the rooms. We were both tired, but there was no time to take a nap. Even if there was, Joe wouldn't have let me. He has become the jet lag pro and he says you never take a nap. You have to force yourself to stay awake the entire day until night and try to fall asleep when the people there go to sleep. They only way to make that happen is to keep moving. So Joe called his contacts at Trenz electronic and we went to their business to meet with them. This was his only day of business, so he had to make the most of it. They gave us a tour of their business, then wanted to take us to lunch. They took us to a really old style German restaurant which fun and I order a cabbage roll while Joe ordered potato latkes and sausages. It was really difficult to get through the lunch. I tried to keep talking as much as possible with the wife of the head of the business in order to stay awake. After lunch we went back to the office and the wife asked if I would like to come with her to pick up her children from "kindergarten" a.k.a preschool/daycare, while Joe and her husband had their meetings. I was delighted at the thought. Why would I want to sit in a stuffy old office and listen to engineering speak when I could be visiting more of this little town and seeing how they live?

First we went to a grocery store and bought some cookies. Then we went to her home and picked up her six year old daughter who was being watched by grandma (three generations lived in that home, all on a separate story with its own apartment). Then we drove to the kindergarten which was part of a church, and picked up her two little boys, ages 3 and 1. They all had light blonde hair and blue eyes and they all seemed to find the coloring of my eyes and hair very strange. We stayed a few minutes at the kindergarten before loading up in the van again and driving back to her home.

She asked if I would like to sit in the garden in the back yard and play with the kids and I was relieved to be outside, moving. I knew the minute I sat on a comfy couch or chair, I would fall asleep. So we played outside on the swings and in the sandbox and admired the pretty plants that the mother and grandmother had cared for in the garden. I went into their huge green house which was full of juicy red tomatoes on vines that climbed up the walls and were trained across the ceilings.

I tried to learn some German from the little girl, pointing at things and asking what they were. She would answer me in German and I would repeat it. When I repeated her incorrectly she would laugh and we would keep working on that word until I said it right. The cool air outside helped invigorate me enough to fight through the jet lag. But after a few hours, the kids were ready to go inside and have dinner.

I went with into their home with them and begged for her to let me help prepare the food, but the woman wouldn't let me lift a finger. Instead I had to sit on the couch. It was warm on the third story, and I could feel myself drifting....drifting...fighting to stay a wake....but drifting....until I was saved by the bell. Her husband called and said he was on his way over to pick me up and take me back to the hotel where Joe was already waiting for me.

back side of hotel (behind the white building)

By the time I got to the hotel, it was six o'clock and neither Joe nor I were hungry for dinner. I couldn't stay awake another second. I told Joe it was the best I could do and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was a goner. Joe forced himself to stay up until 8 or 9 watching TV. I woke up in the middle of the night and was excited when I thought the clock said 4 am, which would have meant I had slept for 10 hours. But when I looked closer, I saw that it was actually only 11 pm. I had only slept five hours and now I was wide awake. Darn. I typed notes about our trip, played games on my phone, tried to fall back asleep, but to no avail. I finally gave in and took a Benadryl which I had purchased in the airport earlier, and I finally fell into a fitful sleep again around 3 am.

We woke up at about 7 and got ready for the day. We packed up our suitcases and when everything was settled, we went to eat our complimentary breakfast which consisted of meats, rolls, cheeses, yogurt, juices, boiled eggs, etc. Then we checked out of the hotel, got back in our mini car and drove the three hours to Amsterdam where we caught our flight to Rome that afternoon.

Lots of English at the Amsterdam airport

Interesting urinals too (Joe took this picture--I promise!)