Wanderung 18

Voyages of the Vikings

September - October 2008

Prolog

After a nice summer cruise to Bermuda with Lois (Ausflug 35), we settled down to a quiet summer of tending our yard and garden. We managed to keep our tomato plants alive and bearing, a first for us, and as the yields from our patches of blackberry and raspberry bushes waxed and waned, we barely kept up making batches of jam. For many folks it would have been boring, but there is a curious satisfaction to gardening and making home-made jam, and the intermittent nature of the work left us enough free time to prepare Ausflug 34, our trip to the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Ausflug 35, our trip to Bermuda with my sister Lois, for posting on our web site. I also had time to print out a bunch of large panoramic shots we had taken both in Bermuda and at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, during Wanderung 17. Since they were all non-standard sizes, I ended up constructing custom-sized frames and cutting custom mats and acrylic facings for each of them, a laborious process indeed but one that resulted in a nice array of Bermuda pictures in our living room and Alhambra pictures surrounding the TV in the family room as well as assorted other shots that brought back nice memories of Cascais, Portugal (see Wanderung 17) and the Real Alcazar in Seville, Spain (see Wanderung 14).

The plan for Wanderung 18 grew like Topsy, so to speak. We had our return tickets from Washington to Hamburg leftover from Wanderung 17, so we knew we were going back to Germany to visit Monika's sister Heinke and her husband Gustl for at least a week, and we would see sights in and around Hamburg during that time. But those were just one-way tickets, so how were we to get home? We decided to take one of the cruise ships coming back to the U.S. at the end of the European summer season, and were particularly intrigued by the itinerary of the Crown Princess that left Copenhagen and stopped off in England, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Vinland (New Brunswick) and New York, before stopping in Miami. You have to admit, that was a lot of "lands" for one cruise! When Princess emailed us about a price reduction, we finally took the plunge and signed up for the cruise.

So then we knew when we were going and how we were going to get home, but what about the meantime? Well, we found another cruise on the Baltic Sea on the Costa Mediterranean that started from Copenhagen right about the time we would leave Hamburg, and returned to Copenhagen three days before the Princess ship left, so that looked like a good fit. When we saw the price drop for that cruise also, we quickly called Shannon Miller, the friendly and extremely competent cruise agent who had previously booked our Bermuda cruise (Ausflug 35), and she quickly engaged the last of the cheap interior cabins. But she had cleverly booked us with an open cabin assignment, and when we received our boarding information we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had been upgraded to an outside cabin. Way to go, Shannon!

Bob:

After Monika used the internet to book all the connecting flights for these pieces with the best prices we could find, we had finished the preparations for Wanderung 18 and turned to tying up all those loose ends around our house and yard. Then it was time to pack, which we just managed to do before my son and his wife and children showed up for an unexpected visit, which was a wonderful surprise. But suddenly having a curious and energetic 1 year old (with no common sense) and energetic but more cautious 3 year old running around the house sure made a whirlwind of difference! We had a great time reading stories to them when we weren't chasing them around the house, and then suddenly, much too soon, it was time to pile in the car and leave for the airport. It was only when our son dropped us off at Dulles airport that I suddenly realized that I wasn't wearing the rain jacket I had planned to wear for our trip, drat it! I sincerely hoped that it was a momentary mental glitch caused by granddaughter distraction rather than some kind of omen or portent for the upcoming trip.

Monika:

Our departure was a little more exciting than usual. Judson and Sarah and children came on Thursday evening to visit Sarah's newborn nephew. They stayed with us, since her parents house was full with new baby and parents. So Friday morning Sarah went to see the new baby, while we had a nice visit with Judson, Annalise, and Rowan. Of course, it also meant, that I tried to babyproof the house as best as possible (which wasn't very) before they arrived. Annalise at 3 years of age is no problem, but one year old Rowan is into EVERYTHING. Someone was always chasing her, to make sure she did not get hurt. But it was nice to get a good visit in with all of them.

In the afternoon, Judson took us to the airport. Check in and security went smoothly and soon we were sitting and waiting to get onto the plane.

Bob:

In England we arrived in "Heathrow Hell" as the BBC so pithily put it, and were transferred from Terminal 4 over to the new, and already famous (or infamous) Terminal 5. Actually, we had no problems at all during this rather circuitous bus trip between the terminals, and in fact the total transfer time was just under an hour whereas our previous experiences at Heathrow had always required about 2 hours total time for switching flights between terminals. And at least British Airways fed us on the transatlantic journey, as opposed to United Airlines that had recently decided to stop giving free meals to Economy class passengers, shortly after which they fired 1,500 flight attendants.

The one thing that is always extremely easy to do in Germany is to set one's watch to the correct time, which I would heartily recommend doing, by the way, as everything runs precisely on time. All you have to do is stop still in the airport or train station and take a long slow 360-degree look around you. You will certainly find within that horizon a clock, and that clock will certainly be an official clock that is synchronized to the national timing signals down to the split second. So you can safely set your watch to the time shown on that clock and be confident that no matter where you go in Germany, your watch will agree with all the local clocks. That's so reassuring when you are trying to catch a bus, train or plane, or just trying to get to a meeting on time. When we disembarked in Hamburg, Monika went to the bathroom and, following my own advice, I just glanced around for a clock, found one, and set my watch to the correct time.

Monika:

We had signed onto the British Airways website the night before to get seat assignments. We could not get good seats together, but each of us found a bulkhead window seat, even if 10 rows apart. But as it was a night flight, that was ok. Dinner was good (BA still feeds its economy class passengers), and we arrived in Heathrow the next morning having gotten at least a couple of hours of sleep. "Heathrow Hell" was not as bad as we have had it. It took us only an hour to get to the departure lounge in the new terminal five, which is really quite nice.

Bob:

Up at the "Arrivals" deck, we found Gustl and Heinke, or rather they found us, and we packed our suitcases in their Volkswagen and headed for their condominium. We had been up a long time and were short on sleep, so I don't really remember much about the afternoon and evening aside the nice meals that Heinke prepared.

Besides Heinke's wonderful cooking, one of the reasons I so enjoy visiting them is Gustl's sense of humor. That is not something you would guess just to look at him, because he can look every inch the mature, staid, serious head of a typical German household. In his case, however, this staid appearance belies a lively and often very unpredictable wit. Gustl's humor is often quite dry and his delivery up to the punch line is completely deadpan, so I, at least, often don't even see the joke coming before it kind of whacks me upside the head. And so it was at dinner that evening. Conversation was flowing along, at least among Monika, Heinke, and Gustl, and I was mostly following along as I sometimes do the very first day I'm in Germany, kind of shifting linguistic gears, perhaps, but also possibly some side effect of jet lag. In any case, we had just finished the meal and Monika and I were both starting to get tired, so Monika came up with the old German saying, "Nach dem Essen soll man ruhen oder tausend Schritte tuen." (After a good meal a man should rest or walk 1,000 steps.) Gustl replied that there was also the saying, "Nach dem Essen soll man rauchen oder seine Frau gebrauchen." He looked so serious when he said that, and I was so foggy, that it took a second for the implication of what he had said to sink in, and then I almost fell off my chair laughing.

In the end we decided on the 1,000 steps and went for a nice walk around the nearby Bramfelder See (Lake Bramfelder). After we returned and were watching the Tageschau evening news program, I finally started nodding off, and shortly after that we turned in for the night. We were so exhausted that we ended up sleeping around the clock.

Monika:

The flight to Hamburg went fast, and we met Heinke and Gustl upstairs at the arrival spots, since it is easier to stand and wait there. They had checked on the internet when our flight was arriving, and tried to get there just in time.

After Mittagessen, we took the obligatory walk around the Bramfelder See, and relaxed for the afternoon. But after Abendessen and Tagesschau we both were ready for bed.

Index

Prolog

August/September 2008
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
31	1	2	3	4	5

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