And So The Journey Begins (Amsterdam, part 1 of 3)

After playing 5 out of the 9 games in our playin tournament for the playoffs, the league takes a two and half week hiatus so the European players can tryout for their respective Olympic teams for the upcoming winter games. Within this break, we saw a three day window with no practice in sight. We felt this would be an opportune time to escape the shackles of Frederikstown, and we diligently started planning a vacation. We decided upon Hamburg, Germany as a great place to visit. However, in typical hockey fashion, we were informed just two days before the break that we had a "slight" modification to our team schedule. Instead of having three days off, we now had a full week, which is historic by hockey standards. This modification was bittersweet. Sweet: Extended time off. Bitter: Two days to find something to do. For those of you who travel a lot, you know that advanced planning is key to getting good deals on flights and various other things. With our limited time we were relegated to driving which limited our options of places to visit. In the end our trip to Hamburg turned into an overnight stay and an extra four hour (more like seven)drive to AMSTERDAM in The Netherlands.

We set off for Hamburg on Tuesday afternoon after picking up some Imodium for my husband's bowel problems. We did not want to stop every ten minutes for him to use the toilet, especially since you have to pay to use public restrooms. Anyway, the trip went smoothly and we arrived at our destination ahead of schedule, thanks to the German Autobahn. Rob was driving in Nascar fashion, like Dale Earnhardt Jr, because the Autobahn has no speed limit after 8 pm. Since the odometer is in kilometers, I had no idea how fast he was actually going. Rob thought it was sweet. We had a very relaxing evening at extremely nice Steigenberger Hotel. The hotel had an impressive amenities list headed by their spa, sauna, and pool. We decided to take advantage of these fine services...since we were paying for them. We are used to saunas and spas, but we are not used to the European style of these same things. Put it this way.....We were the only ones in bathing suits. Lets just say we were literally shocked and awed by the amenities in the hotel. Both in how nice they actually were and in how revealing they ended up being. Upon waking up, we started the second leg on our trek to the Netherlands. This is where things went haywire.

We should have known that something was going to happen when we started the trip by getting lost in Hamburg. We usually never get lost and now we were on a time crunch to make our check in time at Maes Bed and Breakfast. No worries, however, because we could just make up some time on the excellent German Autobahn system (previously discussed). Two hours into our trip, making great time, we ran into what could be considered a little bit of a problem. While changing lanes, we heard a popping/ripping noise toward the rear of the vehicle. Both of us froze, then turned Phil Collins, in his 80's glory, down to a reasonable decibel and proceeded to drive another kilometer praying that we did not have what we knew we had. Of course when it feels like you are driving on Rosie O'Donnell after she has lost some weight, you can assume there is a need for concern, but we were in denial. So, we pulled over and saw the inevitable.....a flat tire!!! Plan A, change the tire ourselves. Obviously, this would be all too easy if there was a spare in our car, but we usually don't get that option. Plan B was to sit for a couple of minutes and see if someone would slide over and let us at least use there phone to call someone. I guess the Germans don't read Luke 10:25-37. Plan C was for Rob to walk to the nearest exit and find help. Luckily, the nearest exit was 800 meters up the road. Even more of a blessing was that the only thing at this exit (we were in the middle of German nowhere) was a small highway police station. The cop working the station only asked me one thing after I told him we had no phone, no spare, and needed help....."DO YOU HAVE MONEY?" I suppose it doesn't buy you happiness, but it can get you out of some tight situations.

Half an hour later a yellow tow truck pulled up and motioned for us to hand him the keys and get into his vehicle. The man spoke no English and had German folk music blaring in the truck. Instead of chatting, he chose to hum to the music. It is hard to describe in full detail where the auto repair shop was located. In fact, we were surprised there was an auto shop around there period. Thankfully we were there during the day because this shop had not been updated since the 1960's. We were afraid to sit down in the waiting room, not really a waiting room, more like a dungeon with nude magazines thrown around. After waiting for a the owner to stop playing solitaire and waiting for a bid on EBay, he finally turned around to talk to us about the tire. This was a difficult conversation since he knew no English and we knew no German. We resorted to kindergarten techniques by drawing sorry looking pictures to communicate. The method worked and 500 dollars poorer, an hour later, and a story richer, we drove off to finish what we started. Alas, you truly needed to be with us to experience the full effect of that afternoon but we hope our story will suffice. Next up: Part Two.