Sorry it has been so long since our last post, but we have been traveling the world as well as a few US states in between. We are now back in Chicago for a whopping three weeks until our next trip, woo hoo. We figured we could write a post or two before we are gone again.
So, where have we been...let's start with Málaga, Spain. If we are going to start, we might as well begin with our flight from Aalborg, Denmark down to Spain. Málaga happened to be a destination with very attractive flight offers and thus became the logical choice for us to begin our tour of Spain. A word of caution for those 5'10" planning to use CimberAir as your means of travel from or to Denmark. Not only was it bad enough waking up at 4:30 am to catch our flight, they decided to make the space between seats comfortable only for those as small or smaller than Elizabeth. Needless to say, we made it safely but the person traveling in front of Rob was immediately taken to the hospital to treat his whip-lash.
Day One
We arrived in Málaga at 10 am and walked over a mile to our hotel. We would have never done this if Rob understood kilometers because he was carrying three out of the four bags as I had the bag with wheels. Anyways, we checked into our hotel and immediately proceeded to raid the FREE minibar to refresh before hitting the coastal town of Málaga. The first thing we decided to do was hit the streets and get a feel for the town by walking around for a bit. We had many impressions from our early hours on the streets...
1. All the streets were marble. It was amazing to think that Americans long to have this in their kitchens and bathrooms yet in this region, it is so plentiful they use it for people to walk on.
2. We were not accustomed to the lively hustle and bustle of people being out and about. Instead of three hours of daylight we could see others well past 8pm. Instead of shops closing at 4 pm, we could get an ice cream 24 hours a day. Instead of dodging old ladies on bikes, we were watching street performers and the lively Spanish culture live their daily lives.
3. We had the chance to eat outside in a typical Spanish plaza for the first time of our trip. What is a Spanish Plaza like? Well, they are typically large squares surrounded by beautiful buildings full of history and many little cafes with tables and chairs scattered throughout the open space. Also, if you are really lucky, you may have a beautiful fountain or street musicians to entertain you while you eat. It is something straight out of a romantic movie. For example, the plaza we ate at in Málaga was right next to a gigantic cathedral that was hosting a wedding.
We also went to the Picasso museum on our first day. Pablo Picasso is the most well known painter in all the world. It just so happens that he was born in Málaga and lived there until he was ten years old. Of course they had a museum dedicated to him with many of his works. We spent a good deal of time in the museum. Not only were his works fascinating but the building, a renovated 16th century mansion, was gorgeous. Another word of caution...for those of you with small children, we want you to know that Picasso really liked boobs. In most of his works there would be a woman's breast in some part of the painting whether it be left corner, right corner, or upside down, it was always there. We do not understand why, but we thought we should pass it on.
Day Two
On day two we began the day by walking through a garden/park on our way to La Plaza Merced to meet for a private bike tour. These gardens/parks are everywhere in Spain and were a great part of our trip. Anyway, on to the bike tour. Our guide, Kay, told us to meet her at La Plaza Merced by 10 am so that she could take us to her shop to get our bikes and start the bike tour. In American fashion, we arrived 10 mins early eagerly waiting and looking for our guide. We began to think there was a problem when no one was there five minutes past ten, so Elizabeth and I began to discuss options, when we spotted another touristy looking family walking around with a map and looking around the plaza like we were. A few minutes later, they started walking in the direction of the bike shop, so we did the most logical thing and started to tail them without acting as if we were following. After walking back and forth on the same street, we finally introduced ourselves and worked together to try and find the illusive bike shop. We eventually found it but the street was gated and locked. Luckily, Kay, needed to go in to clean the bikes and unlocked the gate as we were trying to figure out how we were going to get in. Basically, we ended up getting lucky because Kay had us scheduled for the following week and was only there by chance. She quickly apologized and we started our tour 30 minutes later than scheduled. Before we get started about the bike tour, we forgot to mention that the family we stalked was actually from Toronto and their son was wearing a jacket from Hockey Opportunity camp, the same camp Rob went to growing up. In the words of Walt Disney "It's a small world after all."
Our bike tour consisted of...
1. The famous cathedral called La Manchita (The One Armed Woman) by the locals. This is a massive church right in the center of town with four different sides based upon what period each side was completed. The reason it's called the one armed woman is because only one tower is completed and now because of the nickname, they may never finish it. Either way the inside is full of history pertaining to the religious timeline of Spain. Like most cathedrals, it was very beautiful and eccentric.
2. We biked around town and found out some local history. One thing we learned was that during the Holy week around 50 "brotherhoods" march around town holding their own platforms, which are very extravagant floats. This activity takes the whole day and is a big celebration. One of the "brotherhoods" is led by Antonio Banderas, yes, he was Zorro, and born in Málaga. He attends the Holy week festivities every year with his family in tow. We learned about the cities multicultural development and this was seen in the variety of architecture. The city was first founded by the Romans in the first century. In time, the Ottomans, which were the fathers of Islam, came to conquer this city and left their mark on top of what the Romans had already produced. Finally, Christianity sought to regain control of Spain during me devil times and Málaga was one of the last cities to be taken from the Arabs.
3. Lastly, we pedaled towards the harbor and the beach, where we stopped for a quick bite on the beach. While snacking, Rob took a stroll down by the sand and found a photo op. As he took a picture of the beach, somehow a woman, topless, landed in the picture. Our guide, Kay, said do not be alarmed as this is a normal custom in Spain. The coast was beautiful and captured the essence of Málaga. Out of the three cities, Málaga, felt the most like a laid back coastal town where people came to vacation.
After the wonderful 4 hour bike tour, we decided to visit Alcazaba. This was a Moorish (Islamic) fortification built in the 8th century on a hill overlooking an old Roman amphitheatre. We spent many hours walking through the many passage ways and gardens of the compound. Since the fortress is built on a hill, when we reached the top we stood in awe of the great views of the city and coastal line.
The best part of this two day stay was the bike tour because we learned so much history and saw so many different things. We hope to go back one day so we can catch a real Spanish bull fight instead of looking at an empty stadium from the outside.
Apr 19, 2009
Mar 12, 2009
All Things Come To An End...
Eventually. Let's hope it's not my career. For now, at least, it is just 2008/2009 hockey season. The Whitehawks lost their hard fought series in Game 7 on Tuesday evening. While the winning team is gearing up for the semi's, my wife and I will be packing up, saying goodbye and preparing for a trip to Espana, where Elizabeth can show off her spanglish (aka, crossword spanish).
The past five months have been so many things...
Good - The easy access to European travel and the schedule to make it happen.
Bad - Being here while the weather stinks. We missed August and September and now we are leaving when it's starting to get good again.
Good - Being able to spend a lot of time together, it has been like an extended honeymoon (woo hoo).
Bad - Too much time together, as we missed our family and friends while being 4,408 miles away.
Good - Elizabeth has finally learned how to COOK.
Bad - Rob is no longer allowed in the kitchen.
Good - Learning about a new culture and meeting new people.
Bad - Not understanding a word they are saying and watching the same four english channels on TV.
Good - Learning how to live with minimal items.
Bad - Not having curtains, sleeping on the floor with two mattress pushed together, and lack of certain kitchen essentials (we burned our hands quite a few times).
Good - Having Skype (it's free)
Bad - Having to use Skype as your sole form of communication back home
Good - Great Bakeries with a lot of treats
Bad - Great Bakeries with a lot of treats
Good - Starting the blog
Bad - Barely updating it (we will get better)
Now that Rob is finished with hockey, it's hard to just sit around and do nothing. This will be a problem since our flight back home is scheduled for April 5th leaving us with three weeks to kill. We will kill some time by travelling to Spain, but we hope to schedule our flight to Chi-town a bit earlier. We will keep you posted on our ETA, we look forward to spending time with everyone we missed since we've been gone.
The past five months have been so many things...
Good - The easy access to European travel and the schedule to make it happen.
Bad - Being here while the weather stinks. We missed August and September and now we are leaving when it's starting to get good again.
Good - Being able to spend a lot of time together, it has been like an extended honeymoon (woo hoo).
Bad - Too much time together, as we missed our family and friends while being 4,408 miles away.
Good - Elizabeth has finally learned how to COOK.
Bad - Rob is no longer allowed in the kitchen.
Good - Learning about a new culture and meeting new people.
Bad - Not understanding a word they are saying and watching the same four english channels on TV.
Good - Learning how to live with minimal items.
Bad - Not having curtains, sleeping on the floor with two mattress pushed together, and lack of certain kitchen essentials (we burned our hands quite a few times).
Good - Having Skype (it's free)
Bad - Having to use Skype as your sole form of communication back home
Good - Great Bakeries with a lot of treats
Bad - Great Bakeries with a lot of treats
Good - Starting the blog
Bad - Barely updating it (we will get better)
Now that Rob is finished with hockey, it's hard to just sit around and do nothing. This will be a problem since our flight back home is scheduled for April 5th leaving us with three weeks to kill. We will kill some time by travelling to Spain, but we hope to schedule our flight to Chi-town a bit earlier. We will keep you posted on our ETA, we look forward to spending time with everyone we missed since we've been gone.
Feb 15, 2009
Leaving Amsterdam Behind (part 3 of 3)
On our last full day in the canal city, we woke up to our usual routine of shower and breakfast. The food was exactly the same and everything else seemed normal as well except for a random comment made by our wonderful host, Vlad. Well, maybe not so random considering that he already put the vibe out on Rob. Anyway, it made our morning when Vlad asked Rob, "Would you like some tea, Tiger?" This would seem normal if you were Tony of Frosted Flakes fame, but not so normal when you are devouring some freshly baked croissants. Obviously, we could not burst out laughing at the moment so we used all our strength to save it until the morning stroll to the Heineken Brewery.
The Heineken Brewery was our first stop on the agenda for the day. Despite the fact that Rob doesn't drink and Elizabeth is a light weight, we still decided to do the tour because it's one of the worlds most famous beers and it originated in Amsterdam. We went in not expecting too much but left pleased that we took the full "Heineken Experience." Some of the highlights included:
1. Since Rob is a history fanatic, he enjoyed the extensive detail and information about the days of yore of Heineken.
2. We got to go on a mini ride (if you want to call it that) that took us through the whole process from the hops to bottling. It was one of those simulation rides where you watch a screen and you move according to what you watch. We even got sprayed with beer...well maybe just water.
3. They had a plethora of interactive technologies that were fun to play around with. We even made a video that is available for viewing for up to one more month.
4. We did have one random experience during the tour...three random dudes were following us throughout half the tour. Somehow, they managed to get into many of our pictures and drink Rob's sample beer (Elizabeth was quite ticked). What made it even weirder, was that one of the guys lives in Chicago. We managed to ditch them because Elizabeth had to make one of her frequent bathroom stops.
After the tour, we walked around the shopping areas and found something we would never find in Denmark. It was a giant cafeteria where you could get pretty much any type of food you could imagine (Rob's eyes were HUGE). Let us make something clear, this was not cafeteria food, this was cafeteria style complete with trays and grab your own silverware...pretty much college style. The food, however, was along the lines of Whole Foods quality. We enjoyed it so much, we went for seconds oh wait...maybe thirds and left the place ten pounds heavier. Why did we spend a paragraph talking about some random food place? Because it was SWEET!
After we finished eating, we headed out to meet up with our boat tour. In Amsterdam you could find a million canal tour operators but we found something a little more off the beaten path. It was a non-profit organization who only did one or two tours a night. There boat could only fit about 15 people and did not have a covering. This was both good and bad. Good, because it allowed our boat to go where the larger tourists boats could not which allowed us to see a variety of things. Bad, because it was colder than Shaq at the free throw line. It was actually their first trip out in over two weeks and the guide called us "Brave Souls." Some highlights included:
1. A stroll through the Red Light District from the safety of our boat. We got to see the bright lights, ladies in the windows(advised not to take photos of) and the many sketchy characters walking around.
2. Being on the water and seeing the city from a different perspective with all the lights and tunnels made for a romantic outing.
3. It was technically free except for tips.
That concluded our trip in Amsterdam. We hope to be able to go back during the summer when the tulips are out and the weather is nicer. We also want to see some more things we didn't get to see because there is just so much to do in and around Amsterdam. Basically, you MUST go there.
The Heineken Brewery was our first stop on the agenda for the day. Despite the fact that Rob doesn't drink and Elizabeth is a light weight, we still decided to do the tour because it's one of the worlds most famous beers and it originated in Amsterdam. We went in not expecting too much but left pleased that we took the full "Heineken Experience." Some of the highlights included:
1. Since Rob is a history fanatic, he enjoyed the extensive detail and information about the days of yore of Heineken.
2. We got to go on a mini ride (if you want to call it that) that took us through the whole process from the hops to bottling. It was one of those simulation rides where you watch a screen and you move according to what you watch. We even got sprayed with beer...well maybe just water.
3. They had a plethora of interactive technologies that were fun to play around with. We even made a video that is available for viewing for up to one more month.
4. We did have one random experience during the tour...three random dudes were following us throughout half the tour. Somehow, they managed to get into many of our pictures and drink Rob's sample beer (Elizabeth was quite ticked). What made it even weirder, was that one of the guys lives in Chicago. We managed to ditch them because Elizabeth had to make one of her frequent bathroom stops.
After the tour, we walked around the shopping areas and found something we would never find in Denmark. It was a giant cafeteria where you could get pretty much any type of food you could imagine (Rob's eyes were HUGE). Let us make something clear, this was not cafeteria food, this was cafeteria style complete with trays and grab your own silverware...pretty much college style. The food, however, was along the lines of Whole Foods quality. We enjoyed it so much, we went for seconds oh wait...maybe thirds and left the place ten pounds heavier. Why did we spend a paragraph talking about some random food place? Because it was SWEET!
After we finished eating, we headed out to meet up with our boat tour. In Amsterdam you could find a million canal tour operators but we found something a little more off the beaten path. It was a non-profit organization who only did one or two tours a night. There boat could only fit about 15 people and did not have a covering. This was both good and bad. Good, because it allowed our boat to go where the larger tourists boats could not which allowed us to see a variety of things. Bad, because it was colder than Shaq at the free throw line. It was actually their first trip out in over two weeks and the guide called us "Brave Souls." Some highlights included:
1. A stroll through the Red Light District from the safety of our boat. We got to see the bright lights, ladies in the windows(advised not to take photos of) and the many sketchy characters walking around.
2. Being on the water and seeing the city from a different perspective with all the lights and tunnels made for a romantic outing.
3. It was technically free except for tips.
That concluded our trip in Amsterdam. We hope to be able to go back during the summer when the tulips are out and the weather is nicer. We also want to see some more things we didn't get to see because there is just so much to do in and around Amsterdam. Basically, you MUST go there.
Feb 6, 2009
The Journey Continues (Amsterdam, part 2 of 3)
Despite our best efforts to not get to Amsterdam, we eventually puttered into town weary and wanting to get to our B&B. We arrived at the B&B and were greeted by the friendly owner, Vlad, who quickly took a liking to Rob. Within the first two minutes of the conversation, he felt the urge to comment on Rob's winter wear. His exact words, "Your hat is very CUTE, it looks like something on a Disney character." We overlooked the comment for the time being because he held the keys to our apartment and some serious relaxation. After we were settled in, Vlad directed us to Thai Fusion, a yummy Thai joint in the nine streets district.
The next day we woke up ready to conquer yet another city in our quest to travel the world using hockey as a disguise. We started by taking the tram out to the museum district so we could visit the Van Gogh museum. Both of us, funny enough, choose Van Gogh as our favorite artist, and we would highly suggest you get on our program and like him too. The museum was a great experience with some exceptions. 1. Don't go to a museum when there are high school field trips...self explanatory. 2. Stay away from people who feel the need to taste the painting to get the full experience. Seriously, this one lady was blocking others viewing pleasure so she could lick the paintings. 3. Learn the language of the country you are in so you can tell the museum helpers to stop breathing smoky breathe all down the back of your neck. If I need help, I will ask for it. Besides these exceptions, we saw some great paintings and learned a great deal. Van Gogh was self-taught and did all of his works in a ten year span and dying at 37 years of age. We now admire his work even more in light of this.
After the museum we had the chance to explore the city on foot. This was a good experience because it is such a nice city with all the canal streets and architecture surrounding these canals. We went through the flower market, but unfortunately, there were only vendors selling bulbs for the coming spring and no tulips. The streets were filled with many cool shops and vendors that made the atmosphere that much better. One thing we were wondering while there...if people worked during the day because there seems to be so many people out and about even during the week. Odd. Anyway, after wandering around for awhile, we wound up at the Anne Frank House, which was only a few blocks from our B&B.
If you are planning a trip to Amsterdam, this is one place you have to visit. The building is the original place where Otto Frank ran his business and converted the top level into a hiding place for eight people during WWII. The experience was so many feelings it's hard to describe with such little space. It had something for everybody including history buffs, survivors, and anyone interested in stories of the human heart. Even though the rooms were unfurnished (per wishes of Otto, the only survivor), we were able to learn so much about the life of those during that time through this one family. Unfortunately, we were unable to photograph, so we can not share some of the memories from inside the house. We were sad to go but we left enriched and with a great experience.
That night we had the opportunity to eat at an authentic Dutch cafe called De Reiger in the heart of the Jordaan district. This cafe was pretty cool because it was a hole in the wall place with excellent, large portioned, food. This is key when Elizabeth can be choosy when it comes to food and Rob eats like he's never eaten before. Lastly, we had to get some dessert because the Dutch are famous for their pannenkoek. This is basically a giant crepe in which they top with anything you can think of, both savory and sweet. We thoroughly enjoyed eating this Dutch treasure and went to bed ready for the next day.
The next day we woke up ready to conquer yet another city in our quest to travel the world using hockey as a disguise. We started by taking the tram out to the museum district so we could visit the Van Gogh museum. Both of us, funny enough, choose Van Gogh as our favorite artist, and we would highly suggest you get on our program and like him too. The museum was a great experience with some exceptions. 1. Don't go to a museum when there are high school field trips...self explanatory. 2. Stay away from people who feel the need to taste the painting to get the full experience. Seriously, this one lady was blocking others viewing pleasure so she could lick the paintings. 3. Learn the language of the country you are in so you can tell the museum helpers to stop breathing smoky breathe all down the back of your neck. If I need help, I will ask for it. Besides these exceptions, we saw some great paintings and learned a great deal. Van Gogh was self-taught and did all of his works in a ten year span and dying at 37 years of age. We now admire his work even more in light of this.
After the museum we had the chance to explore the city on foot. This was a good experience because it is such a nice city with all the canal streets and architecture surrounding these canals. We went through the flower market, but unfortunately, there were only vendors selling bulbs for the coming spring and no tulips. The streets were filled with many cool shops and vendors that made the atmosphere that much better. One thing we were wondering while there...if people worked during the day because there seems to be so many people out and about even during the week. Odd. Anyway, after wandering around for awhile, we wound up at the Anne Frank House, which was only a few blocks from our B&B.
If you are planning a trip to Amsterdam, this is one place you have to visit. The building is the original place where Otto Frank ran his business and converted the top level into a hiding place for eight people during WWII. The experience was so many feelings it's hard to describe with such little space. It had something for everybody including history buffs, survivors, and anyone interested in stories of the human heart. Even though the rooms were unfurnished (per wishes of Otto, the only survivor), we were able to learn so much about the life of those during that time through this one family. Unfortunately, we were unable to photograph, so we can not share some of the memories from inside the house. We were sad to go but we left enriched and with a great experience.
That night we had the opportunity to eat at an authentic Dutch cafe called De Reiger in the heart of the Jordaan district. This cafe was pretty cool because it was a hole in the wall place with excellent, large portioned, food. This is key when Elizabeth can be choosy when it comes to food and Rob eats like he's never eaten before. Lastly, we had to get some dessert because the Dutch are famous for their pannenkoek. This is basically a giant crepe in which they top with anything you can think of, both savory and sweet. We thoroughly enjoyed eating this Dutch treasure and went to bed ready for the next day.
Feb 1, 2009
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.
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.
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