We officially started our trip in Philadelphia, PA at the
airport. In usual Uecker fashion we
needed to redefine how a family trip should go.
Normally the family packs up the station wagon with half their
belongings and maybe even the dog and heads out on a fun filled adventure- or
in many instances a trip to hell with the kids.
We can’t really do the Griswold’s Vacations because we live on island and
we don’t have kids yet but we can still take a family vacation the Uecker way.
Disclaimer: Parents and Family – this obviously wasn’t how
our family vacations went.
What started this whole trip was Chinue’s residency. She wanted to go to Paris. Over dinner on June 21st, she informed me about the trip. She bought a European phrasebook and trip planner. Doesn't this sound like Chinue? Once I knew where we were going the difficult planning came next.
We wanted to do the train
tour of Europe and this will allow us to do some of that. Logistics for such an event is a
challenge. We calculated the cost
savings and the math in reference to getting a Eurail railpass or just buying
each train ticket separately. The
Eurail was the way to go.
Funny store about that railpass. We had to have it shipped to a friend’s place
in Texas in order to be certain we received it on time. They consider the railpass just like cash so
if it is lost it could be extremely difficult to get reimbursed. The pass was almost tossed as it looks like
junk mail. Fortunately it was found and
we were able to use it.
Getting back our style we didn’t just book a flight to
Europe from St Thomas. Nope, we booked
it from the states and book ended it with business travel. Fun, right? Chin went to Philly; and, I to Central
Texas. Our trips are usually quite
tiring and this was no exception. To get
to Philly I was at the airport at 5:15 am.
I then had to fly to Chicago and then on to Philly where I got in just
before 5. Our plane left at 9pm Friday
night and 8 hours later it touched down in Paris. Another layover and 1.5 hours after that we
found ourselves in Zurich.
We barely slept on the plane, which was a very bad
thing. Our plan was to sleep on the plane
because it was an overnighter but unfortunately stupid Delta put us in the back
of the plane with no reclining seats and no air conditioning. It was a miserable experience. Speaking of flight experiences I was quite
pleased at the efficiency of Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris and of the Air
France flight to Zurich. Top notch!
In Zurich we found ourselves catching the train to
Munich. Originally we were going to go
downtown grab a bite to eat and then go on to Munich. The lady we got the tickets from suggested we
take the train to the ferry and take the ferry and then we can still catch the
train to Munich and get in at 8pm. Great
plan on paper! Not so great plan when
you have to figure out how the trains work.
We ended up taking the wrong train and had to go back to the airport. Thanks to the eurail we didn’t have to spend
any money on our screwup. We got back in
line for tickets and a new lady was able to find a train for us to hop on in
order to catch the ferry AND make it to Munich earlier than our originally
scheduled time.
This time around we had to go to the same platform but we
waited for the correct train. The train
took us about an hour out of Zurich to a small area with a lake. We got off the train and then had to figure
out where to go. It was confusing but we
basically followed the crowd which led us to a car ferry about 100 meters away
from the train station.
Side Note: I always preferred metric because it just makes
sense. I also like the 24 hour clocks
with none of this “am” and “pm” stuff.
You know how hard it is to schedule a meeting with someone living
outside the US? It gets very confusing
when they are 11-13 hour time changes and we have am and pm to worry about.
Back to the story: Anyways the ferry was nice. The water was green and completely still and
it was a little hazy. Very warm and
humid but not hot. There was a gentle
breeze that kept us cool. The ferry had
three levels with the first level being for the vehicles and the top level
having a restaurant on it.
We took the ferry to the other side of the lake and then
caught 2 trains to Ulm, Germany. Ulm was
our transfer point to Munich however they didn’t make any announcements in
English and our train ended up being cancelled.
On top of that we had to go to a different platform to catch an
alternate train. Again, we basically
just followed the crowd.
Munich has a large train station but it was quite nice. We made our way out of the train station and
found a little coffee shop around the corner.
As naïve Americans we had no Euros and only credit cards and Dollars on
us. The coffee we ordered so we could
get an internet code was comped by the nice lady because we couldn’t pay. We
did get Euros the next day but she wasn’t working when we went back to the
trrain station. With our internet code
we were able to book the Hilton for the night and then begin our 20 minute walk
to Hofbrauhaus – a German Beirhall.
I had read that Munich was a very modern and cosmopolitan
city I just had no idea how literal that statement is. Like many European cities the main train
station is near the center of the city.
It was only 2 or 3 blocks before we made it to their main area. Just like other cities we have visited (Monterrey,
Mexico and Birmingham, England come to mind) the main road is only walkable - no
vehicles. Lots of people out. Many were dressed like typical Americans but
there was still quite a few Lederhosen’s on men and women alike. The vibe and
energy flowing through the place really lifted our tired bodies. We got to walk pass many beautiful buildings
including the Notre Dame Cathedral. When
we made it to the Hofbrauhaus it was an old fashion German celebration going
on. A polka band was playing in the
middle of the building – did I mention the building was huge- people were
singing, cheering, eating and chanting.
Near the end of the night even a few people were dancing to the music. It was really hot in the place and we walked
around for awhile. They had seating
outside but it was filled out. We
eventually found a place to sit where we then proceeded to order a beer and
wine. The food we chose were wieners
with German potato salad.
Delicious! It was served with
some very tasty mustard and ofcourse no ketchup. I am curious to know where the ketchup craze
in Wisconsin started. The Germans in
Central Texas only use mustard as well.
After we finished up we took a 20 minute walk to our
hotel. We passed more beautiful
buildings and many many bicyclists.
Bikes outnumber cars maybe 4-1?
It was amazing. You know what
else was amazing? The lack of fat
people. The only fat people were the
smokers.
I couldn’t understand the reviews for this Hilton but I
chalk it up to naïve Americans. The
hotel was exceptional and definitely better than most Hilton hotels we have
stayed at. Shower and sleep time. Zzzzzzzzz.
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