The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Saturday we just hung around Granny and Pop’s house. Mom planted over 400 plants in their yard and I hand watered them. In other words, mom did 95% of the work. For dinner Judy came over and then we watched the Flyers game. Unfortunately the Flyers lost but it was entertaining nonetheless. On Sunday we drove Granny and Pop down to the shore for a day. Becky, Mike and the girls were all already there, so it was great to get to spend some time with them. Andy is getting big and hilarious. And Kayla is still a total doll. We left the shore around 9 pm. We went back to Moorestown, got our bags, and headed for our airport hotel. We slept in an airport hotel because we had to be at the airport by 4:30 am.
I remember nothing of our flight from PHL-SFO. It was funny though. When we were de-boarding the flight attended, who I’m guessing was a 40ish, straight, black guy, gave me a hug and told me I was his favorite passenger ever. I think it’s because I asked him for nothing ;~) By 12:45 pm we were on the ground in Eugene and on our way to Mucho for lunch.
Until the next trip,
Katy
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
I-95
Waking up in DC was not what I had planned for today but it was my reality. Our first order of business was securing mom’s bag back at IAD. We did okay for us, especially after a late night and made it to the airport by 10:15 am. I had asked previously if there was any sense in calling in the morning to check on the status of the bag. The baggage agent told me no because the automated system was unlikely to get it right. Comforting.
Upon arrival in the baggage area I cruised for mom’s bag. I didn’t find it. I again went to the baggage agent. She looked it up and informed me that it was on the ground in Philadelphia. I couldn’t help but laugh. Mom gave the woman some tone. She didn’t seem excited about processing the delivery claim. In the nicest way possible I explained to her my day yesterday and that she was going to process the claim. Eventually she relented. What I found interesting about this is that she didn’t want to process the claim herself because IAD would have to “pay” for the “lost” bag. In reality IAD is the airport that screwed up our flights and the bags, so in my mind, they should have pay to for it.
We eventually got on the road to Granny and Pop’s. It took us around 4 hours to make the drive. There was a bit of memorial day traffic which extended the drive some but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.
Shortly after making it to Moorestown I took a nap. Shocker, I know. We then went to dinner at Perkins with Granny, Pop, Ben and Judy. I love Perkins. As mentioned in previous posts it's a total old person's place but the food is good, cheap and has large portions. Ben, Judy, mom and I then wrapped up the day by bowling a few games. None of us played particularly well but we still had a very nice time. It’s now after 1 am and I’m beat.
Night,
Katy
Upon arrival in the baggage area I cruised for mom’s bag. I didn’t find it. I again went to the baggage agent. She looked it up and informed me that it was on the ground in Philadelphia. I couldn’t help but laugh. Mom gave the woman some tone. She didn’t seem excited about processing the delivery claim. In the nicest way possible I explained to her my day yesterday and that she was going to process the claim. Eventually she relented. What I found interesting about this is that she didn’t want to process the claim herself because IAD would have to “pay” for the “lost” bag. In reality IAD is the airport that screwed up our flights and the bags, so in my mind, they should have pay to for it.
We eventually got on the road to Granny and Pop’s. It took us around 4 hours to make the drive. There was a bit of memorial day traffic which extended the drive some but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.
Shortly after making it to Moorestown I took a nap. Shocker, I know. We then went to dinner at Perkins with Granny, Pop, Ben and Judy. I love Perkins. As mentioned in previous posts it's a total old person's place but the food is good, cheap and has large portions. Ben, Judy, mom and I then wrapped up the day by bowling a few games. None of us played particularly well but we still had a very nice time. It’s now after 1 am and I’m beat.
Night,
Katy
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A Million Miles and Screw Ups
Today is a big day. Flying somewhere over Idaho I will reach a million miles flown on United Airlines. I think my dad may be more excited about this than I am. However when I stop and think about it, it really is pretty cool and I am very blessed to have seen as much of the world as I have. That being said, a HUGE portion of my million miles have been accumulated going to see our family in the east. I figure there is no better way to hit a million than on, yet another, one of those trips.
Mom and my routing to see Granny and Pop and the rest of the family in New Jersey is EUG-PDX, PDX-IAD (Washington DC for you non-airport code folks), IAD-PHL (Philly). This is actually a pretty nice way to go. You have to leave Eugene at 6 am but the connection in Portland is super minimal and the equipment from PDX-IAD is a 757 which means an upgrade is highly likely (there are 24 first class seats). The flight from IAD-PHL is super short, like the EUG-PDX flight, so most of the travel is very comfortable.
Our flight from EUG-PDX was quick and easy like usual. I was really hungry when we landed so I decided to grab an egg salad sandwich on our way past the newsstand in Terminal E. For any of you who travel through PDX and like egg salad, I highly recommend that sandwich. We then proceeded to our gate where our flight was already boarding.
I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off. On my million mile flight I didn’t see any sky. I woke up when the wheels hit the ground upon landing. I suppose this was fitting, in the sense that I’m certain I have slept for at least 500,000 of the miles I’ve flown. I didn’t get a bottle of champagne like dad upon his million miles, but I didn’t ask for one either.
We had an hour or so layover in DC. We hit up the Red Carpet Room for some snacks and the restroom. We then made our way to the commuter terminal A. At IAD the easiest way to move around the terminals is to ride a funky little tram/truck/shuttle like thing. On our ride over I was telling mom how this flight to Philly never works out well for me. “Mechanical” problems have caused me to miss two flights to Europe, made me really, really, really late for Christmas Eve dinner coming home from Europe and a few other little domestic mix-ups for good measure.
We made it out to gate A3. Our flight boarded a few minutes late but the gate announcer still “promised an on-time departure”. As soon as he said that I should have considered it the statement of doom. Instead a few of us in the line just laughed.
We finally progressed out the doors onto the little commuter tarmac. At this point an angry man in a yellow vest wanted us to wait. We were like, okay this will take two seconds. Turns out we had to wait for a fueling truck to move so that they could put the oversized carry on cart out by the entrance to the plane. This wouldn’t have been a big deal but it was 90 degrees and kind of sticky in Washington on Thursday. Many of us were dressed in winter clothes from the cold destinations where we started our days. We ended up standing outside for a good ten minutes. Thinking about this now, that’s not THAT long but at the time it sure felt like forever.
Boarding the plane felt like entering Dante’s Enferno. It was like an oven in there. The engines obviously weren’t running and that 90 degree outside air was not circulating at all. I wish I had had a thermometer to measure the inside temperature. We sat with the cabin door open for an unusually long time. I wasn’t looking at my watch, YET, but I’m guessing it was in the neighborhood of another 10 minutes. The captain finally came on and said we had a “weight” problem. For an experienced travel, especially on little commuter jets, this is code for someone is getting kicked off the plane. Shortly thereafter the gate agent boarded the plane and asked for two volunteers to take a later flight. One guy was interested. He took his stuff and deplaned. I told mom we should consider the offer but then it was revealed the next available flight was tomorrow night at 10 pm. We are only in Philly for three days, so this didn’t make sense for us. The gate agent then “randomly” selected a passenger and told her she had to get off he plane. She was pissed and rightfully so. The strange thing about this weight issue was that the plane wasn’t even full to begin with. Normally if they kick someone off a flight it’s because there is bad weather, they need to take some extra fuel and the plane is packed to the brim. Not so in the case. Once the woman collected her belongings and deplaned, we were finally on our way to Philly.
Or so we thought... after taxing out towards the runway we sat, sat and sat some more. It was nice because we finally had some air moving so at least the profuse sweating had stopped. After sitting on the runway for 30 minutes the flight attendant announced that we were waiting for “something” (her word, not mine) and that the captain would come on when they knew more. In another ten minutes or so the captain announced that there were thunder and lightening storms moving into the Philadelphia area. We were also very close to not having enough fuel on board for the required amount in a storm AND we had a minor mechanical issue. He promised to get back with us in five minutes when he knew more. Five minutes later he announced that our mechanical issue had something to do with the wind sheer detection device. Often times this is a piece of equipment that one can fly without, however, flying into a thunderstorm is not one of those times. We then taxied back to the gate to deboard, so that mechanical could fix the problem.
By the time we reentered the terminal, IN IAD, we had been on the plane nearly two hours. The initial announcement suggested that it would take roughly 20 minutes for the problem to be fixed. At 7 pm the gate agents announced that the flight had been pushed back another 30 minutes. Mom and were starving, so we decided to go to Five Guys, a burger place right next to our gate. My cousin Ben has always maintained they have awesome burgers, so I was actually kind of excited to try them. The burger and fries were in fact very, very good. I’m not sure if this was a result of my being really hungry or that it was legitimately good. I imagine it was a combination of the two.
At 7:15 pm my phone and it was United calling to tell me the flight had been pushed back to 7:55 pm. We thus leisurely finished our food and then made our way back to the gate. For the next hour and thirty minutes they continued to push our flight back in 20 minute increments. Evidently the thunderstorm had finally arrived in Philly and now it was playing a roll in our flight (not) leaving as well. At 9:48 pm, five hours after starting this adventure in IAD, our flight was canceled.
I rushed over to the customer service line because I wanted to see if by chance there was anyway to catch a flight tonight. If not, I wanted to know how I would be compensated for my inconvenience. I was the third or so person in line. By the time I made it to the front of the line United had already called to tell me that I had been rebooked on flight tomorrow night at 9 pm. As established before mom and I weren’t thrilled with that plan since it would cost us one of our only three days with the family. We decided since DC is only 140 miles from Granny’s house that we should just drive. At the customer service counter I told the guy that’s what we were going to do. I was able to talk my way into $650 in travel credits and $30 in meal vouchers for my inconvenience. Finally, I needed him to pull our checked bags so that we could have them to take with us in the car. He said that would be no problem but it would likely take 45 minutes to an hour.
With that time I quickly shopped for the best rental car deal and went with mom to the only open food place to spend our $30. We got a few beverages, cereal, some yogurt and a rice crispy treat. Armed with our snacks we were off to the baggage claim.
There were a lot of bags sitting around the baggage carousel. Within a fairly short amount of time I located my bag. I was using a red roller duffel on this trip, so it was pretty easy to spot. Mom’s bag on the other hand could not be found. I went inside the United baggage office to speak with an agent. He looked at the tags and found her bag was in fact in DC it was just outside on the ramp. Unfortunately because of the lightening storm currently overhead, no bags were being moved on the ramp. The baggage delay was estimated to last 5 hours because it was a “slow moving storm”. This meant that mom’s bag was not going to be retrieved any time soon. I hadn’t been outside since deboarding our flight four hours ago, so I wanted to see if they were making it up. I took some solace in the fact that it was one heck of storm. It was pouring rain and the lightening bolts were pretty intense. That being said, I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of driving unfamiliar roads in this downpour. Mom and I decided it would be best to spend the night in DC, pick up the bag in the morning, and then make our way to Granny’s.
In light of that decision I went back in the baggage office and asked them for a hotel voucher. This took forever (another 20 minutes or so) because of some glitch in the system. Eventually I received my voucher and we were finally on our way to the Hertz bus. The bus came as soon as we stepped outside. He took us straight to my name in lights and within 10 minutes we were off to the hotel. Too bad we were in DC and it was already past midnight!
United put us up in an incredibly nice hotel. It was called the Landsdown Resort and can be seen here. One perk to having a screwed up day was that I actually got to spend the night in a very comfortable bed. I love going to Granny’s but the bed in my room there is more like a hammock. I’m pretty sure it is still the original from 1960. Speaking of beds... I’m beat and I’m calling it a night.
Katy
Mom and my routing to see Granny and Pop and the rest of the family in New Jersey is EUG-PDX, PDX-IAD (Washington DC for you non-airport code folks), IAD-PHL (Philly). This is actually a pretty nice way to go. You have to leave Eugene at 6 am but the connection in Portland is super minimal and the equipment from PDX-IAD is a 757 which means an upgrade is highly likely (there are 24 first class seats). The flight from IAD-PHL is super short, like the EUG-PDX flight, so most of the travel is very comfortable.
Our flight from EUG-PDX was quick and easy like usual. I was really hungry when we landed so I decided to grab an egg salad sandwich on our way past the newsstand in Terminal E. For any of you who travel through PDX and like egg salad, I highly recommend that sandwich. We then proceeded to our gate where our flight was already boarding.
I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off. On my million mile flight I didn’t see any sky. I woke up when the wheels hit the ground upon landing. I suppose this was fitting, in the sense that I’m certain I have slept for at least 500,000 of the miles I’ve flown. I didn’t get a bottle of champagne like dad upon his million miles, but I didn’t ask for one either.
We had an hour or so layover in DC. We hit up the Red Carpet Room for some snacks and the restroom. We then made our way to the commuter terminal A. At IAD the easiest way to move around the terminals is to ride a funky little tram/truck/shuttle like thing. On our ride over I was telling mom how this flight to Philly never works out well for me. “Mechanical” problems have caused me to miss two flights to Europe, made me really, really, really late for Christmas Eve dinner coming home from Europe and a few other little domestic mix-ups for good measure.
We made it out to gate A3. Our flight boarded a few minutes late but the gate announcer still “promised an on-time departure”. As soon as he said that I should have considered it the statement of doom. Instead a few of us in the line just laughed.
We finally progressed out the doors onto the little commuter tarmac. At this point an angry man in a yellow vest wanted us to wait. We were like, okay this will take two seconds. Turns out we had to wait for a fueling truck to move so that they could put the oversized carry on cart out by the entrance to the plane. This wouldn’t have been a big deal but it was 90 degrees and kind of sticky in Washington on Thursday. Many of us were dressed in winter clothes from the cold destinations where we started our days. We ended up standing outside for a good ten minutes. Thinking about this now, that’s not THAT long but at the time it sure felt like forever.
Boarding the plane felt like entering Dante’s Enferno. It was like an oven in there. The engines obviously weren’t running and that 90 degree outside air was not circulating at all. I wish I had had a thermometer to measure the inside temperature. We sat with the cabin door open for an unusually long time. I wasn’t looking at my watch, YET, but I’m guessing it was in the neighborhood of another 10 minutes. The captain finally came on and said we had a “weight” problem. For an experienced travel, especially on little commuter jets, this is code for someone is getting kicked off the plane. Shortly thereafter the gate agent boarded the plane and asked for two volunteers to take a later flight. One guy was interested. He took his stuff and deplaned. I told mom we should consider the offer but then it was revealed the next available flight was tomorrow night at 10 pm. We are only in Philly for three days, so this didn’t make sense for us. The gate agent then “randomly” selected a passenger and told her she had to get off he plane. She was pissed and rightfully so. The strange thing about this weight issue was that the plane wasn’t even full to begin with. Normally if they kick someone off a flight it’s because there is bad weather, they need to take some extra fuel and the plane is packed to the brim. Not so in the case. Once the woman collected her belongings and deplaned, we were finally on our way to Philly.
Or so we thought... after taxing out towards the runway we sat, sat and sat some more. It was nice because we finally had some air moving so at least the profuse sweating had stopped. After sitting on the runway for 30 minutes the flight attendant announced that we were waiting for “something” (her word, not mine) and that the captain would come on when they knew more. In another ten minutes or so the captain announced that there were thunder and lightening storms moving into the Philadelphia area. We were also very close to not having enough fuel on board for the required amount in a storm AND we had a minor mechanical issue. He promised to get back with us in five minutes when he knew more. Five minutes later he announced that our mechanical issue had something to do with the wind sheer detection device. Often times this is a piece of equipment that one can fly without, however, flying into a thunderstorm is not one of those times. We then taxied back to the gate to deboard, so that mechanical could fix the problem.
By the time we reentered the terminal, IN IAD, we had been on the plane nearly two hours. The initial announcement suggested that it would take roughly 20 minutes for the problem to be fixed. At 7 pm the gate agents announced that the flight had been pushed back another 30 minutes. Mom and were starving, so we decided to go to Five Guys, a burger place right next to our gate. My cousin Ben has always maintained they have awesome burgers, so I was actually kind of excited to try them. The burger and fries were in fact very, very good. I’m not sure if this was a result of my being really hungry or that it was legitimately good. I imagine it was a combination of the two.
At 7:15 pm my phone and it was United calling to tell me the flight had been pushed back to 7:55 pm. We thus leisurely finished our food and then made our way back to the gate. For the next hour and thirty minutes they continued to push our flight back in 20 minute increments. Evidently the thunderstorm had finally arrived in Philly and now it was playing a roll in our flight (not) leaving as well. At 9:48 pm, five hours after starting this adventure in IAD, our flight was canceled.
I rushed over to the customer service line because I wanted to see if by chance there was anyway to catch a flight tonight. If not, I wanted to know how I would be compensated for my inconvenience. I was the third or so person in line. By the time I made it to the front of the line United had already called to tell me that I had been rebooked on flight tomorrow night at 9 pm. As established before mom and I weren’t thrilled with that plan since it would cost us one of our only three days with the family. We decided since DC is only 140 miles from Granny’s house that we should just drive. At the customer service counter I told the guy that’s what we were going to do. I was able to talk my way into $650 in travel credits and $30 in meal vouchers for my inconvenience. Finally, I needed him to pull our checked bags so that we could have them to take with us in the car. He said that would be no problem but it would likely take 45 minutes to an hour.
With that time I quickly shopped for the best rental car deal and went with mom to the only open food place to spend our $30. We got a few beverages, cereal, some yogurt and a rice crispy treat. Armed with our snacks we were off to the baggage claim.
There were a lot of bags sitting around the baggage carousel. Within a fairly short amount of time I located my bag. I was using a red roller duffel on this trip, so it was pretty easy to spot. Mom’s bag on the other hand could not be found. I went inside the United baggage office to speak with an agent. He looked at the tags and found her bag was in fact in DC it was just outside on the ramp. Unfortunately because of the lightening storm currently overhead, no bags were being moved on the ramp. The baggage delay was estimated to last 5 hours because it was a “slow moving storm”. This meant that mom’s bag was not going to be retrieved any time soon. I hadn’t been outside since deboarding our flight four hours ago, so I wanted to see if they were making it up. I took some solace in the fact that it was one heck of storm. It was pouring rain and the lightening bolts were pretty intense. That being said, I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of driving unfamiliar roads in this downpour. Mom and I decided it would be best to spend the night in DC, pick up the bag in the morning, and then make our way to Granny’s.
In light of that decision I went back in the baggage office and asked them for a hotel voucher. This took forever (another 20 minutes or so) because of some glitch in the system. Eventually I received my voucher and we were finally on our way to the Hertz bus. The bus came as soon as we stepped outside. He took us straight to my name in lights and within 10 minutes we were off to the hotel. Too bad we were in DC and it was already past midnight!
United put us up in an incredibly nice hotel. It was called the Landsdown Resort and can be seen here. One perk to having a screwed up day was that I actually got to spend the night in a very comfortable bed. I love going to Granny’s but the bed in my room there is more like a hammock. I’m pretty sure it is still the original from 1960. Speaking of beds... I’m beat and I’m calling it a night.
Katy
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Driving Fast is Fun
This morning mom and I had our last breakfast of the trip. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet (sorry if I have) but I am shocked by how much Chocolate Europeans eat at breakfast. There were a bunch of chocolate cereals, chocolate danishes, and most importantly, Nutella, at every single buffet. I don’t know why I haven’t had much Nutella in my life until this trip. I mean... putting what is basically chocolate sauce with a hint of hazelnut on bread for breakfast? That’s brilliant! And only made better by adding jam too. There have been a few other things from the trip that I’ve failed to note as well.
I apologize for this blog not being nearly as entertaining or funny the one with dad from SE Asia. Mom doesn’t believe in free speech, at least not as it applies to her, me and my travel blog. Some of the best (funniest) stories were banned, so feel free to ask me about them the next time you see me. If mom’s not around I might tell you.
The most overused phrases of the trip were “Damn VAT Tax” and “I found a hoop in moat!”. The former is mom’s, the latter is mine. Mom is not a huge fan of unnecessary entitlement programs and the VAT tax that funds them throughout Europe. I am still pumped about finding a hoop in a moat. A week later I am still randomly announcing that fact.
Driving fast is addictive and fun. My typical autobahn speed was 160 km per hour or 100 mph. I didn’t break my speed driving record but I got close. Unfortunately I learned later that evidently there are some cameras on a lot of the Autobahn’s and occasionally they send people tickets in the mail. Hopefully I don’t have one or two of those coming my way in the near future.
I comment on this every time I go to Europe but I still don’t get the lack of ice throughout the country. It cracks me up when you do finally get ice and there are two cubes in the glass. We also didn’t find a single grocery store that gave out bags. It seemed like most people brought their own but in the event you needed or wanted to buy one, they were expensive (30-50 cents). The bottle deposit on soda bottles was also expensive. The one time I noticed it broken out it looked like it was .25 euros per plastic container.
Some of the places we went and stayed in during this trip were so far from US code, it was hilarious. The best example of this was the castle we stayed in. When the woman checked me in, she told me that my key would work to the front door as well as to my room. Mom had left something in the car so around 10 pm I went to get it for her. I went down the stairs to a totally dark eating area and kitchen. I managed to finally find a light switch that provided enough light to help me make my way to the front door. The front door was locked. It could only be opened with a key. I could barely see the key hole and it took me, literally, a few minutes to open the door. If I was running from a fire, I most certainly would have been dead.
I am currently writing on our flight from Frankfurt to SFO. We are upstairs on a 747. This is the first time I have flown in United’s new Business Class Suites. They are awesome. The seats can lie completely flat. The seats may not be perfect for a person much over 6’ 4” or a really wide-person but they are heaven for a person my size. I spent the first hour of the flight playing Tetris. I am now watching my second movie. Mom is even comfortable, which is really saying something. She actually has done so well on this trip that I forgot I was going to keep the mommy barf count. Believe it or not, she hasn’t thrown up once. She only has to make it 12 more hours and she will have made it the entire trip without barfing or needed a headache timeout. Well done mom.
I’m going to get back to my movies and games. I’ll send off this last post from the Red Carpet Club in SFO...
... We’re now in the club after a momentarily lost passport episode. Thankfully we had a plenty long layover and even with the delay still have an hour to kill. It’s nice to have FREE Internet and ice in my DP. Once I land in Eugene I will have no plane tickets booked. Anyone want to go somewhere?
Until the next adventure,
Katy
I apologize for this blog not being nearly as entertaining or funny the one with dad from SE Asia. Mom doesn’t believe in free speech, at least not as it applies to her, me and my travel blog. Some of the best (funniest) stories were banned, so feel free to ask me about them the next time you see me. If mom’s not around I might tell you.
The most overused phrases of the trip were “Damn VAT Tax” and “I found a hoop in moat!”. The former is mom’s, the latter is mine. Mom is not a huge fan of unnecessary entitlement programs and the VAT tax that funds them throughout Europe. I am still pumped about finding a hoop in a moat. A week later I am still randomly announcing that fact.
Driving fast is addictive and fun. My typical autobahn speed was 160 km per hour or 100 mph. I didn’t break my speed driving record but I got close. Unfortunately I learned later that evidently there are some cameras on a lot of the Autobahn’s and occasionally they send people tickets in the mail. Hopefully I don’t have one or two of those coming my way in the near future.
I comment on this every time I go to Europe but I still don’t get the lack of ice throughout the country. It cracks me up when you do finally get ice and there are two cubes in the glass. We also didn’t find a single grocery store that gave out bags. It seemed like most people brought their own but in the event you needed or wanted to buy one, they were expensive (30-50 cents). The bottle deposit on soda bottles was also expensive. The one time I noticed it broken out it looked like it was .25 euros per plastic container.
Some of the places we went and stayed in during this trip were so far from US code, it was hilarious. The best example of this was the castle we stayed in. When the woman checked me in, she told me that my key would work to the front door as well as to my room. Mom had left something in the car so around 10 pm I went to get it for her. I went down the stairs to a totally dark eating area and kitchen. I managed to finally find a light switch that provided enough light to help me make my way to the front door. The front door was locked. It could only be opened with a key. I could barely see the key hole and it took me, literally, a few minutes to open the door. If I was running from a fire, I most certainly would have been dead.
I am currently writing on our flight from Frankfurt to SFO. We are upstairs on a 747. This is the first time I have flown in United’s new Business Class Suites. They are awesome. The seats can lie completely flat. The seats may not be perfect for a person much over 6’ 4” or a really wide-person but they are heaven for a person my size. I spent the first hour of the flight playing Tetris. I am now watching my second movie. Mom is even comfortable, which is really saying something. She actually has done so well on this trip that I forgot I was going to keep the mommy barf count. Believe it or not, she hasn’t thrown up once. She only has to make it 12 more hours and she will have made it the entire trip without barfing or needed a headache timeout. Well done mom.
I’m going to get back to my movies and games. I’ll send off this last post from the Red Carpet Club in SFO...
... We’re now in the club after a momentarily lost passport episode. Thankfully we had a plenty long layover and even with the delay still have an hour to kill. It’s nice to have FREE Internet and ice in my DP. Once I land in Eugene I will have no plane tickets booked. Anyone want to go somewhere?
Until the next adventure,
Katy
Monday, May 3, 2010
Bye, Bye Cochem
This morning Udo met mom and me at the hotel at 9:58 am. He came with a nice surprise. His sister Inga had walked over with him. I’ve heard stories about Inga forever but this was the first time I had met her. She spoke decent English and anything we couldn’t understand Udo translated for us.
We all walked over to the local ferry terminal in Cochem. Kathy met us there. We then got on a boat and sailed down the Mosel to Beilstein. It was a little cold on the boat but we had fun. The Mosel is broken up by 14 locks. During our trip we had to sail through one of them. I had been in a ship lock one other time, when I sailed the Yangtze with Dad in China. On that trip we were the only boat in the lock. This time another huge freighter shared the lock with us. Watching the captain manipulate his boat behind ours was rather amazing. No joke he had six inches of space in between his boat and the lock walls.
Beilstein is a very small town. So small that both Kathy and my guide book didn’t even mention it. However Udo said it is actually a very popular place. The two main attractions are its castle, Burg Metternich, and its church. The church is really magnificently maintained and famous for its Black Madonna. The Madonna was brought to the church by the Spaniards some 500 years ago at which point it was converted from a Lutheran Church to a Catholic Church. The town itself is also super cute. It only had one main street that not surprisingly featured classic German architecture. Inga knew of a coffee shop with great cakes, so we decided to stop there before catching our boat back to Cochem at 1:30 pm.
The ride back was very pleasant. We had fun chatting and looking at all of the beautiful scenery. It was raining and cold, so we rode inside. Upon arriving back to town we wanted to do some shopping before hitting the road to Frankfurt. Mom bought a few dishes and some of what Kathy describes as the world’s best Nutmeg. I’m looking forward to testing that out on some cookies, mac n’ cheese and or French toast.
Udo’s other nephew Marcus wanted to meet us and test out his English, so Inga ran home to get him after school. Like both his brother and his mom, he was super nice. His English was pretty good too. We hung out in Hans and Fini’s apartment with everyone for an hour or so and then it was time to head up the highway.
I really, really enjoyed our time in Cochem. Udo’s whole family was a blast to be around. His town is beautiful. It’s small enough to explore on foot but big enough to entertain for a few days. And of course, it’s castle had a basketball hoop ;~)
Our drive to Frankfurt was uneventful, which is a good thing. We left a little after six and arrived around eight. I wanted to see what downtown looked like, so after we checked into our hotel near the airport we drive into downtown. We then found a little Italian place called Mi Famiglia to have dinner. It was one of the better meals we had on the trip. It’s now 11:30 pm back at our hotel. We are leaving for the airport around 11 am. I still need to reorganize my stuff for the flight home, so I’m calling it a night. I’ll write one final time for Euro 2010 tomorrow.
Katy
We all walked over to the local ferry terminal in Cochem. Kathy met us there. We then got on a boat and sailed down the Mosel to Beilstein. It was a little cold on the boat but we had fun. The Mosel is broken up by 14 locks. During our trip we had to sail through one of them. I had been in a ship lock one other time, when I sailed the Yangtze with Dad in China. On that trip we were the only boat in the lock. This time another huge freighter shared the lock with us. Watching the captain manipulate his boat behind ours was rather amazing. No joke he had six inches of space in between his boat and the lock walls.
Beilstein is a very small town. So small that both Kathy and my guide book didn’t even mention it. However Udo said it is actually a very popular place. The two main attractions are its castle, Burg Metternich, and its church. The church is really magnificently maintained and famous for its Black Madonna. The Madonna was brought to the church by the Spaniards some 500 years ago at which point it was converted from a Lutheran Church to a Catholic Church. The town itself is also super cute. It only had one main street that not surprisingly featured classic German architecture. Inga knew of a coffee shop with great cakes, so we decided to stop there before catching our boat back to Cochem at 1:30 pm.
The ride back was very pleasant. We had fun chatting and looking at all of the beautiful scenery. It was raining and cold, so we rode inside. Upon arriving back to town we wanted to do some shopping before hitting the road to Frankfurt. Mom bought a few dishes and some of what Kathy describes as the world’s best Nutmeg. I’m looking forward to testing that out on some cookies, mac n’ cheese and or French toast.
Udo’s other nephew Marcus wanted to meet us and test out his English, so Inga ran home to get him after school. Like both his brother and his mom, he was super nice. His English was pretty good too. We hung out in Hans and Fini’s apartment with everyone for an hour or so and then it was time to head up the highway.
I really, really enjoyed our time in Cochem. Udo’s whole family was a blast to be around. His town is beautiful. It’s small enough to explore on foot but big enough to entertain for a few days. And of course, it’s castle had a basketball hoop ;~)
Our drive to Frankfurt was uneventful, which is a good thing. We left a little after six and arrived around eight. I wanted to see what downtown looked like, so after we checked into our hotel near the airport we drive into downtown. We then found a little Italian place called Mi Famiglia to have dinner. It was one of the better meals we had on the trip. It’s now 11:30 pm back at our hotel. We are leaving for the airport around 11 am. I still need to reorganize my stuff for the flight home, so I’m calling it a night. I’ll write one final time for Euro 2010 tomorrow.
Katy
Sunday, May 2, 2010
U-Man's Hoop
Today was another great day in Germany. We started off the morning meeting Udo at the hotel at 8:45 am. Our first stop was what I affectionately call “Udo’s Castle”. It is actually called the “Cochem Castle Reichsburg”. It was fantastic. Udo wanted to be early to beat the crowds. We ended up touring the castle in a group of only seven people, of which we made up three. It was also great because the other four tour members spoke English, so our guide gave us the tour in English. It would figure that the first time we had the ability to have Udo translate for us, we didn’t need it. The castle tour was very informative. I also enjoyed the fact that we could take pictures on this particular tour. The only downside was that we didn’t get to see the room in which Udo was knighted.
In my office in Eugene I have hoop pictures on my walls. Udo often stops by to visit. During his last visit before our trip I was telling him that I wanted to get a hoop picture in his town with his castle. He told me that was impossible because it didn’t exist. I told him we would see. I win. The highlight of our castle exploration was that I spotted a hoop that I thought would have a great view of the castle. The only issue was that from a distance it looked like it was behind a locked fence.
After the castle we went over to the hoop. It was in fact located behind a locked fence. It looked a little high to climb but mom and Udo thought I could fit under it. I decided to try sliding under it. It worked. The view of the castle was great. The only downsides were that the lighting wasn’t great and the sky was a rather blah gray. Regardless I was happy to have found a hoop featuring U-Man’s castle.
From the castle we walked back to our hotel to get our car. We then picked up Kathy and Michael on our way to the Eltz Castle, which was roughly a 30 minute drive up the Mosel. The first part of the castle was completed in 1472. Despite many wars in the region, the Eltz Castle has survived intact, making it the oldest surviving castle in Germany. It has been privately owned by the Eltz family for 33 generations. We took a very informative tour here as well, although it was in German, so Kathy and Udo had to translate for us.
For lunch we stopped at a little German fast food place on the Mosel. It was sort of like a high class hot dog stand with really, really good sausages. That was the first German sausage I have had and I was not disappointed.
After lunch we took Michael back to town and then went to the top of another Cochem peak. Up to this point the day had been gray mixed with a little bit of rain. The sun finally decided to break through so we decided to ride the Cochemer Sesselbahn, which is like a chairlift, to the top of the hill. This was fun for a number of reasons. Udo hates heights and watching him ride up the hill was hilarious. The views from the hill were great. The hill was located on a different side of Cochem, so it offered a new view. It started to pour rain when we wanted to go back down the hill. We waited for a while under cover and then decided to brave it. There were a few covered seats on the lift and we waited for those and made it down safely and fairly dry.
We then walked into the downtown to look in a few shops. The weather started to turn again and I decided that I wanted to run back up the castle to see if I could capture a hoop picture with a better looking sky. I agreed to meet mom, Kathy and Udo at the Germania cafe for some afternoon cake when I returned. The hike back up the hill was well worth it. The sky was much brighter and more interesting for my picture. I also felt less guilty about eating cake when I returned. We had a nice time chatting and relaxing while eating our cake. We also saw a minor motorcycle crash. It made for quite a spectacle but thankfully no one was injured and their bikes were in decent enough shape that they were eventually able to ride away.
At 6 pm we went back to Hans and Finnie’s place to visit some more. Around 7:30 pm we left the apartment to go to dinner. We decided to eat at our hotel tonight. It is the only Mexican restaurant mom and I have seen thus far in Germany. The menu included both German and Mexican food. Udo, Michael and I had Mexican. Mom, Kathy, Hans and Finnie had German. I think everyone enjoyed their food. Udo thought his was a little on the sweet side but I frankly don’t know how that is possible.
It’s now 10:45 pm and I’m back in our hotel room. Udo will be here by 9:55 am to start off tomorrow’s activities, so I am going to call it a night here shortly. I can’t believe tomorrow is our last full day in Germany. This trip has gone incredibly fast, which must mean we’ve had a wonderful time.
Katy
In my office in Eugene I have hoop pictures on my walls. Udo often stops by to visit. During his last visit before our trip I was telling him that I wanted to get a hoop picture in his town with his castle. He told me that was impossible because it didn’t exist. I told him we would see. I win. The highlight of our castle exploration was that I spotted a hoop that I thought would have a great view of the castle. The only issue was that from a distance it looked like it was behind a locked fence.
After the castle we went over to the hoop. It was in fact located behind a locked fence. It looked a little high to climb but mom and Udo thought I could fit under it. I decided to try sliding under it. It worked. The view of the castle was great. The only downsides were that the lighting wasn’t great and the sky was a rather blah gray. Regardless I was happy to have found a hoop featuring U-Man’s castle.
From the castle we walked back to our hotel to get our car. We then picked up Kathy and Michael on our way to the Eltz Castle, which was roughly a 30 minute drive up the Mosel. The first part of the castle was completed in 1472. Despite many wars in the region, the Eltz Castle has survived intact, making it the oldest surviving castle in Germany. It has been privately owned by the Eltz family for 33 generations. We took a very informative tour here as well, although it was in German, so Kathy and Udo had to translate for us.
For lunch we stopped at a little German fast food place on the Mosel. It was sort of like a high class hot dog stand with really, really good sausages. That was the first German sausage I have had and I was not disappointed.
After lunch we took Michael back to town and then went to the top of another Cochem peak. Up to this point the day had been gray mixed with a little bit of rain. The sun finally decided to break through so we decided to ride the Cochemer Sesselbahn, which is like a chairlift, to the top of the hill. This was fun for a number of reasons. Udo hates heights and watching him ride up the hill was hilarious. The views from the hill were great. The hill was located on a different side of Cochem, so it offered a new view. It started to pour rain when we wanted to go back down the hill. We waited for a while under cover and then decided to brave it. There were a few covered seats on the lift and we waited for those and made it down safely and fairly dry.
We then walked into the downtown to look in a few shops. The weather started to turn again and I decided that I wanted to run back up the castle to see if I could capture a hoop picture with a better looking sky. I agreed to meet mom, Kathy and Udo at the Germania cafe for some afternoon cake when I returned. The hike back up the hill was well worth it. The sky was much brighter and more interesting for my picture. I also felt less guilty about eating cake when I returned. We had a nice time chatting and relaxing while eating our cake. We also saw a minor motorcycle crash. It made for quite a spectacle but thankfully no one was injured and their bikes were in decent enough shape that they were eventually able to ride away.
At 6 pm we went back to Hans and Finnie’s place to visit some more. Around 7:30 pm we left the apartment to go to dinner. We decided to eat at our hotel tonight. It is the only Mexican restaurant mom and I have seen thus far in Germany. The menu included both German and Mexican food. Udo, Michael and I had Mexican. Mom, Kathy, Hans and Finnie had German. I think everyone enjoyed their food. Udo thought his was a little on the sweet side but I frankly don’t know how that is possible.
It’s now 10:45 pm and I’m back in our hotel room. Udo will be here by 9:55 am to start off tomorrow’s activities, so I am going to call it a night here shortly. I can’t believe tomorrow is our last full day in Germany. This trip has gone incredibly fast, which must mean we’ve had a wonderful time.
Katy
Saturday, May 1, 2010
U-Man's Hometown
This morning mom and I explored some of Trier’s famous historical sites. The town’s sites are fairly close together, so in a three hour walking tour we hit all of the highlights. These included the Porta Negra, Hauptmarkt, Dom St. Peter, Liebfrauenkirche, Aula Palatina, the Kaiserthermen and the Amphitheater.
All of sites were interesting and worth seeing. The Porta Negra isn’t particularly attractive but it is amazing because it is so dang old. The Hauptmarkt is a beautiful marketplace that looks quintessentially European. The Dom St. Peter is the oldest Cathedral in Germany. Incorporating remains from a 4th-century church, it was built in stages from the early 11th century to the 14th century. The Imperial Baths (Kaiserthermen) had an intricate underground area which was fun to explore. Finally, our last stop was the Amphitheater and I think that may have been my favorite. It took me straight into the movie Gladiator. The ruins date from the 1st century AD. The facility was used for both gladiatorial fights and animal contests. It could seat approximately 20,000 people in its heyday.
By 2 pm mom and I were all packed up and on our way to Cochem. We initially thought we would drive up along the Mosel to enjoy the views. Our GPS had other ideas. It took us a totally random way with a mix of Mosel views, Autobahn roads and random back streets. Fortunately it led us to the right place. We made it to the hotel by 3:45 pm, fifteen minutes before we were supposed to meet Udo. Of course, he was already there.
Cochem is a charming city. After checking into our hotel and getting our stuff up to our room (thanks Udo), we set out to explore the town by foot. It was amazingly fun to finally get to see so many of the places I had heard so much about from Udo. I got to the see the site of his sledding crash, the field he set on fire, the house he grew up in, the church where he was an alter boy, his grandparents house, his school, etc. I’ve heard and thought about this city threw hundreds of hours of training and to finally get to see it, with the U-Man, really was a dream come true.
After our walking tour we went to Udo’s parent’s house. Hans and Finni have visited the US a few times, so I had met them previously. Seeing them again was great. We sat around and chatted as best we could in our terrible German and their pretty good English. In Udo and Kathy’s apartment, which is located above his parent’s, there are lots of old trophies and pictures from Udo’s throwing days. Seeing those was awesome. I’ll try to take a picture of some of them tomorrow, so those of you at home can see how huge of a guy Udo was 25 years ago.
At 6:30ish we went out to dinner with Kathy, Udo, Hans, Finnie and Udo’s nephew Michael. Michael is 20 and a National Junior German Champion Rower with hopes of making it to the 2016 Olympics. He is a very nice young man who speaks pretty darn good English. At the end of a great dinner, where I had awesome elk (I had never eaten elk before), Michael gave us a ride back to our hotel.
I’m now beat from another very, very fun day in Germany. Udo is meeting us at the hotel at 8:45 am (which means 8:30 am), so I need to call it a night. I’ll write tomorrow about our continued adventures in Cochem and along the Mosel.
Until then,
Katy
All of sites were interesting and worth seeing. The Porta Negra isn’t particularly attractive but it is amazing because it is so dang old. The Hauptmarkt is a beautiful marketplace that looks quintessentially European. The Dom St. Peter is the oldest Cathedral in Germany. Incorporating remains from a 4th-century church, it was built in stages from the early 11th century to the 14th century. The Imperial Baths (Kaiserthermen) had an intricate underground area which was fun to explore. Finally, our last stop was the Amphitheater and I think that may have been my favorite. It took me straight into the movie Gladiator. The ruins date from the 1st century AD. The facility was used for both gladiatorial fights and animal contests. It could seat approximately 20,000 people in its heyday.
By 2 pm mom and I were all packed up and on our way to Cochem. We initially thought we would drive up along the Mosel to enjoy the views. Our GPS had other ideas. It took us a totally random way with a mix of Mosel views, Autobahn roads and random back streets. Fortunately it led us to the right place. We made it to the hotel by 3:45 pm, fifteen minutes before we were supposed to meet Udo. Of course, he was already there.
Cochem is a charming city. After checking into our hotel and getting our stuff up to our room (thanks Udo), we set out to explore the town by foot. It was amazingly fun to finally get to see so many of the places I had heard so much about from Udo. I got to the see the site of his sledding crash, the field he set on fire, the house he grew up in, the church where he was an alter boy, his grandparents house, his school, etc. I’ve heard and thought about this city threw hundreds of hours of training and to finally get to see it, with the U-Man, really was a dream come true.
After our walking tour we went to Udo’s parent’s house. Hans and Finni have visited the US a few times, so I had met them previously. Seeing them again was great. We sat around and chatted as best we could in our terrible German and their pretty good English. In Udo and Kathy’s apartment, which is located above his parent’s, there are lots of old trophies and pictures from Udo’s throwing days. Seeing those was awesome. I’ll try to take a picture of some of them tomorrow, so those of you at home can see how huge of a guy Udo was 25 years ago.
At 6:30ish we went out to dinner with Kathy, Udo, Hans, Finnie and Udo’s nephew Michael. Michael is 20 and a National Junior German Champion Rower with hopes of making it to the 2016 Olympics. He is a very nice young man who speaks pretty darn good English. At the end of a great dinner, where I had awesome elk (I had never eaten elk before), Michael gave us a ride back to our hotel.
I’m now beat from another very, very fun day in Germany. Udo is meeting us at the hotel at 8:45 am (which means 8:30 am), so I need to call it a night. I’ll write tomorrow about our continued adventures in Cochem and along the Mosel.
Until then,
Katy
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