Germany

Ahhh, wine.

Yeah, I know, most of my posts of this vacation will probably begin with that refrain. What do you expect, I'm on vacation!

After landing in Frankfurt on try #2 (see previous post for details on that fun little detour), we met up with our friend who drove us to his house a short distance away. At this point we both were beginning to resemble zombies in desperate need of a shower and sleep, so that was first on our agenda. We had good motivation to not sleep too long, however; the local wine festival was in full swing and if we wanted to try the best wines the Rhine Valley had to offer, this was our chance! (LOL I totally just typed "the Whine Valley" - thank goodness I can correct the errors of the brain on here.)

Many of the whites and even some of the reds tasted pretty similar to what we grow in Michigan. Because of the climate, the reds aren't as lush and velvety as those grown in hotter, drier regions, while the whites stand out because of their range of dryness and depths of flavor. We also tried the local apple wine, which was similar to a hard apple cider. We took the suggestion of adding a splash of Coke to it and it was actually surprisingly delicious! (We were warned, however, that this is a very localized tradition; most other regions of Germany would be appalled to witness such a thing being done to the wine.)

Dinner was at a Spanish tapas restaurant the next town over. I swear we ate, and ate, and ate some more! There was Manchego cheese with olives, potato wedges with aioli, chorizo slices, meatballs, sardines, shrimp in a buttery garlic sauce, calamari, and something else that I can't remember on that table of deliciousness.

We also had the opportunity to visit the local castle. It seems that almost every town has their own (no, I'm not exaggerating) in varying stages of preservation. The one we visited didn't have much roof left but it was still pretty intact and had an operating restaurant within its walls. Although the view was pretty spectacular, because of the rain moving through, we weren't able to see as far as one normally can. It was still a pretty freaking awesome experience, especially since we essentially had the place to ourselves.

After a short night of sleep, made shorter by jet lag (which I hadn't remembered as being this miserable until I lived through it again- yes, I'm a big wuss when it comes to my sleep schecdule!), we were dropped off at the little local train station to catch the train to Frankfurt, and from there on to Salzburg, Austria. Little did we know it wasn't the last time we were going to see that little platform...

Europe, finally!

Ahhh, that long-awaited trip that we have been talking about since before we married and have been saving for since 2012 finally arrived: Europe!

While originally we had only been dreaming of Italy, when a friend moved to Germany last year, we felt that the opportunity was too good to be missed and added that to our list. Then, I decided I really wanted to take the train and take our time getting to Italy so that we could maybe, just maybe, see another country or two on the way. After all, once you pay the astronomical airfare (and pay physically with jet lag) to get to Europe, you might as well see as much as possible. Of course, we wanted to balance that need with it being a vacation, not a trip that we would need a vacation to recover from. (That being said, I wouldn't mind having to "recover" from a European whirlwind tour...There are worse things to have to recover from.)

As a(nother) side note, I can't believe I haven't used a travel agent before! Lori Visser, an agent in Rockford, sat down with me one day for a couple of hours, found out what we were looking for in terms of entertainment, tours, accommodation styles, etc. and set up a complete itinerary for way cheaper (and much more quickly!) that I could have on my own. What a way to make life easier for me, and support a local business while I'm at it!

Anyways, the plan was to fly to Frankfurt, Germany, via Washington DC, spend a few days there and then take the train to Salzburg, Austria. After a couple days there we would hop on the train again and head to Bologna, after which we would stay in a villa in the Tuscan countryside for a few days and catch our breath. (Ok, and maybe drink a LOT of wine.) Florence was next on the list, then a quick flight back to Frankfurt before catching our flight home the next day. Two very full weeks and we couldn't wait!

Well, wait we did. In Washington DC. On a plane for many hours, although after a bit we got sick of waiting and decided to spend our time in the wine bar adjacent to our gate. Six hours after we boarded the plane, the flight was finally cancelled due to a lack of available crew members when the mechanical issues took too long to repair. (It all began with a toilet...)

The bartender at the wine shop had advised us earlier to split up, one person at the customer service desk at the end of the terminal, the other at the gate to find out if the flight was a go or not. After the announcement, Chris got a text from me advising, "RUN! The flight is cancelled!" He managed to be the first in line, which allowed us to get a hotel voucher, booked on the next flight the following day, and generally made pretty comfortable. By the time I met him down at the desk, the line stretched 4 gates back. Thank you, bartender!!!!

We found out just how much we owed her when speaking to some other passengers the next day on the hotel shuttle. Apparently those further back in line had hotel reservations booked for them by the airline but when they reached the hotel, found out that there were no rooms available, so they ended up spending the night in the airport. Others who had been booked on a later flight to Frankfurt had their new flight delayed because there was no actual plane to take them. What a mess, and we were so grateful we weren't part of it! (Hey, we paid our dues in January in Chicago. Don't ask.)

Finally, FINALLY, we landed in Frankfurt and were able to enjoy starting our vacation!

Hopefully Chris will post pictures of our time in Germany.