Canadian Buffoon European Vacation - 30/03 - Endings and Silver Linings

[buzz1121]

Holy Cow! That was some laundry bill! I can not believe how expensive that was! Were the clothes freshened and mended by The Shoemaker's Elves?

The cathedral in Cologne is AMAZING! It literally screams Middle Ages. It's so imposing and larger than life, fitting when the church played such a huge role in everyone's daily life.

The chocolate experience was really neat. I just picked up a small bag of Lindt holiday peppermint chocolate. I'll have to report back when I try one.

You can just blame the behemoth suitcase that you lugged/pushed/wept over as the reason why you didn't pick up on the signals Ruby was sending you during the walk to dinner. You were emotionally and physically beat by the beast, rendering you off of your A game.

And thanks everyone, for the anniversary wishes and Tinkerbuzz birthday wishes. She's not walking yet......but she's getting close!

 

[buzz1121]

Have you ever noiced that the book is NEVER called Inferno? It's always "Dante's Inferno". What's up with that? I mean most other books and novels have stand alone titles,,,that work out just fine.
Really, does anybody always say Robert Louis Stevenson's "Call of the Wild"? Or Goerge Orwell's "Brave New World"?

It's like Kevin Costner and The Field of Dreams, Nebo posts and I just have to see what he said. Glutton for punishment much or what?

Well Nebo you could say in a snotty voice with your pinkie extended that you were reading Huxley's Brave New World or Stevenson's Treasure Island, but where would the fun be in that? Good question though.....just don't bring up LOTF, that book creeps me out!

That's right, I don't have an "Accent" Wanna make something of it?

Most people should all sound like they came from Shi- CA- go. In case youse dun't know it, that right dere's American, and youse can find it right over by dere in dat book!

Wait a second!! You haven't already been exaggerating your non-accent? Sweet Moses, I'm going to need a translator the next time we talk!!

[/b]OLD? I think not,,, not for a couple weeks, anyway
COOT? Um, anybody, help me here? what the H is a coot?[/B]

Oh, come on Nebo, you know what a coot is! Have you ever watched "Grumpy Old Men"?

 

[Thumper_Man]

Happy Birthday Nebo!

Now hurry and make a wish, and blow out the candles before we have to call the fire dept.

 

[pkondz]

TALE OF TWO BRAINS - FIX IT!

Now I know T-Man has already posted a video regarding all this…and that is a MUST see…but I’m going to add another one here that I use when I do presentations to the middle and high school kids…

It's Not About The Nail!

Finally! Had a chance to see those vids...



I can see why you posted them!

Happens to me all the timje; I';ll be walking downt the strret with a big smile n my face, and people can't refuse noticing and taking part in it.

Most of the time, though, it's somebody moving into my face and now saying, WHAT'S SO FUNNY?

Well.. duh! Just show him one of you TRs and he'll know what's so funny!

Yes, Vancouver Island. It's quite expensive to live here but it's the price you pay for living in paradise

Well, nice jobe Pnzi in getting Kris out of her burrow, not easy sto dom, took me 2 packs of Oreo'[s ns on od , and thoat won't probsbly be happening again anytime soon.

I refuse to say what I had to pay.

take care all, see you sonn

I'm gonna hold ya to that!

I have fouhnd out it's illegal to post too many smilies, or in Ponzi's case, Similies,

I never met a phor I didn't like

but to this day, the best smiley ever is still the one kyou get from a baby after feeding him the green beans,,,, and you can see he is now in the process of getting rid of them via the back door,,,,,,, now THAT"S a smiley!

Ah, yes... I remember those smilies. When I saw one forming, I'd hand the kid to Ruby and quickly have to be somewhere else.
:

Smidgy kind of get's that same look too when she's,,,,,,,um,,,oh,,, did I just say that outloud/? Never mind!

You're in trouble now!

I'm just so glad you all are having such fun at my expense.

Well, that's what your here for, right? I

always wanted to take a train ride with Santa.

HUH/ oh, never mind.
Great, now I' going to have Satan Baby running through my head all night

Great..... that song's ruined forever!
Any other classics you'd like to destroy?

Have you ever noiced that the book is NEVER called Inferno? It's always "Dante's Inferno". What's up with that? I mean most other books and novels have stand alone titles,,,that work out just fine.
Really, does anybody always say Robert Louis Stevenson's "Call of the Wild"? Or Goerge Orwell's "Brave New World"?

Well... considering Inferno could refer to Dante's Inferno, Dan Brown's Inferno or Niven & Pournelle's Inferno.....

Plus, I do say Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's 1984.

Ah yes... Nebo and I are quite familiar with this phenomenon.

One of us posts a chapter that has cost us dearly in time and sweat and blood and tears...You left out whiskey and Vicodin!


Then the other posts a brief quip.

Yup, you have stolen my "thunder" many a time,,, but I'm still glad you did,,, beats the alternative.

Right back atcha, my friend.

Most people should all sound like they came from Shi- CA- go. In case youse dun't know it, that right dere's American, and youse can find it right over by dere in dat book!

Oh, you're quite right. We do all sound like we're from Chicago. It's you that sounds like you're from another planet.

What is this, fun with adjectives?
OLD? I think not,,, not for a couple weeks, anyway
COOT? Um, anybody, help me here? what the H is a coot?

Don't believe me? Look it up!!

What am I? Chopped liver?
I want a hug from your DH too!

Ruh Roh, I forgot who played this hand. Hmm.
Please tell me it wasn't addressed to Diane from Ponzi, K?



Ok?


OK?

O- KAY ?

Sorry. Don't recall.

You holding out on me? You know I just loved Lucie's Hammer by those two, and this is sitting there? I will say though,,,, I did not care for Footfall in the slightest. Right now, reading a novel of Asimov's short stories,,,, 20 as a matter of fact,,,,,,, aaaaaaahhhhhh. no good twists at the ends, and if its a short story,,,, sorry,,,, I want a "Gotcha".

Boy, I haven't read some Asimov for a while now.
Better start re-reading...

And Inferno also has a sequel called Escape From Hell.


All right. I'm beat, so I'll finish callouts later.
I did phone the old coot and left a message, but (and I was really wondering, before I saw Bunny Boy's post if people would wait until Thursday before offering birthday greetings)

Hope you have/had a good one Nebo!

 

[nebo]

Just a drive by here,,,]

Ponzi said:

I never met a phor I didn't like


Now that is great, and no, never heard that before. Doesn't matter to me if you made it up youself, I'll pretend you did, I love it so much.

 

[buzz1121]

Happy Birthday Nebo!!!

I intended to call you this evening, but all three kiddos are sick with bad colds, in fact the baby is sleeping on my arm right now.

I will catch up to you soon!

 

[bankr63]

Have you ever noiced that the book is NEVER called Inferno? It's always "Dante's Inferno". What's up with that? I mean most other books and novels have stand alone titles,,,that work out just fine.
Really, does anybody always say Robert Louis Stevenson's "Call of the Wild"? Or Goerge Orwell's "Brave New World"?

Well that's to differentiate from Dan Brown's "Inferno", which if "The Da Vinci Code" was any indication will probably outsell Dante's "Inferno" fairly soon and become the more prevalent book...

And having recently completed "Inferno" (Dan's not Dante's), does anyone else find he's starting to sound a little formulaic?

And a Happy Birthday to you Nebo. I could send you a slgihtly used copy of Inferno if you like...

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Finally! Had a chance to see those vids...



I can see why you posted them!

Glad you had a chance to sit for a spell and watch them, and that you enjoyed them.

The one T-Man posted is one of my favorites. If you ever get a chance (which I know is very rare these days for you) take some time to look up some of his other clips on youtube. He is hilarious. All my girlfriends have watched some, if not all of his stuff and now believe they understand their men/relationships a whole lot better.

The one I posted, I have yet to get tired of. I use it for our Teen Dating Violence Presentations in Middle Schools and the kids love it.

 

[pkondz]

all three kiddos are sick with bad colds, in fact the baby is sleeping on my arm right now.

Sorry to hear about the sick ones.
Nothing worse then a sick baby.

If you ever get a chance (which I know is very rare these days for you) take some time to look up some of his other clips on youtube.

 

[queenbetsey]

not caught up yet but wanted to stop in and say happy thanksgiving to everyone (yep even the folks up north I mean it is a Canadian tr after all)
a belated happy bday to Nebo, and to buzz I hope the lil ones are feeling better soon.
now off to pack up the goodies for the inlaws today (I get to cook here tomorrow) and then I might finally get caught up her and on tman's report.
after I get caught up here then I will try to figure out those %$#^&^% magic band and fp+ so far find them frustrating

 

[pkondz]

Quick note to say Happy gobble gobble day to my American friends!!!

 

[mmeb144]

Quick note to say Happy gobble gobble day to my American friends!!!

Thanks! I got to eat a meal with my college-aged children at Cracker Barrel. It was so nice to share a table with the young-uns and catch up a bit.

 

[pkondz]

Real life update - part deux

Well, it's been 10 days since my last chapter, so it's time to start on a new one, right?
Got the pics photobucketed, now just to write the darn thing!
Gotta few things to take care of first, but hopefully I'll have something up in a day or two...

But first, two things that I wanted to share...

This will only mean something to a select few.
I opened up the paper this afternoon and saw an article titled "Polar Bear pair".
The first sentence was, "Prepare to squee on Saturday as a polar bear makes his public debut at the Zoo."

OMG, it's going viral!


The other thing to share was more of a kinda thing.

Ruby asked me to pop over to the mall and exchange something for her.
Real quick trip. Pop in, make the switch, pop out.
I didn't want to park miles away, so I checked the small lot closest to the door I wanted to use.
There're only three aisles there, and they're usually full, but... ya never know, right?

There're, there, they're... in one sentence.
Cool.

anyway...

So I drive up the first aisle... full.
Drive down the second aisle... full.
Up the third aisle... full.

meh. no surprise...
But wait! What's this?
A woman has just exited from those self same doors and she has keys in her hand!

I watch as she strolls along past the 'third' aisle, where I'm lying in wait.
I turn the corner as I stealthily pursue my prey.
She turns into the second aisle.
I refrain from following immediately.
Perhaps she is not parked in the middle aisle, but only cutting through?
She darts between two parked cars as she makes her way to the 'first' aisle.
Ah, hah! My suspicions were correct. I chuckle. I did not fall for her ruse.
I continue to the next aisle and turn into it.
She has no where else to go.
There is a slight possibility that she has forgotten where she has parked and will reverse her steps.
But my quarry seems determined and self-assured, so I think not.
There is even a less likely possibility that she is walking home or taking the bus.
But I discount that possibility. Why would she have her keys in hand?

Hmmm... she's heading towards the left side of the aisle.
I put my turn signal on.
Less as a polite sign of my intentions, than as a warning to others to BACK OFF!!!.

She picks a car... she opens the door... she gets in.

Now it's just a matter of time to determine what this woman's mettle is.
Is she a dawdler? Or will she quickly vacate the premises.

From the other direction, I see a car approaching.
He's spotted my prey!

The woman departs the parking spot with alacrity and I, not willing to leave things to chance, quickly turn into the spot.

In my rearview mirror, I see the other car pull up behind mine and stop.
As I get out of my car, the passenger window roles down and I see a young couple of about 20.

"Thanks a lot.", says the young man driving.
I reply, "Do you know what door she came out of?"
"What." Our perplexed parking purveyor asks, "Does that have to do with anything?"
"Well." I reply. "I know which door she came out of because I saw her. And I followed her all the way to her car."

I could even tell him, if he wanted to know, between which two cars she entered the aisle and in which hand she was carrying her keys (the right).

But our jilted parker doesn't buy it.
"Yeah sure." He barks as he drives out of sight.

I shrug.

I am also annoyed.
Is that part of that generation's attitude?
This sense of entitlement?

I shrug again.
"You can't fix stupid." I say to myself and happily go about my business.

 

[pkondz]

The Rooster Crowed at Five PM

For those of you keeping score, today on our journey is Thursday, August 8th.

For those of you not keeping score... it's still Thursday, August 8th.

Hello! The date doesn't change just because you don't care!


Sorry.


This morning we leave Cologne and make our way to Southern Germany with a pit stop in Munich.

Munich is of course known for its history (beer!), friendly people (beer!) and Oktoberfest (more beer!).


But first we have to check out of our ultra-modern, oh-so-chic hotel and get ourselves back to the train station.


We gather up all our beautifully cleaned and pressed clothes and stuff them unceremoniously into our suitcases.

For that kind of money, I'll treat them any way I want!!
At least now I know that if I run out of clean socks on my next trip, it's cheaper to just throw them out and buy new ones.
Live and learn.


At the front desk, I grit my teeth and do not comment on the extra 100 or so Euros on the bill.

There's probably a griping surcharge, anyway.


I ask the nice young fellow at the front desk if he could call us a cab to take us to the train station.

Since he's German and English is a second language, he does not say, "Okay, you're a cab."
(Sometimes a lack of knowledge in english colloquialisms is a good thing.)
Instead he asks me if I am sure I want a cab.
He tells me that it's not very far.

And then he does..... 'it'.

He raises an eyebrow.

You know.
The "Are you really so soft and weak, you spoiled and under-exercised North American, that you can't even walk two kilometers" raised eyebrow.


I'm not sure if his goal was to shame me into walking,
or to avoid having to make a phone call and telling some cabbie that he had an incredibly short ride,
or perhaps a genuine concern for my health which could use a little endorphin therapy.

In any event, at the time, I picked (a); the shame.

"Ruby, why don't we walk? It's not that far. We've walked it before."


She bought it.


And so our intrepid explorers set out on their quest to re-discover the train station, or die trying.

I took the lead (see? if you beat me over the head often enough, I can learn!)
The evil critters were in the middle and Ruby was tail end Charlie.

Ruby had her comfortable rolling suitcase.
Elle had her comfortable rolling suitcase.
Kay had Ruby's comfortable rolling carrion.
And I had my comfortable rolling suitcase with carrion attached...

and the evil valise of incredible weight and death... depth.


We set out in fine form and high spirits!
Heck! Everybody in Europe will tell you that two kilometers isn't far at all!

They're lying!!!!

Europeans travel light.
I'm sure of it.

As we left the hotel, a small bird came and perched on Kay's burdensome bag.
After a while, I set the bags down and switched them around so that the other arm could have a chance of experiencing gradual numbness.
My arms got numb, my back and side got sore.

After a while, the little bird came back and relit on Kay's suitcase.
Switch!
The bird stayed on and was attacked and devoured by an eagle... which of course began to clean itself all the while perched on the bag.
Switch!
The eagle hovered over the suitcase for a few seconds and then settled gratefully back down on its perch.
Switch!
Not long afterwards, the eagle was scared off by a large monkey, who seemed to quite enjoy the ride, so he stayed on the suitcase too.
Switch!
The monkey hopped off at the commotion, but seeing that nothing else was going to happen, happily clambered back up.
Switch!
With a shriek, the monkey (although to be fair it might have been me that shrieked) scampered off as a rhinoceros charged at it.
With the monkey gone, the rhino claimed its turf and sat down on the suitcase.
Switch!
The rhino, who had momentarily been startled off, resettled himself back on the bag.
Switch!

By this time we were about half way there and I thought it was an excellent time to stop and admire the scenery.
After all, how many times are we going to be in Cologne, right?

Right?

Hello?

Anybody?



Nope. Nobody, because my family passed me by and are now looking back, impatiently waiting for me to catch up.
We have a train to catch!
And hernias to hatch!

With newfound determination, I grasp my one carrion, two suitcases and one rhinoceros and set off in pursuit.

At least I did until that dang elephant showed up...

SWITCH!!!!

When David Livingstone showed up to ride the elephant, a small part of me died.


After about 23 years, we arrive back at the Cathedral, which as you may recall is right beside the train station.

Time for a picture!
(I don't have to carry suitcases while I'm stopped for pictures, that's why)



All that's left to do now is go down a flight of stairs and we're there!

And there's an elevator!!!

And it's out of order!!!!


Highs and lows of travel.
Literally.

I think at this point, while Ruby was directing everyone on the best ways for us to navigate the stairs, I sprinted up and down with almost all the bags.

I just wanted it to be over!!!

We then had a well-deserved bite to eat while we waited for our train.


I remember there was some confusion on our part.
We weren't 100% sure we were at the right platform.

The sign said Munich, but there was no train.

I asked someone, who assured me that I was in the right spot.



See? It says Munchen (German spelling for Munich)... but still... better safe than sorry, I thought.
Doesn't that gentleman on the left just scream 'German' to you?
Then again, for all I know, he's from Seattle or something.

At last the train arrived.
Yay!



We boarded the train and settled in.
The kids immediately focused on the important things.



You know... making sure the wi-fi was set up and the iPods were plugged in so they could enjoy not looking at the passing scenery.

In Europe, Coca Cola is running this advertising campaign where they put people's names or types on Coke bottles.
It seems to work, since a few times I saw people hunting for specific bottles to purchase.
Kay was particularly pleased with this one.



In case you can't decipher the German, her bottle says "Princess" on it.

Once the train got going, I had to switch seats with Kay.
She doesn't like travelling backwards...

The train took us through and stopped at Bonn, the former capitol, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Augsburg.
I found a way to make Kay look up at the scenery.
She would regularly take her photo cues from me.
If I took a picture of something, she would too.

So I'd occasionally take a picture of the passing scenery and she would too.
Sort of my way of making sure she'd come up for air once in a while.



As we approached Munich, we had our first glimpse of the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady).
This church is considered the symbol of Munich.

Possibly because the two towers resemble two overflowing beer glasses.



I had reserved a car for the next leg of the trip, but we weren't going to pick it up for a few hours.
I wanted to give the kids a chance to see a little bit of Munich before we left.

We stuffed our bags into some lockers and made our way to the pedestrian mall that was only a couple of blocks away.



We hadn't eaten anything since the morning so it was time to grab a late lunch/early dinner.

There's a German dish that Kay really loves.
It's called spätzle (or spaetzle).
Basically a type of noodles that are re-heated with butter and typically served with a gravy.

Yes, it's very good.

Kay told me that she would not leave Germany for Italy unless she first had some spätzle.

We grabbed a table at an outdoor seating area and grabbed the menus that were lying on the table.
The menus were bilingual German/English so we were able to read them.

Our waiter came and took our order and we were scarfing down good German grub in no time.

Food porn!

Kay's spätzle


I ordered the schnitzel which came with spätzle too, although served differently


Elle had a salmon dish which she said was only so-so.
The surprise was Ruby's dish.
She only wanted a salad... which she got.
But it was the most expensive meal.
Yep, the salad cost more than the veal or the salmon!



A couple of things happened during our meal that made it memorable.

Our waiter was always bustling about taking orders, bringing food, asking how everything was...
When we finished eating, we decided to order dessert.
Our waiter took our orders.... and was never seen again by man nor beast.

We're pretty sure he was abducted by aliens.

When we had ordered our main dishes, the food arrived quite quickly.
Maybe five or ten minutes?
But after we ordered dessert, we sat there for fifteen minutes with no sign of the waiter.
Eventually we asked a different waiter if he knew which spaceship our waiter was on so we could wave to him as he soared overhead.
We did get our desserts shortly after that.

While we were waiting, a couple of middle aged women sat at a table behind us.
For whatever reason, they decided they didn't like that table and moved to the one immediately beside ours.
I can only surmise they did so because this would give them a better vantage point to eavesdrop and blow cigarette smoke in our faces.
Luckily, we were just about done eating by then and were just waiting to pay.

One woman forgot her drink and went back to get it.
She told her friend that she "Forgot her Cola."

Ruby thought she said that she "Forgot her colon."
I assured her that was something that you would not want to leave behind.
:

When we had finished eating, inhaling second hand smoke and commenting on people's bowels,
we just had enough time to make our way to Marienplatz to see the Neues Rathaus and its famous glockenspiel.

Translation: Mary's plaza, New City Hall and.... well... glockenspiel.

The Glockenspiel runs twice a day at 11am and noon and also 5pm in the summer.
We walked quickly enough that we arrived in plenty of time to stake out a good vantage spot.



Netting over sculptures keeps the pigeons off.
You see this on a lot of buildings in Europe.



The New City Hall was built between 1867 and 1908.
Sounds pretty old?
Nah. The old one is still there and was built in 1394.

The glockenspiel has two main sections and one smaller section at the top.
The glockenspiel has life size characters that twirl and dance and even two knights on horseback who 'joust'.
The knights go around twice with the Bavarian knight knocking down his opponent on the second go-'round.
After it's all said and done, a mechanical rooster slowly flaps its wings and crows three times.

I'm sure when it was first introduced in 1908 it was the equivalent of today's YouTube.

Now?

Well the whole thing lasts about 15 minutes and after you've seen it, you'll wonder if you'll ever get that 15 minutes of your life back.

You won't.

Some fools left early without realizing that they hadn't seen the whole thing.
How I envy those people...

But it's a traditional Munich experience and I'm glad the kids got to suffer through it just like I had to the first time I saw it.


And here's another Disney similarity!
Just like the three o'clock parade where you stake out your hunk of curb about an hour in advance...
only to have some moron park themselves right in front of you as the parade starts...

It didn't happen to us, but we got to witness it.

As we were waiting for the show to start, this older Asian couple came and stood beside us.
They were probably each about five foot nuthin'.
A couple of minutes before show time, this young statuesque couple walk up and park themselves right in front of them!



The Asian woman is holding a book here. You can see just how much taller these newcomers were.



The Asian couple didn't say anything or complain. They just leaned a lot.
Still...

Maybe I shouldn't be so judgmental.
It's possible that our newbies just couldn't see down that far.


After the "show", we made our way to the most famous site in Munich.
If you've ever been to an Oktoberfest celebration anywhere in the world...
And if they've played "oom-pah" music...

Then they (and possibly you) would have sung about the Hofbrauhaus.

It's a huge building with a cavernous open main floor,
a smaller upper floor
and a large open air area
all for the purpose of quaffing copious amounts of beer.

Founded in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria, the Hofbrauhaus is one of the oldest beer halls in Munich.
The Hofbrau beer became popular and then famous.
So famous that it actually saved the city.
In 1632, during the 30 years war, a conquering King threatened to burn the whole city down.
He agreed not to burn it down in exchange for 600,000 barrels of Hofbrauhaus beer.

You'd think with that much beer on hand, you wouldn't really have to worry about fire, don't you think?

The hall has a dark mark on its history as one of the locations where Hitler held meetings and functions.
However, it's also where Mozart visited.
He wrote a poem claiming to have written an opera after several visits to the Hofbrauhaus gave him strength and inspiration.

Other luminaries to visit are Lenin, author Thomas Wolfe and President John F. Kennedy.

Everywhere you look you'll see people drinking beer or serving girls carrying huge handfuls of beer steins.



We tried to find a table outside to sit and try some beer, but it was full.



This is my favorite part of the hall.
There's an area where locals reserve their own tables...
and some even have their own beer steins which are kept at the hall under lock and key!



Since we couldn't sit outside, and the band wasn't playing yet inside
(they start around 7pm)
we decided to just grab a pretzel from a passing server and head out.



After scarfing down their ginormous pretzel, we strolled around for a while, popping in and out of kitschy tourist shops.
Eventually, the girls' incessant whining of, "We're thirsty!" got on my last nerve and I decided to let them have some water.

Boy! Just because you have a massive super salty pretzel, is no reason to demand water!

I got them back though.
I accidentally bought "wasser mit gas" instead of "stille wasser".
Basically I bought them soda water.

Whoops! The natives are revolting!
Actually, they weren't that bad.... but they weren't happy!

Yeah, yeah. I got them regular water right away.
Call off the cops for child abuse.
Sheesh.

By now it's time to get our car, retrieve our bags and head to the hotel.
Of course before we can do all that we have to get lost first.
This adds to the excitement and keeps things from being dull...
or enjoyable.

At the car rental place, I give my reservation info to the clerk.
I had done a lot of research on car rentals from Munich and had decided to have some fun.

For only a little bit more per day, I had reserved a convertible.
I could see it now.
Toodling through alpine villages with the top down and not a care in the world.

The clerk took one look at the four of us and...
"I don't want to tell you what to do... we have the car here... but...
Do you have any bags with you?
The trunk is very small and can only fit maybe one large bag.
My experience with people from America is usually they have a lot of bags."

Well, I had already thought of all that.
My plan was to have some discomfort for a bit until we got to the hotel,
then afterwards it'd be smooth sailing.

But...

Well...

The hotel is about an hour and a half drive...
So that's three hours of having the girls ride with suitcases piled on top of them...

I'm okay with that.


Fine. Fine!
Stop shaking your head in disgust at my poor parenting skills or lack thereof.

I'll get a different car.
Happy now?

"I do have a very nice BMW 5 series car for only ten euros more per day."

My credit card covers the insurance on rentals... but only up to a reasonable amount.
I think it's around $60,000 or thereabouts.

This car is worth more than that.
Ah, what the heck. I'm on vacation, right?

It wound up costing an extra 250 Euros or about $340 USD.



It turned out to be so worth every penny.


The clerk explained to me that since he was alone, he couldn't leave his desk.
He gave us directions to the garage and sent us on our way.

After a couple of minor miscues, we find the car.
Oooohhhh... very purty.
I'll post a pic in a later chapter.

So we stuff all the suitcases in,
(as it turned out, we still had to have one in the backseat between the girls)
pile in,
aaaaaaannnnnddd.....

nothing.


car won't start.

Push the start button. Nothing.
Car's in neutral? Check.
I start looking around for something obvious.
Like, "Hey dummy! Do this first!"
Nope. Can't find anything like that.

I pull out the owner's manual to try and figure it out.
Of course the manual's in german...

I'm just on the verge of telling everyone to sit tight while I go back to the rental office and ask how to start it,
when lo and behold, our rental clerk enters the garage.

"Hey! How do you start it?"

The clerk comes over, hops in the driver seat, pushes the button and...

VRRRROOOMMMMM!!!!!!

He didn't say that... it's the sound the car made as it started right up.


He looks at me and innocently asks, "Did you have your foot on the brake?"


Oh.


Duly chastened, we set out.

Okay, this car is nice.

For those of you who own or have rented expensive vehicles you can skip the next little bit.
But for the rest of us....
The girls were very impressed with their own pull down console, personal climate controls and heated seats.
While I thought the in dash GPS was nice, I was amazed by the heads up display.
The speed, road restrictions, plus GPS directions looked like they were floating over the hood of the car.
When I got the car up to speed, which at one point on that first day was 170 KMH/105MPH, the car was perfectly smooth.
At that speed, with the cruise on, the car would slow itself down if I started catching up to traffic.
The steering wheel would give a warning vibration if it thought I was drifting out of my lane.
Speaking of which, the turn signals would turn themselves of after a lane change.

<sigh> Just gotta win the lottery and I can have one for my very own.

If anyone's interested, I did take a picture of the heads up display.
If you want to see it, let me know and I'll post it.


Okay, all the rich people can come back now!


After a couple of hours and one detour, we arrive at the small town of Wallgau.
Located at the foot of the alps, it's close to the picture postcard town of Mittenwald and the 1936 Winter Olympic city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Our host greeted us warmly and showed us to our rooms.
We were very lucky this trip as our hosts at the smaller B&B type places were really, really friendly.

I'll post photos of the hotel in later chapters, but right now it's been a long day and we're beat.

There's no air conditioning in the room and it's a little warm, so I open the balcony door to let in some fresh alpine air.

We go to sleep dreaming of the next day's adventure while being serenaded by a couple of tom cats fighting outside our room.

 

[jedijill]

Ah Muchen! I spent a wonder Oktoberfest there in 1999.

I would have totally taken the 5series!!! What a great car on the autobahn. BMW has a program where you can buy a car at the factory and drive it for a couple of weeks and then ship it to the States as a "used" car which makes it a lot cheaper (well, cheaper is relative!)...I had a coworker buy one that way a couple of years ago.

Southern Germany is so beautiful! Hopefully you found time to visit Neuschwanstein!


Jill in CO

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Great update, Ponzi!

One of these days I will make it to Munich. My husband and kids were there a few years ago, and we have a picture of hubby at the Hofbrauhaus, looking very inebriated but laughing hysterically to prove it.

And I hate to bust your bubble, my 10 year old Honda Civic has turn signals that turn themselves off after the turn, lol. But otherwise sounds like an awesome car.

A little bit of education about German food, Spatzle are strictly a southern German food, you won't find them in the north (nor at my house since I'm from up north, lol)

 

[queenbetsey]

great update as usual Ponzi, and love the pics.
was so glad to see Nebo back on the boards also.

 

[queenbetsey]

stupid tickers I can never get these dumb things to work for me.
oh well

CBR in 36 days

 

[queenbetsey]

I have been informed that I did it again,,, showed the true self centered side of my personality.
The last post I made, I made without catching up on about 20 pages worth, and right before my whining about my wrist and fingers and eyes, Betsey was talking about serious stuff concerning her husband Lance, and the stroke he's dealing with. Betsey and Lance, I'm really sorry about what you're going through, and I reallly didn't mean to come across as so callous.
We recently had a chance to meet both of them at Disneyland, and not only were they a great couple, but also a lot of fun to be with. Hey, how can you not like somebody who will laugh at your sphincter jokes?
Well, I hope things are going to go much better in the upcoming days for you So Cals, allong with catchin up on my thread reading, I'm also catching up on my prayers, hugs to both of you.

just saw this post
no worries smidgy lance is doing well, cranky because he is going stir crazy being pretty much cooped up. Down side is that crutches stink they just pain stink. and while does not have too much damage from the stroke the right arm is just not as strong as it was. at our dismeet with the thumpers and you and nebo you more than likely didn't notice any of the residual damage from that event.
we are just waiting for the cast to come off and see if we need to get him one of those scooters on our trip or not

 

[smidgy]

betsey, that was nebo posting under my name.