From Europe to Africa in America - A Sisters' Expedition

[Flossbolna]

I am so sorry for the lack of updates recently. We actually have some more finished already, I just need to get around to post them. BUT: we have a long weekend for Easter here in Germany, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. So I really hope to move on with the TR over the next days! Thanks for your patience!!

And just an interesting thing I came across today: There is a new museum in Washington, DC about the German heritage in America: http://www.gahfusa.org/gahm/gahm.html

I think this sounds fascinating and I would love to check it out one day! In the article I read about the museum it stated that 46 million Americans have German ancestors!

 

[swwake]

And just an interesting thing I came across today: There is a new museum in Washington, DC about the German heritage in America: http://www.gahfusa.org/gahm/gahm.html

I think this sounds fascinating and I would love to check it out one day! In the article I read about the museum it stated that 46 million Americans have German ancestors!

Enjoy your long holiday weekend! I wish we got one (here, many people have Friday off, but not us accountants).

Ooooh - I go to DC in June. I will have to check out that museum. I have a lot of German in my heritage. My maiden name is Grumme (which, I believe, translates to "mud"). Nice, huh?

Looking forward to your update(s) this weekend. Take your time.

 

[eandesmom]

for long weekends! and no worries, we will still be here

 

[annichan]

Enjoy your long holiday weekend! I wish we got one (here, many people have Friday off, but not us accountants).

Ooooh - I go to DC in June. I will have to check out that museum. I have a lot of German in my heritage. My maiden name is Grumme (which, I believe, translates to "mud"). Nice, huh?

Hmm, I have never heard the word "Grumme" in German - maybe it is just used in certain regions? (And if so, Floss might be able to say more about it since she comes from an entirely different region of Germany than me).

I didn't know there were no long Easter holidays in the US - poor you! But I wish you a happy easter anyway!

And, Floss: Glad you are back and looking forward to the next instalment!

 

[swwake]

Hmm, I have never heard the word "Grumme" in German - maybe it is just used in certain regions? (And if so, Floss might be able to say more about it since she comes from an entirely different region of Germany than me).

I didn't know there were no long Easter holidays in the US - poor you! But I wish you a happy easter anyway!

And, Floss: Glad you are back and looking forward to the next instalment!

Sorry to be off topic here. I think maybe it was once a town. There are not many of us left today. Most Grummes didn't have male children, for some reason. My dad and his brother only had girls.

I haven't searched the name in awhile, but I just found this: http://www.grumme.se/ I have no idea what that all means, but it looks like cleaning supplies?

ETA: I just noticed your ticker. That is our dog's formal name: Laurell's Bring Back the Magic. She is 11 years old (see my avatar).

 

[mebbradley]

I live about 1.5 hour from DC! I'll have to go before I go to Germany in July! =]

Can't wait to hear more! I'm off from College for Friday/Monday =]

 

[annichan]

Sorry to be off topic here. I think maybe it was once a town. There are not many of us left today. Most Grummes didn't have male children, for some reason. My dad and his brother only had girls.

I haven't searched the name in awhile, but I just found this: http://www.grumme.se/ I have no idea what that all means, but it looks like cleaning supplies?

ETA: I just noticed your ticker. That is our dog's formal name: Laurell's Bring Back the Magic. She is 11 years old (see my avatar).

(Once more briefly off-topic, sorry Flossbolna, I hope you won't mind?)

Ah, you put me on the right track with the town as now I have found it! Apparently it is a district in the central German town of Bochum (which used to be a mining town and is home to a very famous German singer).

And as for the Swedish dishwashing liquids and so on: According to my meagre Swedish, they are especially environment-friendly, so that's another good thing!

 

[All7OfUs]

Enjoy your long weekend! We'll look forward to something after then sometime

 

[bumblebeeRN]

what a fun experience with the several disney parks you have visited.

I would LOVE to visit disneyland paris one of these days. It looks just beautiful.

 

[Flossbolna]

Finally it was time to board the plane! We were told that business class was not ready for boarding yet, there were some issues with the electricity of the seats in business class. This caused some confusion. As well as the fact that they boarded the plane by calling row numbers. For some reason most passengers chose not to believe that and insisted on waiting just in front of the gate and not let those people whose rows had been called pass. Why do people do that?

We managed to finally get to our seats, which were just the ones we had reserved all the time back in June. The seating on the Airbus 340 is 2 – 4 – 2. So we had a window and an aisle seat. I let nodnol have the window seat.

We finally took off with 50 minutes delay which was a bit annoying. But the flight time was supposed to be only 9 hours and 30 minutes, so an hour shorter than the normal schedule. Still this is a really long time on a plane!! We were entertained by getting some food, I got the normal fare, but nodnol got her special lactose free meal, which was even served before they started serving the normal meals.

This is nodnol's tray:

and without the cover:

It was polenta with pumpkin, some salad (the tomatoes got exchanged with the shrimps I had on my salad), some strange spread called “Le Parfait” which according to the ingredients consisted of yeast and tomato puree, and for dessert some fruit. She also got a bread roll when the normal meal service started. And she got some special lactose free water!!
I was surpried by the food, I quite liked it. Unfortunately, I think it was the best aisplane food I got on the trip...

I had the choice between beef or pasta and decided to get the pasta. One of the benefits of having a seat towards the front of economy class is that you still have the choice of meals! This is my meal:

The pasta had some sauce with cream and spinach and a tiny bit of tomato. It tasted pretty good, the pasta was quite soft, but not too soft. Better than the cafeteria at work makes it... I also got a nice piece of soft cheese and a salad with shrimps (which I don't eat, but nodnol was quite excited to get them!). Dessert was a small piece of cherry chocolate cake. It was a very nice meal, I enjoyed all of it. While it isn't gourmet, it was better than a lot of the things we can buy at work. So for what it was, I was pretty pleased with the quality.

We also got drinks served with the meal. We could even had wine or beer and after dinner they served cordials. They also came around with tea and coffee at least twice. Also all the time during the flight you could go and get more drinks and pretzels from the flight attendants. They really take care of you on those long flights!

The flight in general was pretty bumpy and we were often confined to our seats. We had little screens in the seats in front of us and had quite a lot of films to chose from. We watched 500 Days of Summer. Which we did not like very much, it was a bit boring an pretentious. But it helped kill the time. We read some... Watched a video explaining the arrival process at Orlando airport:

Finally we were at least getting close to our destination:

And we got another meal. This time nodnol got some rice with vegetables which unfortunately had some tomatoes with it which she tried not to eat. And she got some fruit again:

I had ravioli in tomato sauce. I think I had exactly the same meal last year as well. It was pasta again, but again it was rather tasty. I really liked this dish! I also got some rice pudding. This a very popular rice pudding in Germany, but I never buy it and while it was ok, I still won't go out and buy it in the future!

Next: Chapter 3: The Fun of Travelling Part 4

 

[PNO4TE]

An update!

 

[All7OfUs]

I always get the pasta on Luft flights!! They do make them tasty! And you're right, they seem to take better care of the mega flight passengers with extra snacks and drinks available. Movie choices are what they are. Never VERY good. Although, once we got to watch Sea Biscuit that was pretty good.

I hope they told you how to get to ME in that big old long spiel!! I mean passport is important all, but hey, let's get our priorities right!

You were so nice to let nodnol have the window. It's awfully nice to have the wall as a headrest! But, ok, terribly inconvenient to get out.

I hate when the seatbelt light is on all the time. I have TBS (tiny bladder syndrome) and cringe every time it goes on- always wondering if it's going to go off in time.



So, did you try to get some sleep in this flight??

 

[glennbo123]

Your meals looked pretty good for airline food.

I'm just wondering what your fellow travelers thought of you taking pictures of the Orlando terminal video.

 

[Flossbolna]

You sure handled the airport experience well. Can't wait to hear about the on plane experience.

And that strudel looks soooooo good.

Plane experience is finally posted!!

Your strudel looks so yummy. I am excited for you to get the resort as we are staying at AKL when we go in Nov. and I am looking forward to your pictures.

I hope I will finally get us to arrive at AKL soon!

You didn't abandon us, did you Flossbolna???

Come back to us!!

So sorry for being so slow...

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Please come back to play!

Here I am!!

What is that song that goes "______, can you come out to play, come out to play, come out to play?" and then repeats itself. I cannot remember the first part and it is driving me coocoo.

I hope you got it figured out. Unfortunately I don't know the song...

 

[Flossbolna]

Enjoy your long holiday weekend! I wish we got one (here, many people have Friday off, but not us accountants).

Ooooh - I go to DC in June. I will have to check out that museum. I have a lot of German in my heritage. My maiden name is Grumme (which, I believe, translates to "mud"). Nice, huh?

Looking forward to your update(s) this weekend. Take your time.

Hmm, I have never heard the word "Grumme" in German - maybe it is just used in certain regions? (And if so, Floss might be able to say more about it since she comes from an entirely different region of Germany than me).

I didn't know there were no long Easter holidays in the US - poor you! But I wish you a happy easter anyway!

And, Floss: Glad you are back and looking forward to the next instalment!

Sorry to be off topic here. I think maybe it was once a town. There are not many of us left today. Most Grummes didn't have male children, for some reason. My dad and his brother only had girls.

I haven't searched the name in awhile, but I just found this: http://www.grumme.se/ I have no idea what that all means, but it looks like cleaning supplies?

ETA: I just noticed your ticker. That is our dog's formal name: Laurell's Bring Back the Magic. She is 11 years old (see my avatar).

(Once more briefly off-topic, sorry Flossbolna, I hope you won't mind?)

Ah, you put me on the right track with the town as now I have found it! Apparently it is a district in the central German town of Bochum (which used to be a mining town and is home to a very famous German singer).

And as for the Swedish dishwashing liquids and so on: According to my meagre Swedish, they are especially environment-friendly, so that's another good thing!

Looks like the two of you have solved the Grumme issue! It sounds a bit like Krümel, too, which would mean crumb. Or like the adjective krumm which means twisted (as opposed to straight). Susan, I guess you ought to pick just the one that you like best.

And the Swedish company appears to originally have been a manufacture of curd soap? But I think it is just a name there as well.

for long weekends! and no worries, we will still be here

Good to know that my readers won't desert me...

I live about 1.5 hour from DC! I'll have to go before I go to Germany in July! =]

Can't wait to hear more! I'm off from College for Friday/Monday =]

I think the museum sounds really interesting, please report on how it is if you end up going there!

Enjoy your long weekend! We'll look forward to something after then sometime

Next update is posted (I know, you even commented on it already!) and much more written. So hopefully things will move along nicely now!

what a fun experience with the several disney parks you have visited.

I would LOVE to visit disneyland paris one of these days. It looks just beautiful.

DLP is beautiful, I hope to get to go there one day!

 

[Flossbolna]

An update!

Well, who would have thought it???

I always get the pasta on Luft flights!! They do make them tasty! And you're right, they seem to take better care of the mega flight passengers with extra snacks and drinks available. Movie choices are what they are. Never VERY good. Although, once we got to watch Sea Biscuit that was pretty good.

I hope they told you how to get to ME in that big old long spiel!! I mean passport is important all, but hey, let's get our priorities right!

You were so nice to let nodnol have the window. It's awfully nice to have the wall as a headrest! But, ok, terribly inconvenient to get out.

I hate when the seatbelt light is on all the time. I have TBS (tiny bladder syndrome) and cringe every time it goes on- always wondering if it's going to go off in time.



So, did you try to get some sleep in this flight??

I got quite a chuckle from your abreviation of Lufthansa into Luft - that's the German world for air.

Actually, nodnol passed on a newspaper article to me a few days ago about airline food. It turns out that Lufthansa has teamed up with scientist from a German research institute (the Fraunhofer institute, these are the guys who invented the MP3 file format) to investigate how food tastes under flight conditions. They found out that the dry air, the low air pressure and even the noise on the plane make the food taste different, much more bland. So they use 20% more spices and salt on the food they serve on a plane. They even found out that the famous tomato juice tastes much sweeter on an airplane than on the ground. Lufthansa is the only airline that does this research. So perhaps this why their meals are actually quite tasty and not just bland like with other airlines.

We could have watched Up, but we already had seen it and did not want to spoil it by watching it on that tiny monitor. We actually did not sleep very much (I think we had a short nap of half an hour or so). The good thing with the bigger Lufthansa planes is that they have these headrests which you can fold forward so that your head does not fall to the side. I think these are great for sleeping!

Your meals looked pretty good for airline food.

I'm just wondering what your fellow travelers thought of you taking pictures of the Orlando terminal video.

The meals were ok, as I explained above, Lufthansa is being very Germanic about it and actually puts scientific research into their meals...

I think once I started taking food pictures for the DIS I got so used to just taking my picture without caring for anyone else wondering about what I am doing! Here in Berlin I can do a lot of "tourist-watching" and it is actually quite funny to see what things people take pictures of.

 

[podsnel]

What is that song that goes "______, can you come out to play, come out to play, come out to play?" and then repeats itself. I cannot remember the first part and it is driving me coocoo.

The only thing I can think of is "buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight, won't you come out tonight,...." that they sang in It's a Wonderful Life. Is that what you're thinking of?

Sorry to be off topic here. I think maybe it was once a town. There are not many of us left today. Most Grummes didn't have male children, for some reason. My dad and his brother only had girls.

I haven't searched the name in awhile, but I just found this: http://www.grumme.se/ I have no idea what that all means, but it looks like cleaning supplies?

ETA: I just noticed your ticker. That is our dog's formal name: Laurell's Bring Back the Magic. She is 11 years old (see my avatar).

This cracked me up. My husband's last name (well, mine too) is Geissel- and there are all boys and barely a girl in any generation! Must be from the opposite side of Germany from the Grummes!

Flossbolna, I am SO HAPPY you're back!! And thanks for the Germany museum tip- we had planned to go to Washington DC this summer, but our plans changed, and now we're going to Hilton Head- although I am going to work on WDC in this next year. We live only 4 hours away, so it's a very doable trip.

 

[klacey1]

Awesome update! Luftansa looks like it has decent food!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Yay, airplane food porn!

Wow, two meals, drinks and cordials. Not bad. Love all the details.

 

[If U Had Wings]

I can't even remember the last time I've had a meal on a flight. It's been ages since I've been on a flight longer than about 3 1/2 hours, and they stopped serving meals on those ages ago. Those look pretty good though. Now I'm just happy when I get a snack.

What is that song that goes "______, can you come out to play, come out to play, come out to play?" and then repeats itself. I cannot remember the first part and it is driving me coocoo.

Are you thinking of the song from "It's a Wonderful Life"? That one is "Buffalo girl can't you come out tonight, can't you come out tonight, can't you come out tonight?" That one is called Dance with a Dolly. I don't know if it has a come out and play verse.