CHARLESTON TO WURZBURG - DAYS 1 & 2.. SORT OF

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Well, first of all, let me say we did end up getting the flight on Monday to Ramstein. They had 44 seats and didn't quite fill them up. The check-in process started a bit later than 4:20pm, and dragged on a lot, mostly due to the fact they although others seemed available, only one Air Force agent was calling on and checking in each passenger. Some where past the midway point, they did add a second agent. Manoli and I were called up about half way through the process, due to the number of active duty and others in higher categories than us. After checking in our two pieces of luggage (80 pounds between the two), we waited for the call to pass through security, then a few minutes after that, we boarded the old Bluebird bus to the plane.

Our plane ended up being a C-17, a bit bigger than a C-130, but not nearly as large as the C-5 I took to Spain last year. Like the C-130, it had web-type seats that didn't recline, so we were not optimistic about our comfort for the 9-hour flight to come! I was not allowed to take any photos of the plane, inside or out. By the time we lifted off, it was after 8:30pm, and dinner (box lunches we bought for about 5 bucks each) was made available until after 9pm. By that time, we were not only hungry, but getting drowsy. After eating, we finally noticed other folks lying on the deck of the plane, some even with blow-up mattress pads! I've decided I'm buying a pair of those asap! By that point, we'd already decided we were not going to be comfortable enough in our rigid seats, even with pillows and all, so I found a clear spot on the deck and my wife laid down on the her seat and my vacant seat. Between a couple of blankets for padding on the deck and two pillows, one they gave me and my GoAnywhere MyPillow, I was able to sleep for about 5 hours or so, then use the restroom, walk around and nap twice more until lights came up and we started our approach to Ramstein.

The plane touched down a bit noisily around 11am Germany time. After getting our passports stamped and picking up our luggage, we headed to eh Air Force Inn where we were told we could get a map of the base. I needed to find the Hertz office so we could rent our car for the next 3 weeks. It wasn't on the map, but a lady told me it was near the laundrymat which I did locate on the map, so away I went, leaving Manoli to guard our luggage. Well, maybe it was near the laundrymat, but I had trouble finding that. After several false turns and asking several people, I did finally find it. It turned out that I couldn't get my Hertz employee discount because I hadn't made a reservation. After a few tries, the Hertz lady was able to locate my Hertz Gold membership and gave me a discount, although I don't think it was as big as I'd get in the U.S. Anyways, $600 on my credit later, I drove back to the Air Force Inn in our Citroen Picasso mid-sized car or mini-SUV (not sure which it is, but it is big enough and has automatic transmission and GPS navigation). We loaded up the car with our luggage and headed out of the base to find someplace to sit and study the navigation and get a couple of welcome coffees. After coffees at a decent little Shell gas station, we figure out how to put in the address of our first hostel, DJH Jugendherberge Würzburg.

The trip was about 240 kilometers and took longer than the 2 hours and 40 minutes it was supposed to take. It seemed they were doing road repairs every 10 or 20 kilometers, dropping the speed limit down from 120 to 60 kph! I will say we liked their version of rest stops though. They occurred pretty frequently, and even though they were simple places to pull in and use the restroom, they are easy-off-easy-on. We took advantage of one along the way. After missing the initial turn into Wurzburg, we wound our way back to the town and easily found our hostel. At this point I found out they had very limited free parking, with something like 6 or 7 spots, none of which were available at the time. We ended up parking in about the same place, but those spots are only free after hours and we would have to move the car by 8am the next morning or pay a fee or fine. I checked periodically from then until we returned to the hostel for the night, and somewhere around 8pm I caught an open space and moved the car. We don't plan on driving anywhere tomorrow, just check out the sights in Wurzburg. It was around 5pm when we checked into the hostel, getting another surprise. Apparently when I'd made the reservations in Charleston, I'd made them for the 6th through the 8th, not the 4th through the 6th! Luckily, they had a private double room available for a few extra bucks so we lucked out. The down side was we had to take an elevator up 3 floors, then climb a spiral staircase to the 4th floor where our room was. Needless to say, it was not easy negotiating a spiral staircase with big pieces of luggage! The room is quite nice though, with plenty of room, two twin beds together, and a clean, well equipped bathroom.

After stowing our gear, we headed out to find a good place to eat dinner, since we hadn't had much to eat since something like 4am Germany time. We found a helpful young lady at a flower shop that recommended the Backöfele Restaurant. It wasn't hard to find and we were given a nice table for two near the kitchen. We weren't that hungry and didn't want to chance upsetting our stomachs, so we each ordered a different soup and split a sausage sampler plate. Manoli had the Wurzburg Potato soup and I had a Franconian Dumpling soup. They both tasted delicious, although mine lacked any dumplings! The broth was quite good though. The sausage sampler was 3 different types of sausage, each with compatible sides. One was Wild Boar and a leek and potato salad, one was pork with a delicious sauerkraut , and the other was lamb I think with onions and carrots. I loved the one with sauerkraut and the other two were good. The whole thing, with coffee and water came to about 23 Euros, not bad at all. After dinner, we walked around a bit to see the sights and find a grocery store for Manoli to browse. She also wanted to see if McDonalds was different, like maybe having beer. It was apparently about the same menu as in the U.S. We stopped at a Kupsch market, bought a couple drinks, snack cakes and plums, then headed back to the hostel for the night.

Tomorrow we plan on taking it easy and just stroll around town.

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Photos

Passenger Terminal
Manoli in the Charleston Passenger Terminal waiting area.

Crossing the Mainbrucke
Notice all the folks drinking wine and beer.

Backofele Restaurant
Our first real meal in Germany.