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Published: June 13th 2008
Lunch at SFO
After our 20 minute checkin, decided to grab a bite to eat...Wow, what a day...
Had a good start this morning in Elk Grove. Got out of the house pretty much on time, and as of now we only know of a couple things we missed - nothing major. We picked up Tyler, and were off to the Bay Area. I think we discoverd the capacity limit on the Tahoe (2 Adults, 2 teenagers, 4 large pieces of luggage, and one dog). After dropping of Sage at Mom & Dad's, and picking up Dad to shuffle the car back from SFO, we were off to the airport. We got to the arrival drop off a little after 11:00am, and had our luggage checked, and were through security within 20 minutes (I swear it's more difficult to fly to Fresno than it is Internationally. Dumbfounded, we headed to our boarding gate area, and found a small sandwich shop to grab a bite to eat.
We headed for our boarding gate on time, and getting on the plane was very smooth (first 747 for me - wow that was a big plane). Once on the plane, Charlene ran into a little snag with a foreign gentleman wanting to have her switch seats
with another section so his wife could site next to him. Charlene and I were trying to explain that this was why she was sitting where she was (to keep our group together), but the guy just wasn't getting it. Finally, someone else gave up their seat so this confused individual could be with his wife - all was well.
We took off about 5 minutes late, but we more than made up the time during flight. We had a good tail wind most of the flight (usually more than 25mph), and maintained a ground speed of 580+ most of the trip. This was the first flight that I've been on where they broadcast the stats of the flight up on the screen throughout the flight (pretty cool for a geek like me - see the pic). It was neat because it always showed our location on the globe, so we knew when we were over Canada, or Greenland, or Scotland. I thought it was pretty cool...
I think the group concensus was that the trip wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. About half way through I couldn't believe we still had more than 5
Wow that's a big plane!
After landing in Frankfurt. Gate is under construction, so had to take the stairs off the plane, then a shuttlebus to the gate. hours left, but when it was over it didn't seem that bad. Charlene's last minute upgrade of our tickets to Economy Plus was the absolute life saver (these tickets cost a little more, but the extra 5 inches of leg room make all the difference in the world. Now I know for sure I married the right woman...
The trip ended up taking about 10 1/2 hours to complete, and we touched down at 9:25am local time on runway 25R. Little wobbly landing, but not bad. The terminal we parked at in Frankfurt is undergoing repairs (to accomodate the new A380 Airbus planes), so they had us exit the plane on stairs, and I got a nice shot of the plane from the rear (wow, that's a big plane). We took a shuttle to the gate where we proceeded to wander our way through the maze of events. First we checked in at the Passport counter where the guys mumbled a few words at us, and stamped us on. Next we managed to find Baggage claim, and retrieved our luggage (was waiting for us when we got there - we'd still be waiting for it if we were in
Lunch in Heidelberg
Yes, we are American! Sacramento Int'l). Then on to the Rental Car (Avis). The car they had for use was being "returned from the Service Center", so we had to wait around for about 50 minutes before it was ready for us to pickup, then it was the 30 minute hike to the car itself (ok, maybe a little exagerated, but it was a long trek). And what was waiting for us in stall 103?? A Ford! Wait a minute... We fly 6000 miles overnight, and get to a foreign land only to be given a Ford??? We were very sceptical at first, but this is a pretty snazzy little car. Never seen these in the States, but it's a Ford S-Max, turbo diesel, 6 speed, and it has some spunk.. We got the GPS setup, and after a little struggle finding reverse in the thing, managed to get out of the parking lot, and on our way to Heidelberg.
Took less than an hour to get to Heidelberg, and after carefully inplementing a Parking plan, managed to find a nice little place to eat right off the main street (don't recall the name, but will look it up later). We all tried
the local menu items, and there were all great. Charlene had a local Pilsner, and she really liked it as well. We didn't plan to spend any time in Heidelberg (other than Lunch), because we wanted to catch some of the Castle Road before getting to our first destination (Rothenburg). Castle road pretty much follows the Neckar river upstream from Heidleberg for probably 60 miles or more, and we decided to drive the road as long as we felt good, and cut over to Rothenburg when we felt like we saw enough. We went through the little towns along the way, but it was difficult to stop to take pictures (not a lot of shoulder room on the road, and the traffic is flat out moving... Some of the towns we drove through on the way included Neckargemund (where we crossed over the river), Neckarsteinach (very cool Castle on the hillside there), Eberbach (got side tracked in this slightly bigger village - GPS was testing our navigation skills), Lindach, and down through Neckarsulm. We passed by an Audi factory (which was pretty cool), We ended up getting off the Castle Road at A6, and started heading east. Got stuck in
our first real traffic jam which was caused by a large road construction project (ok, they have the same problems over here too). Didn't take too long to clear the construction, and we were off to the races. We followed A6 for about 45 miles, and connected with A7 heading north. Followed A7 for about 15 miles, then Rothenburg is just a few miles off the main road. It seems very easy to get around over here, but our GPS is a godsend. The street signs aren't always there, or consistently labeled, but with the GPS route pre-programmed, it takes us right to our destination. There is NO WAY I could navigate around here without it... Also, the driving over here is nice. They drive very fast, but drivers are very aware of what is happening around them. People don't linger in the fast lane, and if you are in the fast lane, you better keep watching the rear view mirror. Found fast cars desending on me very quickly, and had to coordinate my moves well in advance. The driving was a little intense at first, but I got used to it. You really have to pay attention though (probably
Lots of these around
Lots of ultra compacts around (I like it). Haven't seen one at high speed yet, but defenitely more smaller cars over here. why we have no cup holders in the car).
Arrived in Rothenberg about 5:00 local time, and the town is beautiful (looks like something our of Disneyland). Our hotel (the Markusturm, or Romantik Hotel) is located within the heart of the town about a block from the main town square. Inside the town walls (more about those later), the streets are all cobblestone, and very narrow. This is a very neat little town, and I'm glad we're here more than a day.
We checked in, and I managed to find the assigned parking lot a few blocks away. Got back, and found our sleeping arrangements were a little off. We were supposed to have two rooms, one with two twins (for Rhiannon and Tyler), and the other double for Charlene and I. We got two very nice rooms right next to each other, but both had doubles. Tyler almost immediately crashed on their bed, and Rhiannon decided to crash on our bed. Charlene took a shower, and we both went to take a walk around the town. It was pretty much shut down by the time we got back to the hotel (most stores appear to close early),
but we got a nice look at what's out there. Took some nice pictures along the way too.
Got back to the room, and found that the little couch folds out into something resembling a bed. I laid down, and immediately crashed... Charlene took the bed with Rhiannon. I was out for a good 4 hours, but that was about it - gonna take a few days to adjust to the time difference I think. Anyway, the sun is coming up now, and today is another adventure....
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Joan Wildermuth
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Great narrative and pics
We really enjoyed the pics and the narrative. Very interesting since we will never get there. I can see why they have small cars what with the narrow streets you have encountered. Makes it a lot easier to get around plus saving gas and the environment in the process. Maybe the US will catch on to this mode of travel if we continue to pay the high prices at the pump. Your are all in our prayers for safe travel. Love, Joan/Todd