On the first day of my German vacation; I woke up, I went down town to look for a job, then I hung out in front of the Apotheke.
Sorry, that's not quite right. What we actually did was wake up at 4am (under the auspices of "getting ready to combat the jet lag") and then durdle around the house for like 6 and a half hours until it was time to drive over to meet up with our traveling companions (Ryan, whose name isn't spelled Ryne [like Sandberg, the MLB player that I've had beef with since the Clinton administration] and Laure, whose name Angie spells Linnie or Linny - depending on how the mood strikes) (Angie: I always spell it Linny. I'm not sure what mood constitutes Linnie). We grabbed an Uber (the German word for expensive) (Actually it means over, above or to an amount) to the airport and nearly immediately hit a snag because American Airlines can't be arsed to put the right coding on half the party's tickets.
After sorting that out and otherwise breezing through security, we discovered that our gate did in fact exist. Armed with this knowledge, we went through the many stages of airport readiness - this time, including the secret 7th stage: currency exchange.
The flight from CVG to PHL (that's Declarationofindependenceburgh for you squares) was delayed a bit because "oh, there's just too many planes in the sky" and "we don't wanna *run into another plane* or something, right?". You don't know me, pilot. You don't know the horrors I've witnessed. Anyway, no. Let's not run into another plane. (We did taxi to a part of the runway I've never seen before, right next to the fence where you drive toward the highway after picking up your arrivals. And a forgotten Delta hangar! The fun! The excitement! Tarmac Taxi!!)
Which meant some waiting. Which made the brisk walk from gate C920453931 to A6 much more brisk than anticipated. We made it and there was much rejoicing. (Yay!)
The next leg of the flight was the looooong one - Philadelphia (of Cream Cheese fame) to Zurich (named after a famous D&D vampire, I think?) (Yeah, the vampire was named Sir Rick but when introducing himself he rudely said it with a mouthful of blood). The food was airline food, the inflight entertainment was mediocre, and the person in front of me kept turning on her flashlight to use the controls - which nearly blinded me each time.
Angie got some sleep (My watch says I got both 2 hours and 20 minutes of sleep. Not together. One of these measurements is correct but time really holds no meaning when on an international flight) and I got to listen to some off-duty flight attendants be catty about everything.
We hit the ground walking, (Actually, before we hit the ground walking, we first waited for the med unit to show up! About 20 minutes before we were to land there was an announcement calling for anyone with medical experience to help with a medical emergency onboard. We were back in steerage with the Linnemans up in Premium Economy and we were so worried it was them because we were served cashew granola for breakfast! Luckily it was NOT them, but whoever it was, I hope they're okay) because several of our number were already having Vacation Tummy, so we took things easier than usual (I don't know about y'all but even when I eat bland, non-heavy foods and avoid carbonated beverages for a week before a flight, 38,000 feet generates enough toots in my tummy to power a small steamboat). Cleared customs, got a rare Neutral Stamp, and hit up the food court to get some drinks while we waited on our train. (Ryan and Jeff got lovely butter and chocolate croissants. I went into a nearby supermarket and just picked the bargain sandwich and drink I watched another girl get. Her combo of a tuna salad and butter sandwich with Ovaltine (called Ovomaltine here) was...a choice. A choice I made too? Not a winning combo.)
Another 3+ hours of transit later, we made it to Baden-Baden. The city so nice they named it twice. (It was a lovely train ride! I did snooze for half of it, but the other half was nice to look at the countryside as we traveled north out of Switzerland into Germany. It's a rainy day today, with lots of low-lying clouds clinging to the tall hills (I hear they're alive with the Sound of Music on clearer days). The houses remind me of what I'm coming to recognize as a very European style as it reminds me of homes we've seen in Wales, Scotland and the UK. Stone, brick, concrete, needs a good scrub but still quaint and not something you see in America. It exudes "old" unlike our 1930's Sears catalog homes do. Ryan and Jeff had brought Magic the Gathering card decks and were playing that on the first leg of the train ride. It was adorable watching them have fun playing a game by the big train window as the countryside whooshed by. It was also nice and quiet on the train, since we had booked first class. Very nice!)
After figuring out the bus system (maybe, hopefully) and checking into our hotel, everyone except me took naps, because I've never figured out how to do that correctly. While Them Linnaments were recovering, Angie and I did some reconnaissance. What did we learn? Drug Store does not mean Pharmacy in this country. Which is weird. The drug store didn't appear to sell any drugs at all, just hair products and herbal supplements whose validity hasn't been tested or approved by the Food and Drug Administration. (We also checked out a local supermarket because I wanted to try some snacks! We got the most German drink Apferschorle (sparkling apple juice), rosemary and sea salt potato chips, zaziki flavored chips, chocolate covered short bread, and little chocolate cookie wafers. I've only tried the Apferschorle so far and I like it (any more sparkling and it would be too bitter) but Jeff doesn't like it. Hopefully we can have a taste test with Ryan and Linny tomorrow with the rest of the snacks!)
Retrieving our sleepy companions, we grabbed some kebabs from the kebab place. They were very tasty. Angie has prepared a statement, as well as a photo of all of us enjoying the kebabs. Take it away, Angie! (If you haven't figured it out by now, my statement has been peppered throughout this post in this bold, italic font).
And here are the lovely photos we took today:
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