Wednesday September 12, 2012

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

We are here in Munich, found our motel and had an hour or so of a nap--and it is now just going on 5:00pm. This might be a long day!!

We started boarding the plane about 7:10pm last evening. We were to leave at 8:10pm. We would have been on time except for a Grandma and Grandpa couple. Now someone needs to tell me why in the world 300/400/500/600 (or however many were on the plane) people on that plane need to wait 15 or more minutes for 1 G&G?? Well, we did and no one told me why. Once they got them on board, of course they wanted to sit together and there were no seats together and no one offered to change so they could sit together. So she was shown her seat and he was going to be taken to his, she said she had t go to the bathroom--and she did after the stewardess told her she needed to hurry. He stood outside her bathroom door--not sure why - she did not hurry--and when she came out and got back to the aisle where her seat was, he started opening up the overhead cupboards checking for her luggage--think maybe she wanted to see that it got on the plane. So she crawled over the person at the end of the row as he stood at the end and watched her as she started "nesting" like a dog when they turn around and around and around before they lay down--and there we 300/400/500/600 were waiting and watching her--and it's going past leaving time. Soon a male stewardess said to the man that he needed to get in his seat as we needed to go to Munich. Some man close to where the lady was sitting said, yes, we have people to see and places to go :-) That made us probably 15 minutes late, than the pilot came on and said there were computer glitches and he was shutting down the plane and restarting it!!! Oh brother, someone in the back said they had just come from Montreal and had plane trouble and why don't they have planes that work. So in about another 15 minutes the pilot assured us the glitch was fixed and we were off--about 8:45 at least. Then we had our supper at 10:00, drinks were offered and then things you could buy from the duty free. The lights did not go off in the plane until not sure when as I fell asleep about 11:00. We did sleep but not enough. Breakfast of coffee, orange juice and a muffin came at 3:30am your time and we landed about 4:40 am--10:30am Germany time.

We got through customs, phoned the man and he brought our lease vehicle and met us at the Starbucks coffee shop in the airport. He took us and the car back several miles to his office , we signed the paper work and he handed me the keys (for your new car) and then we headed back to the airport to pick up the bikes. Never once did we think that we were leaving the airport after landing without needing to go through customs again to get the bikes. Not sure what we were thinking - we just wanted to stay together. Anyway about 1 to 2 hours after landing we had our car and the bikes in it and heading to the OMV Tankstelle for diesel and then next door to the Penny Market for some good old German cheese, meat and buns for lunch. Figured we had better get some fruit too since it looks like the same menu for supper.

We are thankful for friendly airline staff, safety as we flew, a bed to lay down to sleep instead of sitting up. Tonight we will probably just putter around Erding (for those following the Google Maps - Robert-Koch-Strasse 10 85435 Erding DE) walking the streets and checking out this little village.

It is raining here but who cares if we get wet. Everything is lush and green - not a sign of fall approaching or dry weather in the past.

Warm memories are flooding us--beautiful flower boxes, transport trucks like we do not have in North America, run-arounds in the roads instead of stop light intersections, language we cannot totally understand , music we cannot understand but like the beat, little cars that I would love to have 1 like at home, etc. We are driving a grey Renault Modus 5-speed diesel with a French license plate. That French license plate does not thrill us - they are not always patient with their French neighbors. However, it is ours for 6 weeks like it or not.

Tomorrow is to put the bikes back together without any parts left over - and hopefully they are all there - one bag was open at the top a little. Now time to straighten out suitcases and hand carrying on bags.
Thanks to Ken and Martha for getting us safely to the Toronto Airport and on our way. ..............Later D&J