Sunday, April 6, 2008 Rhineland, Munich

At breakfast I experience Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread. A little to rich for me that early in the morning, but very good nonetheless. The discussion turns to the origination of Nutella which the Aussie’s and the Taiwanese (sure it’s a word in my book) claim it’s American. Hmmm, never heard of it, nor had Beverly or Robert also from the US. After breakfast we head to our morning Rhine River cruise, with Betty in the front of the bus by request.

The cruise boat is large and offers several tiers of decks outside. Again the weather is cold and drizzly. This seems to be the norm. We see castles and picturesque buildings. I entertain myself and others by taking pictures of interesting places that I can tell my family and friends that I stayed – lived the real world – while in Europe. The camper, the camper with canopy, the private beach, the out houses. This becomes something that everyone helps me with throughout the trip, although not so sure my family would have believed it since they had the itinerary. Simmi and I take pictures of people on our tour as well as the boat crew. Nick manages to slip down the wet stairs, unharmed with ego slightly shattered.

After the canal cruise, we stop off at a Swarvoski crystal shop. I spend big bucks to get a pad of paper for my son and a free crystal pin. We then board the coach again and head to Munich.

At the lunch stop, I manage to get some more photos for my fake tour. Unfortunately in order to do so I manage to sink above my boots in mud. Guiseppi, the bus driver stops to chat with me and inquires if I’m traveling solo. He says I talk to fast and he doesn’t understand. I do my best charades and slow talk to inquire if he’s willing to stop occasionally for photo opportunities which he, I’m sure knowingly, says he doesn’t understand and then later says that there is no time due to the time schedule of the fast paced trip. Yeah, right.

Our next stop is Rothenburg, Germany. Rothenburg is like Frankenmuth, MI, Christmas year round. We spend 1.5 hours walking around the town, and I venture off on my own. The streets and shops all look similar and I fear that I will be lost and get left behind. Of course it starts to rain and snow again. There are many dogs in the area as it was bring your dog flea market day. I try Schneeballen (snowballs) a nasty donut impersonation which are disgusting, although the TG says they are yummy. Hmmm…

We are back on the bus again. It seems like this “On the Go” tour is only in the bus. While there is walking, it doesn’t seem like much to me, but was difficult for many of the elderly, especially Glenn, on the tour. Many of the street surfaces are either cobblestone or brick and very uneven. I inquire how fast the bus is going and Nick checks it out 90-100km (60-70mph) – no wonder we are in the bus all the time!

We arrive at the hotel Tryp Munich in Germany. As dinner is not included, a group of us head out to find some real German cuisine. We walked quite a ways into town through a shopping district looking for food. We finally settle on a place that looks authentically German. I order a 6 euro water, beer was actually cheaper; however, Tania and I learn that we are the alcoholics of our intimate group – sharing a beer. I order pork, potato dumpling, cabbage and bacon salad. We have a bread basket with cold hard (soft) pretzels and other breads. We are charged per piece of bread we eat. I wouldn’t order the food again.

Walking back, it’s getting cold and dark. At least it isn’t raining. In the open plaza area, a band is singing American. The band is trying to teach the crowd to sing along. The song is SATISFACTION. Tania and I walk by of course me in my best screaming karaoke voice (yep, sure don’t sing karaoke) the lyrics. Is there anything more entertaining then two women screaming, I mean singing, “I CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION” in a market square?

We get back to the hotel and it’s about 11p.m. Everyone says goodnight. I of course am anything but tired. Tania and I decided to check out the sauna, but get separated. I walk into the sauna, exercise area and a man, a little too friendly inside the sauna, is watching me. He quickly watched me leave too!

The lobby offers 15 minutes of free internet usage. I try to get into yahoo or hotmail and they are blocked sites. Fortunately I’m able to access my work email and email family. The keyboard was bizarre as the y and z keys were switched as were different punctuation keys and the @ sign. I wasn’t able to get the @ sign to work despite asking for assistance from the TG who was in the lobby and the receptionist. Without the @ key, I wasn’t able to email my son as his account wasn’t a default with my work account. So I had to have others forward my main message to him. I had given up trying to type the correct keys so it looked pretty crazy to me when it was all said and done.

I decide to take a shower when I get back to the room. By far this was the most daunting and difficult part of the trip so far. Me and my issues. Tania had warned me of the strong water pressure and that it had scalded her legs. That didn’t help me. The tub was seriously knee high and I felt like I had to crawl into it. I’m 5’6”, so I couldn’t imagine if I were any shorter. I couldn’t get the temperature stable – it was either too hot or too cold. The shower curtain kept sticking to me, spraying water everywhere in the bathroom. I put back the mobile shower head and turned off the water. I couldn’t get the shower head back on, with Tania’s assistance through the wall, I did. But when it came back on it scalded my chest. Then I set it down and turned it off and when I turned it back on it snaked around the tub and sprayed water all over. Nice…is it really this difficult? Then I realize I forgot to grab my pj’s.

It was after 3a.m. when Tania and I finally stopped talking. With the lights out, Tania decided she had to turn the lights on to go to the bathroom. Oops, I had forgotten to clean up the water on the floor! Paybacks from her flooding the floor the night before! Then she proceeded to slam the bathroom door shut a few times to close it, bang up the toilet lid, flush the toilet, swing open the frig for water, bang around then got back in bed. Turned off the lights. My eyes adjusted and then she turned back on the light to get a Kleenex to blow her nose! Good thing I was awake and I liked her, otherwise, I may have had to cause her bodily harm! Somehow I think the 5:30a.m. wake up call isn't going to be a welcoming one!