Euro Trip 2008

Well, we survived and even prospered on our summer trip. Prospered spiritually, not financially, since Europe this year, given the weak dollar, is absurdly expensive. More on that later.

Since I took no pictures and bought no souveniers, I am going to recount our trip on this blog, the equivalent of a boring slide show, in writing. But, for my family's posterity, here it is...

Wifey's back didn't allow her to travel, so she flew to Atlanta while we were gone. Before she left, she drove Ds 1 and 2 and me to MIA on Turrsday, June 5. The flight to Paris was uneventful, and long. We used miles to upgrade to Business Class, and the service on American was truly fine. We had a flight attendant from Boca, and an aging, elegant gay fellow who was the flight's purser. The two of them kept us fed and happy the entire 9 hours.

We arrived at DeGaulle airport in Paris, and immediately saw our first ethnic stereotype: the French are not the best engineers. Although CDG is a pretty new airport, it is so poorly planned that every 50 feet or so you have to squeeze through a clot of waiting passengers to make forward progress. And some of the passengers are Taliban-looking folks, wearing Burkhas, who you don't really wish to jostle!

We had a long layover at CDG before boarding an Air France Airbus for Munich. After a 1.5 hour extremely turbulent flight, we arrived in Munich's shiny new airport. It was time for the second stereotype: the Germans ARE great engineers. The Munich airport looks and functions like something out of the "Jetsons." Everyone moves smoothly and efficiently; we had our bags in no time, and there were wide walkways wherever you went.

Our driver to Passau met us precisely where he told D1 he would, and we boarded his van. He had a bouquet of roses for my Ds. They smiled.

The trip to Passau took Joerg, driving about 70 mph, about 1.5 miles. We were on the autobahn, and sure enough plenty of cars passed us doing well over 100 mph. There was no horn honking or near accidents, the German motorists just seemed very confident. Problem was, Joerg told us, when there WAS an accident, the results weren't pretty.

Joerg was a nice fellow, originally from North Germany, near Hamburg. He told us that the Bavarians of the South were a different breed, and he could say this with certainty since his wife was one.

Joerg had worked on US Army bases, been a writer, and owned different businesses before starting his car company. He taught me a lot about the Bavarian region, especially its politics, during our drive, as the girls slept in the back.

He dropped us at our hotel in Passau, right on the Danube River, which was, by no stretch of the imagination, blue. More on that later. We checked into the hotel, run by a nice fellow named William, and assisted by his long haired Dachshund ("rough haired," he called it) named Chief.

We checked in and began to explore Passau. Unlike the other European cities we had visited, virtually no one spoke any English. It turns out that PAssau is sort of like a Naples, Florida type resort for Germans and Austrians. We tried to figure out language similarities, understanding that English is based on German and French. The girls ordered a "shencken" sandwich, reasoning it must be chicken. Alas, it was ham.

We retired to our rooms at the hotel, watched a little German TV (the "Simpsons" dubbed in German is even funnier than the original), and went to sleep.

I awoke about 11 pm, messed up by the time change, and wandered outside. It was still partially daylight. The Danube was busy with ship and barge traffic. I walked along the bank for about 1/2 mile, wondering about our voyage. I was able to get back to sleep.

The next day, the Mozart, former Austrian state ship, now owned by PEter Diellman cruises, awaited.