Day 32/33- Getting Home

I woke up with a hankering for some more schnitzel before leaving Germany. We decided to go to the castle, our favorite spot, and have lunch at the base. Looking out over the city that we have stayed up way to late in, and drank a few too many beers in while eating a delicious lunch was a delightful, and a perfect way to end our long journey in Europe.

We packed up out suitcases for the last time, and Dieter drove us to the train station. Just before our train arrived Dieter slipped away and surprised us with hot out of the oven pretzels to enjoy on our last train ride. Thea and Dieter were the best hosts we could have ever had, they gave us a time we couldn’t dream of having. Although I was so upset that I did not have to opportunity to see Thea as much, it was nice to get to know Dieter a little bit more, and we already have plans for our next visit.

We had a 4-hour ride straight into Paris, then a stuffy, strange metro ride to the airport, which was next to our hotel. For some reason the metro was full of crazies this time around. I’m not sure if it was the people or just that fact that going home was settling in, but Paris seemed darker, and gloomier then when we first arrived there 32 days ago. A better bet might be that we had seen the most beautiful places in France, and Paris just doesn’t add up. If ever recommending a place to go for other travelers, I would say skip Paris if you need to, other places in France have so many small beauties to offer, I think its worth it to miss some of the more iconic items.

The shuttle ride to our hotel was a little crazy. Our driver completely skipped our stop, then picked up random people and dropped them off at a location that was not distinguished on the bus. In total, we spent an hour and a half, going in circles trying to get to our hotel. The bus driver was lucky I was too tired to argue too much. When we got to our hotel the buff charismatic man at reception asked where we were from then told us how if he lived near Philadelphia, he would do the Rocky steps every morning. He was just the personality we needed to be welcomed by after a long day of travel. We finally sat down in the hotel room just after midnight, we skyped our families to let them know we were on track to get home, and showered before bed. We kept our selves up so that we would be sleepy on the plane the next day, continuing our awful habit of not sleeping while in France, we gave our selves 5 hours for our last night.

We woke up early, and headed to the airport, The Charles De Gaulle airport is the second largest in Europe. Upon arrival it wasn’t as obvious, we grabbed our bags and got out of the building fairly easily. Getting back in was almost a nightmare. We started at the wrong terminal, which we walked what felt like a mile to get to. Then walked the same mile back to where we started jumped on a shuttle went through bag check, where I convinced the man at the desk that I had the same carry on luggage on the way to France as I do leaving and that I promise it is not to big, white lies never hurt anyone.  After checking our bags, the man I had so cleverly deceived told me that our terminal was the furthest one from our current location. Thankfully we left our hotel ridiculously early, because we arrived at our terminal just 40 minutes before boarding time.

During our trip in France Jill and I used a Flip camcorder to record the miscellaneous adventures we had been on. We promised that we would not look at them until the end of our trip. So as we waited to board our plane back to reality, we sat each with a headphone in one ear giggling like little girls in the corner watching our trip unfold before our eyes once more. We were given a great deal of satisfaction with our thirty three days, how much we had grown, and how comfortable we had become with the European lifestyle, America might actually feel foreign. We boarded our plane all smiles, arrived at our seats that had little TV’s to amuse us for the next 8 hours, and zoned off into our own worlds.

Sweet

As we descended into JFK airport and the group in front of us opened up their window shade and ooohed and aahhhhed at America’s coast line, I could feel their excitement radiating. The little girls behind us took pictures outside the window of nothingness. Well to me it was nothing, I am sure to them they will have that moment engraved in their mind forever, remembering the first time they came to the USA. And they will yearn to return, silly girls.

On the flight home

Jill’s mom picked us up at the airport, and we were met with about 2 hours of NYC traffic as we left. Welcome home.  My wonderful boyfriend Phil picked me up on the NJ turnpike as my parents were away at a conference. Although I was sure to enjoy my time in France to the fullest I missed Phil more than anything, and it was so nice to have him welcome me home, I am so grateful for his support, and encouragement during my journey. His family had a wonderful dinner prepared for me when I finally got home. Although I knew I was back home, it wasn’t until I saw my first firefly of the season light up in the middle of the lawn that it all set in, the feeling of summer in south jersey, I’m home. 

Day 31- Semi-Finals

Even when though it has been blown to shreds, and is barely in existence, it is still one of the most beautiful slices of architectures I have seen on this trip, an old castle that sits on top of a hill surrounded by its supporting city. We walked around the old ruins, and then up to the very top of the castle. As we looked down at the lime green plush grass that filled the spaces between the destroyed walls, I tried to picture a queen and her king walking around in elegant ball gowns. But time had taken over sufficiently, and it was hard to envision this area as livable, or even as a war zone.

Castle Ruins

After taking in the views, we headed to a restaurant that sat on a river and had a delicious German meal, schnitzel. It’s a thin slice of meal, veal, pork, or beef, whichever that location sells, breaded and pan seared. It’s a party in your mouth; I loved every second of it.

After lunch it was time to shop. Jill and I had to get our official Germany jerseys for the game. Everyone has non-stop been talking about the game, it was like their superbowl. Amongst the talk of how excited they were for them to play, they were also eager to get the retro green jersey. So when we got to the store, it seemed silly to get anything other than the green jersey. We bought our jerseys, and new totes to carry all of our souvenirs back to the US, and headed back home.

When we got to the bar, we had a table right next to the TV that was reserved for us. The only catch was we had to arrive 2 and a half hours early to be sure it wasn’t given to anyone else. So we were tailgating the game well in advance, and so was everyone else. Every corner of the town had someone in a Germany jersey, or their face painted, or a flag draped over their shoulders. They were proud and excited, and it was obviously seen in everyone’s faces.

Jill and I before the game

The national anthem played and everyone stood and sang their nations sacred song. Germany started the game dominating, and had several opportunities to score, but could not capitalize. Unfortunately, Italy did not have quite the same problem, the few times they were in scoring range, they made it in. In the end Germany fell to Italy, and you could feel the town’s disappointment. The loss didn’t stop us from enjoying our last night out in Germany. 

After the Loss

We spent our last night in Ali’s bar, this time we were left alone, and told to help our selves. I may or may not have done a cartwheel in the chic bar, or spent some time behind the bar. We had a few drinks and talked until the sun rose over the city. We gave Ali our last hugs goodbye and thanked him for such a wonderful time.

At Dache Cafe (Ali's bar)

Day 30- Frankfurt

Off to the only skyline in Germany, Frankfurt. We woke up to a delicious traditional German breakfast, bread and homemade, mouthwatering Marmalade. We quickly got ready and left for our day of sight seeing. Upon arrival we ran into a huge international food festival located in front of the old opera house. Dieter explained how there is always some type of festival going on in Germany, they find a reason to celebrate anything, my type of people!

Opera House

One of the Food Festival Tents

 We wandered the city getting the special Dieter Bender tour. Again it was obvious we had left France, the buildings either had an old country side feel or a very new modern and industrial feel. All of the men wore perfectly tailored suits and at the Frankfurt stock exchange car after car was sleek, and expensive. We walked to a really neat modern building called the Zei Gallery. It had an all glass exterior with a vortex looking hole in it kind of mimicking a bullet hitting water. 

Zei Gallery

We stopped by at the old statue in the middle of the city representing famous poet Goethe. Then continued to The Roman Square were street performers filled a little squared off area of street that screamed old German town. 

Roman Square

We had delicious Japanese ramen noodles for lunch. It was slightly ironic to be in Germany and not eating German cuisine, we had time for that though. 

What was not as shocking was to be in Germany and not know the language. A huge difference from Italy. Having Thea and dieter translate and teach us the small important words such as Prost (phonetically) which means cheers, helped us feel very comfortable and less like outsiders, but when it came to ordering food Jill and I put all of our trust in Dieter as he ordered food hoping we would like it. He did a Devine job choosing delicious food, you will notice I talk about almost every meal. 

We got back to their apartment and had a very nice well needed nap before heading to a Spanish dinner. So far a good summary for Germany is eat, drink, sleep. When can I move here?

Thea was supposed to meet us for dinner but got tied up at work. I wished I could call her workplace and let them know that she needed to be allowed to come out and play! But I wouldn't get so lucky. 

The Spanish food was perfect, I was expecting something more similar to a Mexican cuisine, but that was just a silly American thought. Instead it was a spread of fresh seafood and bread with garlic in everything. Spanish food is definitely one of my favorites now.  After dinner we went to a “public viewing” of the Spain vs. Portugal Eurocup game at a near by bar. 

Public viewing

One thing I absolutely love about Europe is how every bar has the option to sit outside. We watched the two teams battle each other to penalty kicks where Spain pulled ahead for a victory. We stayed until they kicked us out, at which point we went to our friends Ali’s bar and were treated as celebrities. We headed in early for an easy night, we knew that the next day would be a little crazy, Germany and Italy would be playing each other in the Semi Finals for the Eurocup, and the entire country was going to be out to show their colors. Something that was not to be missed, or be tired for. 

Day 29- To Germany!

We almost missed our first train ... And to think we thought we were finally getting a hang of the systems here. Between traffic on the bus ride to the main big train station, and poor planning on looking up the bus schedule, we almost missed the train that we booked well in advance, remember the ones we pissed off the man at the train station for?  If we missed this train we would have had no way to get back to our apartment due to leaving our keys there.

Thankfully, almost doing isn't doing, so we luckily made our train. Thank God.

We had a 9-hour trip and 2 transfers ahead of us.

Jill and I played more card games and read our books that have been sitting in our bags untouched the whole trip. Small catnaps were necessary. Although uncomfortable our first train was pretty relaxing. We were able to catch an earlier second leg of our journey, so lunch got cut out of our day, no big deal we brought some chocolate bars, yum!

On our last train Jill and I started to get very excited for our arrival to Germany. Everything had gone as planned, we made it to our last transfer on time and in one piece. We placed our bags on an empty single seat on the very empty train and took our place (unreserved) right next to them. A few stops later a couple got into the train mumbled something in German to us and then started to move our bags. Jill and I were so confused what the heck is going on? There's about 300 open seats stop touching our stuff. Jill stood up and moved our bags stacked up next to us and covering the aisle now we look like the jerks. The couple argued about who should take the seat. The man took it and the woman stood next to him, instead of taking one of the few hundred free seats, remember there are no reservations on the train. I got really mad. I pulled a Mr. Kevin Beebe put my suitcase directly behind their chair as stood there arms folded staring at them. I think they got the idea because they ended up sitting together in the seat I front of them, and we placed our bags back in a normal spot. In not sure what came over me, but I don't think they will touch an Americans bags again.

Staring down the locals.

We are going to Frankfurt Germany to visit Kevin and my new sister-in-law, Kelly's, good friends Thea and Dieter. They offered to have us over and give us a spot to crash. Dieter picked us up at the train station as Thea still had work. He informed us that the plan for the day was to go to Thea's parents and have a barbecue, then head to their apartment before we went out for the night. We took the Audubon to the house, which would have been much more thrilling I'm sure If we weren't sitting in traffic. As we drove through the little city of Giesen it became obvious that we had crossed the border into Germany. The city buildings all had cottage esk facades with flowers at the bottom of every window and cobble stone roads it was precious.

Street in Gisen

Jill and I were starving by the time we arrived, but it was more then worth it as we were served fresh picked sweet wild strawberries with steak that Dieter brought back from the US and delicious side dishes. We had died and gone to heaven, it was the most well needed, deserved and anticipated meal yet, and every bite was mouthwatering.

We finished dinner and went to a local bar that Thea's friend works at to have a drink with Thea before she had to go in for the night. We tried a local specialty called apple wine, which was absolutely delicious and then had real German beer and real sized German mugs. A whole liter! Tankfully it tasted good really good. An executive decision was made that we would not be returning to the apartment until the night was over, and that we had to go visit some of dieters’ favorite bars. At the next bar we played thunder strike, which is a dangerous game to play, trust me, and then went to meet up with a friend of dieters at a roof top bar in the middle of the city. The bar was closing when we arrived but the friend, Ali, let us go up and have a few drinks overlooking the city. It was chilly but so worth it. It was a movie scene of us at a closed bar getting the VIP treatment. The view was perfect; you could see the dim clusters of lights from other towns separated by the extreme darkness of the rolling fields that separate them. Ali asked if we would like to go to a different bar that he owned with him, as he had to go check in at the location. We went and he opened up the closed bar for us to hang out in for a bit, just us. He was one of the greatest blessings on the trip, and he treated us all like royalty, his extremely kind gestures will be engraved in our memory. 

Day 28- Mount St. Victoire

It’s our last day in our apartment, oh no! Not yet!  I woke up feeling much better then I had on previous days, missing the wine tasting was well worth it. Our plans for the day were to visit Mount St. Victoire. This is a place in southern France where famous artists such as Cezanne and Van Gough would go for inspiration to paint. This mountain has been on the “to do” list for Aix from the day we received our acceptance letters. It’s about time we got around to it. When we got on the bus to go to St. Victoire, the machine to take the fare was broken, so it was a free ride there. We have REALLY been getting lucky with the free thing, who would have thought?! In total this weekend we have saved 71 euro!  We asked the bus driver the best stop for the trail we wanted to go on, and off we went. 

On the side of mount St. Victoire, there is a cross, about 15 meters tall, which looks out over the town of Aix protecting it. It’s not possible to see from Aix, but it’s there.

Mount St. Victoire

Grassy Trail

 We started our hike on a slight up hill with a 4-foot wide path, it was smooth and easy. We would be at the cross in no time! As we progressed closer and closer to the mountain, the terrain changed, rapidly. We ended up going straight up the mountain on a narrow rocky path, in 90 some degree whether. We wore our sneakers, but were not prepared for this. All four of us huffed and puffed as we pressed our selves up and up the side of St. Victoire, excited to reach the cross and have our picnic. After an hour of uphill torture, we finally passed otherhumans! Yes other people are on the trail! With sweat dripping from our foreheads, and our feet on fire from the hot rocks beneath them, we asked the locals how far we were from the cross. Surely we must be close. Not quite, he replied, “oh its only about an hour maybe and hour twenty from here.” We laughed no way, “only” he said it so nonchalant as if we weren’t hiking straight up the side of a mountain! I suppose we should have expected his so calm attitude, the couple had on legit hiking boots, back packs with built in water supply, visors, double walking sticks, and hiking clothes, matter of fact, they looked like the were about to head to Mount Everest and give that a go.

With out going on and on, we were way under prepared. So we took a few more steps, decided we would probably never find a nice shady flat spot for lunch, and made camp in the middle of the trail. I ate the most well deserved sandwich in the world. After lunch we decided to head back down the trail, to try and catch the next bus back to Aix. Silly us thought that going down the side of the mountain would be much easier and relaxing. But we ended up having to go at a snails pace as to not slip on a rock or go sliding down the mountain on our bottoms. We made it safely, and on time, the bus arrived about 5 minutes after we got to the station.

Safe back at our apartment we took our last showers and started to pack up. L Every time I would put something in my suit case I’d look at Jill and say “this is so weird” it felt like we just arrived, how are we already packing and leaving this perfect little abode that we have called home these past 3 weeks? I guess we fell to hard for our little lovely apartment.

While we packed and cleaned like little Cinderella’s then decided we needed to have one last taste of Aix before leaving. We got a box of Macaroons that we so light and tasty, I’m sure they had no calories in them at all ;) 

with our bags packed the place felt empty, and less homey. Just a spot for the next people to come in and use for a week as tourists, I’m sure there wont be many others that will become as attached as I have.

Sad Faces

Packed up

Day 27- Lazy

Today I woke up even sicker, an eye infection on top of all my other symptoms. I know its boring to hear about my sickness all of the time but its seriously putting a damper on the end of my fairytale trip. Well this was just the icing on top of the cake, my rally was officially over. I made the wise, boring decision to sit out of the wine tasting trip that Jill and I had planned for the day to try and let my body recover from all of the abuse I have put it through. Also, it would have been hard to taste all of the great different wines being so stuffed up and congested. Recovering isn’t anything exciting to blog about though. I set up a sick camp on the couch, watched TV shows that required absolutely no thought, and curled up in the pillows.

Initially Jill felt bad about going wine tasting with out me, but after firmly telling her I might definitely hurt her if she didn’t go, she changed her mind. They had a great time, and even got the tour for free! They brought me back a nice bottle of red wine to enjoy when I recovered. When they got back they joined me on my sick couch (on the other side of course) and we all watched a movie together. It was nice being able to watch movies with other people it made my sick day feel more like a date then a lazy day in.

Jill snuck a picture of my sick camp

Jill Megan and I

After the movie we had a little dinner, and Jill and Megan had some wine while I enjoyed a nice hot cup of green tea (my life saver). Although the original plan was to hit the town hard for our last party night in Aix, hanging out with Megan and having quality time ended up being a much better decision, even though she lives very close to Jill and I back in the states, you never know how long it truly will be until you see a “long distance” friend again.