And off we go ... to Germany

This week was very, very busy. But there are always funny times too. On Monday (9/2) we had a visitor when we sat at the breakfast table. No idea what he/she was thinking. It didn't seem to be shy at all and let me come to the glass very close to take some photos. 

Lately we see it in the tree in front of that patio eating one of those seed balls. May be it wanted to say thank you?

Well, Thursday (9/5) was finally the day. Our trip was starting with a visit to my sister Ute in Germany to celebrate her birthday with her. 

Our first flight started from Richmond Airport at 3:39 pm. We had plenty of time in the morning and everything had gone splendidly. But then we realized ... I had made a mistake and had told our ride to be at our house at 1:30. What had I been thinking? Suddenly I got into a panic but was able to contact our ride. Like in a comic movie there was a problem at our gate and it took some time for him to get into our community. All ended up well though and having checked our luggage, had our boarding passes and went through security we celebrated and relaxed with a beer.

The flight to Philadelphia went incredibly on time. I like to have a window seat.

And I love taking photos. After landing I can check the photos and they are marked where they are taken. This one said: Appoquinimink River!

This one said: Newark. The Newark Airport?

Wilmington

Chester - Lamokin. I just thought the bridge with the shadow on the river was just so pretty.

We had comfortable time to get to the next gate. And then at 7 pm we were in the next plane to Amsterdam. The screen said 3736 miles (6013 km) to the destination.

When we had booked we could only get two aisle seats behind each other. At the gate we could not change it and were told that the plane was totally full. But when boarding was done not everybody had come in time and when the doors where closed James could change seats into my row and we even had an empty seat between us. Always nice to leave "stuff". 

We landed in Amsterdam on time around 8 am but the luggage took some time which was ok. The train we had booked would leave at 10:18 and it was very convenient. We only had to go down one escalator from the large hall.

Time for a McDonald coffee for James. 

The first train to Utrecht took only 30 minutes and arrived there on platform 18 and we only had to take a few steps with our luggage to the other side of the platform to 19. Could not be easier.

But,  oh no, the next train was full to the brim, no place to sit and almost no place to stand either with luggage all over the place. The monitor showed the next stops (not many since it was an ICE) but our stop in Oberhausen was in red because it was not going to be on time. It was the stop were we had only 10 minutes for the change and it was getting shorter and shorter. I was getting worried and texted Ute that we might not get the connection. To make the story short: the next train was a bit late too and all was well.

I could text Ute our arrival time in Recklinghausen and she was lucky and had found a good parking space. We were at her house soon and got settled. After that and a very delicious soup we thought we needed a good walk. It looked a bit like rain so we took insurance (umbrellas = if you have them you don't need them) with us. 

I knew there was an ALDI store on a parallel street but I didn't know it was exactly at the end of this walk through a small forest (park?). I always like to take a look. It is fun. Oh no, Christmas goods already. Stollen? 

And lebkuchen and marzipan? 

And after a night finally in bed again it was now Saturday. September 7 = Ute's birthday!

Ute had been so excited ever since we told her that we were inviting ourselves to her. Ha-ha, she also likes to play "our" cardgame any time there is time.

A friend from her church had asked her whether she was going to be home on her birthday. She wanted to bake her a cake. Ute said yes because she didn't want to disappoint her. The cake was delicious. The lady just had a birthday too and turned 96 years old!

At 3:30 in the afternoon family members came for coffee and cake. We sat inside at a very large table. But afterwards we relocated to the outside because it was such a lovely warm day.

When everybody was gone and we had a light dinner (Ute's very delicious salad) Ute and James played cards while I wrote the missing blog about last month. When James proof read it, I continued playing his game. We had a lot of fun.

James and I always try to ignore "jetlag". Looks like it doesn't work like that this time. Wish us luck!

Night, night!