| Europe 99 | ||
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Richmond, BC 3:00 PM PT - Drove to the airport (so far so good). As we're checking in, we're told that we weren't registered on the flight... The guy says he can fix it but we're going to have to pick up our luggage in Calgary and then re-check it for the London flight (the plan was to fly Vancouver - Calgary, Calgary - London). He tells us that the flight gets in to Calgary at 7:18 PM CT and that the London flight leaves at 8:00 PM CT and that it's a little tight but it should not be a problem... Vancouver Airport 4:10 PM - Jo and I are enjoying a nice order of Milestones fries when I start thinking that maybe we're not going to have enough time to get off the plane, pick-up the luggage, check-in and board the London flight. Decided to go talk to a different agent while Jo starts on the pizza bread. As I explain the situation to the new agent, she realizes that the guy who checked me in was on drugs and proceeds to fix the problem - the only problem being that our luggage is already somewhere down by where all the luggage goes... She asks us what our luggage looks like (we only had a name tag on one of them) and goes down to re-tag our four bags so that we don't have to worry about our stuff not getting to London. At this point, Jo had already left the restaurant so I left her at the check-in waiting for the agent to come back and went to finish my half of the pizza bread. Twenty minutes later, everything was OK and we finally got to the gate (the plane ended up leaving at 5:20...) Calgary Airport 7:40 PM CT - We get in and the connection flight ends up being delayed as well - we leave for London at around 8:20 PM.
Heathrow Airport (London) 11:40 AM GMT - My cousin Cora and Joe pick us up and take us to a local pub in Teddington (just outside London). The ride over to the pub was, let's say, interesting... We're actually going to rent a car here in London in a couple of weeks (when we come back from Portugal) and I'm getting a little scared - I have no idea what I'll do when I get to a round-about... Queen Dowager Pub 12:10 PM - Cora, Joe, Jo and I talk about family, England, Canada, Americans, you name it. At this point, we still haven't cashed our travelers checks and we have no poundage... After a JB rocks, I decide to go for bangers and mash (what else?), meanwhile Jo is happy with her wine spritzers (maybe too happy :^). It was really neat to see a local pub - everybody knows everybody, a regular with his dog (inside)... Joe told me that one of the regulars is 96 years old and has been coming to this pub for over 60 years! Teddington Station 2:30 PM - We buy tickets to go to my cousin Zeca's place and the ticket man tells us it comes out to six million and thirty pounds (I have no idea how he figured out we were from out of town...). It actually cost us six pounds and thirty pence and Cora had to chip in because we only had four pounds in coinage... Queenstown/Battersea Station 3:10 PM - It's been over ten years since I've been here but I can kind of remember where my cousin lives and after a few blocks we get to her place. Zeca's Place 3:20 PM - We get to put our bags down and Jo gets to go to the bathroom... I get my cousin to help me out with my family tree (she knows a lot of birth dates and stuff like that) while Jo tries to catch up on her sleep (she couldn't sleep on the plane) and then we get a visit from my cousin Joann and her kid Jason (really cute!). Queenstown Road 5:50 PM - We leave the house so we can go meet Deborah (a fine local), Kevin (a Canadian import/export), Philip (another cousin) and Joann (Jason's mom) at Leicester Square (pronounced Lester) by the Warner Bros. cinemas. Since we still have no pounds, we start looking for a bank machine so we can get some money for the bus/subway. After a twenty-minute walk we finally find a bank machine (we we're starting to get a little worried) and we take a cab to Leicester Square. Leicester Square 6:30 PM - Man, is this a busy place... We walked around for a while and got really good and deeking around people, which is basically how you can tell a local from an out-of-towner, the amount of time it takes you to get out of the way of 3 people at the same time without major physical contact (and provoking a fight). After an hour, we we're down to about 3/4 of a second for a single deek-around... Everybody shows up (except for Steven who is up in New Castle and couldn't bother to come meet us down in London) and we decide to go to Punch & Judy in Covent Garden (a well known, packed pub). After a drink we take off to the Rock Café and have dinner (I manage to keep Jo awake by kicking her under the table every two minutes). By 10:30 PM, Jo is a walking zombie and we get a cab to take us home as fast as possible. Zeca's Place 10:50 PM - We see my cousin Paula, talk for a bit and go to bed...
Zeca's Place 4:00 AM - Wake up for some strange reason and I can't go back to sleep - decide to do this (write down what we did the day before). Well, it's 5:12 AM and I've finished writing all this stuff (see above) and now I don't know what else to do. I guess I'm going to try to fall back asleep. Wake up 5 hours later (I guess I ended up falling asleep), drag Jo outta bed, have a shower, Zeca makes us breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, grilled tomato - it's got to be a British thing - and papaya juice), and take off to go do the touristy stuff. Knightsbridge Station 11:20 AM - We get there by bus and decide to start walking (we don't have a map). We pass by Hyde Park, Wellington Arch, Green Park, miss the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace by an hour, go through St. James Park and end up at Victoria Station for some strange reason (we wanted to go see the Big Benjamin). Victoria Station 1:00 PM - We take the subway over to Westminster Station and took a couple of pictures of the big clock, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey (Jo says it's where the royal gang gets married, baptized, divorced, etc.). We get back on the subway and head over for the Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge 1:45 PM - Had a look at bridge, no sign of the jewels, got back on the subway... Bank Station 3:00 PM - After walking up and down 200 escalators to change to a different subway line, we learn that the line we wanted (Central) was closed for the day and we had to take the bus. Missed the bus by about 15 seconds and had to wait for the next one. Holborn Station 3:15 PM - Got back on the tube and headed over to Knightsbridge station where we missed our bus by another few seconds. The schedule said they'd come every 6 to 7 minutes but we ended up waiting twenty minutes and by the time we got home the cab was already waiting for us to take us to the airport. Heathrow Airport 5:55 PM - After checking in, resting, writing postcards, making a few phone calls and Jo meeting a friend of hers from Vancouver (what are the odds?), as I'm talking to my cousin on the phone, I realize what time it is and that the flight leaves at 6:15... We take off in a hurry, figured out what gate we were supposed to go to and made the flight. Lisbon Airport 8:50 PM - We arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule, the family was waiting (grandma Alice, uncle Hernani, aunt Dulce) along with Odete and Joaquim who brought us a car to drive around during our stay in Portugal (not too shabby!). Cascais 10:00 PM - We "checked" our luggage at grandma's place (where we're staying) and went downtown with my friend Miguel who was passing by my grandma's place as we were arriving. Visited all the hot spots downtown and had traditional BBQ chicken (we were both starving). After dinner, we decided to go to a bar on the beach where I used to work and had a walk on the beach.
Grandma's Place 3:00 AM - We tried to go to sleep but again sleep was not on our side... We ended up falling asleep at 7:00 AM! Farta-Păo Restaurant 2:30 PM - After a half-hour wait, Miguel, Miguel (different one), Tiago, Jo and myself had an awesome lunch and talked about the good old days... Aunt Rosa's Place 4:30 PM - Caught up on family stuff and again, got some help with my family tree, as my aunt Rosa did some investigative work for me a while back. She also made a "little" snack and even though we were both full, the food was so good that we had to eat some more... Uncle Hernani's Place 7:30 PM - Since we were supposed to have passed by in the morning, by the time we got there, there was only my aunt Dulce left... My uncle and my cousin Filipa showed up later and I helped my uncle with his internet stuff. Merceiria Vencedora Restaurant 9:30 PM - We had dinner with Miguel (not the different one, the other one), Moço and his girlfriend Abby. Jo was ecstatic because Abby is from the UK and speaks English! After dinner we went straight home because we had to get up at three in the morning the next day.
Grandma's Place 3:00 AM - Time to get up and get ready... In forty minutes we will be picked up by my uncle and some friends so we can go see the car rally up North - every since I was a kid I'd go with my dad and uncle and miss school for a couple of days (it was tough, with me loving school so much and all...). Highway A5 4:30 AM - Well, it wasn't actually forty minutes later but the good news is my cousin Bárbara is coming along (we didn't get a chance to see her yesterday) and we're on the way. Fafe 12:15 PM - We made it to the rally!!! Saw the first stage with a lot of dust and no accidents. We made a nice BBQ for lunch and were back to see the cars go by once again at 3:15 PM. After the first 30 cars we started heading out to avoid traffic but unfortunately we weren't the only ones to come up with that idea and it took us about an half-hour just to get back onto the main road and head South. Oliveira do Hospital 11:30 PM - We had reservations at the S. Paulo Hotel and we all needed a shower really bad... (it was REALLY dusty!!!)
Hotel 8:30 AM - After finally getting a decent night's sleep, we get in the car and are on our way to the second leg of the rally (Jo extended her decent night's sleep by sleeping all the way there and during most of lunch). Before going to watch the cars, we pulled over at a nice picnic spot by a river and barbecued sardines, codfish and steaks. Arganil 12:30 PM - Watched the first few cars and ate a lot of dust - that's pretty much it in a nutshell (case, more like it). This was our last stop for the rally and after going back to the picnic area and eating some more, we took off and headed back to Cascais.
Registo Civil 10:30 AM - Went to get my grandfather's and my great-grandmother's birth certificate but ended up seeing a friend of mine who works there and got me all the info I needed for my family tree for free. Hell's Mouth 11:30 AM - We decide to have a look at it later and head to Sintra. We passed by Henrique's place but he wasn't there. Sintra 12:30 PM - The drive up to Sintra is pretty amazing and once we got there we went to the Moorish Castle. We were also going to one of the palaces but we were both starving so we went to the famous Periquita for a small lunch and the one-and-only "Travesseiros" (Portuguese pastry). After lunch, we were on our way to Lisbon but made a stop in Richoa where Leonor was nowhere to be found... Drove around Lisbon for a while, went to Benfica's stadium (best soccer team in the world) and had a look inside, went all the way downtown, had a burger at Abacadraba and drove around for about 15 minutes trying to find a parking spot so we could go meet Hugo. Sesimbra 8:00 PM - After a drink at the docks, I couldn't let Hugo take the ferry and bus home so we drove him home. Before actually dropping him off, we had dinner by the beach. We ended up staying at Hugo's until 2 o'clock in the morning (I was really tired...).
Cascais 10:00 AM - Visited family and friends while Jo caught up on her sleep... Tasca do Armando 1:00 PM - We had lunch with my grandmother. Parque Marechal Carmona 2:30 PM - Had a nice walk in the park, saw peacocks, monkeys, roosters, bunnies and swans. Visited some more friends and took off to Lisbon to go have dinner. Rio Maior 8:00 PM - Odete and Joaquim Manuel surprised us by taking us out to dinner at a fair 80 km outside of Lisbon. The food was all local and it was excellent and we even got to ride the merry-go-round and went on the bumper cars (I hadn't seen Jo this happy in a while! :^). While we were walking around the fair, I spotted a cheese and bread booth and what it seemed to be a sample plate. I took a piece of cheese and a piece of bread and felt a hand grabbing me saying that the food was theirs... Needless to say I was a little embarrassed but the guy told me to go ahead and eat it - I offered to buy him some more cheese but he refused. Lisbon 1:00 AM - Got back from dinner and we got some help with planning the rest of our trip through Europe (Odete and Joaquim Manuel have done Europe several times by car). Cascais 2:00 AM - Good night.
12:30 PM - Went for lunch with my cousins Natália and Maria dos Prazeres. 3:30 PM - Decided to go to Setúbal to find out more about my family tree - after an hour of research, we were able to find my great-grandfather, his parents and both his grandparents. 8:00 PM - Had dinner at my grandmother's place with my uncle, aunt and cousins. 11:00 PM - Went out to a bar with Raúl and Tóni and talked about the old days - we grew up together since we were 4 or 5.
12:00 PM - Visited Hell's Mouth, a steep, rocky gorge where the tide comes crashing in. 2:00 PM - Drove to Lisbon and went to the tower of Bethlehem, a monument from the 16th century that celebrated the Portuguese discoveries. 3:00 PM - Head up to S. George's castle and looked down on Lisbon from the eight hundred years old castle. 4:00 PM - Finally had lunch and went to visit another aunt. 5:30 PM - Passed by the Zoo and walked around for a bit (all the major attractions were already closed). 10:00 PM - Drove downtown, went for a bite at the Old Train with Miguel - a car that was converted into a bat and serves pretty good food and walked around for a bit. 11:45 PM - Went to a popular bar/club with Miguel, saw Bomba and Henrique, played pinball, pool and inhaled a lot of smoke...
3:00 PM - Went to Michael's place in Estoril - an amazing place right next to the king of Spain's old mansion. Sir Anthony Hopkins is one of Michael's admirers around the world (Michael is a painter and also teaches). 5:00 PM - Went to another painter's place - Beatrice is also an amazing painter and we left with a nice framed tile. I know Beatrice through Júlio (her husband) who grew up with my dad in Cascais and is a great guy. 8:00 PM - Passed by my uncle's place and ended up staying till one in the morning...
1:00 PM - Went for lunch with my great-aunt Amélia at her place. 2:30 PM - Drove up to Mafra, saw the convent (huge!), went to a pottery place and went to a traditional miniature world with a not-so-little windmill. 8:00 PM - Went over to my aunt Rosa's for dinner and got a chance to meet the "new" family - both my cousins are getting married this year... 10:30 PM - Met with António and Paulo downtown for a Cutty Sark and to talk about all the wacked stuff we used to do in high school and in general :^) Since they both had to get up early the next morning, we decided to call it a night at midnight as well.
11:30 AM - Got outta bed and headed to Sintra to go see Beatrice and finish designing her web site (www.beatricebulteau.com). 3:00 PM - Got home just in time to take off to the Algarve with my grandma, my cousin Bárbara and her boyfriend Joăo. 7:15 PM - We arrive at my grandma's place, we take a nice walk around (this place is in the middle of nowhere) and my godmother came over (I hadn't seen her in 20 years!).
9:00 AM - Another beautiful day in Portugal - sunny, you can hear roosters, birds and dogs. This place is in the middle of nowhere and it feels really good to be here. 11:00 AM - Went for breakfast at the market and walked around the beach. 1:00 PM - Had lunch with my uncle David and his wife Rachel. 4:30 PM - Went for a nice long walk and ended up taking the train to Portimăo. 7:30 PM - Got home and rested.
11:00 AM - After cleaning up the place, we were on our way to Cascais. Just before Lisbon we decided to take the brand new 18 km long Vasco da Gama bridge by the "old" Expo site. 4:00 PM - Home sweet home. We dropped our bags and set out to get a couple of gifts for my grandmother and Odete/Joaquim who let us borrow their Peugeot 205 (car) to get around - they even met us at the airport with the car! 8:00 PM - Met some more friends and visited my godfather who is now working in Austria but comes home on the weekends... We'll be meeting him again in Austria in a few days. 10:30 PM - Pepperoni pizza from TelePizza. 11:15 PM - Passed by Victor's place to say hi. 11:45 PM - Went downtown to meet Bicho and Erik for a drink and talk about the old days, of course.
Lisbon Airport 6:15 PM - British Airways flight to London, England. Heathrow Airport, England 8:30 PM - Picked up the right-drive car (really confusing) and manage to drive down to Leicester Square with the help of a Hertz computer print out to drop off Jo. Finding my cousin's place wasn't too bad but coming back to meet Jo took me about an hour (ended up on the other side of London by mistake). Covent Garden 12:00 AM - Finally met up with Jo, Steven and some friends of his and decided to go to Leighton's place (on the way there managed to grab a hot dog on the street and some fries from McDonald's).
12:00 PM - Met with Paulo and Sílvia for lunch at a nice Spanish restaurant in London. 3:00 PM - Left London wanting to go to Folkstone to get on the train to Calais, France but wanting and actually getting there are two completely different things... After getting wrong directions from three different sources we were on our way to Folkstone. Folkstone, England 6:45 PM - We were finally heading for France... Calais 8:15 PM - The rest of Europe is an hour ahead of Portugal and England so by the time we got there it was too late to swap cars (not a good thing). We figured we might as well drive down to Paris seeing there wasn't a whole lot stuff going on in Calais... Paris, France 11:30 PM - I had heard about traffic in Paris but I thought people were exagerating a bit... It turns out they weren't. I have never seen such mass confusion on a roundabout (and I used to live close to Lisbon). Also checked out the Eiffel tower, the fields and started driving back to Calais. Asseville, France 1:30 AM - Checked-in at the automated Formule 1 hotel (no live person).
Since Fred is doing ALL the driving, I thought I'd put my writing skills to some good use. Asseville, France 8:00 AM - Fresh from an 5 hour sleep, and some
awesome French bread with strawberry jam for breakfast at the good old Formule 1
hotel in Asseville (the name says it all), we set out for the Hertz rental
agency in Calais. We coast in on fumes because Fred decided to make our journey
that much more interesting and NOT put gas in the car when the warning alarm
went off. We trade in our England car for a normal one and set off...
destination: Belgium. I am quite upset that there are no ass warmers in our new
car. Well, that was a short writing stint for Joanne, who after two paragraphs decided to call it quits and concentrate on a magazine... Antewerp, Belgium 2:30 PM - What Jo does before we get to every city is turn on the computer and check the encyclopedia to see what we're up against. In this case, it mentioned the Notre Dame cathedral (not to be confused with the Paris one that we didn't get a chance to see). Since we couldn't find the cathedral and we had exactly 19 Belgium Francs, we set out to find a place that sold stamps so I could mail my parking ticket to London. After driving around the city for an hour we finally found a stamp machine by the (closed) post office and took care of business. The other thing we found Antewerp was famous for were the diamond stores - there were at least (and I'm not exagerating) 50 of them back to back on both sides of the street by the train station - it was unreal... Amsterdam, Netherlands 5:00 PM - The sun was shinning, the birds were singing and the smell of pot hung heavily in the air... We started by looking for a place to eat and being approached by an American pan handler who mistook us for Americans. Needless to say, he didn't get one guilder out of us. Jo had her heart set on the Hard Rock Café after seeing some tourists carrying a souvenir bag. The only problem was that no one in town seemed to know where the hell it was. After walking around for about an hour in every possible direction and being told something different every time (a little bit of the British I-live-here-but-I-don't-have-a-friggin'-clue problem), we settled for a couple of slices of pizza which were surprisingly good. Next on our list was finding a place to stay and after being told the rate for a so-called "moderate" hotel that included free parking but there was none available, we fled town like someone getting away from something really fast. Middle of nowhere, Germany 11:20 PM - We checked out a couple of hotels on the outskirts of Amsterdam and ended up in Germany where we stumbled across a nice small hotel where English was a bit of a foreign language... We did manage to talk to someone who was really helpful and took Canadian dollars after checking the newspaper for the exchange rate (since we didn't have any Deutsch Marks and they didn't take any credit cards).
Zum something-rather Hotel 9:15 AM - After a nice German breakfast, we started driving south to Cologne only this time we took the secondary roads instead of the highway. Cologne, Germany 11:00 AM - Even though it was a holiday (Easter Monday) and all the stores were closed, there were plenty of people outside (and inside) the Köln Dom - the biggest cathedral in Northern Europe. They started building it in the 1200s and it was completely finished in 1880, at the time the tallest towers in the world. Bonn, Germany 12:30 PM - Not a lot of people on the streets of Bonn and after an ice cream and some fries with mayo (it was on the menu) we got back on the road. Altenhar, Germany 3:00 PM - On our way to the volcanic lakes, we passed by this nice small village and decided to stop for a bit and have a look around. Near Daun, Germany 4:30 PM - There are three volcanic lakes in the area and we had a look at the biggest one. Luxembourg, Luxembourg 6:00 PM - If you though Bonn was dead, you should have seen this place... We saw about 15 people walking around and nothing open. It was time to get back to Germany and have something to eat. Völklingen, Germany 7:30 PM - Ended up having "dinner" at McDonald's and then noticed that there was a fair in town. After three bumper car rides we decided to call it a night and drove to Saarbrücken to find a hotel. Saarbrücken, Germany 10:30 PM - On our way downtown, we both noticed a youth hostel sign and decided to check it out (even though we didn't have a membership). As it turned out, we didn't need to have a membership and we stayed the night at the Europa Jugendherberge - a three-year old hostel.
Saarbrücken, Germany 8:30 AM - Started driving towards Switzerland. Strasbourg, France 10:30 AM - Drove around for a bit and then walked for a few minutes to stretch our legs. Lucerne, Switzerland 1:30 PM - Beautiful city on the way to the Alps. Had lunch at the Mövenpick (really good!), took some pictures and walked around. Lotschberg Tunnel, Switzerland 4:00 PM - Took the car train to the other side of the Alps, no chunnel but it was fun... Bergamo, Italy 10:00 PM - Managed to find the youth hostel and to get a room for the night. After we checked in, we drove down to a pizza place where we ordered two pepperoni pizzas and got a couple of pizzas with some strange stuff on them that resembled green peppers.
Bergamo, Italy 9:00 AM - Stuck in morning traffic trying to get out of the city. Venice, Italy 10:45 AM - Park the car and start walking around. Ended up taking the boat instead of the gondola because the guy wanted $200 for a half-hour ride... Graz, Austria 7:30 PM - Went out for dinner with my godfather who is now living in Austria.
Köflach, Austria 9:00 AM - After breakfast with my godfather, we start driving towards Salzbourg. Salzbourg, Austria 12:30 PM - Walked around, had lunch and checked-in at the youth hostel. We decided to take it easy today and stay here all day. After checking-in, we walked around some more, had dinner at the hostel and went to bed early. Salzbourg was one of my (Joanne's) favorite stops. The city is divided in half by a huge wall of rock. So what did they do? Put a big tunnel through the rock, so you can drive to the old part of the city. Thay also (don't ask me how) made the inside of the rock one big parking garage.
Salzbourg, Austria 9:00 AM - Jo wanted to go see the cleanest lake in Germany so we drove over. Köingsee, Germany 10:30 AM - This little village is home to an 8 km lake that is simply spectacular. We took a hour long boat ride up the lake and back. We got to see some nice waterfalls, beautiful mountains, and Hilter's fomer hideout, Eagle's Nest, which is now a restaurant. About halfway through the boat ride, the captain cut the boats engines near a sheer rock wall. Since the tour guide was speaking German, we had no idea what was happening. Just as we started to worry that we were going to have to swim back to shore, the captian takes out a trumpet and opens the exit door. He starts to play a song on the trumpet, then pauses, and the most unbelievable, crystal clear echo comes back! Without a doubt, one of the most unique things we saw on the trip. Munich, Germany 2:30 PM - Did some more walking around, had lunch and started driving up to Frankfurt. But I (Joanne) wanted to see the infamous Neuschwanstein Castle, we did a little side trip. The castle may be infamous, but finding it was a totally different story. After asking an extreamly helpful policeman, we started off. We knew that we had to get on a secondary road to get to the castle, so when we saw our exit we exited the higway and followed said road. And followed it, and followed it and.... well you get the idea. I was about to lose all hope when in the distance I spotted a castle-like structure. But the sign said it was Koningschloss (Schloss means casle in German) So we drove past it. to make a very looooooong story short we arrived to the conclusion that the Koningschloss was indeed Neuschwanstein... (Now WHY it's called something TOTALLY DIFFERENT than what it's called in tour guides is beyond me) By the time we reached the castle, all tours were over. I figured that I was going to have to settle for seeing the castle from a far away distance (It's situated quite high in the mountains, surrounded by trees) But Fred had other ideas. Ignoring the signs that indicated only special tour buses may use the road, he started the car up the narrow windy road that lead to the foot of the castle. Although we probably broke quite a few laws, I did get some nice pictures! Hooray for Fred! (Now on the Gemans 10 most wanted list) Somewhere along the highway, Germany 2:00 AM - After getting to Manheim (where we were supposed to stay at the youth hostel), trying to find the hostel, ending up in a different city, checking out a couple of hotels where they tried to stiff us because we were foreigners (one asked for 125 DM and had a huge sign outside saying 98 DM for 2 people) and ending up 52 km outside of Manheim (don't ask me how), we decided to stay at the first hotel we could find...
Highway Hotel 8:00 AM - Managed to get everything ready and we were on our way to the Frankfurt airport. Frankfurt Airport 9:00 AM - Dropped off the rental car, so far so good. Tried to check-in (we were flying stand-by) but our flight wasn't coming up on the computer. We were told to go straight to the gate and check-in there. When we got there, the flight was already full and we were told to try the next flight to Toronto (we had planned to go through Montreal, since there were no direct flights to Vancouver). Took care of all the paper work and was told to go to gate C6 to check our bags (we were still carrying all our luggage around). When we got to gate C6 we were told to come back in two hours, it was still too early - this gate was on the opposite side of the airport... Went back outside of the departure area so we could get something to eat and after walking around for about half-hour, we managed to get a table where we could have our luggage cart next to us. Three hours after getting here, we walked over to the gate to try our luck on the Toronto flight and they were one seat short. We then tried the Calgary one but again we had no luck. After wasting five hours at the airport it looked like we were staying in Frankfurt for the night. Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel 2:30 PM - Life is not so bad after all... Downtown Frankfurt 4:00 PM - Had some ice cream at a little famous italian place and dinner at the Hard Rock Café, which now beats the café in Venice for worst service...
Frankfurt Airport 9:00 AM - Take two... It wasn't looking good. There were about ten other people flying stand-by and we were all in the same boat. An hour had passed (the flight was scheduled to leave at 10:00 AM) and the rumour was that there were no seats left but they hadn't told us to leave yet, there were some weight problems with the plane, that's all we knew. Of the three flights that go to Canada, this was the one that yesterday had more empty seats, which meant that if we didn't make this flight, chances were, we weren't making any flight... Fifteen minutes later we were told that most people were actually going to get on this flight (some good news). Five minutes after that we were told to check our bags and we were on the plane... WOO-HOO!!!
- Meal - Mövenpick in Lucerne, Switzerland - Highways - Germany (good roads, no tolls) - Scenery - Switzerland - Breakfast - Bruge, Belgium
- Service - Hard Rock Café, Frankfurt, Germany
- Bring about $20 in the currency of the countries you're going to
visit
Still to come...
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