Trying To Catch Up

   As I mentioned in my last update, I will try to catch you up with the past few days. My final two days in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were quite full. On Tuesday, the kids went back to school, but for them, school days are short, beginning at 7:30 and ending at 11:00 for Kyleen and 12:45 for Calliah and Kyleen. The faimily joined me after lunch and we set out for the day's adventures. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a famous ski resort and there is a ski jump just a short drive away. Next to the ski jump is the sommerrodelbahn, a tobaggan run on a metal track that is fast and twisty. I was with Calliah and we had a blast. She is afraid to go by herself, but when there is a mature responsible 🙄 granduncle with her, she is pedal to the metal. We went twice and seemed to be flying, although we were probably going around 20 mph at the most. Caellum had soccer practice and Kyleen went with Michelle to his practice while Matt, Calliah, and I hiked the Partnach Gorge, a narrow trail through a gorge through which a raging river runs. The trail is quite safe and thank goodness for that. It would be curtains for any hiker who slipped off the trail into the river. Our day ended with a delicious dinner in Grainau. On Wednesday, Matt and I met for breakfast after he dropped the kids off at school and after picking up the kids, all 6 of us hiked to a spot high above G-P (I can't remember the name) where there is a restaurant and gorgeous views of the valley below. The Conley kids are real troopers when it comes to hiking and I was doing my best to keep up with them at times. We had our last dinner together and I returned to my apartment full, tired, and grateful for the time spent with family and awed by the scenery I had seen. Friday morning Matt picked me up, we had coffee and a pastry, and he left me as boarded a bus to Murnau where I caught a train to Munich where I transferred to a bullet train to Berlin. I arrived in Berlin right on time and caught an S train to Alexanderplatz and  walked to my hotel. After dinner, I went to bed. I had hoped to sleep with my window wedged open on the top, but the noise outside, quite a jarring change from G-P, and the seemingly every five minute police or ambulance driving with ambulance blaring made that unrealistic

   I had a bit of an unplanned adventure yesterday. I was not sure of the embarkation point for my river cruise because I was given two different locations which on a map looked close, but which in reality are not. I checked with the concierge at the hotel and he said he was certain it was at an embarkation point in the Spandau district. I wanted to be certain and did not want to show up at the wrong place, so I Ubered from Alexanderplatz to Spandau, and sure enough, there was the Victor Hugo. I walked around a bit and decided to head back to Alexanderplatz so I could do a bit of exploration in City Center Berlin. I could not get Uber because I was not on wifi, and I could not call a cab because my telephone connection with Telekomm.de kept on coming and going. The good thing about this was that I was at the boat. The bad thing was that my suitcase with all of my outfits (actually clothes, not outfits) was back in storage at the hotel. I had gone into Spandau to see if I could find a better wifi and/or phone signal. I finally went on board after speaking with a helpful crew member who was on a smoke break and explained my plight and the Cruise Director called a cab for me and I got back to the hotel, had lunch, did a bit of a walk about, and caught a cab to get to Spandau again and got onboard and settled.

   The passengers are mostly senior citizens, so I fit right in. It seems most of them are French, although there are some Germans, but like many Europeans, they are able to speak another language, in this case, French. I am reminded how we Americans often expect people to speak English when we travel abroad, rather than we Americans trying to become at least a bit conversant in the language of the land we are visiting.

   I will provide an update of this morning on a later post. Be well everyone and remember to choose joy every day.










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