Road Closed

So I had to travel last minute to Norway for work. No time to research trivial things like what currency they use or exchange rates. I already knew the language was not among the 1.2 languages I speak. Besides, I am a savy European traveler right?

So we (Lady G my Garmin GPS navigator and I) set off on the late flight to Norway. The flights were what you would hope for - uneventful. Then the events began.

The airport I flew into in Norway was very small. The rental car attendant directed me "go up the hill towards the white building to find your car."  It was about 11:30 at night. I found the lot with about 30 cars, so I hit the unlock button to sound the homing beacon (thanks Sandra Bullock for that idea in the movie "While you were Sleeping").

Off to the hotel listening to a rental car CD with important instructions in some language.  Now it was time for Lady G to shine.  "Follow the E18" she said confidently. Easy enough, except for the cement barricades blocking the on-ramp for construction. So I just drove north a bit (perpenducular to the highway) until Lady G came to her senses and found a different route. I arrived at the hotel around midnight.

I checked into the hotel and asked the front desk attendant where to park. He directed me to the parking garage under the hotel. Simple enough.

I parked and got all my stuff out of the car and then saw the red sign over my parking space that said (translated) "you have no idea what this sign says so you better not park here."  No prob, I just moved the car down a bit and walked to the hotel entrance.

Then I read a sign on the hotel door reminding dumb Americans to prepay the parking. I am used to paying for hotel parking at the end of the stay.  Na ja (means oh well in German). I proceeded to the automated pay machine which I later named The Devil.

American Visa debit card number 1 - strip down and to the right just like the machine said.  No dice.   I figured I would go German on this evil machine and tried my German debit card.  Surely that would work.  The Devil denied me again.  American debit card number two. Nope. Last resort emergency medical Visa card? It wasn't everywhere I wanted it to be.

So, back to my new best friend at the front desk. I showed him my card, and he said it didn't have a chip. I showed him my German card, complete with a chip, and he said it would work. I went down to the garage again. This time I was armed with confidence and positive thinking.

It turns out willpower cannot make a card work in a machine. I remembered another card I had.  Bingo. I made it to the next screen in the Devil's plan. I selected the fee amount and hit purchase.  The Devil thought for a moment and then cancelled the transaction. I thought I heard laughter.

Back to my best friend. By now it was about 12:30 in the morning, and I started wondering how bad it could really be to get towed in a foreign country.

The Devil likes cash, so I asked where I could find an ATM. A little midnight drive to the ATM yielded the cash needed. I had defeated the Devil at last. I put my cash into the cash sucker slot and.....nothing.  No cash sucking.  Really?  Back to my best friend. He exchanged my bills for coins.

Victory over the Devil was mine at last. It took about 15 coins to get me to 8:00 the next morning.

I learned a little about the exchange rate when I turned in my cash at the end of the trip. At the ATM I just pressed one of the preset amounts not knowing I was taking out about 700 dollars.

Cost to park in the garage one full day - 9200 krones. Cost of the hotel room for one night - 9700 krones. 

Imagine paying the amount for a hotel room to park in a garage with only change in a city the size of Fredricksburg, Ohio (very small town). That's just not right in any language.  The next day I found a lot down the street that was free after 6. Nice. Take that Devil.

My meeting went well, and I had a nice dinner of fish soup and a giant hamburger at the hotel. 

The only task left was getting home. I had a 6:30 flight the next morning, so I printed out my boarding pass and asked the front desk attendant how long the drive was. I also asked what was up with the closed highway.  She said it was a half hour drive and they only close the highway late at night.

I got up at 5am because there is just something (in this case stupidity) that will not allow me to get up with a 4 showing on the clock. Half hour drive to go 15 km. No problem.

Problem. I got to the highway, and the ramp was closed. So much for my insider information.

I needed to go west, so I drove north using my previously successful tactic. This time Lady G didn't get the hint. She kept giving me safe U-turn options. I zoomed out on the map to see if I could find a parallel road to the highway. Nothing.

I cut bait, headed back south of the highway and found a little road. Lady G came to her senses and recalculated. All was good now.

Lady G led me to the next highway on-ramp. Closed. Lady G - get with it, man.

I stopped and searched for the non-highway setting. I couldn't find it. So I reset the trip on Lady G to see if I could find the non-highway setting. That's when I realized I was 20 minutes into my 30 minute drive and I had progressed a total of 2 km closer to the airport with no good plan to get there.

I did the map zoom again and saw a connector road on the map parallel to the highway. It was a small road (keep in mind it showed as a road on Lady G). I came to a sign that had a car symbol crossed out.  "Huh" I thought to myself. 

Still, I was undaunted. The road looked kind of like residence driveways, and there were tire tracks in the snow. I kept going.

I popped over a small hill to a downhill stretch that was drifted with snow about 1.5 feet deep. But it only covered 3/4 of the road. With the downhill direction, I knew it was a one way trip because I wasn't going to be able to drive back up this hill.  I stopped the car briefly to ponder my options.

Do or die. Make the flight or don't make the flight.

My little Volvo was eager for the challenge like the Little Nash Rambler. It was time. I got about halfway through and then the car started to sloooow doooown. The huevos this car displayed at the top of the hill had shriveled to raisins at the bottom. My old Ford Tempo would have eaten this road for breakfast. 

Tires started spinning, and my life flashed before my eyes. I barely made it to the end of the drift crawling. Whew. Made it.

As I continued, I found myself driving in a farmer's field. Keep in mind this was a one-way trip at this point - no turning back. I made it to the end of the tractor path to see the highway entrance and the large snow drift that spilled out onto the connecting road.

I got my Dukes of Hazzard on and hit the drift at about 40 mph. Yeee Haw! Made it to pavement baby.

Luckily, this ramp was open, and I was back on course. Just as I hit the end of the on-ramp Lady G chimed in with this revelation: "Road closed - Recalculating."

I am not a violent man, but if Lady G made that statement from the passenger seat, I would have punched her in the face.

The words "I love you E18" we're uttered out loud in the car as I opened the window in the -6°C weather to cool off.

So I parked the car at the airport and dropped the key in the slot. Wouldn't you know it - bag search time at the security gate. This from the same airline that has allowed me on three international flights without ever checking my ID to this point.

I made the gate with 5 minutes to spare. Don't you just love happy endings?

Motherhood

Motherhood

New Flat

The blog posts have taken to infrequency partly due moving into a new flat and partly due to my laziness.  Na ja (oh well).  If you are interested, I'll take you on a quick tour of our new flat.

Here is the entry as you enter the front (and only) door.

Straight ahead is one of the bedrooms.  The other bedroom is just to the left.  Here is the girls' bedroom.

The phrase "if I don't get those 15 minutes of sleep, I'm a hot mess" was spoken from this room by my 8 year old daughter.  Missing is the usual area rug consisting of dirty clothes and legos.

As you turn left from the entrance, you enter the dining room and kitchen.  The kitchen has all the kitcheny kind of stuff.

Living Room

 
Our favorite part of the flat is the balcomy.  The living room and one of the bedrooms has a door to the balcony.  Here is the view from the balcony.

I have to give props to the bathroom.  It has all the bathroomy things.

My daughters redecorated the flat as I was carrying boxes up from the van.  All their stuffed animals found there way onto the display shelves.  They are still there.

A Word of Caution (Vorsicht)

Thus far I have focused on the good things about Germany.  But, there are also some bad things about Germany.  Last night I discovered one of the bad things.  I want you to know so you do not make the same mistake. 

It took shape during an innocent evening in the city of Bamberg with my family.  We were approached by a stranger and she asked us what we wanted to order for dinner.  I said "Calamari bitte".   The bad part of Germany came in the form of luke warm Calamari on my dinner plate.  Now I hesitate to speak of this because I know the Calamari community is sensitive.  If you were to interview a group of young, aspiring Calimari (Calamarichen as one may say in Germany), or better yet take a Gallup pole, you would find the majority of Calamari dream of being served breaded with a spicy pepper sauce at Carrabba's restaurant.  A well kept secret in the Calamari community is that a few unfortunate Calamari end up at a Bamberg Italien restaurant looking like some kind of noodle bathing in non-spicy, spicy tomato sauce.  Schade (what a pity).

Beware of Calamari posing as a noodle.  It won't end well.

Tear Down that Wall

Imagine going to sleep in the town you live in and waking up the next morning forbidden to contact or visit your neighbors or family across town.  I think the townsfolk of Modlareuth, Germany had a little more warning than that, but not much before they were forbidden to cross the river which became the division between East and West.  The river cut right through the town.  This tiny river over time and escalating tensions became an impenetrable wall separating not friend from foe but friend from friend.

With successful escapes brought more security to the wall.  The final version of the wall was a concrete structure roughly 12 feet high and 8 inches thick.  A security barbed fence was offset about 40 feet from the wall.  The space in between was raked to reveal the footprints of anyone trying to escape.  Concrete blocks were buried to prevent digging under the wall.  An elaborate communication line was strung along the wall so that watchposts could communicate.  If the fence was breeched, the guards knew within a hundred yards where the breach occurrred.

Dogs were tethered to lines to help prevent escape in some areas.  There were watch towers like this one.  This tower is in its original location.

While we were in the watch tower, we met an American who was in Germany on a mission trip with his church.  He was stationed there 20 years ago and this was his first trip back since he served.  He said he wasn't sure what his emotions were going to be during his return visit.  He described it as "pure joy" to see the town without division.

I have many more pictures and pictures of all the placards with the historical background written in English.  If you are interested in these, send me an email at andrewpwasson@gmail.com and I will try to send you a link where you can download these photos.

I was quite surprised to find out that Buckeye Nation is alive and well in Germany.  Check out the end of the gun on this statue of a border guard.  OH....

Follow the Falcon

     Today, we were invited by some good friends to take a castle tour which included a presentation by a falconer.  Back in the day, this castle served as a hunting villa for royalty.  It was built in 1550.  Usually when we visit something in Germany, there are travel hiccups along the way.  Not this time.  When we got out of the car near the castle, there was a guy with a falcon on his arm walking behind our car.  Ah ha.  I figured, follow the falcon.  Sure enough, the falcon led us right to the castle and the place to purchase the tickets.

Since the castle was a hunting villa, the museum inside had hunting artifacts.  It was very prestigious to hunt with a falcon.  This picture shows one of the royalty with a falcon.  We were told one of the little blinder hats with plumes for a falcon from this time period sold for 18,000 Euros.

 

A large (many kilometers) area was fenced off around the castle to serve as a game preserve.  Hunting parties used spears and then guns for hunting.  These spears were used for bears and wild boars.

 

 

Here are some pictures of inside the castle and the views from the castle tower.

The climb to the top of the tower was very steep.  About 1/2 way up there was a pit used as solitary confinement for a prisoner.  This pit was 7 meters deep.  No thanks.

I know you are thinking  "Will there be a falcon on this falcon tour?"  Here you go.

 

 

I'm putting some text here so the blog post does not end akwardly with just a photo.

This Cave is How Long??

After we rode on the toboggan run down the mountain, we walked about 1 km to the cave. Here is the trail along the way to the cave.

We arrived at the cave entrance and paid the fee to go inside.  After waiting, a group of about 100 people entered the cave through a small door.  We walked into a large expanse, and they closed the door.  I was thinking this was the cave.  There was a short program and then we started walking deeper into the cave.  Then deeper.  Then deeper.  Then down stairs.  Then up stairs.  Then deeper.  The cave is 1.5 km long and takes 1 hour to walk through.  I hit my head on the cave ceiling several times.





They call this cave "The Devil's Cave".  In the 1920's, livestock kept disappearing in the area so people thought the devil was taking them.  They found bones of all the animals that had fallen into the cave when the cave was discovered. 



A little paddleboat ride to cap off the day.