Hello everyone! Since my last post, I've been on the road with all that entails to get ready and then catch up, but I wanted to share some highlights...
I went back to Cologne, Germany, but it was really a touch-and-go! I had to leave on Saturday, March 15, but not so early that I couldn't help celebrate my first grandson, Micah's birthday. You see, me and Micah are tight because we share the same middle name.
You can see a lot more at Mich's Mom's blog:
http://krajcafamily.blogspot.com/
After leaving Saturday afternoon, we arrived in Cologne on Sunday afternoon. It hadn't changed much since I visited for work in late January, except that it was in the transition to spring. There were many more tables set up outside and some flowers had been planted in many of the parks...and it rained. It rained every day! The umbrella I brought broke and I had to buy one at the Hyatt gift shop for 16 Euros. A Euro now trades for $1.58...yes, I now have a $25.28 compact manual umbrella.
Any way, by the time the day ended and I did homework, I didn't take many pictures of Cologne. Did I say "many"? OK, I took 2 and those were only to help me remember how to read the rain schedule the next time I'm there.
But when we left Cologne Wednesday morning, while we were standing in line outside to board the turbo-prop plane to Amsterdam, the rain let up. It changed to snow...ahhhh, spring! We arrived on time in Amsterdam, but there began our string of misadventures...we were delayed on the ground waiting for "catering service" to return with something that the plane obviously could not fly without!
This delay combined with a headwind of about 150 knots to make the trip to Memphis exceed 10 hours...all in daylight with exhausted, confused and sometimes inconsolable children...and their frustrated and embarrassed parents. We arrived at the same time as a flight Key Largo and had to wait for them to deplane, go through immigration, pick up their luggage, go through customs, recheck their luggage, and be re-screened for security to "continue to their final destination." As I stood there in my jeans and turtleneck holding my wool overcoat, I began to hate their shorts and was even a little glad they were sunburned...especially when everyone from my flight was gone and I came to realize my luggage hadn't made it. The Northwest agent we found cheerfully informed us that our luggage was not lost; no, she had a list saying it hadn't been loaded in Amsterdam!
As Murphy (obviously a Scotsman) would have it, these delays all resulted in missing the flight to Wichita, so we now proceeded to the NWA counter for help...about 20 sleepless hours into my day. Needless to say, we were not alone, so the agent was fully experienced in helping us...which, thankfully, included a free room at the Holiday Inn Select and meal vouchers because the next available flight was the following night.
Memphis was fun! We went to Graceland, Sun Records, Beale Street, and drove past the Lorraine Motel before eating authentic Corky's barbecue in the airport with our NWA vouchers. Here are some pictures of that adventure...
I went back to Cologne, Germany, but it was really a touch-and-go! I had to leave on Saturday, March 15, but not so early that I couldn't help celebrate my first grandson, Micah's birthday. You see, me and Micah are tight because we share the same middle name.
You can see a lot more at Mich's Mom's blog:http://krajcafamily.blogspot.com/
After leaving Saturday afternoon, we arrived in Cologne on Sunday afternoon. It hadn't changed much since I visited for work in late January, except that it was in the transition to spring. There were many more tables set up outside and some flowers had been planted in many of the parks...and it rained. It rained every day! The umbrella I brought broke and I had to buy one at the Hyatt gift shop for 16 Euros. A Euro now trades for $1.58...yes, I now have a $25.28 compact manual umbrella.
Any way, by the time the day ended and I did homework, I didn't take many pictures of Cologne. Did I say "many"? OK, I took 2 and those were only to help me remember how to read the rain schedule the next time I'm there.
But when we left Cologne Wednesday morning, while we were standing in line outside to board the turbo-prop plane to Amsterdam, the rain let up. It changed to snow...ahhhh, spring! We arrived on time in Amsterdam, but there began our string of misadventures...we were delayed on the ground waiting for "catering service" to return with something that the plane obviously could not fly without!This delay combined with a headwind of about 150 knots to make the trip to Memphis exceed 10 hours...all in daylight with exhausted, confused and sometimes inconsolable children...and their frustrated and embarrassed parents. We arrived at the same time as a flight Key Largo and had to wait for them to deplane, go through immigration, pick up their luggage, go through customs, recheck their luggage, and be re-screened for security to "continue to their final destination." As I stood there in my jeans and turtleneck holding my wool overcoat, I began to hate their shorts and was even a little glad they were sunburned...especially when everyone from my flight was gone and I came to realize my luggage hadn't made it. The Northwest agent we found cheerfully informed us that our luggage was not lost; no, she had a list saying it hadn't been loaded in Amsterdam!
As Murphy (obviously a Scotsman) would have it, these delays all resulted in missing the flight to Wichita, so we now proceeded to the NWA counter for help...about 20 sleepless hours into my day. Needless to say, we were not alone, so the agent was fully experienced in helping us...which, thankfully, included a free room at the Holiday Inn Select and meal vouchers because the next available flight was the following night.
Memphis was fun! We went to Graceland, Sun Records, Beale Street, and drove past the Lorraine Motel before eating authentic Corky's barbecue in the airport with our NWA vouchers. Here are some pictures of that adventure...
1 comment:
Looks you had a good time even though it could have been pretty miserable. Graceland looks, interesting. :-)
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