Vacation 2007 - Day 16

October 7

9 mile trip to the airport but with the semi-empty road able to get it up to 102 mph. Put 1662 miles on The Rented Hibma Estate Limo. Just guessing it was wishing it had never left France. (It is a 1640 mile round trip to visit my favorite niece.)

Glad I was not flying on Lufthansa, there were lines everywhere.

My last EU meal.

Had $6.55 worth Euro coins left. Did not have a window seat so this is the last picture. My super secret source (Code name Robert Clements) at AA told me the captain that flew me to London flew me to Dallas. My trained ears were unable to detect that it was the same voice, maybe his allergies were acting up on the flight back so he sounded different.

NEXT TIME:
- I am spending more time in Switzerland/Alps.

- Taking more pictures. How I got back without a picture of a Beefeater or German toilet tank buried in the wall. Changing the float/valve would require a chipping hammer. Seems like something only the mason and plumber unions could dream up.

- I am bringing a washcloth or two, a sock just does not work as well. My Swiss hotel was the only one that had a washcloth.

CULTURE SHOCK:
- Language is the big one but one can always point, shrug one’s shoulders, smile and ask do you speak english.

- No pay at the pump, more interaction with the natives.

- As soon as the pump is turned off the numbers reset to zero making it impossible for the anal retentive chauffeur, with no short term memory, to compare the rented limo’s mpg when driving on the autobahn vs in the Alps.

- Doors open the wrong way. Push the door to enter and pull to exit. Kept thinking doors were locked when I tried to pull them open.

- McDonald’s: The menu had no combo meals, could not hold up my thumb for #1, nod and smile. But the most of menu was in English except they used the German words. A packet mayo or ketchup costs 20 cents ($.30). At least the packet holds 3x as much ketchup as the US size but talk about nickel and diming.

- If told something is on the first floor that means it is on the second floor. Ground (G on the elevator) is the first floor, First floor (1 on the elevator) is the second, second floor is the third floor....

GOOD CULTURE SHOCK:
- Saw at most five stop signs in six days of driving. If there was no stoplight there was a yield sign.

- A McDonald’s large coke is the sized between a small and medium here, but they only put three small cubes of ice in the cup, so one ends up with twice as much coke as in the states.

- Autobahn speeds and lane discipline, no left lane squatters. Two weeks later I would be driving on a deserted I35 and I29, with the cruise set at 80 wishing I was in Germany, could have shorten the drive by two hours. Instead I drove over 450 miles and never had to turn the cruise off because of slower traffic.

- Chocolate, swear I brought some back as gifts but ate them before I could hand any out. Just buy yourself some Lindt chocolate the next time you are at the store. Mars (M&Ms, Snickers, etc) was in all the stores but I do not know why anyone would buy them.

To view GPS track in Google Earth
Click This Link and Select Download
In Google Earth Open 'My Places'
Click: 'IMPORT KMZ FILE'
Click: 'Open File...'
Select Downloaded KMZ file: 20071007.kmz

> Google Maps Track - Vacation Day 16 <

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!!And the blog is done before Christmas!!
Thee End