After the usual hysterics of last minute packing, Louise and I hit the road for our Lufthansa flight to Germany. We cut things a little tight but arrived at the airport in adequate time for our flight…or so we thought. The Arrival/Departure ramps at LAX were locked up solid and after fifteen minutes of inching forward, our daughter, Lisa, suggested we run for it. So began our European adventure, with Louise and I running curbside dragging our luggage toward the distant International terminal.
Though we arrived hot and sweaty, Lufthansa representative Kamelia ushered us through baggage procedures swiftly and pointed us toward the boarding gates where our magic carpet to Germany sat waiting.
Dragging our carry-on luggage behind us, we made our way easily through First Class and then Business Class (even though the aisles got narrower). Thanks to Lufthansa’s efficient boarding plan we were well in place before pushback from the terminal. We must say, that in trying to meet competition, Lufthansa does an excellent job in quality of service and professionalism of flight attendant personnel. What ever we asked for was brought with a smile. We were salved somewhat by the knowledge that First Class only arrives a few seconds before we do. Still, Coach is Coach, is Coach. Oh well, only 11 hours and 30 minutes to Munich.
It has been four years since we have flown internationally and we were impressed by the quality of entertainment devices built into every seat back. We had umpteen choices of things to watch and listen to but we spent most of our waking hours watching the graphic illustration showing the path, speed, altitude and distance being covered by our A320-600. It was almost as if, by watching, we could make it go faster and we would be in Munich in no time. Frankly, that doesn’t work and we recommend another form of entertainment to pass the time. We arrived in Munchen at promptly1:35 PM their time. Unfortunately, it was 4:35 AM our time and no amount of fiddling with our watches could shake the sand out of our eyes.
We were met by long-time friend Alexander Rudolph and Astrid who plopped us in their Audi A8 and pointed the nose toward Schliersee, some 60 miles southeast of Munich, We had not seen Alexander for ten years and spent most of the drive going over old memories and plans for our visit in Germany. Before arrival, Astrid’s daughter, Johanna, followed instructions and put a lieberkase in the oven. As we walked through the door the oven timer went off and we sat down to a beautifully prepared and tasty Bavarian meal. Did we have several excellent German beers to go with it? Did God really smile on Bavaria?
After dinner they showed us to to our new quarters for the coming month. We were expecting a tidy room or two with ensuite accommodations but were totally surprised at what we found. It is on the second floor of this house (where Louise is standing) with our own private entrance and anything else anyone could want. We’ll give you a tour in future issues of this Blog, but for now take our word that this is not Coach.
Taking advantage of a comfortable bed, we slept for 10 1/2 hours and only got up to check for bed sores. Suddenly we were on Bavaria time that matched our routine in Los Angeles but still hoping that jet-lag doesn’t kick in. Astrid set a lovely table that almost groaned with the traditional German breakfast specialties. We all sat down and had a leisurely breakfast and tried to calm their concern that the gentle rain would spoil our stay in Schliersee. It took a while to convince them that we loved the rain since we hadn’t seen any for months. They still don’t believe that one could tire of seeing the sun almost every day. They think it is some sort of California bragging.
That’s all for now. Tomorrow we visit mad King Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein Castle so tune in again.
Gute nacht from Bavaria.
Louise and Ray
P.S. Astrid and Alex do not use those laptops to communicate at breakfast. They actually talk to each other.