or how I asked “What wine would you recommend?”, and got told by the German waiter “So a beer then sir?”…
Apologies peoples for not updating the blog more frequently. The down side to packing as much as possible into our days means that sleep is second priority and blog the third priority. So while I sit at the foot of the amazing Swiss Alps, drinking a beer, looking at a waterfall plunging over one of the sheer cliffs of the town of Lauterbrunnen while updating my blog. (Yes I seem to be able to multitask!). That and a text message from my mom hinting at when my next blog would be out is an incentive. One mom is enough, I dont need Ryans mom hinting next too!
Well to start off our latest (belated) tale, back in Beijing, my suave and cheeky debonair-ish behaviour had obviously gotten us upgraded to business class from Beijing to Frankfurt. There might have been mention of the flight being overbooked, but im sure that was just a cover for the swooning lady at the counter. Ryan nodded knowingly, as he usually does when I make such obviously accurate statements.
So, there we were, snuggled into our huge business class seats, all the while trying not to show our obvious excitement and playing with an many buttons as possible as the seats were an engineers heaven. Suddenly, our monkey like attempts at getting the massager on the chair working were interrupted as a hostess floated into our view with a big smile on her face to ask us if we wanted champagne or juice. Already brimming over with confidence after my last success at the counter, I thought I would practice my German, so the words “Champagne Bitte” and Danke rolled off my tongue much to Ryans amazement. Unfortunately she called my bluff as she broke out into a cascade of German while serving our drinks. My hands shot up in immediate surrender, and I sheepishly responded with “um, my German isn’t THAT good” to which the hostess responded with a cheeky smile and jostled on down the aisle to serve other more wise travellers. All the while Ryan was trying his best to hold back the waves of laughter that were threatening to overtake him. Oh well, one cant win them all can you?
Now, as we flew in to Frankfurt it was surprising to see scattered little towns everywhere. Ah yes, Germany, it’s a beautiful country with a lot of green and trees and forests, however as Kathrin informed us its mostly planted forest similar to the forests outside Taupo or Rotorua which are grown only to be cut down when mature enough, still they did look quite beautiful indeed. After landing and picking up our baggage, we made our way to the train station which handily enough was just in the basement of the airport. With 10 seconds to spare we just made it onto the train to Munich as the doors swished shut. As expected Germans are very precise, like a finely tuned German timepiece, the train left on the dot – not a second later, not a second earlier.
We settled into our plush seats as the train rocketed to measly 280 km/hr. Feeling quite chuffed at making the train just in the nick of time, we ordered our first German beers of the trip, which the lady promptly (German efficiency at its finest) brought. We gazed out the windows as we shot past slower Ferraris and Porches on the autobahn. Our day dreaming suddenly interrupted by the nice lady who had served us our beer to check tickets. After I handed over our ticket, her polite smile quickly evaporated, her curt response being that we had inappropriately placed ourselves in the 1st class section, and she in no uncertain terms wanted us out of there. Now honestly, this incident was more due to the fact that we were in such a hurry to jump on the train, rather than business class having gone to our heads. We quickly exited stage right, while ensuring as much as possible to not make any eye contact with the other people who had paid extra for their 1st class tickets. We arrived in Munich without any more “incidents” and further damage to international relations, checked into our hostel and prepared for our tour of the castles for the next day.
Now the castles were visited were amazing, the most splendid being the Neuschwanstein Castle with breathtaking views, and mind-boggling workmanship. While it stands uncompleted as the king who ordered it built was bankrupted and passed away well before it was ever finished, it is the most visited and most photographed castle in the world. Apparently Walt Disney imitated the design for the magic kingdom. I can see why, and the photos don’t do it justice.
The next day we were booked to do Munich and its beers, unfortunately there had been a change in the times, which would have thrown our careful travel plans into disarray. So while consoling a dejected and very chillaxed Ryan, we boarded a train to Frankfurt. A definition of chillaxed by the way – It’s a term Ryan has coined to consolidate and describe himself when he is chilling and relaxing. To put the record straight, all this is lies, and the real definition for this term is “Chellaxed” which is actually him being cranky as hell and ready to axe someone… This someone I fear being me, as after all I am the closest person around him at anyone time. This is evidenced as shown in the picture below.
Once in Frankfurt we caught up with the lovely Kathrin, who treated us to amazing German hospitality, second to none, except for Sebastian who visited us and brought us a typical German breakfast (of amazing rolls and meats), which meant he had to drive 2 hours each way just to see us. Again amazing hospitality second to none! Not to mention Sebastian showed me his 6 series BMW, which had to be the most plush and fancy car I’ve ever been in. I can see why Elfride was so hesitant to give it up, and Sebastian so determined to get it back.
After Sebastians departure, Kathrin and her flatmate Eva showed us the sights around Frankfurt, with us even bumping into an African foreign dignitary with a full compliment of undercover police and escort went we visited Frankfurts tallest building. After an action packed day, seeing all the sights we rushed home to do get ready for the second main even. Dinner at a proper German restaurant, it was here that I was to meet the German equivalent of myself – Miss Sandra.
The evening started off as usual as one would expect, sitting around introducing ourselves to each other. We’d ordered traditional German schnitzel with an amazing sauce the Germans called a green sauce. With this I picked a nice German reisling at the advice of Sandra. The meal was delicious, but Ryan maintains that his moms schnitzel is even better, not being one to argue, im determined to try this world-renowned schnitzel of Ryans moms. Well, in no time at all, Sandra and I were gibbering away like demented monkeys, or as Ryan called it “got along like two houses on fire”. By the end of the evening I had Sandra in tears. However, luckily for me the tears were from us laughing so hard, and the pain at the back of my head was from smiling so much, instead of from smacks to the back of the head. Overall a lovely evening overall and a great way to end our last night in Frankfurt.
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