A night close to the airport in Darmstadt
Trip Start
Nov 21, 2007
1
148
158
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Darmstadt,
Hesse,
Germany
Thursday, September 18, 2008
We got on Autobahn 5 to return to Frankfurt so we'd be there for the plane Friday morning. We had a challenge finding rooms because of some conference that was in town. After trying several places, we drove back for a while to about 40 miles out I believe and did find a place there. We found a wonderful place to get Schnitzel one more time (pork fried with a delicious breading) and apple strudel once more.
We talked about our "top three" experiences...WJ talked about the very special moment when we saw L/J after getting off the plane...#1 for both Jim and me (after getting to spend time with the kids) was seeing the countryside...so green and lush...the houses...animals...etc. Really high on WJ's list was the "Sound of Music" Tour...she's seen it about 70 times I believe she said...#2 was Rothenburg I believe...it was such a quaint little place and easy to navigate...Layton and Jim had walked on the city wall...WJ, J and I had enjoyed the Christmas stores and museum tremendously while we were there. It's really hard to pinpoint favorites since it all was so special
weiner schnitzel in frankfurt was sooooo good
. The churches were beautiful...my favorite was the one on the way to Lindau where Johann Baptiste Zimmerman had done the paintings...The kids were on their way to Munich to be there for October Fest and they had to drop the car off there...it is about 4.5 hours from Frankfort...They took us to the airport at 7 a.m. None of us wanted to say goodbye but it made it easier knowing that they will arrive back in Dallas Oct. 2 which is not far away...We got to the ticket counter at 7:10 a.m. and were told we could check in at 8 a.m. We pre-weighed our suitcases and really thought I would have to pay for being overweight (50 lbs.) but my suitcase weighed 20 Kilos or 44 lbs. so I was okay. I think J/WJ's bags weighed 15 and 17 or something like that. Willa Jane said, "Judy, we could have shopped some more!"
We watched people of all ages, shapes, sizes, nationalities with all kinds of configurations of luggage. I saw a flight to Basel, Switzerland where we know that Heinrich Schaffner lived for a while. Layton pointed out a highway sign to me that said Basel. I visited with a little man and lady who were returning to Belton, TX...he's 83 and she must be close to it. He had been married to her sister who died 4 years ago. The lady's husband had passed away 10 years ago. The two couples had spent a lot of time together over the years and he said they are taking care of each other now. He's 83...they go to Mannheim, Germany every 90 days...They were cute and waved to me as I was going to our seats on the plane and then we saw them at Customs, too.
I believe the distance from Dallas to Frankfurt was 7513 miles...it took us 11 hours coming back...WJ and I watched two movies, read some, napped some; Jim read some and napped...the two meals were good again...
We thanked God for this fun experience to see the kids and Germany/Austria...we'll never forget it...
