June 20, 2013 - Stuttgart

We ate pastries that we had bought yesterday and then headed to Stuttgart.  We ran into some rerouting issues due to road work.











We drove past the Auto and Technik Museum in Sinsheim that we plan on visiting while here.













 We thought the gps had taken us to the wrong place since we could see the Mercedes Arena but further up the road was the Mercedes Museum.  When you enter from the parking garage there is a gift shop and showroom that you can purchase your brand new Mercedes from.  We looked at some of items as we walked through.  







They had some different motorized machines before you entered the museum.

So sometimes we had to wait for someone to show up.














When Elaine and Fred went to buy their tickets the girl selling the tickets asked them if they were older that 60 and Elaine told her they were older than 70 and the girl then told Elaine that she looked like Jane Fonda and sold them their tickets for 4 Euros.  Our non discounted tickets were 8 Euros.  We went over and got our audio guide and took the elevator to the top floor.

There were some really cool old cars the

  

You won't see Roger or Fred in any of these pictures because they took way to long looking and reading about everything.

We got in trouble for this picture or at least we think  that she was telling us we were doing wrong by touching the door handle.  All we know is that a woman came running yelling something in German at first I wasn't sure what was going on.

Amanda thought she would just jump in and take this one for a ride.













What I really liked is as you walked the spiral walk way to the next floor down they had pictures and stories of things that happened during that time that the next level of cars came from.

Of course we finished way before the guys so we went and got something to eat.  Amanda got a sandwich and beer.














Elaine got a yummy looking chocolate muffin.

The guys showed up just about the time they finished eating.  They thought they had gotten the parking ticket validated from the restaurant but when we put the ticket into the machine to try to get out of the parking lot it would not let us. So after several attempts we backed up and went to the machines that you use to pay for your ticket and sure enough we still owed 5 euros.  When we finally got out of there we headed to the Porsche museum.

By the time we found it we decided that it was too late to go in so we just drove around it and took pictures because we didn't want to have to pay for parking just to get a picture.

So we headed back to Hailey's but we made a stop at Globus, which is the Germany equivalent to  a Super Walmart.  We purchased some snacks, beer and wine and on the way out Roger bought a pork sandwich.  We ran into a problem at their gas station and could not use our credit card because it does not have a chip in it.  We even took it up to the kiosk to pay but she couldn't get it to work either  so we had to pay cash for it.

The pictures of the windmills are just because I was fascinated by how large they were.  They seem a lot larger than the ones we have back at home.

June 19, 2013 - Arrived at Hailey's

We arrived at the Frankfurt airport.  Made it through immigration rather quickly, got our bags and headed out to pick up our rental car at the Avis kiosk.  Well I guess they have the in the different terminals and we were checking in at the wrong one but the lady that was helping us just re-booked us through her terminal.  We had prepaid for the van so we just had to fill out the paperwork and then loaded up and headed to Hailey's.  When Hailey had come to home the last time she brought a couple of old cell phones one for Amanda to take and one for us.  Well when I tried to call her to let her know we had landed and were headed her way, the phone said we had no balance available so I just shut the phone off.  What I didn't know is that she could have called me because there was not charge for that.

The van we got was brand new it only had 25 kilometers on it when we got it.  The back row of seats were the ones that fold flat down into the floor so our luggage fits just fine.  I am very glad that we purchased our Garmin GPS with Europe maps on it for our last trip to Europe it came in very handy for our trip this time also.  I had printed out directions from google maps also but I never did see any of the roads that were on that map but the gps got us here with no problems other than it took forever to find the satellite.

 

On our lovely journey to Hailey's there was some road construction and Roger noticed that the road divided with the trucks going on one side and the cars going on the other so at the last minute he changed lanes and followed the cars down a path that had ramps on both sides of the lane.  Soon we heard police sirens behind us.... oh great now what do we do we can't get over because there is no over to get to, so we just keep going with the sirens blaring behind us.  Finally we get to the end so Roger pulls into the right lane ready to pull off to the side of the road but the police car just zooms past us.  Lets just say Rogers hands were very sweaty.




Amanda greeted us at the door.












It didn't take long for the guys to fall asleep on the couch watching a movie Amanda started for them.  So I went for a walk with Amanda.  This is probably the first of many adventures that we will have on this trip.  Today was the hottest day since Hailey has been stationed here.  It was 92 degrees with what felt like 92% humidity as we set out.  Before long my eyes were burning from the sweat that was pouring into them.  We had nothing to wipe the sweat off. (Where is Pam when I need her?)

They have a road and park dedicated to J. F. Kennedy.  We took a wrong road and walked about a mile when we realized it was not going to take us where we needed to go, so we had to turn around and go back the way we came and then went another way.  So we arrived at the base gates and was going to have Hailey meet us there but Amanda realized she had forgotten her pass to get on the base, soooo we had to go back to Hailey's.  We stopped at a gas station mini mart and Amanda bought a wine cooler type drink because it was cheaper than water.  Lucky for us she called and when we were half way back to her house she picked us up.

I had never seen these before but I guess they are
Dragon Fruit.

 So we came back to the apartment and picked up Elaine and then went back to the base, got our passes for the week, and went shopping for food at the BX.  We came back and filled her fridge which has never been done before.

The second floor is Hailey's appartment.

Then grabbed the guys and headed for dinner in Kaiserslauttern.

We had to wait for Amanda as she ran into a store real quick to buy some shorts.  She couldn't find them anywhere.  When we walked past the store after dinner we could see them right as you walk in but they were closed.

Now for the big decision....what's for dinner?

I think this is what I am going to have.  But then we got lucky and the waitress asked us if we wanted an english menu....Why yes that would be nice.  So I changed my mind but still had something similar.  I go lucky and my snitzel was the special so I got a free large drink with it plus strawberry daiquiris were on special for 3 euros so I got one of those too.  It was so good because it was icy.

 Elaine & Fred shared a meal of mixed meats.

The food was yummy but way to much so now we have leftovers for breakfast.












Amanda had grabbed a packet of what she thought was ketchup but it was a sweet mustard that was really good.

This is a picture of my Christmas tree ornament that I purchased today at the BX.


It is now almost midnight everyone is asleep and I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I am sorry if I misspelled anything or it doesn't all make since.  But just know that we made it safely to Hailey's and that we have already had some great German food.

June 18, 2013 Traveling to Germany

Looks like he is under arrest for charging his tablet

Boy 4 am came way to fast when we went to bed at 1.  We did the last minute stuff like making sure the refrigerator was all cleaned out, oops except the milk, well we may have cottage cheese when we get home.  Got the garbage all out of the house.  The mail and newspaper is on hold, boarding passes printed (of course I did that yesterday), electronics are charged.  Did the sweep of the house to make sure all the pets were out and then we were off to the airport.  The days are gone when you could arrive at the Fresno Airport and not have to wait in any lines.  We checked our bag at the kiosk so we didn't have to wait in the very long line.  The only problem was that Roger pressed the wrong button, or maybe the right one it depends on how you look at it, and now he is sitting in a totally different location.  We tried to change it back when we got to the gate but someone had already taken his exit row seat.  The security check was down to only one machine so that line took around 20 minutes to get through.  So we made it to the gate with just enough time to reorganize my bag so that I had just what I wanted to have with me on the plane in a different purse.

Once we boarded we found that we had to wait for passenger trying to get through security plus they needed to fix something on the plane.  It was a good thing for a lot of passengers that they had to make that repair because some people didn't board until a half hour after we should have departed.  We had a family of four young children with the oldest maybe going into the 2nd grade sitting right behind us.  I am glad we are not on their next flight which is from DFW to Madrid Spain.  The baby was crying the girls were kicking our seats, and they were not quiet about all that they were doing and going to do.  The Steward must be a comic on the side as he was cracking jokes about everything.  Once the flight took off though i was pretty uneventful.

 We arrived at Dallas and took the tram over to the D terminal and had lunch at McDonald's.

 We met up with Roger's Aunt and Uncle then we found out that they moved our gate so off to terminal A we went and now it is delayed 45 minutes.  We actually made up most of the time in the air.  I sat next to a young man who is a math teacher for 6th grade, who was traveling to Poland to see his fiance'.  He met her when he was traveling through Europe and then made several trips back to Poland to see her and when he was there during Spring break he proposed.  I loved the exit row seats except for the fact that I did not have a window.

June 15-16, 2013 Amsterdam

Amanda went with some new friends Calvin and Brady to Amsterdam, while Hailey went to Vienna with some other friends.  They drove from Ramstein and it took between 5 and 6 hours.

Of course you have to get a picture with the amsterdam letters.

They stayed at the Euphemia  Hostel and shared a room for three for 150 Euros.  It cost 36 Euros for a 24 hour parking pass.


























They visited the World of Heineken.

After the tour they went and had some Mexican food and Margaritas.

Sunday the did some souvenir shopping and then headed back to Ramstein.