Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Munich

Using public transportation in DC is a breeze unless you are traveling to or from Dulles Airport.  Without a complete metro track to the airport, you need to allow time to transfer to a bus which only runs twice each hour.  Adding that to the need for a metro change between our hotel and the bus stop, we knew we would rather allow additional time for the trip than to be rushed.  With all that in mind, we left the hotel about 2:00 Monday afternoon.  The flight was scheduled for 6:40.

When we arrived at the airport, we learned the plane had been delayed and would not be leaving until 8:30. OK - not a problem.  

By the time the plane was loaded, traffic on the runway had developed and we waited a long time for clearance.  Then we waited some more.  Not too much of a problem.

Finally, we started moving.  We taxied for quite some distance and then the pilot came on the radio to tell us that there was an issue with the weight distribution of the baggage.  We would have to return to the terminal.  
Back we went.  It was beginning to seem like a problem.

Then it was decided we would have to refuel because of all the fuel used on the aborted taxi trip.  But the fuel truck didn't come right away.  The pilot now tells us there is some totally unrelated problem inside the terminal and everything has been shut down for security purposes.  We never did find out what that was all about, but finally the fuel truck came, and we took off again.  

It was now almost 11:00.  Dinner was served after midnight.  Needless to say it was dried out and unappetizing.  We now definitely have a problem!

Heathrow Airport is never my favorite place to be, but on this particular Tuesday morning, it didn't even rate in the top 95%.  Our fabulous connection had been lost of course and now - not only were we late, but we would have to wait almost three hours for our flight to Munich.  

Then that flight was delayed.  And then, through an error on our part in reading the board, we almost missed it.  Eventually, we were on the plane, safely strapped in and within a couple of hours we were waiting outside the Munich Airport for the hotel shuttle.  

As darkness was quickly falling, we were still thinking about going into the city for a quick tour, but when the shuttle arrived there was only room for one passenger.  We would have to wait for the second shuttle.  Now all we could think of was getting to the hotel.

Eventually, the second shuttle arrived and quickly swept us off to the hotel.  After a glass of wine, a good dinner and a hot shower, we fell into bed.

What a day!

The next morning I looked out the window and couldn't believe my eyes.  It was as if we had taken the wrong plane and landed somewhere in Iowa rather than Munich Germany.  This is what I saw . . .
Corn . . . a huge field of corn. 

I added the hotel sign to the collage so there would be no mistake in the future as to where the photo was made.

By mid-morning we were on the train into Munich where I had my first German/English conversation.  
The lady was precious.  She wanted to practice her English, but kept getting confused with her French.  She was all dressed up, on her way to an Oktoberfest venue with her parents.  

We made our connection in downtown Munich with exactly one minute to spare and settled into a relaxing trip to Vienna.