Starting In Munich

6/21/08 Munich

Today we went to Dachau, downtown museums, and Old Town Munich at night. Starting the day at Dachau and ending it with Hoffbrauhaus, shows the vastness of the areas moods and histories.

Unimaginable is a word I would use to describe my feelings at viewing the site of such a low point in history. I noticed the three religious monuments that were present at the camp: Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant. Evil will always be present in this life, but seeing this made me think that there is nothing to stop man from repeating such acts when he takes God out of the equation. The Dachau Memorial statue summed up the emotion of the place completely.

The people in Germany have been very friendly and helpful when we get lost which has been a few times. The country is beautiful. Very green and lush. There is definitely an international mood everywhere we go. You never know who knows or speaks English, but the likely hood is that people know 2-3 languages.

It is truly great to be on a real vacation. The beginning of summer, and a place far, far away......

Euro Adventures in Toiletry

From Gabe/ Munich/ early a.m. 6/21/08

Just a quick one here. Its a lesson I learned at our Obermenzink campsite in Munich. Its the #1 rule of tolieting in Europe or anywhere. In fact, its the ONLY rule. Make sure they have toilet paper in the stall BEFORE you sit down!

Okay, I admit that nothing puts a man in a better mood than food, a beer, or a good bowel. It makes our world right. So my moment came at the end of our first day (which was actually two days long). Lets just say that I had conducted a solid piece of business with a few loose ends. When it was time to close the deal: oh, yeah, thats right, the TP dispenser is on the wall OUTSIDE the stall. Luckily, my adventure turned from leaving a paper trail to finding some soap, which apparently is not a community bathroom item I discovered. I was blessed by a near empty bottle of Suave that someone left at a sink, then made my way back to the trailer to dream of never having this type of scare again!

Havent I seen this Strasse Before?

Hello, So I know it has been a while since we have posted, several are on the way but in rural Germany and Austria, Wi-Fi is hard to come by. We are moving into the cities, so posts should come more regularly. Here is my post from day 3 enjoy....

So it has been a couple of days since I have written. This is because we have been lost pretty much the entirety of the past two days. You see, the GPS system that we were planning to take blew up the day before we left. The ride from the airport was relatively uneventful. Little did we know that we were never to find our campsite again.... We went to the grocery and got lost, we went to dinner and got lost.

Day 2 we went to Dachau. It was a powerful reminder of the strength of a people and the need for vigalance against hatred and discrimination. After trying to return to town after 2 hours of being lost (30 minute drive), the days trip also reminded us not to complain about minor inconveniences, so I will share without complaining.

So 2 hours to get from Dachau to Munich, 2 more hours to park, but hey we went to the Haufbrauhaus had dinner and beer, watched the beginnings of the football playoffs (sorry Rob about the Netherlands loss), and listened to the musicians on the streets.

Then we attempted to return to our campsite. After the first hour, we knew we were lost. By hour two, a tail light and been knocked loose due to a minor altercation with a guard rail and things became tense. Hour was one of quiet prayer and a few tears. We had stopped for directions at least 7 times. Now at this time, I must pay homage to my family, no code words were used, no arguments were had, in fact little was spoken aloud. Then we found ourselves right back in downtown Munich, where we had left 3 and a half hours before and everyone was silent as my father stopped to ask for dirctions once again. He then did the smartest thing possible, he paid a taxi to guide us back to our campground....it took 15 minutes.

New goal....buy a TomTom

Heather

Achtung Munich!

From Gabe:

I think we will spend nine hours in the air to Heathrow London, and another 2 hours to Munich.

When your night becomes your day, you start feeling like you're in the Twilight Zone. Some of the best moments visually were looking out and seeing Greenland, and the luscious greens of England and Germany.

But when snacks become meals and the stink you smell is your own, you know its time to get off.

Heck, after 11 hours on the plane, I actually can't wait to get on the RV that I once dreaded.

And the kids, well, they just bounce back like a basketball. Its great to see and amazing. At least for now. We are still waiting for Rick and Laura to return with said RV.

But we've been delivered, and I got to eat an Enlgish breakfast (with BBQ pork and beans--YEAH! And I mean YEAH, I loved it. I want to do this when I get home) and I got to say danke once.

To be continued....

The Wages of Air Travel

When you go into a situation with no expectations there is both blessing and curses. At first when you don't realize just how long your flight really is, there is bliss. Then somewhere over Greenland when your night is becoming there day, thus begins the wages of air travel!

The spaciness, the hunger, the food. In general it went fine, but man it took so long. We were spared by a Barrackite from San Francisco who showed us mercy in sharing her fruit with a very hungry Ellie. A blessing. Then 2 minutes before touch down, this same woman decided to stretch and do a yoga performance in the aisle for all to see. A curse.

Full lavoratories.

Full bladders.

Watching 27 Dresses 27 times

Kids not sleeping, preparing to save meltdown for a foreign land.

Getting so hungry that you eat like an animal.

Realizing when the air turns un-fresh that everyone on the plane did too.

My name is Gabe Acosta
and this is the longest day of my life.

To be continued.....

Technical Difficulties

So, with less than 24 hours until our flight departs, the sylvester/acosta clan is already experiencing technical difficulties. Indicative of our trip? Perhaps....

1. My dear friends who had agreed to loan us their TomTom programmed for Europe plugged it in today and it started smoking. Sadly John Cleese will not be directing us from country to country, but rather we will be dependent upon maps. Having driven with my family long distances on numerous road trips, I foresee multiple arguments over which road to take and how to get from place to place. These arguments will occur between my father, my mother, and my sister. Blissfully, I have downloaded the entire first season of Wonder Woman and the most recent season of My Name is Earl so at inappropriate times, I will burst out laughing, which may not help matters, but that is the joy of being directionally-challenged: no one ever asks me to read the map!

2. My phone will not work in Europe. In the same way that the United States has rejected the overwhelming use of the metric system, the United States has decided to go their own way with phone service. Apparently, the rest of the world is on a GSM network, while the United States is on a CV something or other system. Now some phones (those whose price range is over $400) come with a system that is compatible as do some networks, however Verizon has not seen fit to convert.

So not only will we be lost, but we will be unable to communicate with one another......But maybe if I bring my Obama books, the residents will be kind enough to point us in the right direction.

So until tomorrow!

Heather

"Just Tell Them You Love Obama!"

So when anxieties hit you, its usually because of fear of the unknown. The best remedy is to talk to folks who've gone before you to Europe and pick their brains about what to expect.

So I was talking to my work friend Jason about Europe. He allayed many of my fears just by sharing his own experiences. Fears about getting mugged, or hustled, or feeling lost quickly fell away:

"Oh, there's plenty of other tourists around"

"They all pretty much speak English over there."

"We didn't have any problems."

And finally, the best advice I've gotten so far:

"Just tell them you love Obama!"

My friend made the point that, well, Europeans are very excited about Obama, and they love him. And by the same token, they could love you for loving him.

I guess that could really smooth things over. "Tell them you love Obama...."

Yeah, right.

Well, I guess if I get in a bind, I could fake it.

Gabe