Author Archives: windcityf

And back to Germany I go

Leave a comment Standard

After a brief visit to Copenhagen, I headed back down to Germany to visit Berlin. I had an early morning flight so I was thankful that my hotel was so close.  I wisely went to the Star Gold line and had no problems checking in my bags. Security was interesting, much nicer then stateside. So off I go to find my gate and I had the strangest encounter. I was walking to my gate, it was early so it was not too crowded, and a older and younger man are walking towards me. All of sudden, the older man body checked me. WAIT, what? We were not near each other at all, in fact I had moved even further away from him because he was older and appeared frail. Nope, he came right into my path and socked me in the ribs with his elbow, hard.  I’ve always said that I am not afraid when I travel because I am from Chicago, and they just don’t know who they are messing with. Well the reality? I stood there with my mouth open shocked that some old dude just tried to take me down. As I stood there processing, I am thinking maybe that did not just happen, until the younger man started screaming at the older man in some unknown language. He then looked at me and said “So sorry”.

Hmm, I started to wonder should I be worried about traveling to Berlin?

Again this trip was not normal for me, so after collecting my bags, I went outside to catch a taxi. I stood, in what I thought was the queue, which actually turned out to be a bunch a people just standing around. A Danish couple had me the mistake of following me, so we all walked back to the proper queue. Enter the obnoxious Americans.  You know the ones? The ones that make you keep your mouth shut as to keep the fact your American a secret? The Danish couple need a taxi with a car seat, so while we patiently queued, one rolled up and the Loud American, jumped the line and said he had to have it because he had 3 and they only had 1? Seriously? Travel karma is a bitch………

Given my love affair with Hyatt, I booked in at the Grand Hyatt Berlin. It was in a nice location, close the S and U trains as well as the Hop on Hop off Bus.  After I had checked in, I asked the concierge about sightseeing tours, etc. I had read online about taking the City bus around as it covered the same route as the tourist bus. But after what happened in the airport in Copenhagen, I was going stick with my people, fellow tourists, that is.

Berlin is a great! The hop on hop off bus was perfect because while some sights are close to either other, others require some serious walking or train.

There is now a Starbucks overlooking the area known as CheckPoint Charlie. I know because I stopped in for a latte. I admit it, I drink Starbucks outside the US, and while I am at it sometimes I eat McDonald’s too..

IMG_1640   IMG_1420    IMG_1422     IMG_1424IMG_1426

 

There is some amazing architecture, a mix of old and new and some seriously cool embassies in Berlin.  Of course I did not take a lot pictures, because at this point in the trip, I was tired and being lazy.  And since I’ve already started admitting my weakness, I should also state their might have been too much of this

IMG_1665

 

I also blame the wine for the next part of this adventure. I was in the lounge, surprise surprise, and they put some snacks out for happy hour. Well I was hungry so I decided to check it out.  I was told it was veal.

IMG_1647

It might have been veal, but it was veal with fish. At this point, if you know me, you know where is this headed.  For those of you who don’t know, I have a fish problem. If I eat shellfish, my throat starts to close. Or if I eat something that has been near shellfish, I get sick. But it usually takes 20 minutes. I have a fantastic allergist, who has schooled me on the dangers of traveling alone, in a foreign country and eating mystery food, but yeah that did not stop me. So I ate it, and it was good, so good I went back for another round.  Only at this point, the lounge attendants say NOooooo, there is fish in that. Oops. So I look at my watch and said oh we have about 20 minutes. What type of fish? I am eerily calm.  Everyone in the lounge is looking at me to see what’s going to happen.  I drink some more wine and look at that it’s been 25 minutes, it was not shellfish. More wine please.

While I am laughing now, I should realize it was probably not funny to those around me.  For the record, and this part is really for my Dr. who might be reading this, I am really pretty good about avoiding all things fish when traveling. When I do travel to countries with languages I really can’t speak or decipher, I bring printed cards that state no fish. I don’t bother to explain, because outside of the US, allergies are not as bad.  And sometimes, even after you explain, no fish, they still give it to you because they think you just don’t like it.  So, usually, if there is any question, I just avoid. And if it’s a buffet, I won’t touch anything.  Maybe I am paranoid, but I rather be alive and paranoid, then fighting for my breath in some funky country where they don’t understand what is wrong with me.

Copenhagen and Malmo

Leave a comment Standard

 

Since I was traveling to various cities on this trip, I constantly checked the weather to make sure that I had the proper clothes.  While it would have been a great excuse to go shopping, I am paranoid and rather be prepared.  For weeks, the various weather apps were showing that the weather in Copenhagen would be in the low 70’s. Even after I arrived and I discovered that was clearly not true, the damn weather app insisted on sticking to it’s story.

IMG_1609

I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and take a boat tour. It’s about an hour and takes you around the various sights of Copenhagen. Including the local bathing spots, which are all clothing optional.

IMG_1373IMG_1408IMG_1392IMG_1393

Copenhagen is a interesting mix of old and new. I would definitely go back and visit again, when it’s not as crowded. But be warned it’s on the pricey side.

Malmo, Sweden is quick train ride away from Copenhagen. It’s big claim to fame, this twisty building and this cool lighthouse

IMG_1415  IMG_1414

and what’s a trip to Sweden without a selfie?

IMG_1626

Since there was no Hyatt in Copenhagen I stayed at the Hilton. It was located at the airport but the train to the City only took about 10 minutes.  I will say that outside of the United States, Hilton’s are pretty great, and this one was really nice. I was able to get check in when I arrived and was upgraded to executive floor, which gave me lounge access.  I like lounge access because it gets me out of my room, especially if I have to work. So after a hot afternoon of sightseeing, I would head back to the hotel, grab my laptop and head to the lounge to “work”.  It’s interesting to how different people behave in the lounge. Now I am not going to lie, I like to get my wine on, but never to the point where I am drinking all the liquor in the lounge.  One night there was a family of 5 having dinner. Then their cousins and grandparents joined in the action. It took 5 refills, before I was actually able to get something.

While the food was enjoyable,  I was not going to make dinner out of it. But I sure did enjoy getting my wine on………

IMG_1639

IMG_1619

 

 

Flying to Copenhagen

Leave a comment Standard

When I started car shopping I knew I wanted to do European Delivery, if possible, depending on which car I went with. I also knew that I was planning on attending a party in Germany in July. So when I finally decided to purchase the car, I asked if would be possible to do delivery in July.

Of course, I should have known it would not work out as planned. The party was in Hamburg on July 26th. So I had asked if would be possible to do delivery in Leipzig on July 25th. Well we know how this story ends, due to the new model debut, the track time at Leipzig was all booked up. My only choice would be August 11th, if I wanted Leipzig. Or I could take July 7th or 18th in Stuttgart. Hmm. so I either fly over for the 7th and fly home and then back to Hamburg, or I take the 18th and take a nice summer vacation. Option 2 just made more sense.

Originally I was hesitant to drive around for days on end, so a short and simple road trip was planned. But then I had 5 days before I needed to be in Hamburg, so then what? I thought about various places, like Malta or Greece or Poland, but I had little problem, Baggage. I was traveling for 12 days so I had some serious bags. Too much to be schlepping on the train. And have you seen what airlines charge these days for bags? So my options were limited to flying on Star Alliance. And of course there had to be a Hilton or Hyatt. And I wanted to take advantage of the fact it was summer.

So given all that nonsense, going to Copenhagen checked all the boxes. SAS flew direct from Frankfurt, there was a HIlton, and it’s just beautiful in the summer.

So I corral all my bags and head to check in for my flight in Frankfurt.Where I proceed to make a big stink because they try to tell me I need to pay to check my 2nd bag. Fine, I tell the agent, just charge me, it’s wrong but I am not going to argue. The agent I am not oh wait I am sorry you are correct you don’t have to pay. VICTORY for like 2 seconds. Why would I fight with the agent taking my bags, they may end up in Timbuktu……

I make it to the gate area and I overhear some Americans talking. It’s funny the things people will say when they think those around them don’t understand. It was quite entertaining.

And finally board the plane, luckily it’s a quick flight because I am not sure how much time I could handle having my knees in my throat

.IMG_1587

 

Time to say bye to car for now

Leave a comment Standard

The driving portion of trip was coming to completion. The car need to be returned so it could be put on the boat for the US. Porsche provided several options for dropping it off, but for a fee. I opted to return it to the factory. So back to Stuttgart I go. My travel companion was flying home from Paris, so took the train from Strasbourg. So I was driving alone back to the factory. I was just a little nervous about the roundabouts, and the pouring rain did not help either.

Strasbourg is located very close to the German border, so I was back in Germany pretty quickly. I hit some serious traffic jams, but the GPS rerouted me thru some amazing little towns.

And the rain stopped, the traffic opened up and the roads were straight and clear. Oh yes, time to open this baby up……. Wait damn tires are speed rated so I only got to about 235 Km’s or 145 mph’s.  The best part? Getting lapped by some amazing works of German engineering.

Bye bye to car for now. I was told it would be heading to the port that same day or the next. So using my goggling skills, I was able to narrow it down to 1 of 3 ships it could possibly be on. So hopefully we are reunited by mid-August.

Now on to the next portion of my trip. I took the train from Stuttgart up to Mainz for one night. Why Mainz? There’s Hyatt.

It’s not a proper trip to Germany without some curry wurst and more wine of course.

IMG_1584

And that is point I would like to say that I went sightseeing and did all these amazing things, but no. I spent the evening “working”

IMG_1585

Well at least I had a nice view of the Rhine.

 

 

Last Supper in Strasbourg

Leave a comment Standard

After barreling thru the French countryside, we headed back to Strasbourg for dinner.  We checked out Petite France, which got it name for having a syphilis hospital in 15th century.  It was a grey and rainy day, so when the sun came out, we decided to celebrate.

CHEERS!                                IMG_1579

I’v been to France before but do you know that I’ve never had a macaron before? I’ve had a macaroon (and lucky enough had some warm ones earlier in the day).  Now you ask what is the difference between a macaron and a macaroon? I am going to say Google it.

After a long day of cheese, wine, macaroons and macron’s, it was time for dinner.  I blame my wine consumption on my dinner choice….

IMG_1581

Yes Beef Tartare, well when in France!

La Route des Vins et le vignoble d’Alsace

Leave a comment Standard

Wait Wine? Yes please……

The great thing about France in the summer is there is a good chance you will find a local festival. Since we were staying in the Alsace region, we were able to locate several wine festivals. Our first stop was in Ribeauville, located on the Route des Vin.

IMG_1344 IMG_1348  IMG_1350

The Vins and Gastronomie festival ( Wine and Food) was being held in the town center.  The set up was similar to the Christmas Markets, wooden stalls serving different types of wine and food. You purchased a ticket at the entrance that could be exchanged at any of the stalls for different types of food.  For the wine tasting, you had to purchase a glass and a wrist band. Somehow we lost the “need to purchase a wristband” in translation. So we just drank free wine.

And what’s a little wine without some cheese?

IMG_1577 IMG_1578

 

Time to continue on to the next town, which was about 1 minute away. What we then learned was the wine route is better discovered on bicycle, rather then driving. Obvious reasons being, should not be driving while tasting wine and well the towns are not built for large American cars. Did I mention the roundabouts????

IMG_1355

**** Just to clarify, there was no drinking and driving, the driver did not have a sip of wine.****

Strasbourg

Leave a comment Standard

As you know I travel a lot, so there are few givens to my travel. I am picky about how I am going to get there and where I will stay once I have arrived.

If I were to be honest, my airline of choice would be Lufthansa, but they don’t fly Chicago to Fort Lauderdale, so United is my preferred.  When it comes to hotels, I used to be in committed relationship with Hilton, but Hyatt has since stolen my heart.

Given that there was no Hyatt’s in Strasbourg, we opted to stay at the Hilton. It was located right off the motorway, so it was great because it did not require having to drive thru town.  And due to my status, we were given an upgrade to the executive floor, free wireless, breakfast, and executive lounge access.

After a long day of driving and a really nice happy hour in the lounge, we opted to have dinner at the hotel.  Which turned out for the best given the nice wine selection and dessert options. Can you can say food coma?

 

IMG_1574    IMG_1575

Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France

Leave a comment Standard

5 countries in one day………

After a nice cool rest by the Lake in Lindau, we set off on the driving portion of the trip. Prior to heading into Austria and Switzerland, we stopped to purchase the required Vignettes, toll passes, needed for each country.   So off we go, hitting roundabout after roundabout.

**Apparently the Europeans do not like stop signs as they are disruptive to traffic, so they have roundabouts. I’ve been to Europe more times then I can count and I’ve never noticed them before.  Now? I saw them on the plane during our approach to Frankfurt.**

The beauty of the Schengen Agreement, allows you to pass thru the different countries without border controls.  So we breezed out of Germany into Austria and onto Liechtenstein, without even realizing it.

First stop, Vaduz Liechtenstein. Vaduz is the capital of this small land locked country. I must admit the reason for the stop was so I could get my passport stamp to showed I had been there.  The city center is very compact and after a few stops to pick up some postcards, it was time to move on.  And no, I did not get my passport stamped. Liechtenstein uses the Swiss Franc for their currency and I had spent all of mine on postcards and postage stamps.

IMG_1562IMG_1565IMG_1566

About 5 minutes later, we were in Switzerland. A road trip would not be a true road trip without a stop for some munchies. A little embarrassed to admit, but yes we stopped at McDonald’s. Best darn French Fries I’ve had in a while.  We took the scenic route along Lake Zurich. It was picturesque.  Sorry I was driving so no photos to share.

The original plan had been to stop in Basel, but it was crowded and the streets were confusing with the trams, so we continued on to France.

Now in France, you have to be careful driving because they have speed cameras. But oddly enough the GPS will warn you when you are entering an area with the cameras.  Also the roads were not nearly as pretty as Switzerland or as nice as Germany.

We stopped in Colmar, which is located along the Route Du Vin in the Alsace region in France. For years the German and French had fought over the region, so while it’s technically France, it has a very strong German feel.

The town is amazing. Almost like out of Disney story. We had a nice lunch and walked around.

IMG_1339 IMG_1337IMG_1571

 

When we had arrived in town, there was plenty of open parking spots. It appeared you just paid at the meter and put the slip on the car, or so we thought. We paid for 2 hours and upon our return, I noticed a large suv parking near my car. It was odd because you don’t tend to see large cars like that in Europe. The driver sees us approach signals to me as to say is that your car, I nodded and went about getting in my car.  So we start to fiddle with the GPS, and I hear honking. I noticed the other car had pulled out and was honking at me to move, I put up my hand and ignored her. Oops.  Next thing I know, she’s parked her car, comes around to my car door, opens it and starts screaming at me, in what I think was German. It was not French, I can say that much.  Now I would like to think that I would have behaved differently given the situation, but I just sat there with my mouth open, wondering did she just scratch my car with her ugly purse? I did say back, I don’t understand. But by then, she had run away in a angry huff.  So be careful how you park in France,  just saying, you’ve been warned.

So off we head to our hotel in Strasbourg.  According to the printed map, it was 20 minutes,  but the car GPS was saying more like 50.  We really only had a problem with time/distance in France.

Autobahn and Lindau Germany

Leave a comment Standard

So after all the excitement of taking delivery of my new car, it was time to hit the road. Porsche provided a nice lunch and a factory tour. This factory tour was different then my previous tour, as we got to view the engine shop. Just fascinating.

The first stop on the road trip was Lindau, Germany. It’s an inlet located on Lake Constance in Southern Germany. Porsche provided a handheld GPS, because I had not opted to have the European Maps loaded on the car’s GPS. If you’ve ever driven in an area that experiences seasons, you know that summer is also know as construction season. It was brutal trying to leave Stuttgart, due to my inexperience with German construction as well as my new car.

Finally, one hour later we hit the Autobahn, lets open this baby up. And no, we are going to sit in traffic, what should have been an easy 2 hour drive, was closer to 4.  We were fortunate enough to hit some of the unlimited patches and had some fun trying to see how fast we could go.  But with traffic, we only got to about 115 mph.

Since the car is set for export to the US, it had temporary license plates. Not the normal German sized plates, but more like State side plates due to the configuration of the car. So most people driving knew that we were not local.

Enter the jerk in the Mercedes. I mentioned traffic was heavy right? Well in Germany, you follow the rules of the road, pass on the left, slower traffic to the right. Well since traffic was sort of heavy, we were sitting in the left, passing as much as we could. Well the jerk thought we were just sitting left and tried several times, unsuccessfully to get in front of us.  Until he finally had enough and just cut me off, causing me to swerve into the right lane.  Well my Porsche beat his Mercedes, so I won that game of chicken, but it was a game I most certainty do not want to play again.

We finally arrived safely in Lindau and never have we been so thankful to find out room was freezing cold.

After a nice stroll thru the town, we had a lovely dinner along the lake, where we witnessed a wedding  ceremony. A very relaxing evening after a very fun day.

photo 2 (3) photo 1 (2)

HAPPY CAR DAY TO ME!!!!!!

Leave a comment Standard

Finally, the day I’ve been waiting for 3 years in the making. Back in 2011, I went to Munich over Thanksgiving to visit the Christmas Markets (another post for another day). I had always wanted to visit the BMW factory and figures while I was at it would visit the Porsche factory. Who knew that trip would change my life.

I visited the BMW factory on Day 1. It was interesting. Nothing really great, but definitely worth checking out. Day 2, I took the train to Stuttgart for the Porsche Factory Tour and Mercedes Museum. I had pre-arranged the Porsche Tour, I figured I would check out the Mercedes Museum afterward (did not happen).  So I arrived at Porsche and toured the Museum first. Porsche has an interesting history and they have a lot of different cars on displayed. One in particular stood out to me, the Carrera GT, which according to the audio guide, was a little something designed to go the grocery store. At 450,000 Euro, your not going to the grocery store in that car.

There was also a quote by Ferdinand Porsche, that just stuck with me.

DSCN0471

And then I went on the factory tour. They really should make you sign a waiver, that you assume the risk and understand by taking that tour, you will purchase a Porsche. It may not happen immediately, but you will dream of owning one, so much so, that one day you will just give in.

I can recall the exact moment that made me a believer, it was the leather room. Something unique about Porsche, is that their cars are completely customized. So much so that only 1 in 400 cars may have similar configurations. So one option is having custom leather. They actually have a leather room in which there were 2 women, hand sewing leather. Seriously, sitting there HAND sewing the leather. It blew my mind. And in that moment, I thought, I will have one someday. Probably after I win the lotto, but I will have one.

3 years later, 4 months after placing the order, I finally had my dream come true.

I thank God for giving me the ability to dream, the courage to follow them and for keeping me safe to be able to tell the tale. Here’s to dreaming big and having them come true!