From Erik –

We arose the next day, took our clothes off the line, and bid farewell to Ria and Rainer. One of the true joys of this journey has been getting to know our hosts as we have traveled from place to place, and I’m so grateful for the language skills that have given me the opportunity to listen and learn. Rainer was a classic example.

Rainer got to live out every little boys’ dream when he landed a job at the Deutsche Bahn, the German railroad company. He was trained as an engineer and spent his days driving the locomotives from Berlin to Munich, from Stuttgart to Hamburg, and everywhere in between. After leading a wonderful life for many years, Rainer was bitten by a tick, and unfortunately not the harmless kind, but the one in million version that wreaks havoc on your health (after hearing all of this, I felt even better about taking Katie to the Krankenhaus). The poor guy was in the hospital for over 8 weeks, and after a very long recovery he was cleared by his physician to return to work! The Deutsche Bahn doctor had some different ideas, and wouldn’t clear him to return to his position, instead chaining Rainer to a desk. After some time being miserable in his new role, he was offered an early retirement, which he gladly accepted. It’s yet another sobering reminder that every day is a gift, and reinforces my gratitude for all the blessings in my life.

Ria and Rainer were a little skeptical that we could fit our entire family, along with all of our possessions into our car. They came out to witness the Tetris game for themselves, and they walked away more than a little impressed. With that, we began our final leg in the Ford – to Hamburg! Before reaching our destination, we made a quick detour to Hanover, where we checked out Sea Life, a very nice aquarium! With a combination of Katie’s boredom and her obsessive reading, she really came in handy today. As we announced our intention to visit Sea Life, Katie pulls, of all things, a box of Kellog’s Frosties out of the back seat and produces a coupon, which ended up saving us €38!

Sea Life was very well put together, and kept the kids interested with their children’s scavenger hunt activity. I had a new experience in their touch tank when a cleaner shrimp took it upon himself to clean under my fingernails! I’ve never felt so fresh and so clean! At the end of the exhibit I was glad Katie had found the ½ price ticket offer, because I would have felt very differently about the experience if I had paid full price.

 

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We loaded up once again and headed toward Rahlstedt, an area on the northeast side of Hamburg. As we closed in our new house we were hit with a trifecta of problems – construction that completely blocked our intended path, Charlie’s bladder, and Samantha’s bladder. We’ve got Charlie in the back seat dancing a jig, Samantha bordering on tears, and a single minded Bordcomputer that couldn’t figure out that there was construction and couldn’t get us around. With some quick thinking from my navigator (Liz) and a little fancy driving, we got really close to the house, but we couldn’t quite find it. We let Charlie water some plants, and right about that time we connected with Andrea, our new host, who quickly let Sam into the house. Crisis averted!

Being a Saturday, we had to get some shopping done since nothing is open on Sunday. We also had to return the car to the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, so Liz and I chose to divide and conquer. My journey to turn in the car, began innocently enough, but as I closed in on the Hauptbahnhof, the traffic, and the number of people, became overwhelming! They tend to put the central train station, right in the middle of everything, and on Saturday evenings, people like to congregate, right in the middle of everything! Who’s brilliant idea was it to return the car to this particular place – what an idiot (it was me)!

The Bordcomputer got me close, but where it wanted me to go just didn’t make any sense. I took another lap around the block, and still couldn’t find a place to leave my car. As I’m driving, I’m trying to call the rental place, which just routes me to the call center, which is not open on Saturday nights. When I’m about lose it, fortune smiled upon me once again, and I happened to turn into a lot where I recognized the Sixt logo on a little tiny sign. I ran the keys inside and handed them over to a friendly employee and went about my day. It didn’t occur to me until later that he didn’t give a receipt or any kind of recognition that I had turned the car back in. A few days later I did get a receipt, so all is well that ends well.

As I was waiting for the train to return to Rahlstedt, a young woman with two boys approached me to ask me for directions. She was heading to a church in Rahlstedt to sing, and between her 0% phone battery and unfamiliarity with the area, I was looking like a pretty good option. It turns out that they were refugees from Afghanistan and had lived in the Germany for about one year. The boys both spoke great German and during our travels together regaled me with tales about their life in school and asked me all about my family. Once we arrived at the train station I helped them find their bus, and upon discovering it would be much faster to walk, led them most of the way to their destination. You just never know who you’re going to meet!

Liz and kids had a very successful shopping trip, so the kids ate dinner in our new house.

The parents were feeling a bit lazy, so with the help of our new host, Andrea, we ordered – of all things – Dominos Pizza! The kids, who were supposed to be in bed, made a few visits to the living room to grab a slice, and after a long travel day, we all settled into our new beds to get ready for whatever came next. The road trip was officially over, and from here on out, we’re taking the train!