Wow! What a great 10 days.
Even as the second edition, it just kept getting better. Going 210 km/hr. on a motorcycle on the Autoban. Motorcycling to France for coffee and éclairs. Kayaking, hiking, more museums and castles, traveling to Munich, Frankfurt, Heidelberg – I’m going to have to look at the pictures to remember all that we did.
As I said in the last letter, I was headed back to the Lufthansa Training Center to watch Thomas complete his quarterly simulator practicum. The exam was over 4 hours and was a real enlightening experience. After a couple minutes inside, I completely forgot I was in a simulator. The examiner was a real stickler and really made the pilots work. Poor visibility, engine flame outs, engine failures on take off, vehicles on the runway, fast changes in weather, and a few more kinks thrown in just for fun. It was very interesting how the procedures were followed and the pilots calmly made major corrections and landed the planes safely – a lot can go wrong and they can still fly the plane. While I was in the simulator, Missie went and had a long lunch with Uli, one of the other pilots she had met 30 years ago.
The next day was off to the motorcycle races. Thomas has several BMWs and we took out the 1200 for a ride – Missie was in search of another museum. He kept trying to get me to drive, but I was really reluctant to re-learn riding on a new $15k euro bike. So, he took me out on the Autoban and maxed it out at 210. The next day, he talked me into trying his BMW HP4 (only 500 made – capable of 260+). I think it was a sign from God that I couldn’t keep it running. He had the same problem, but more experience – we swapped back – to Missie’s detriment. She then had to ride with me – my ribs are still sore and her arms and thighs are sore from holding on. It thought I was nice! I only went 150. We drove to France for a late morning coffee and pastry. Then on to the Black Forest, windy roads and a couple more castles – oh, and of coarse lunch including large portions of pork.
The next day we decide to go back to the Black Forest and go hiking. The cloud cover in Karlsruhe was really low, but Thomas said it would be sunny and warm at the forest. Within a few minutes drive, we were above the cloud cover and looking out over a sea of clouds. The day was amazingly beautiful. Once again, took a nice long walk around a lake and up through a marsh on the plateau (sort of like the páramos of Colombia) and once again had a nice lunch including Black Forest ham.
Then it was over to Utta’s house for dinner with Ingo, Lisa, and Willy. This was a tradional German dinner with more pork roast, sour kraut and potatoes – we could hardly walk. It was a fun night of laughing a trying to talk Lisa into coming to the US. Nick and Scott came to live with Thomas, Utta, Willy and Lisa when they were 10 and 8. Utta had driven the boys all around Europe with her kids and we would like to repay the opportunity and show Lisa and Willy the US.
The next day we jumped on the train early in the AM and headed to Munich with Thomas, Anette, and Thomas’ mom. While the girls went to a half dozen art museums, Thomas and I went to The German Museum. I won’t bore you with all the things we saw, but we could have stayed longer. The reason for the trip was two fold – the museums were a side adventure. The actual mission was for (1) Pork Knuckles and (2) beer at the Hofbräuhaus München.
Way back when Nick was 10, he remembered eating these fried pig’s feet that were simply amazing. He told me that it was the best thing he had ever eaten and I just had to go try them. After many questions, it was determined that these items could only be found in Munich – so we just had to go. Lots of beer and pork later and I am here to tell you that my son was right. That was truly one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life. I really wanted to order a whole one, but my brains over road my desires when I learned they were about 2 kg each – so we ordered halves.
It was really a great opportunity for me to see Germany for the first time and it was fun to watch Missie re-unite with old friends. We feel bad that we could spend more time with everyone there, but we have really re-ignited old friendships that have already started to grow. Missie has already received pictures from Uli from 30 years ago and has several new Facebook friends that are already writing and sending pictures.
We’re back in Qatar and the weather has changed while we were gone. Nice cool nights and cooler days – apparently it rained while we were gone. Less than 5 weeks until we leave for home – we think we can make it.
Lesson of the Week: This isn’t home – it’s a place we stopped at.
Love to all,
Doug and Missie
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