Last Pre-Baby Trip Day 1 (20 April, 2007)

^ Fields of rapes to the north of Dohrenbach ^

Arrived in Frankfurt at approximately 6:30am and had no trouble with customs...we hadn't checked anything so we also didn't have to wade through the luggage collection business.

Picking up the car was also no problem, but the Mietwagen center was in Terminal A and we went through customs in Terminal B - there was no walking path between them due to construction so we had to walk outside.

The Opel Corsa is a 1.4 liter, 3-door economy car (read: darta buggy), but in spite of lacking the sometimes necessary frijoles to do the business on the highway, it was actually quite a decent little car.

Susan and Scott's apartment was roughly 9 km door to door from the Frankfurt airport. Out of practice with maps and signage, we put 45 km on the car by our route via Kelsterbach and a full circuit around Langen.

After a bowl of cheerios at Susan and Scott's, we loaded up and headed north to Kassel/Dohrenbach. We left at approximately 12:15pm and completed the 2 hour and 30 minute trip to Dohrenbach just before 5:00pm. We dutifully delivered items we'd been saving for at least 18 months (including a bobble-head frog, Navajo bracelet and picture) to Marion and because we arrived so late Laura and I didn't take a nap. We went for a walk to get some fresh air, splashed some water on our faces and went downstairs to eat some dinner and visit with Marion.

^ Fields above Dohrenbach - Rapes and Cherries ^

We had had enough of everything by 10:00 or so and, because we had at that point been up for roughly 33 hours, we wobbled upstairs and slept like the dead.

Good news for visitors to the Zur Warte: Marion still attempts to initiate people into the Brotherhood of the Cherry by making them drink a shot of Kirschwasser (less like schnapps and more like a cherry scented industrial solvent). Scott didn't drink either of the shots Marion gave him...I drank them both because I knew better than to smell them first.