I left Salt Lake International Airport around 8:30 Wednesday morning after one and half hours in line, trying to get my boarding pass. But, due to storms the east coast was having at the time, my plane that I was supposed to take was delayed. I waited a hour and a half to get my flight re-scheduled and another half hour waiting for the airlines to ready another plane. Instead of flying to Atlanta, GA and then to Frankfurt like I was supposed to have done, I had two transfers one, at Chicago O’Hare and then Detroit, MI. Both airports had layovers that gave me roughly 20 minutes (before I got off the plane) to get to my next gate. I arrived at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany at around 7:30 am Thursday. See my previous blog about those flights. When I arrived I had to pass through customs, get my luggage and then find my ride. This took less than 30 minutes (about 20 of that was waiting for my luggage). I found my ride immediately and was expecting to meet another internship employee but was informed that he was re-routed as well and will not be getting there until around 4:30 pm. We left Frankfurt airport and drove the 2 some odd hours to Heidelberg.
As we drove the driver kept pointing out some of the old castles that are scattered throughout the landscape between the two cities, Frankfurt and Heidelberg. For those who don’t know it, the Autobahn does have speed limit and the police drive around in unmarked cars. When they find someone not obeying the laws they will not turn on their sirens and pull them over, instead they will follow the vehicle and when that vehicle gets near a turnout they will flag them down with a paddle or sign. They have other police vehicles waiting at the turnout just in case the driver doesn’t stop. I heard that the police are unforgiving and the fines are quite hefty, so if you decide to speed or are doing some sort of reckless driving just don’t get caught.
I arrived at Patrick Henry Village (PHV), which is one of eight military Army camps that surround Heidelberg, at around 9:30 am. The driver said that he was going to drive around a little and show me some of the sites the base has to offer, but instead he received a phone call and had to drop me off at my apartment to go do some work, he briefly pointing out a couple of places.After seeing the apartment and got myself unpacked it was close to 11:00 and I was a bit hungry. Airport food is worse than hospital food in taste and proportions. I was shown where a Burger King was and was told that it was close to 1 kilometer away and not having any form of motorized transportation I was forced to walk. I probably could do with a bit of exercise anyway (and I know that Myrna wouldn't hesitate to let me know that). I bought a Whopper Meal ($6.89 - more if you super-sized it, I didn't super-size [love ya honey!]) sat down and ate, finally something that filled me. I know, not very healthy, but the airline forced everyone to go on a diet.
The airline boasted that they saved around 1.2 billion gallons of gas between the years 2002 and 2011. I guess the airline figured that they could save more gas by forcing everyone to go on a diet during flights and reduce the weight of the passengers would save even more gas. Also, I guess that they figured they could save even more gas and reducing more weight by cutting back the amount of peanuts and pretzels they stock on board and hand one per person, gee, just like the Halloweens I remember. It was an eight some odd hour flight how long did they think the roughly 10 to 15 peanuts (guessimated amount of peanuts in a bag) would last? You can see my other blog to find out about the other (almost) food they had to offer.
Back to apartment after lunch I went and I thought I would get some sleep, I have been up since the day before I should be able to sleep, right. Nope, no such luck, after 2 hours of tossing, turning, and lying there I had to get up, nothing to do but to go exploring. Another 2 to 3 kilometer walk around looking at the sites (PHV is more or less the housing complex for the military personal and their families). If you have ever been at a military base you would know that almost every building looks the same, same shape, same size, same color, etc. (Pictures pending).
I should mention that PHV was a German military base until after WWII when the Americans and Allies over took Western Germany. The Americans have occupied various German facilities ever since. I was told that the U.S. plans to give back the bases in and around Heidelberg by the year 2015 or so. But, that is just hear say.
After that walk, again I figured that I could sleep. It was more a rest than sleep only about one and a half hours. When I got up again, it was time for dinner so out for another walk. I walked another couple of kilometers to a restaurant that was pointed out. I looked at the menu on the door and noted the prices then decided that I wasn’t that hungry, boy the price of food at these places is unreal, I got to get used to that.
Another couple of kilometers back to the apartment, well it was more than a couple. You see it was getting dark (did I mention that ALL the buildings looked the same?) I felt like I was lost in a fun house mirror room, I walked for a couple of hours rather than kilometers until I found my apartment, there must be over 200 buildings that are identical in this camp and I walked into almost all of them. Boy, did I get funny looks from the occupants when I tried to open their door.
Finally, found the one my key worked and went inside hoping, just hoping...I was in luck. I saw familiar stuff, my stuff, so this must be my apartment. I decided that if I can’t sleep might as well write on my blog, so I wrote about my fantastic flight over here and posted it. I wasn’t sleepy, tired, but not sleepy and yet I wasn’t awake either (kind of like I feel now mind just drifting, I've had some sleep, but not enough to recover). At around 12:30 Friday morning someone was playing with the lock on the front door, I thought someone else got lost in the room of mirrors and was just trying out various doors to see if their keys worked. The door popped opened and (I didn’t know at the time) in walks one of my roommates. His flight was as wonderful as mine and his luggage decided to go else where. He was about as messed up as I was due to his flight; neither one of us could sleep so it was off for another fun lap around the base, but this time I had company. Did I mention that the buildings…
Until next time —Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.
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