Days #15 & #16 - Heading Home

Day 15 dawned clear and cool in Heidelberg.  We had planned for an easy day of enjoying the city in the morning or heading somewhere between Heidelberg andFrankfurt, which was our destination for the evening.  The two hotel reservations we made before the trip began was the first and last night -- so we knew where we would start and we would have a convenient place for our final evening at the Frankfurt Airport.

It was amazing that on this one day, when we didn't have a schedule or mission -- we needed the extra time!   After a delightful breakfast at ExtraBlatt, where we considered dawdling over a second cup of amazing coffe and cappucino, we decided to return to our room, pack up, check out and then see where the morning took us.  To our surprise, our key card (electronic) would not work in the hotel room door, even though it worked on the exterior and intermediate door.  With broken english/german, we asked the fraulien maid to use her master key -- it wouldn't work.  We then headed to the office, which was actually about a half block away -- the day clerk was a very polite gentleman who accompanied us back to the room with a handful of key cards as well as two master cards.  None worked!  So, he is in a real German panic -- do we need to catch a flight, are we in a rush, how can this happen all combined into a strong and loud dissertation.  We assure him that we're OK and will simply see the city a bit while he gets the repair man.  So, back to our lovely little breakfast spot for that cup of coffee we really wanted anyway!

 

Two hours later, repairman arrives and gets right to work.

 

Bill is the perfect supervisor -- repairman can't speak English and Bill can't speak German!

Thirty minutes later (and two trips back to his truck for more tools), we aren't in the room, the lock has been mutilated, and the repairman is completely frustrated.

 

Solution - get a ladder, climb up the side of the building and into the window that we left open! 

 

From there, we quickly packed our things, loaded the car and headed north from Heidelberg.  The remainder of the trip was uneventful, unless you call the 2 hours it took us to find the Hilton on the grounds of the airport, get checked in, return the rental car and find our way back to the Hilton!  We considering taking the train into Frankfurt, but elected for an easy evening in this lovely hotel and a restful dinner. It was the right ticket.

 

Up early Friday morning with a cart to haul our luggage through the airport, departures & arrivals uneventful and we got to Asheville airport exactly on time.  Picked up the truck that was being repaired (body work from parking lot fiasco earlier in the month), a stop at the market for items for dinner, and we were safely home by 6:30p, only 19 hours after awaking in Frankfurt that morning.

 

We had a fabulous time -- and both agree this was a perfect way to celebrate our birthdays!  We'll let the blog rest until we begin our journey with Ivory Lady on the first Saturday in November.  Until then, we'll be at the cabin and then making the transition to Marathon in the middle of the month!