Today is the first day of rain and it’s a great opportunity
to give you an update and tell you about our first week and a half on the
island.
Let’s start with the end of our Transatlantic Crossing. We
used the two port days in South Hampton, England and Seebrügge, Belgium to
further explore the ship and to get ready for disembarkation in Hamburg,
Germany. Before dinner, on May 25, we placed all of our luggage outside our
state room door and it magically disappeared by the time we returned. We woke
up early Monday morning because the engine of the ship sounded differently and
we knew that we were already in docking mode. We wanted to be up to see the
ship approaching Hamburg, but that happened in the dark of night and we didn’t
wake up in time. There were already people at the pier waiting for arriving travelers.
We told our pick up crew, our oldest daughter, grandson with girlfriend, best
friend with husband and her 2 adult children not to be there until about 9:00
am. Our instructions for disembarking let us know that we were not able to
leave the ship until 8:30 am. I figured that disembarking would be just as
smooth as checking in on the May 16.
Just as planned, we had breakfast, at the Kings Court, as
usual. With plenty of time to spare we went out on deck 7 with our coffee/tea
and watched the activities in port for a while and then strolled to the Princess
Room, our assigned gathering place and waited for further instructions. At 8:30
am sharp we were able to make our way off the ship. Our family and friends were
already waiting for us and helped us gather and load our luggage. We sat down
for some more coffee/tea for a few minutes before we headed to our final
destination, the island of Fehmarn, Germany. It about an hour and a half by car
at the end of A7 Autobahn. The roadways feel scarily narrow compared to American
Highways, especially going 100+ miles/hour.
Arriving at the campground we found American decorations in
and outside our camper and the American flag was blowing in the wind.
Everything was set up ready for us to use. My daughter did a fantastic job
getting everything ready for us to start living comfortably from day one. Everything
we needed was ready to go and, of course, we had some coffee/tea and enjoyed each
other’s company for several hours until our friends left and went back to
Hamburg and our daughter went to her camper to make dinner. While she was
cooking I used the opportunity to empty our suitcases and store all of our
belongings in the cubby spaces of the camper and was surprised that, after all
suitcases were empty and packed away, we had plenty of space left to accommodate
the full 66 pound box that is in transit and will arrive mid of July. After
dinner we played a few rounds of rummy and headed “home” to go to bed. We slept
very well on our cozy little bedroom. It’s beautiful to wake up to birds
chirping and the wind blowing.
The first full day we went to the town of Burg to do some
shopping. I needed some coat hangers, food, certain ingredients to prepare meals,
new pillows and a few necessities. It took about 3 days to set up everything
just right. The good thing was that it was very windy and we didn't want to spend
much time outside. The first week flew by and Saturday afternoon we went with
another set of friends to the Rapsblütenfest in Burg. Many vendors offered
locally made good, traditional German “fair” food like crusty rolls with
pickled herring Lebkuchen hearts, roasted almonds, cotton candy, Bratwurst,
Sunday we had our first birthday party invitation. My best
friend, the one from Hamburg that came to pick us up at the pier, celebrated
her birthday. We enjoyed our first German BBQ followed up by wonderful pastry
deserts.
The wind stayed for almost the entire first week before it
turned nice sunny and warm. We were somewhat sunshine deprived and soaked up
the warm rays, resulting in our first sunburns. Not to the point of pain, but
red and a bit sensitive.
Yesterday we worked on our bikes (as in bicycle) all day.
That will be our main means of transportation for a while and since they stay
outside all the time they needed some TLC. New tires, new brakes a transformer,
new handle bars and BASKETS. The baskets are most important for transporting
food home from the store. I have one in the front and one in the back and Tom
has only one in the back. Tom takes a trip to the store every morning to get
fresh crusty rolls for breakfast and the local paper. German breakfast without
rolls is not German….at least for me J
We didn't really go and explore the area much. The change in
the climate, the food and the calm lifestyle makes us really tired. Multiple
naps are not uncommon and very welcome.
I had mentioned earlier in the Blog that Metro PCS told us
that our cell phones should work in Germany just fine. Well, they sold us a
bunch of lies! Nothing works at all. Not being able to communicate is not fun.
I ended up establishing a Skype phone number to call Metro PCS just to find out
that they don’t offer service outside the US and that the sales crew in the Manchester,
NH is either completely clueless or they flat out lied! Now we have a situation
where our service with them has to be in place for 90 days before they can
unlock the phones to try if they work with a German sim-card. The service was
established April 17. Ninety days will bring us to July 17 until we can unlock
the phones to test it. But until then they expect us to pay for service we don’t
have on phones that don’t work. Makes sense??? Another company on the list of American
corporations to watch out for. It’s all for corporate profits and never in the
interest of the end consumer. It is very upsetting.
Internet with Outland http://hotspot.outland-net.de, a local provider, was rather frustrating in the beginning as well,
but after a few complaints it seems to be more reliable. A better solution
still has to be found. We are considering purchasing our own hotspot. That
worked well while in the remote location in Maine and hopefully will work here
too. More research has to be done. All that will be easier while in my home
town Kassel, Germany for the following two weeks.
For now let me close with a general feeling of calm and
happiness. It seems it was a good decision and so far we have no regrets.
