If you want to get to Europe, the Delta-Amsterdam flight is not a bad one in Coach..BUT...upgrade yourself to economy plus seating...worth every penny. I am glad I did. I had plenty of legroom and was very comfortable for the 9.5 hour flight. They feed you too...it's not Iron Chef gourmet but it's food and you don't have to buy it on board.
From Amsterdam, you can go anywhere in Europe via a 90 minute flight or so. Delta code shares with KLM and as a regional airline service, they do a great job.
I find that flights on coach, on this route, run about $1300-1800 each. The closer you get to June, the higher the price. Weather is good in Germany and Italy May to July then forget about August. I have been in Europe three times in August and needless to say, I get a little hot and bitchy! If you come in the fall, September is still warm in the afternoons but nice. October is the best.
Sites like Booking.com and VRBO prove to be good resources if you want to find places to stay. If you want to visit any of the places referenced in my blog, let me know and I will help you out!
Okay..enough blabber. Now to the good stuff!
I am traveling with my step-daughter, Erin, who just finished a very successful semester in the UK. She will be a Senior next year at the University of Montana. We met in Amsterdam and arrived in Stuttgart last Saturday afternoon. We rented a car through Alamo ($184 Euros for 5 days, VW wagon that rocks on the Autobahn!) and thank goodness it had room for all of our bags. Both of us literally have enough for 6 months! Then we made our way to Leinfelden-Ecterdingen...a small suburb about 10 mins from the Stuttgart airport.
I am proud to say that when the "cute" rental agent asked if I knew where I was going, I was able to say "yes." Erin commented that the "guys in Germany are so cute." Yes Erin, there are cute men in Germany. :)
We found our apartment easily, checked in and pretty much fell asleep after a lot of catching-up type of conversation! Erin is all grown up now so I can't tell her what to do anymore and so far, this trip has been absolutely no fun at all! ha ha. (Oh, I recommend our apartment; Murthum Apartments in Leinfelden via Booking.com).
On Sunday, we were invited to friend Martina's house for a German Sunday Lunch. I capitalized this title because it deserves proper billing...it is a little like Thanksgiving actually. Martina would argue this is normal, but honestly, who in America smokes fresh trout in a Traeger (yes, an import from the states!), makes homemade German potato salad, grills eggplant, onions and tomatoes on another gas grill and offers you a glass of champagne as you walk in the door? No one. So, now you know why I call it German Sunday Lunch. This is a big deal and I look forward to having them over to my new house next year. Overall, it was fun to catch up with Martina and her family and to know she is never too far away!
That evening, I took Erin to Wissenbourg, France for flammkuchen. The drive was a long one but we were able to have a quick bite then walk the village a little bit. We found the old entrance to the Abbey, which was built in 1078.
I am sure she was tired after the very nice day we had. We traveled to Meersburg on Lake Konstanz, about 2 hrs south of Stuttgart. Great place! Put it on your bucket list and a big "thank you" shout out goes to Martina's husband Kerstin for suggesting that we give it a try. See photos and decide for yourselves.
The rest of the week includes a trip to Strasbourg and Heidelberg, depending if Erin is up to it or not. I told her that she has to be well for Florence, Italy starting Thursday! We plan on taking an afternoon cooking class and traveling to Siena and San Gimignano while we are there and being sick would be no fun at all! Maybe wine will help her? Ummmm...
That's it for now! Thanks for reading and I will post again soon. Maybe photos of yummy Italian food, would that be okay? :)
2 comments:
Sounds like too much fun!
See you in October!
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