Our flight over was uneventful and we spent the first few days of our visit conducting business and meetings with our UK office.
With a free weekend before us, we packed a small bag and headed to Germany to visit our long time friends. We were excited to spend a weekend visiting beautiful Heidelberg.
First meal in Germany.... McDonalds :)
Friday night was a late night of visiting and catching up.
Saturday we spent wandering the streets of Heidelberg, sampling Germany's best expresso (not as good as the world's best but close), and watching the Florida Gator football game.
I had the privilege of reading to Julian books we brought over for his birthday next month. He will be 2. He loved "A squash and a squeeze" as was evident in the dozen times I read it to him. :) He was so patient and sat perfectly still as I read to him over and over again. By the last reading, he was even sitting close enough for a bit of a cuddle.
And of course baby snuggles with Jakob who just turned 1 month old were another highlight of the weekend.
The gators won and we all went to bed and prepared for a relaxing Sunday before our return home.
Little did we know of the adventure that was ahead.
Sleeping in, breakfast with friends, a long hike in the woods and a lunch of the most delicious cakes was the theme of our Sunday. It was lovely.
We said our good byes and our see you soons and climbed into our rental car to return to the airport.
Just as we finish our snack the evening took an interesting turn.... Flight Canceled! is what the board read.
Back through security and into the long line at the ticket service desk.
Waiting and waiting became our new theme for the evening. Lots of phone calls, waiting, standing in lines, waiting, and even more waiting.
Flights were canceled due to fog and there were no additional flights until Tuesday :(
Together with our new friends (whom were also stranded and trying to get back to England) we fetched a plan to take the train back early Monday morning. (my Mama would be proud of me for making friends with complete strangers- all because we shared a commonality.... with all spoke English)
With the help of Jeremy (bloke on the phone) trains were booked through a travel agent (you never know when old jobs and colleagues will come in handy) and we were set to leave by train 5:30am Monday morning.
Away we went to the hotel (via taxi), the airline finally provided us and we enjoyed pizza and beers together with our new friends.
With a few hours sleep and our luggage in hand, we started toward the train station to catch our first train. (it would be the first of 5 to carry us back to England).
The first train was short (4 stops) and took us from the airport station to the main station where we would catch the fast train from Germany to Paris.
With time to spare, we loaded the double decker train, sat in our first class seats and began our 4 hour journey to Paris. (Train #2)
(This is probably one of my favorite pictures of our adventure :)
We arrived to the main station at Waterloo with no hassle or fuss and grabbed a quick coffee before loading our train back for Farncombe (our home away from home). (Train #5)
Glad to be back safely and all is well this side of the pond. Praying no fog delays our return to the US next week.
