WE’RE “FUNNY” PEOPLE

One thing that Jan and I truly respect about the German people is their command of English, even when it’s been 20-30 years since their High School studies have been completed.  They have an excellent language curriculum, and just as important, every opportunity to use it.  They seem to enjoy the challenge and most would prefer to use their English to our German.  But it’s not always perfect...

As residents of New Jersey, we get to take the full monty of German driving classes. Theoretical exam, CPR training, eye examinations, U.S. license translation, and finally the Practical exam.  But before the practical, we need on the road driving instruction, and this is where we met Herr Schultz.  He doesn’t normally work with the English speaking students, but due a shortage, he took us on.

As I casually rolled thru the first Stop sign that we approached, he sat up a bit more straight, and informed me that that was not “funny”.  I totally agreed, mumbled my lame explanation and pressed on.  A few more missteps here and there, drew similar responses.  Driving thru a zebra crossing that a pedestrian was about to enter also reaffirmed my lack of humor.  I finally found my groove, managed to make it back to the driving school, and awaited my instructors pronouncement of whether or not I was fit to proceed on to the Practical Exam.

“Robert, you and Janice will both do well with the inspector, because you are “funny” people.  You need no more instruction, you will do fine!”  Not wanting to question his affirmation of us being capable, we decided not to ask about the relationship between our humor and our driving abilities.  He said, “enjoy your holiday, and I will see you in 3 weeks for the exam”.

Today - 3 weeks later

My phone rings and it’s Herr Schultz.  “ Robert, how was your holiday to Spain?  Did you have a “funny” trip?“  Now we get it, don’t know who led him down this path but for him, funny = good.

Beautiful Seaside Village

I had to add a post about a seaside village we stopped at for lunch on our way out of France. After seeing so many beautiful spots in France we almost missed this one. Needing a rest after driving for hours we decided to head all the way to the coast before heading south to our destination in Barcelona. Thought we would get lunch and get a peek at the sea in France. We stumbled upon the town of Collioure. It became Bob's new favorite village in France. It was quaint and unique, with a look that was a combination of french and spanish. This late Sunday afternoon was just perfect - warm and sunny with people everywhere just enjoying the spring weather. There was a small carousel on the waterfront, lots of cafes, colorful shops with wares pouring out the doors, beachfront walk that included an old wall, chapel, and a large cross at the end of the wall. Of course there were musicians around playing music and check out the sails decorating and shading a beach front cafe. We got our first taste of what would become our problem throughout our time in Spain - no real food served in the afternoon from 3-8. Siesta time, with businesses only serving "snacks" during those hours. We settled on fruit filled crepes which had to be breakfast and lunch until we reached our destination of Barcelona and found a restaurant at 9 pm ready to serve dinner.

Six Days in the Countryside of France

Six days into our long vacation. Have driven off the beaten path in the Loire River Valley and Lot Region in France. Beautiful countryside, incredible chateaus, gorgeous gardens, and great food. What more could you ask for? First destination was a '10' at Chateau de Nazelles. The present owners have been slowly renovating rooms from the chateau and out buildings - rustic, but not in a country way. Unique and authentic! The rooms are simply furnished, but all the details are right on. We stayed in a single room cottage with a bath that was across the courtyard from the main house. Just perfect. The grounds were beautiful with woods across the back that you could just wander in. Since it is up on a hill in the tiny town, there were great views from anywhere on the property. Highly recommended for a place outside of a town - peaceful and serene.

The Loire River Valley is mostly rolling farmland with chateaus and manor houses scattered throughout. There are so many chateaus to tour you could stay for quite sometime and not get to them all. Many of them also have beautiful gardens, some quite formal. The one we toured inside was Chenonceau and the number of fresh flower arrangements was awesome. You could smell them as you entered the rooms.

Chenonceau Chateau

The Lot Region is more mountainous and rocky. It reminds me a little of Ireland. It is famous for its beautiful, picturesque villages, foie gras, walnuts and wine. It was pretty quiet in May, but many of the homes are owned by people from the city, or other countries and they get used primarily in the summer months. We spent three days just driving from village to village, stopping for a walk or bite to eat. In Autoire we hiked out of town down the river's edge and came upon cascades of water. You could hear it before you could see it. There are trails for biking and hiking all over the region. The weather was very unpredictable while we were here, so the one hike was all we fit in, though we walked miles through and around the villages, umbrella in hand.  Many of these beautiful towns are perched on top of cliffs or rock ledges which make them breathtaking to see on the drive in, long before you get there.

Village of Autoire

We really enjoyed getting out of the big cities and just meandering through these areas of France. Today we think we found a village even Bob could see himself  living in - Martel. We entered town and went for a walk right into the Saturday market in the center of town. Bought some bread, cheese, and wine. We are set for dinner tonight!

Next stop, Barcelona.

Why Cologne???

 

WHY COLOGNE?

FedEx has been flying throughout Europe for many years, but positioning crews from the U.S. has been very inefficient.  The cost of commercial round trip tickets, downtime for crew rest and the week on/week off for U.S. based pilot schedules didn’t lend itself to efficiency.  Additionally, while we are No. 1 in express delivery at home and in much of the world, we are No. 4 in Europe. The powers that be want to change that...

Our major European hub is in Paris with flights connecting both East and West to Asia and North America.  As pilots we would have thought that was the logical place to base us, but issues of immigration, visas, labor laws etc are strong influencers and here we are in Cologne.  This is our secondary hub, and even though we are based here, 90% of our trips begin with a Commercial Deadhead flight to some outlying European city such as Budapest, Barcelona, Basel, Helsinki to name a few.  The airplanes usually sit there over the weekend, the pilots fly in on Sunday, operate them throughout the week, and the company then flies us commercially “home” to Cologne on Friday. 

It’s this positioning of crews feature that allow Jan and I the ease of extensive travel.  Many of our adventures revolve around my week on/week off schedule.  For example, my next trip begins on 5/6/12 with a commercial flight to Barcelona.  The company is OK with me positioning myself to Barcelona on my own schedule as long as I’m there when I need to be and rested and fit to fly.  We will leave on May 1, driving to Spain with stops in Chartres and the Lot region of Southwest France.  It’s about a 600 mile drive and we have the luxury of stopping whenever and wherever we feel like it.  I will work 4 nights in/out of Barcelona, Janice will have Corey, Allison and a friend, Kelly, with her to sightsee during the week.  On Friday, I’ll finish work, we’ll drive to the coast for 2 nights R&R, and then continue our sightseeing trip to Madrid, where we’ll drop the girls for a return flight to the States. Janice and I will then head back to Cologne.

While in Europe I’m flying the Boeing 757. This airplane connects in Paris with the Widebody fleet (B-777 and MD-11) for the long haul flying. I love the airplane so far and my relative seniority in the base affords me a fair amount of scheduling flexibility.  To date FedEx flies to the above mentioned cities as well as Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris, Tel Aviv, Athens, Munich, Oslo and the U.K.  We’re told to expect many more cities as we continue our growth in the region.

Freedom of Retirement

Bob picked up a last minute trip to England back in April which gave him a three day layover. I am really enjoying not having the limitations of a job and schedule and was able to travel over to London and meet him. We spent three days enjoying the city.

Having been there quite a few times over the years we didn't have to get to all the tourist spots and were able to take in some smaller, lesser known spots.  It is three months out to the Olympics but London is already looking spruced up and ready. The amount of beautiful flower beds around the city were awesome! It may have helped that we had sunny weather when we were there as well. We walked a few of the beautiful parks of the city and some of the smaller neighborhoods.

Since Easter was not far off there was an egg hunt around the city. Large eggs each uniquely decorated were placed all around the city for people to spy. There were 200 in all. We didn't notice this until our last day of walking around the city and then we found about 12 that afternoon. What a fun hunt for families to do in the city. They were in some unique settings and some obvious.

 One place we went where we had never been before was the Churchill war rooms. These were the underground headquarters during WWII. They were left in tact. Very interesting displays and full of first hand video accounts and recollections of people who worked there. Got me reading Warlord a book about Winston Churchill.

The other different thing we did was tour a restored townhouse that had been owned by the famous Punch cartoonist, Edward Linley Sambourne. The tours are conducted by costumed actors who invite you into the home as the person living there in 1800's.  Was hoping to get the maid of the house, but we got the wife of Mr. Sambourne. Interesting and different way to tour a home. The house is furnished as would be in the time and there were pictures covering the walls in most rooms, most of them drawn by Mr. Sambourne himself.

A Visit in March!

 

In March, Bob had to go back to the states for a 6-month training session and coupled with some work trips it was going to mean 3 weeks of being away. Rather than travel back I decided to stay as I am taking German lessons once a week and feeling like I needed to just stay put and feel more connected here.

Springtime arriving in Koln

My sister Maureen and my mother decided to help me out and come for a visit! We had 2 weeks of spring like weather, which we had not had at this point. It was such a welcomed change from dreary, cloudy, damp days!

Mom and Maureen on the riverfront in Koln

It was fun to share Cologne with them. I showed them around, walked their feet off, and had my mom hopping off and on the trams all around the city.

There are boats that travels up and down the Rhine for pleasure, but not until Easter do they really get underway again. We researched a bit and found one that was starting up, but it was south of us. We drove down to St. Goar, which was about an hour and a half away. We boarded there and went on for 2 1/2 hours. It was the first sunny day in a long time and we just soaked in the sun, sat back and enjoyed the sights. The sights were vineyards up and down the valley to the river, trains whose tracks run on both sides of the Rhine, castles and castles ruins (we had to have seen at least 20). It was such a delightful way to spend the day. Because of it being preseason, there were about 20 people on the large boat. We were able to get up and walk to the railings, take pictures without crowds, and sit back and enjoy a cup of tea on the deck.

 

Helen Spitler (FedEx friend) and me

Later in the week when Maureen’s husband, Thor arrived for a few days (in the midst of a business trip), we went back in the car to one of the castles and took a tour. Was neat to see the river from a different perspective.

Another day we spent in Düsseldorf that is about 30 miles north of Cologne. A very pretty city about half the size of Cologne. There is a very pretty walk on their very exclusive shopping street with bridges and a little river running up the middle of the street. We had lunch up in a tall TV tower, which revolved as you ate, so you had a view of the whole city in the hour you sat there. Beautiful town! They have a cool church in town that has a twisted spire. It is made of wood and the wood was not aged enough when it was built so as it dried it twisted and is misshapen.

 

We had some laughs, fun times, and great memories along the way. Thanks for sharing your vacation with me, Maureen and Mom!

Six Months In

 

I realize I am very behind on my blog. I can credit two things for this… traveling and obsessing over the written driver’s exam.

Here in Germany you have to obtain a German driver’s license within six months of arriving. Up until that time your US license is fine. Like everything else here it is a process. 

First you have your licenses “translated”. For some states they give it back accompanied by a German license, others need to take a written exam, and still others (NJ being one of the states) you have to get a translation, take a six hour first aide course (taught in German), an eye test (which I failed the first time), written exam, lessons behind the wheel, and then the behind the wheel exam. Let me add the lessons and exam are in a manual transmission car even if you have an automatic. As you can see this is not a quick thing. So now we have a car and we have been in country more than six months. It is sitting in the garage at this point.

I passed the written test yesterday, April 17^th)!!!! I put in more hours of studying than I would like to admit. The test is multiple choice, but there can be one, two, or three answers. They do us an English version, but it is British English so the translations are sometimes a bit tricky. The bank of questions is about 1000 and you really need to go through all of them because they are varied, some absurd, and technical. There are questions about catalytic converters, servo brakes, ABS systems, towing limitations, tire pressures, and fuel economy, as well as the regular rules of the road. 

Now you have to understand there are rules for everything here, so road rules are plenty, specific, and at times odd.  It is an experience all its own. Hopefully I will get the driving done in the next week and get it all over with.  There have been Americans fail the written and behind the wheel so nothing is a given even with 40 years driving experience.  Wish me luck! Bob hopes to take the written test next week.