Maps courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps (with permission).

Zeefeld flower festival

Saturday morning, there was no running for once as we boarded the train to Munich. In our compartment we were joined by two Japanese girls accompanied by one French girl (one of those "don't talk to me I'm French" girls). Later on they left and a Frankenstein woman stormed in and started ordering people around. She had a huge forehead, lots of frightful makeup, jet black hair flowing down to massive shoulders and arms. Lyn slept through most of it while I wrote. Cathrine picked us up in Munich and drove us down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

On Sunday, we went to Zeefeld, Austria for the flower parade. It was kind of a mini Rose Bowl Parade through a very picturesque little town. Light rains were an annoyance. For dinner, Benedikt made a tasty rice dish from turkey breast, beets, pickles, and onions.

A portable inflater!

Monday morning, Benedikt dropped us off in Starnberg where Frank and his daughter Regina picked us up in his BMW and we went to Herrsching to see his wife Sabine. The BMW was quite a car. The next day he would take us up to 250 kph (155 mph) and at times cruised at 230 kph, which felt like we were doing only 100 kph (62 mph) and only noticible when we raced passed some other vehicles. It was very quiet, possibly due to the security package (bullet proof glass 2 to 3 times thicker than normal glass, steel reinforcement in the doors, and steel in the tires to keep them up even when shot out). Frank bought the 4 year old car (with about 100,000km on it?) for 39,000 marks and was trying to sell it for around 42,000 marks, although his brother told him he thought he could sell it for around 70,000 marks in Canada. At the Andechs Kloster, we had a wonderful lunch of Schwinehoxen, kartoffelsalat (potato salad), sauer kraut, and Radler (beer with lemonade in liter mugs). Then, Frank, Regina, Lyn, and I skated and biked along the Ammersee, followed by a light dinner of sandwiches.

On Tuesday, breakfast was at precisely 8 a.m.. We left for Berlin at precisely 9 a.m.. We were on German time now. Sabine stayed behind, not being able to take time off from her work. She also prefers maintaining her spotless house over travelling. We had lunch at a restaurant on the former East/West German boder. It was cafeteria style with lots of different sections, lots of different great looking food, and nice decorations. Driving through the rain, we reached Berlin in about 6 hours and had a light snack while watching a burlesque show at the Wintergarten Theater. There were lots of good acts, the most memorable being Herman, the break dancer.

Philippines pavilion at the World Expo

Wednesday morning, breakfast was at precisely 8 a.m. again. We toured the Reichstag building which is now the seat of government in Germany. It contains a huge glass dome that we walked up in and looked across the city. Berlin continues to be a city under construction as buildings were going up all around us. We had lunch at a turkish restaurant and took in another entertaining show in the evening, although we paid 5 marks ($2.50) for an 8 ounce bottle of coke. Non-alcoholic drinks in Germany are frequently insanely expensive and it's virtually impossible to get tap water in a restaurant.

On Thursday, we left Berlin at precisely 9 a.m. and headed to Hannover for the Expo. Travel time was precisely 2 hours and we checked into the pension, that we had located on the internet a few days before, on time. First on the Expo agenda, was the Philippines area. As with many of the exhibits, it didn't give you quite the feel of the country that you had hoped for. Instead, the emphasis seemed to be on creative design. I wanted to see something that reminded me of the Philippines: rustic palm huts, beautiful beaches, warm waters, and friendly people. What I got was modern art. While the Philippines pavilion wasn't what I hoped for, some were just plain bad, like Germany's and Brazil's (which we had to wait to get into). The climax of Brazil's pavilion was a room you had to wait to get into, but you also had to take off your shoes as well. Inside, it was filled with several inches of rice. What an experience! The Cuban area drew crowds by showing how they make their famous cigars.

Cable cars at the World Expo

We grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's, dropped Regina off at the playground, and then went on to see the exhibits. We luckily got into the Canadian pavilion, narrowly avoiding a downpour. There were televisions everywhere, even in the floor. The Venezuelan pavilion was in the shape of a flower and showed off much of the indigenous vegetation. We took a cable car across the expo and got a beautiful view and as we approached the end of the ride, we saw the Netherlands pavilion, which looked very interesting to me, but Frank said it looks boring from the outside and is even less interesting on the inside (although the next day we found out that the Netherlands pavilion was listed as one of the Expo highlights). There were about 4 different levels and it looked like about 6 tree trunks were supporting the upper two levels. In reality, there had to be steel inside those trunks, but it was quite an illusion. We dined at a Vietnamese restaurant. The Nepalese pavilion was beautifuly adorned with wood carvings that had been entirely done in Germany just for the Expo. This was artfully and creatively done and yet also gave you the flavor of the country as well. The Thai pavilion was equally beautiful and very colorful. Inside there was a hologram show which gave you further glimpses of the country and projects that they are working on to improve the lives of the citizens.

The pension was a big disappointment to Frank and Sabine, but I've had much worse. We had two rooms, one without a toilet. Since it didn't matter to Frank, we said we would take the one with the toilet. However, when Regina found out she threw a fit and we switched. The room was the most spacious hotel room we had on the trip. The only problem was that we had to have breakfast at precisely 8 a.m. the next morning.

In front of the Thai pavilion

On Friday, the breakfast was fine and we soon left for the Expo. On arrival, we headed straight for the "Planet of Visions", but everyone else had the same idea. There was a posted 3 hour line, but it only took us 2 hours. Had I known what was inside, I wouldn't have waited 2 minutes. I thought it would be fascinating to take a look at the future, but it again left me disappointed. To be kind to Regina, we dropped her off at another playground for the rest of the day. She was also fed there. We went to the Romanian pavilion which was interesting from the outside, being constructed of a metal framework with plants filling in all the open spaces. In contrast the interior was kind of stark and rough.

The Arab Emirates had a 30 minute line, but it was very interesting. You walked by people performing native crafts and then an excellent film was shown in a theater. The screens circled the audience, so you had a 360 degree view. We waited in line for an hour to see the Cyclebowl, but were 5 minutes late to see the artificially created tornado inside. Again we dined at the Vietnamese restaurant. When we went to retrieve Regina, she seemed to be hiding, not wanting to leave the playground, and not responding to the attendents who were calling for her. Leaving the Expo, Frank drove all the way back to Herrsching, where Sabine had baked a wonderful peach and plum cake for us.

On Saturday, we had breakfast at precisely 8 a.m. for one more day. Just before breakfast, Lyn came up the stairs screaming. She had been on the internet and read our e-mail. She read I had just received the job offer I had been hoping for for the last 2 weeks. Frank showed us some of his stamp collection and historical letters. One of his stamps, which is still on the envelope is worth 33,700 marks. He has stamps from each of the post offices in Germany. He also has letters from 100 to 150 years; one of which is from King Ludwig. He also showed us a 1000 dollar bill. Sabine had a wonderful meal waiting for us again. We woke up Regina to say goodbye and Frank drove us to Garmisch.

Know ATM, credit-card fees before going abroad By Marshall Loeb and Brendan January, CBS MarketWatch, from San Jose Mercury News around April 2004 Travelers in foreign countries today have access to many convenient and safe methods to exchange money, including bank ATM cards, credit cards and travelers checks. But each one comes with different fees. Here are some things to keep in mind: When you use your ATM card abroad you are subject to a universal ATM charge of $5 regardless of how much you take out. The fee means it's best to withdraw cash in large, but safe, amounts. Credit-card companies typically charge 1 percent to 3 percent of each purchase. American Express charges 1 percent to buy travelers checks, though this fee is waived for its cardholders. But there may be charges applied by the bank you cash the check at. To avoid paying more than you must, do some research before you go abroad. Call your bank-card and credit-card companies and ask about their fees and exchange rates. That way, you can determine the best deal for you.

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