Helen and John's European Adventure - Part 1

My sister Helen came from Tallahassee, Florida, arriving in Amsterdam a little after 9am on the 9th of October. Her stay was to be 3 weeks, with a little more than 2 of those weeks spent on a road trip circuit through Europe. Not wanting to waste any time, we headed directly to Rothenburg, Germany right from Schiphol airport. She was remarkably fresh from her overnight flight, having gotten plenty of sleep after taking a melatonin tablet. The first adventure I provided to her was to run out of gas on a German highway! Yea!! What fun!!! Let me set the table for this unique opportunity I was gracious enough to provide for my dear sister. Our lease car has a dashboard readout, and "kilometers left in the tank" is just one of the displays you can see above your speedometer. We're driving along, and I observe the readout indicates 100 kilometers are left in the tank. Now, the lowest I have ever taken it was to 50 kilometers on one of my solo trips. So, I figure we're doing pretty good but should start considering a stop. The readout also details outside conditions, and I noticed the temperature readout was 7c below zero with icy conditions! Well, it was actually closer to 20c degrees and partly sunny! I look again at the readout and see the information change from 100 kilometers to 40! Helen sees this too. So, a road sign indicates a rest stop is up ahead and I decide that's where we will fill up. So Helen and I are engaged in a conversation and before I know it I'm passing the rest stop! Now I'm as concerned as Helen has been, because the low fuel light is on steady. And then the 40 kilometers left in the tank sign disappears, and it's replaced with dashes!!! We come up on an exit from the highway and it seems there's a gas station right off the highway. But, there's a huge backup of vehicles waiting to take the exit. I'm trying to figure how hard it will be to get back on the highway if I take this exit as we're passing this extremely long line of stopped cars waiting to take the exit. Right when we get to where the exit peels off the highway, there is a slight space that I could hit the brake, dash over to and squeeze in - - but I don't due to it being a jackass move. Of course Helen is telling me to take it, but I drive on, hoping for another exit. Well, you obviously know the outcome. We're driving, both of us tense as hell, and eventually the car starts hesitating. Done. Game over. I can't apologize enough for the bone-headed start to this trip! I coast the car as long as I can, but don't you know through all the kilometers of driving with a wide shoulder next to us, now there's no place to pull off to the side. We pass an exit, and Helen suggests taking it. But I say I would rather stay on the highway as we have a better chance of getting assistance that way. So, no shoulder to pull off onto and now we are going up a slight hill! Emergency blinkers on and I'm pushing the car on the highway to get to an area ahead with a shoulder. Fun, right? Not 3 minutes later a police car comes up from behind, as cars are making their way around us. An officer gets out and I tell him what happened. He actually asks, "Why did you run out of gas?" I gave him the only answer I could: "Because it's my turn to be an idiot." They towed us to a gas station less than 5 kilometers away, where we filled up and were on our way after several thank yous and hand shakes. We lost less than 30 minutes from that stupidity, and so lucky to have them show up when they did. I was thinking it was going to take a while to get us back on the road as the engine cut off, but we lucked out. First adventure in the books, but I managed to keep that adventure an isolated one! Our first stop (other than the unscheduled one just detailed) was in the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. It is one of the finest preserved walled medieval towns in Europe dating back to 1170. This was my 3rd visit, and I always enjoy walking the streets and now the familiarity I feel as I turn corners and recognize where I am. We checked in, and Walter assured us it was a romantic room. As my full-body cringe wore off I explained that we were brother and sister so any concerns with romance were wasted on us. I needed to ask a question of Walter, so I walked back to the reception area in the other building where we had checked in, but Walter was located in yet a 3rd building and walked over to us when we summoned him on the intercom. This was a slightly inconvenient set up as we needed to have some answers to questions but reception wasn't staffed after a certain time. But we managed best we could and made use of the daylight left to us. It was enjoyable for me to see Helen observe her first European setting, and it being Rothenburg, which looks centuries old and like no other place she had ever visited, made the experience even more rich. We decided to join the night watchman walking tour, which I had not done on either of my previous visits. It was informative and entertaining, as the man who played the night watchman had a great delivery and sense of humor. We walked and listened for over an hour, and if you ever find yourself in Rothenburg I highly suggest joining this tour. We walked along much of the wall the next morning and into the afternoon coming upon places I don't recall ever seeing. We visited shops and had a bite to eat before reluctantly starting our 3 1/2 hour drive to Prague around 3pm. Leaving was a little tough, as it was already closing a chapter on this story too soon. The drive to Prague was tricky; especially once we got into the city because the navigation device had maps for Western Europe only, so now entering Eastern Europe we were working with written directions from Google Maps. The darkness made it more difficult, as street signs were harder to see, especially when they weren't present! There is a difference in efficiency between GPS devices and using directions, which impacts the length of time the trip takes, as we made stops to ask for clarity in our directions and wrong turns (of which there were quite a few). I pulled over into a spot on the street at one point because neither of us was sure of our next direction. I called the hotel, and was informed, "You are right around the corner." I walked up the street 30 seconds and at the intersection I saw the hotel right across the street! Problem was, the streets were one-way. After trying the "legal" route, which did not get us there, I came back and shot down the 30 meters in the wrong direction to the hotel. I had to confirm no trams were coming, as they traveled in the same direction as the one-way traffic. Helen was really good at reading the directions. We got hung up sometimes due to missing signs, a road not where we expected it to be, and things like that. Otherwise, we managed quite well. And once we left Prague in 2 days, we would put GPS back in charge. We parked the car and there it stayed for 2 days as we took the public transportation into the city. Prague is a beautiful city with many settings to immerse oneself in. One of my favorite cities in Europe, its well-aged atmosphere sparkles with history. Comfortable walking shoes are a necessity in most European cities, and Prague sets a good example of that rule. There’s so much to enjoy just walking around from one side of the river to the other. Prague Castle and Golden Lane, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with St. Nichola´s and Tyn churches, the Astronomical Clock and the Old Town Hall, and St. Vitus Cathedral are some of the sights to enjoy when visiting this great city, and we hit these places on a day with fantastic weather. We bought tickets for a string concert the first evening, which was a great treat and reminded us both of the symphonic concerts we would go to as children back in Florida and fight off the urge to fall asleep, as the music was so soothing. The next morning after breakfast we drove on to our next destination 6 hours away: Salzburg, Austria. The slideshow for this post is at http://www.photoshop.com/users/johndp/albums/68cd29437a9a4394a4e385642a6aa145/slideshow