We got to Frankfurt, sat patiently in the waiting area, and about 15 minutes before boarding the folks in charge abruptly announced: "This flight has been cancelled! Proceed to Concourse C to rebook!" Really, it took a minute or two to process and in the meantime, half the folks are up and running to Concourse C to get in line! Halfway there, I get a text from Lufthansa that they've rebooked us - through Newark, NJ, arriving Orlando at midnight -- the next day! Well, no, can't do that. So we stand in line, and as we find some time later, in the WRONG line (it was for the privileged passengers of which we were not) but we just stayed there and the very nice guy at the desk found us a direct flight to Tampa! OK!! So, overnight in Frankfurt in the international business/hotel/living/eating/where-are-we? area just one train stop from the airport. It very much felt like something neither here nor there. But next day, we had four seats for us two, a comfy flight to Tampa, an easy drive to Orlando and - ta da! - we are with family. Sadly, we missed Hayden's birthday, but he was still happy to get our little gifts to him. Paucity describes the number of pics I took on this trip. Sorry. Here's the very, very long and very empty way to leaving the Franfurt Airport.
Orlando was laid back. Lee and Crissy had to work (so is life) but their schedules weren't awful. We got to walk with Hayden, Dylan was back in town from FSU and we had some lively discussions and got acquainted with a new game - Contexto. Werner doesn't really like it, and it does seem a bit random, but we've tried it now with Julia and with our house guests and it's a fun diversion. Not an everyday game, however. Oh, and an alligator in the little bay. Yow. Oh, and Hunter was there! What fun! We had breakfast together before he had to head back to PC.
The social highlight of the trip was Trivia Night at a sports bar. Lee and Crissy, Steph and Mike, Wayne and sometimes Nancy play (and Hayden is an observer!). It was such a hoot, a fun way to spend time with family, and WE WON!! YEA US! The winner's belt looks a lot like a cheap version of a WWW belt, so tat was just perfect LOL. Looking forward to doing again sometime.
This time, I brought my "Signature Tablecloth" with me, knowing I wouldn't have some of my favorite people ever visit in Bremen, so getting some new names on my special cloth was a real treat. Embroidering to follow.
Off to PC and adventures with the Ginns. Home dinners with and without kids, dinners out with some kids and sometimes with other friends. Hunter playing soccer on a local team - small town pleasures! Olle's (restaurant out in the countryside) is always fun, this time with a driver to take us all there and back. What a luxury! And Firefly, such elegance. There we get to talk to the manager who loves to practice his German. Michelle had the house decorated to the rafters with all things Easter - bunnies, carrots, eggs.
Then we took a pause in Tallahassee with a short stops along the way in St. Joe to visit a little craft fair, Apalach to test the oysters (very, very good) and put our shoes in the sand at Mexico Beach. Number 1 on the To Do list in Tally was going by the voter registration office to be sure all my ID stuff was in order so I might be/will be able to vote in November. The governor, in all his feigned ignorance, thinks I could be a danger to democracy. I wonder if he knows which way I lean....
Otherwise, the Tallahassee visit was filled with fun and reminiscences with friends.
Off to Atlanta and sisters (and their husbands)(and some of their kids and grandkids). We girls took a trip to an amazing garden shop a bit out of Atlanta, visited with Ginny and Barry at their place, walked the nearby park with Keith and his giant, gentle dogs (horrid, no pictures! but here are beautiful pink dogwoods in their front yard) , ate (!) fried chicken, grilled steak, etc. All in all, a wonderful visit, but we sat too much. We will try to fix that now we're home again.
The always question - When will you be back?? - still hangs in the air. Maybe fall to see Dylan do her thing with the FSU Marching Chiefs. We'll see. In the meantime, we have lots of memories to keep us entertained (but not enough pictures!!!!)
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