Day 2:
I set my alarm for 5am. Setting an alarm for Germany time when you’re clock is still on Mountain Standard time isn’t very helpful. Not only was I not going to wake up to an alarm set for 5am German time, my American phone was going to wake me up at 6am...Boise time. Not so fun when you’re focused on sleeping as much as possible to recover from extreme jet lag. I still can’t figure out what day it is or what time it is. I awake to Cindy telling me it was time to wake up and get ready for the day in Switzerland. At least someone had a working phone. I am going to have a chat with ATT when I get back to the states. By 6:30 am we were on our way to the Army base where we would get on a bus and make the 2-hour trip to Rhein Falls, the largest waterfall in Europe. Not tallest, largest…whatever that means. Switzerland is absolutely gorgeous. I quickly become obsessed with the architecture. It is unlike anything in the states. The plan was to take a boat ride over to the base of the falls and climb a rock (that has stairs) to the top for a picturesque view. We missed the boat because we HAD to stop by the souvenir shop, such typical tourists. Thankfully we had the coolest guide ever and, upon realizing we were missing, came back to get us. Jiri is his name and he was the cutest old German man. He had the best accent and placement of English words. I wish I could speak his broken English with his accent. I love it. We decided it would be a good idea to sit on a bench right by the bus so we would not be late or lose our bus and be stuck in Switzerland. Well somehow we got distracted by picture taking, as tourists often do and we caught the bus as its doors were closing. WHEW. How do you miss something sitting right in front of you? Thankfully Jiri is an expert tour guide and would never have left without taking a double and triple head count. After the waterfall we headed for Stein am Rhein/Schaffhausen, the most picturesque town I have ever seen. Narrow, cobblestone streets with old buildings side by side and murals painted on them. We enjoyed lunch at a creperie, with Swiss-brewed beer of course. Our German waiter was so nice, beautiful accent, I'm pretty sure if he would've asked me to marry him I would not have hesitated to say YES! I love Germans…I just really do. Lord please let me marry one. We walked, we shopped and then headed for Schloss Arenenberg and Lake Konstanz. Arenenberg is called a castle, but it is more like a mansion set atop a hill overlooking the lake and a vineyard. The views were breathtaking. Like everything else in Switzerland…picturesque. The Swiss have beautiful, bright flowers everywhere. They put them in flower boxes on the buildings, urns in the yards, on the pathways, planted in the ground, etc. Everything has flowers. After walking around and touring the mansion we make the two hour bus ride back to Stuttgart and have dinner at a German restaurant, where I tried bratz and schnitzel. Bratz has a different taste, not my favorite but I liked it. Schnitzel is delish. Tony takes us to the pub inside the hotel, The Dubliner. Best decision of the entire trip. The guy sitting next to me strikes up a conversation. Turns out his name is Jonas, he is from Sweden and a pilot for a Turkish airline so he is staying in Stuttgart and making a couple flights between Stuttgart and Turkey. Tony has to wake up early for work so he heads back to the hotel and Cindy makes friends with the bartender, Mike, the Englishman. The pub closes and our new friend Mike invites us to join him and Naomi, the Irish girl for a bier at the gas station across the street. We load up on 40’s and sit outside a walk up burger joint until about 3 am. Jonas spends the entire time trying to get me to correctly pronounce Hauptbahnhof. I think I got it, at least until tomorrow. Two 40’s of 5% alcohol bier later we make our way back to the hotel put the key in door and before we can unlock it we are greeted by a panic-stricken, rage-filled Tony. Dad…I didn’t know you came to Germany with me?! He yells at Cindy to go talk to her sister. SISTER?! YOU CALLED MY SISTER?! Yes, it is true. 15 times he called until she would answer her phone. He called family in America to say that Cindy and her friend Lindsay were missing in Germany. Thankfully Cindy’s sister is smart and knows Cindy well enough to know that she wasn’t missing, just hanging out. Her sister was able to calm down Tearful Tony and the embassy was not called that night. RELIEF. Had we arrived 5 minutes later I am confident that we would have four panicked parents on the next flight out to Germany. This event would set the tone for the rest of our time spent with Tony. It only gets better…
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