Travel day!

Today was all about an early start catching the 6:42 train at Alexanderplatz to Berlin airport. Bags checked and through security after they perused my bag of liquids, we went our separate ways in search of breakfast. I tired to get an acacia bowl but ended up with overnight oats and a cafe americano. Only to get to the gate and have a delay.

During the delay, I researched further about the airport. Good lord what a mess. They started work in 2006 with a planned 2012 open date. Due to delays in construction and failure to pass safest regulations, it did not open until 2020!!! A fire system was supposed to take smoke downwards, which defies science. Some lights would not turn on; others would not turn off. Displays for flight were left turned o. For six years and had to be discarded and replaced. I mean this was the total opposite of German efficiently and engineering!

It kept me occupied during the delay. However, the delay put us at risk to miss our connecting flight which would be catastrophic. Alternates would put us in Lyon near midnight instead of 14:00 hrs.

When we landed at Munich it took forever to get a gate crew and unload the plane. After we got off the bus that took us to the terminal, we boogied past people and ran up the escalator and down the hall to our gate, which fortunately was close. They had not closed the door so we made it down to another bus to take outs to our plane. It might have even been the same plane, because our suitcases were sitting forlornly under the plane.

So, while we were late arriving in Lyon, we still managed to get to the rental car pickup about when I said we would arrive. I was assigned a brand new Puegot with 1km on the odometer.

We got on the highway and once past metro Lyon we stopped at a rest stop. Funny how they are the same in every country. I got two bites into my sandwich though and decided not to eat any more if it. The lettuce was brown, and it tasted bad. I wasn’t taking any chances on a salmon sandwich. That left me with kombucha and some Petite Buerre cookies.

I was pleasantly surprised that most of the drive was a four lane highway. I expected two lanes winding around the mountains. We got back to Hotel Regina. They took our bags and stored suitcases to our room while we parked the car.

As we were coming out of the parking garage Amy took a terrible tumble down the stairs. I was helpless as I watched it in slow motion. She was able to walk back to the hotel. I had some bandaid and I went out to get antiseptic crème for her. Her legs were starting to swell but ice is not readily available here.

We had made a reservation to eat on the hotel brasserie which was smart because we were too pooped to go out. Our French was terrible because we were both so tired. It was an early night because tomorrow we are off to Avignon.