Just the Eidsons: Germany- the Rundown

Happy 2011!
Yeah, I know, we're already pretty far into the new year. I have been a bad blogger, but hope to make up for it. New year, new resolutions, right?
All that said, we hope you've had a wonderful start to the new year. We enjoyed a great Christmas in Alabama and made it back to Oxford on New Years' Eve right in time for- bed. (Call us boring if you want- I call it jetlagged.)
We had a great time at home, packed full with seeing our families (including our sweet niece!!) and friends.

But I haven't even finished telling you about our trip to Germany! Because our six day trip turned to seven...

Our plan was to visit Wayne and Caryn in Berlin for 6 days before flying back to England. We've already posted a few blogs about visiting Luther's church and eating brats. All was fine and well until several inches of snow fell on England in the course of a few hours.

South London on Dec 19 - photo from the DailyMail

But it seemed as if Brandon and I were going to be OK- we weren't flying into Heathrow, but Stansted, a smaller airport outside of London. The whole week, even though flights were being cancelled left and right at other airports, Stansted was open. So when we were given the offer of riding along with the Fenwicks' to pick up their daughter (who was stuck in London on her way home from California), we said thanks but opted to stay in Germany. We had already paid for the bus from the airport to Oxford, and we would have to buy new tickets from London back to Oxford and lose the others. Plus, I was a little nervous about the twelve hour drive from Berlin to London. So we stayed.
(Was that a hefty bet? Yep. But this year is about learning- in lots of ways.)

We went to eat with Lara, their younger daughter, at a local American eatery. It was really great to hang out with her and hear how life looked as a teenager in Berlin.

A Berliner Pilsner at the '60s American restaurant

The next day, we got up at around 5 a.m. to pack and catch a train to the airport. As Brandon was getting ready, I checked to see that our flight was....

CANCELLED

Not good. We tried calling the airline, but only got recordings in German. Without many options, we took our stuff and went on to the airport.

Upon arriving we confirmed that yes indeedy, the online information was right. (Not that we doubted it, but hey, one could hope). We were not getting on that particular flight... but could we get on another one?

Not that day. RyanAir offered us a flight the next day to another airport- East Midlands- and we took it. As we trudged back to the Fenwicks' home in the snow, we prayed that our flight would go out the next day. We were supposed to fly back to Alabama on the 22nd, and if we weren't there for the flight and it was scheduled, we'd lose a good bit of money rescheduling the dates.

Well long story short (or at least, shorter), we did make it back. It took trains, planes, and automobiles, but we arrived in Oxford on December 20th around 8 p.m. I've never been so glad to be on English soil.

Please don't misunderstand- we did have a great time in Germany. Here- look!

This was in Potsdam...