One of our most remembered trip was in 2000 and was the one where we spent three weeks in Europe, staying one week in Denmark and one week in Germany. Our third and final week was on the Eurail visiting other parts of Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Paris and London, traveling during the day and spending nights at hotels along the way until we returned to Frankfort where we had flown in and would later use to fly back to the U.S. My brother Norvel joined us. His wife, Hattie, did not join as she felt it would be difficult for her to keep up the pace we had to endure.
They were still using their own currency and it was difficult to keep changing our money from country to country. We divided up our roles and Norvel was in charge of all the train schedules because they ran on time and it was easy to miss their arrivals and departures, if you were standing ready to board when the train arrived. I was in charge of changing our money each time we entered a new country. Barbara was in charge of carrying all the baggage – just kidding – she was in charge of seeing that we were doing our jobs correctly. We had a great time; saw beautiful country and places we had only heard about.
We did our touring as much as possible by using what we had available and we had saved two weeks of Vacation time on our RCI timeshare account. This allowed us to pick the first week long vacation at a golf club in Denmark and the second week in the North of Germany. This positioned us to catch the Eurail to do quite a bit of fast trips to other cities in Germany. We had purchased a three weeks ticket to ride the Eurail without having to pay any additional cost, although on several occasions we were able to pay a small amount to get a private area where we could discuss the scenery or take pictures.
On arrival, we landed and deplaned in Frankfort, Germany and spent some time in figuring out how we were to get to the timeshare, which we had booked for the first week of our trip. We had the name and knew it was in the Northern part of Denmark, but it was more difficult to find that we expected. We rode Eurail to somewhere near Hebro and then took a bus and then a taxi before we actually discovered someone who had heard of the timeshare and knew how to get us there. We were given our rooms although we saw this as a place to stay while we looked at other parts of Scandinavia.
We were able to get on the train and get to port of Frederikshavn, Denmark and take a boat ride for about 60 miles to Gothenburg, Sweden where we spent one night and had the most sumptuous breakfast we have ever had. We then took the train to Stockholm where we planned to spend the night; little did we know that so many Swedes come to Stockholm on weekends and that there would be “no room in the inn” that Saturday night. A taxi driver tried to help but found only one place available and at a price of $600. We declined and stayed in the train station until they closed at midnight. We then found a MacDonald’s across the street where we drank coffee until the train station opened and we could get a train back to Gothenburg at about 200 miles per hour.
We got back to where we had a timeshare and used the Eurail to visit other parts of Denmark We were most impressed how neat and tidy all the lawns and homes were and how they all looked as if they had just been manicured.
We than got on the train and moved to our second timeshare in Cologne where we spend the next week. It was beautiful and we spent our time here using the train to visit many of the surrounding cities. I cannot remember the names of all but
Bonn was one we loved. When we exited the train and walked outside, the Cathedral of Bonn was the most magnificent sight that seemed to cover the entire horizon.
While in the Cologne area, Norvel and I went to a nearby village and was looking at the stores. We saw a German woman and she seemed receptive to talking to Norvel although he did not speak any German and she did not speak any English. I was stunned that they had a 30 minute conversation without understanding each other — except with gestures and smiles and that she let us take a photo with her.
Like so many fun trips, they must come to an end and all return to the reality of our daily lives. After three weeks, we left from the Frankfort Airport and flew back to home but with a lot of appreciation of all that we had seen. However, we concluded that if we ever went to Europe again, we would go with a tour group and leave all the planning up to them.