Our last morning in Germany came without event.  We woke up to bright sunshine.  This was a sad day for us.  We had enjoyed our time in Germany so much.  As I knew would happen, I wouldn’t want to leave.

We went down for breakfast and then let them know we would be leaving soon so they could bring the car up to the hotel.  All too soon, we had packed the car and pulled out of Rothenburg through the old gate.  We were headed back to Frankfurt and the airport.

I had allowed time for construction and other obstacles to delay us.  We didn’t really the time after all.  I would like to have looked around Rothenburg more, but we had really seen most of it the day before.

We managed to find the car rental return without the help of the navi.  She wanted to take us way out of our way instead of right down into the airport.  We found her and won.  The Sixt rental place was well marked.  We got the OK to leave the car and gathered our cases to head up to the terminal.

We crowded onto the elevator to leave the garage and go up to the terminal floor.  As the elevator rocked a bit, Rich said, “It’s not an Otis.”  One of the girls laughed and repeated him.  Otis is a German name for the guy in New York who stated the company.

In the terminal, we recognized where we had gone to pick up the car.  We walked to Terminal 1 to find out gate.  At the security point, we had to do the normal checks.  We put the computers into their own bins and took off all the necessary stuff.  It’s amazing how different each airport is.  Rich had to take off his hat and hand it to the inspector to pass through.  That didn’t happen in the U.S.

I had forgotten about water bottles in my carry on from our road trip.  I had to go with an inspector to one of the stations to review what these were.  I let him take the bottles rather than complain.  There was no point in being a problem child about it.

We got through security and put our stuff back together.  Then we wandered down to the gate for our flight.  After a bit, we got hungry and went off to look for food.  This included the last beer we would have on this leg of the journey.  After lunch, we went through one of the Duty Free Shops looking for chocolate.  I bought a bag of Toblerone minis.  I love this brand of chocolate.

Back at the gate, we had a couple of hours.  People started to come into the area and wait also.  Finally, the flight was being called and we went up to pass through the gate.  We had walk down a set of stairs and found a bus waiting for us.  It was pretty confusing.  Hope they weren’t driving us to Krakow.

We circled around the tarmac and drove up to a plane.  We were going to have to get off the bus and walk up a staircase!  I haven’t had to do that in years.  Both doors of the plane were open and people were filing in both ways.

We got on board and found our seats.  There was a young girl sitting in the window seat.  Luckily, the seats were comfy with lots of room.  I sat in the middle and Rich was on the aisle.  The only issue was that we were delayed in taking off.  We sat on the tarmac waiting for word that we could leave.

Finally, we took off into the blue skies.  The attendants came around with kuchen in a bag and offered us drinks.  We had water from the airport with us so we weren’t took thirsty.  Rich was able to have his afternoon coffee on the plane.

The flight didn’t seem to take that long.  Pretty soon, we were circling Krakow for a landing.  The skies were gray and there was raining coming down.  Again, we got onto a bus and driven to the terminal.  Turns out, they were renovating the terminals and we were taken to a temporary place to pick up our bags.

When we came through the arrival gate, Marcin and Aneta were standing in the hallway.  It was a great surprise to see them there.  We hugged and talked for a minute.  I could see our driver with a sign showing my name.  We promised to meet up for dinner at our hotel.

We met with our driver, Pawel, and he took us out to the van.  After loading the luggage and getting settled, Pawel zoomed off.  They drive really fast in Krakow.  I was highly impressed and it takes a lot to do that with me.  I was watching the scenery fly by and trying to take in all I could see.  It didn’t look that much different from Germany.

Pawel maneuvered all around the small cars.  I was amazed at how he negotiated into tight spots.  Finally, we pulled through the old wall and up to the front door of our hotel.  We thanked him for the ride and confirmed our next trip on Tuesday morning.  Inside, the front desk got our room keys and explained the status for breakfast.

We rode the tiny elevator up to the second floor, which is technically the third floor if you are in the U.S.  We found our room and went in.  I had expected the room to be small, but it was really small.  Oh well, we just need a place to sleep.  We don’t really need to live in the room.

Marcin had said he had a reservation at the restaurant he wanted to go to for 8:00.  About 7:30, we went down to talk to the front desk about some details.  Marcin and Aneta showed up.  We went out to the car and started out for the old Jewish section.  This section was becoming converted to restaurants and entertainment.  The place Marcin had picked out was called Dawno Ne Tatum Ne Kazimeriz, or Once Upon a Time in Kazimeriz.

It was originally four tiny shops in the Jewish community for the butcher, tailor, woodworking, and grocer.  The walls had been knocked down for the restaurant.  They had left the inside pretty much as it was to give it character.  It was very nice and very cute.  The food was excellent.  Rich had lamb shank, Marcin had fish, Aneta had Jewish stew, and I just had pierogi.

We talked and talked about work, what’s happening with us, about Rick, and a lot of other things.  Rich tried Buffalo Grass liquor, which apparently tastes bad and requires apple juice.  I had warm honey beer, which came with whipped crème and cinnamon.  It was very tasty.

Time to leave and Marcin drove around the city for a bit to show us some of the sites.  In the dark, you couldn’t see much and it was confusing to drive around with the one-way streets.  There are street cars that still go up and down.  We talked about how to drive around with these in the way.  It is a bit tricky.

Finally back at our hotel, we said good-bye and went up to bed.  I posted a few pictures to Facebook, but was so tired.  Time to drift off to sleep yet another night.  Welcome to Krakow.