How it all began

It was about 16 years ago that Sherry called me to say that I had received a very interesting voicemail.  You see, as a trainer, I spoke at numerous conferences.  It seems this person attended one of my sessions and was inviting me to speak at their upcoming conference.  The location?  Heidelberg, Germany!

You can imagine our excitement.  This would be our first trip to Europe.  To be brutally honest, Sherry and I both grew in households full of love but short on cash and neither of us ever expected to get to Europe.  I called back the next morning, and after confirming my travel expenses would be paid, I accepted the offer.  Now there was some planning to do.

Here’s were we got a little lucky.  We only had about 3 weeks to plan the trip and get passports.  Fortunately, we were able to drive to a regional office in San Francisco and get our passports within a week.  That just left the planning.  As luck would have it, a woman I worked with had a friend who was travel agent who specialized in shopping trips to Germany.  She was so helpful in creating our itinerary and booked us into some really cool places to stay.

The next thing you know we are in a plane on our way to Frankfurt.  As excited as we were, we were also a little anxious.  It was our first trip out of the country and we didn’t speak the language or know how to get around.  Still, we had youthful enthusiasm and a German rail pass so what more could we need.

After landing in Frankfurt, we figure out the train to Heidelberg fairly easily.  Our love affair with Europe began on that train.  As we rolled along the scenery was stunning complete with century old castles perched on hills along the way.  When we arrived in Heidelberg we were nearly breathless.  It was so beautiful and stunning.  After waving off a Ford taxi for a Mercedes (that was a no brainer) we headed to the hotel.  After we unpacked and settled in it was right back into town.

As we strolled the streets we really couldn’t believe where we were.  I mean, we were in Germany!  We stopped for coffee in the town square which is bordered by the University on one side and the Cathedral on the other.  As we sipped our coffee it somehow felt like we belonged there.  We couldn’t believe how spellbound we were.  We also couldn’t believe that we were going in and out of shop buildings that are over 500 years old.

The next day I gave my presentation, which went very well.  With the work part of the trip over, we now set out to explore Germany and eastern France.  This was going to be a whirlwind tour of 10 cities in 8 days.

We started in Strasbourg, France where the whole scenario of Heidelberg repeated itself.  There were long walks exploring the beauty of the city.  The climb to the top of the Cathedral tower.  Coffees in the village square.  And lots of great food and wine.

Next we discovered just how easy it was to get around in Europe.  We were taking a day trip from Strasbourg to Basel, Switzerland.  The train map showed routes on both the French and German side of the border.  However, since we had a German rail pass, we could not use it to train on the French side.  So we simply bought tickets to create a roundtrip.  In the process, we discovered the village of Colmar, France.  Of course it was beautiful but it was early on Sunday morning and a bit closed up.  We vowed to return one day and this was when we knew that many more European trips were in our future.  (We did manage to make it back to Colmar in 2000.) 

The trip continued in much the same fashion.  We spent every waking hour exploring as much as we could with frequent breaks for coffee, wine or beer along the way.  We met interesting people like the man at the Colmar train station who asked if we spoke French, which we did not.  Then he asked if spoke German and that was a definite no.  Finally, we settled on Spanish, which Sherry speaks.  So here we are at a train station in France, waiting for a train to Switzerland and talking in a mixture of Spanish and English.  It was just too cool!

When it was all said and done we also visited Freiburg, Konstantz, Stuttgart, Wurzburg (where we spent the night in a castle), and Rothenburg in Germany.  Rothenburg is walled city that is so beautiful the American general in charge of US forces in WWII ordered that the city not be bombed.

We will never forget that trip.  It was our first and it was unexpected.  Still, it sparked a desire that continues to burn to this day.  So, to all you out there who prefer fun-in-the-sun vacations with rum drinks served in coconuts, enjoy!  We’ll simply settle in with a glass of wine in the heart of some small European village and drink in the old world charm.

Au revoir!