After I returned from Madrid my manager here in Germany made a comment to me along the lines of “that distance is like a day trip to a Canadian”. Yes, he was exaggerating the truth a little bit but the premise of his point is correct: North Americans are more accustomed to travelling long distances between destinations. It reminded me of my spur-of-the-moment weekend trip to Vancouver last summer.
You’ll recall that after Madrid I had a nice gap of a number of weeks without plan before my weekend to Berlin, marathon in Ulm, and leading up to my final weekend living in Europe. I did have the goal of visiting the Vimy Memorial in France in these weeks. I was also quite pleased to have spent last weekend doing nothing at home, relaxing, watching movies. But now the relaxation is over and the final leg truly begins, with a surprising amount of travel for a guy who isn’t really interested in travelling.
This weekend I want to take a day trip to one of three destinations: either Heidelberg, Strasbourg, or Stuttgart. A colleague of mine used to live in Heidelberg so I’ve asked for him to take me on a day trip there as I would like to try to appreciate the city. Strasbourg and Stuttgart are both interesting cities, with Stuttgart winning but Strasbourg getting a boost because it’s in a different country. These are three storied cities and it is really awesome that they are so accessible to me here.
The weekend of August 22nd will see a road trip with the primary destination of the Vimy Memorial, but secondary destinations as part of the tour. The plan is to leave Germany on Friday afternoon and drive to Luxembourg to experience its distinct culture. Saturday morning we will continue to the Vimy Memorial, which is bound to be an incredible experience. We will leave France and stay in Brussels on Saturday night. Sunday will be a driving day with our return home, but I am hoping I can convince my trip mates of a lunch stop in Köln.
The weekend of August 29th will see a day trip to one of the three cities that I don’t visit this weekend. I also want to try to make pumpkin pie so maybe the spare day this weekend will go to this effort. I have seen some pumpkins on sale already in the grocery stores, but also have a source for the pre-made pumpkin pie mix.
When we hit the first weekend of September I will be flying to England for the weekend. You can ask Katy how much I smiled every time I said “we’re in London” if you want to gauge my excitement for this trip. This trip could see me in London, but perhaps not, and the possibility of renting a car and driving on the wrong side of the road is quite high. Excitement++.
On September 11 I will take to the skies again, this time going to Germany’s historic capital: Berlin. I was initially limited in excitement for this trip, but research has pointed me to loads of great stuff to see here. It also looks like there’s a great bicycle tour that I will hopefully get a chance to partake in. I’m starting to think that two days won’t be enough here.
The following weekend is the Einstein Marathon in Ulm. A frightening prospect, considering today was my first run in quite some time. Oh well–I can always walk it, right?
And that leads us to my final weekend in Germany. I was planning on saving this weekend–to use the time to make final preparations, relax, try to really enjoy my local scene–but then discovered that the Karlsruhe SC football club will be playing a match against the famous 1FCK in Kaiserslautern. I cannot imagine a better activity than to go to an 1FCK match on my last free day in Europe.
I guess I should keep that overnight bag out.
Who’s the other part of the “we” going to the Vimy Memorial?
And yes, you can always walk the marathon. But you won’t.