We took the flight from Atlanta to DC. I had forgotten how loud jet travel is. Once in DC, we took a 777 to Munich. It was my first time in 777. This time I wore earplugs. We only got three hours sleep Saturday night (too busy packing and repacking). My intention was to sleep on the plane. While I was able to doze a little, the noise and vibration and movement prevented me from getting any actual rest. It is hard to get any productive anything done on a plane; the good news is that while nauseous I was not airsick. From Munich we took Lufthansa to our city. Lufthansa was the most courteous airline that we used so far.
It was good to see our baggage in the terminal. It royally stinks when your luggage goes on a different trip than you do.
Customs was unexpectedly easy. We were waved past the security check and past customs without so much as a how-do-you-do. We even asked the customs lady if we needed to go through customs and she just waved us past also.
Our driver Niko met us at the airport. He was very nice. As he drove us through the city, he showed us good places to eat and the layout of major streets.
Our apartment is very nice. While the building is old (typical of many in post-communist Eastern Europe), our apartment has been renovated and is very nice. It has a microwave, stove, gas range, TV, etc. It is spacious enough and has a very nice layout and decor. The bathroom is nice also. The best feature is the entire floor is heated tile. It really makes it nice getting out of the tub and not have cold feet.
There is a supermarket on the first floor of the apartment building. They bake all the bread fresh on-site. This means that we can get fresh ciabatta for about $0.50 and baguettes for about a quarter. This is good!
Niko showed us around the supermarket and showed us how to buy things. Produce is weighed and priced in the produce section. We got a little butter, some magnificent pistachio ice cream and some ham and cheese and water and plums for a "trial shopping run". I made little grilled sandwiches on the gas stove in the apartment. The kitchenette only had one pan (good for soup) and no proper utensils but I made it work it well enough.
It was good to be able to wash again. The grime of two days of air travel and airports and wearing the same clothes - to be free of it is a good thing. We are very tired!
No comments:
Post a Comment