Tag Archives: travel

Welcome to part 2 of my half-assed trip coverage.

We also did the historical museum (obviously) and all the historical tourist things. I will be the first to admit that my U.S. history is pretty weak. For my senior year of high school I wanted to do a program called 4/4 and take 4 classes in the morning and work in the afternoons. In order to do this I had to take a summer school class so I took my U.S. history in the summer. And summer U.S. history class is remedial class. I think I was the only person who didn’t sneak off to smoke by the automotive lab during the break. Everything else I know about early American history (that isn’t directly related to Indians), I learned from reading John Jakes.

Regardless, I could still appreciate the historical stuff. I loved Independence Hall and the graveyard where Benjamin Franklin is buried. I was underwhelmed by the Liberty Bell. There was a giant long line and the lady doing security clearly hated people and her job. Then of course everyone needed a selfie with the bell, which looked exactly like the pictures, and also like a movie prop.

One night there was a huge thunder and lightning storm with heavy rain. My phone gave me a flash flood alert. We were on the 17th floor and full from dinner and with our snacks and adult beverages handy so we pulled our chairs up to the window and watched. You could see the gusts of rain sweeping by. Very dramatic.

What is up with the liquor laws in Pennsylvania? We went to Trader Joe’s and there was no booze. We went to the wine and spirits shop and there was no beer. Then there was a separate market that Bob went to to get beer. The clerk there didn’t clarify but agreed the laws were complicated. There’s another twist that I’ll talk about in Part 3.

Bob finally got his Philly Cheesesteak the last day. I was urged to try this local delight numerous times, but if I’m going to destroy my digestive system eating something like that, I’d like to be closer to my home bathroom. I enjoyed a fruit cup while Bob enjoyed his sandwich. It smelled good.

On Sunday we visited the library and there was something called Hip Hop Fundamentals going on in the auditorium. The only reason we were by the auditorium is because that’s where the bathrooms were. Bob insisted we peek in and we ended up staying for the whole thing. It is a “diverse team of Philadelphia B-Boys dedicated to spreading true Hip Hop as an inspiration and academic tool.” And it was amazing. Tons of people and their kids learning hip hop. The B-Boys were great. I think everyone in the world should know about this group.

As of today the project of mid-August:

And now for part 1 of your single butt-cheeked coverage of our trip to Philadelphia.

First of all, in keeping with the theme, I did my trip clothing shopping in 15 minutes on the day we were leaving. There should be a prize for that.

There is a Columbia store across the street from the office. I ran over there with my wallet. Tried on 6 things to determine my size, and then selected a pair of shorts, a pair of pants and a short sleeved shirt – all made of this modern magical material called something like OmNiRron or Tu2vaFibre. It’s like wearing clothes made out of FedEx envelopes. They weren’t super flattering but they had tons of pockets and ended up being terrific when we were wandering up down the hot and humid boulevards.

We took a red eye out, even though every time I do one I swear it’s the last time, because cheap and *direct* flights showed up on my fare alert so we snatched them up. If you fly out of Portland, it is generally not cheap or nonstop to fly anywhere outside of the region. I once had a work trip to Reno and I had to fly through San Francisco.

Luckily, our hotel could check us in when we arrived so I was able to have my first nap followed by a food finding mission and then my second nap. Then I was good to go.

Our first day we went to the Rosenbach Museum and Library which Bob picked mostly because it was close to where we ate.

It turned out amazing. It’s a collection of rare books and manuscripts, plus some other items like furniture and we saw some miniature paintings. We took the guided tour, which was just the two of us, and we’re such literature nerds we asked millions of question. Our guide seemed happy to have us. It gets our highest recommendation. We would go back in a hot second.

The other brilliant museum we went to was the Barnes Foundation. According to the website, the Barnes holds one of the finest collections of Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings. It’s a gorgeous building and the works are displayed in ensembles rather than by artist or time period. It’s explained here. I had no idea the collection was so extensive when we started. It was worth it but by the end I was short-changing my experience, because my brain was saturated. Another 1000 star recommendation.

And speaking of the project of mid-August. As of today:

A few last thoughts and I promise I won’t mention the trip again unless I have to complain some more about Lufthansa not giving me my $70 back.

1. People all over the world will put their bag on the seat next to them on public transportation in the hope that no one will sit there.

2. People will travel halfway across the world to an amazing location and walk around looking at their phones.

3. Everyone looks ridiculous holding their phone up like plate to speak into it.

I just remembered one more story I didn’t tell. The last weekend we were there was a 3 day weekend in Germany. We went from Bad K to Frankfurt on Sunday evening. The train was unbelievably crowded. And there was no place to put giant bags. The overhead racks were only big enough for a box of donuts and between the seats it was too narrow. Meanwhile, there were at least 15 bikes in a car that I think was intended for bikes but maybe not that many. We crammed our bags in the bike area and then crawled over bags in the aisle and asked a lady to move her purse (she was nice about it) so we could sit down. She later left to see if there was a less crowded place to sit (it was a double-decker train!) and when she came back she said it was packed everywhere.

We ended the trip where we started: killing time in Frankfurt.

Except this time we didn’t mind so much since we weren’t so tired and we already knew the drill. We even knew where the cheaper lockers were to store our bags for the day.

The bummer was that it was a Monday so all the museums were closed. But we walked around. Found this Karmeliter Kloster with wall paintings and a garden.

Then we hiked up the stairs of the St. Bartholomew cathedral for the view. This fulfilled our cardio needs before spending hours on a plane.

The last thing to do was pick up a few last things at the store before we left. We had a terrible time finding them and later I realized it was like we were looking for Oreos and Nutter Butters at Nordstrom. We were on our way to pick up our bags when we found a bargain mart that had all my cookies and a fresh supply of Fisherman’s Friend.

Two giant trips in 4 months is a lot of travel for me, the girl who loves her couch, but it definitely whet my appetite for travel again. Gotta save some money.

Here’s the information on the Untere Saline in Bad Kissingen. Unfortunately, it’s in German.

I will explain as best I can.

I remember going here the first time I visited BK which was before I got married so almost 20 years ago. And I never heard about the place again so I thought maybe it wasn’t real.

In order to be a health spa in Germany you need one of these. It’s a giant barn-type structure filled with sticks and the mineral waters are pumped to the top and dribble down.

You stand on the walk and inhale the mist and it’s good for your lungs. I had a cough because for some reason my body decided that I wouldn’t have a cold for almost 2 years and then I would get one right before I left on a major trip. It wasn’t too serious as far as colds go, but I did have a nagging cough that didn’t want to let go. After the saline I didn’t cough much until after the plane trip home.

And it was a nice place to hang out with the mist and the peace and quiet. Hilla said it was one of her favorite places before she gave up driving.

It’s hard to see in the photo. It looks sort of mossy but the air is delightfully fresh.

This is part of the old town wall. Back in old tymes there were some bad people who wanted in and as a last resort, the townspeople threw bees over the wall to save the day. Or at least that’s how I understood the story. This statue honors bee guy.

Bad Kissingen is a known as a health resort but I would call it a retirement community with tourists.

Fahren means travel and one of the verb forms is fahrt. So every time I get to Germany and see the activities for tourists for fahrt-ing, I revert to my most juvenile self.

Strictly a Rundfahrt is a round trip. A Hafenrundfahrt is a trip around the harbor. A Stadtrundfahrt is a trip around the city. Our first day in Frankfurt I was already crowing about the signs.

“Our first fahrt!”

Hilla took us on a Rundfahrt around Bad Kissingen. We were the youngest people on the bus. There was no prize.

We stayed in a nice room in the center of town. Bob and I stayed in the same place in our last visit. Good breakfast, a decent sized room.

Hilla asked us if the room was okay and whether we had any problems.

I said: There was a man singing loudly outside.

She said: In your hotel room?

I said: Outside on the street.

She said: What a pity.

(I’m not sure if the joke is carrying but she was saying it was a pity we didn’t have singing man in our room. And now that I write it out it sounds creepy. But really it was funny. This is family humor.)

After the first night we learned there was a Kühlschrank (cold-closet; German is an amazing language when you get to know it.) on the second floor – an honor bar in the hallway. How long do you think that system would last in our country? It had bottled water and juice, beer, and red and white wine. You had a slip of paper in your room and you self-reported what you took. And we did.

Train station at Frankfurt Airport.

The day we left Bruges was our day of trains. (BTW – The Man in Seat Sixty-One and DBahn are great resources for train travel planning. Rick Steves is good, too.) We had a local train from Bruges to Brussels. An international train from Brussels to Frankfurt. A German train from Frankfurt to Würzberg and then a local train from Würzberg to Bad Kissingen.

By this point we were feeling like old pros on the trains so this was nothing although left to my own devices I would have gotten off at the wrong station in Brussels.

Train station at Frankfurt Airport.

We had a few small snacks but by the time we got to Frankfurt we were starving and we were only halfway through our journey. Our connection was at the airport instead of the Hauptbahnhof which means that the food choices were pretty slim. Erin went to the one food stand and found us some decent sandwiches and juice. I found a vending machine and bought a really gross banana flavored kitkat type cookie and some other crumbly wafer cookies. We felt better after that.

On the train from Frankfurt to Würzberg the girl in front of us was watching dubbed episodes of Two and A Half Men. I was so ashamed.

Bruges was interesting, it was smaller version of Gent. Or that was my perception. One minute you’d be wandering through mob city tourist-ville and then you’d turn the corner and a find a quiet little cobbled street. There would be someone loading a baby stroller into a car and workers taking materials from a van. There was the same central square with over-priced, but decent restaurants. Canals with boat rides. Horse drawn carriages. This is the most touristy thing, the horse drawn carriage – do people really like it other than it’s a thing to do on vacation?

By the end of the first evening we felt like we’d seen it all. We toyed with the idea of hopping on the train and going to Ostend on the coast. One drawback was that the train station wasn’t very convenient to our hotel. We finally decided against it because the weather was changing and we were afraid it was going to be too stormy and we’d just be wandering around trying to stay warm and keep the sand out of our eyes.

We did a lot of walking and wandering around the park. We bought bags and bags of candy and sampled everything. It was terrific.

Even my Auntie who has lived in Europe for 90 years asked: why Gent? How did you even think of going to Gent?

Well, I bought a little travel book with: Brussels, Gent, Bruges and Antwerp. Gent is a university town and sounded nice.

It was.

One of the articles I read online said it was the less Disneyland version of Bruges. This turned out to be an accurate description. If you’re planning to go to Belgium I would suggest skipping Bruges and go to Gent instead. Well, depending on what kind of travel you like. I don’t like herding around in mobs of tourists if I can avoid it.

Gent felt like a real place with real people wandering around going to restaurants by the canal. I didn’t feel pummeled by tourism. Plus we had our most expensive but most lovely hotel. Our hosts were two young men who honestly seemed like the highlight of their life was visiting with their guests and telling them about Gent.

It’s been years since I fantasized about living in a foreign city, but Gent, I would love to try.

One of the notes I wrote to Bob was that it even smells better! Our hotel room had a delicious room freshener. Pineapple?

We did a lot of walking around, simply enjoying the area. We did go check out the Adoration of the Lamb which is an extensive altarpiece undergoing restoration and very interesting.