I'm going to have to break down my Europe trip in 3 parts I believe to really do it justice. What an INCREDIBLE trip! Let me start with Berlin, Germany .....
Have you ever flown out of the country? Friends had expressed to me that I wasn't going to understand the jet lag.... they all said I should be flying to Germany at least by Wednesday to be able to run a marathon on Sunday. Well, that just didn't work with me working and also having to be off work long enough to do the London marathon the following weekend. So I left on Thursday night around 6:30pm and arrive in Germany on Friday around 5:30pm................. TALK ABOUT A LONG TRAVEL ..... I tried to sleep on the longest flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam by taking Advil PM and a Benadryl.... but you just can't really sleep well sitting up on a plane no matter what! However, I did get a few hours. We almost missed our connection in Amsterdam which would take us to Berlin! Our flight was delayed in Atlanta..... we literally ran like 2 miles (no trams to gates) to get to our boarding gate in Amsterdam and they were literally holding the plane for us. I have never felt so rushed in my life! If we had missed that connection we could have been there hours to overnight waiting on another flight! Joe and his wife that was traveling a different route got stuck in New York for like 8 hours due to the President being there and missed their connection and it took them forever to get to Germany. We heard several horror stories of travel to Germany from different people we meet at the race. Some didn't get there till mid Saturday! Had to run to Expo just in time to get their bib for Sunday. There are 6 world major marathons and so far I have ran New York and Chicago. This trip will get me Berlin & London and then I'll have Tokyo and Boston left to get..... keep working on them dreams... 😁
Needless to say.... Saturday morning I was feeling the time change, but we had things planned and places to see. Penny and I had pre-booked a ton of tours for our whole trip. We had every day lined out. AND I'm happy to say that all tours worked out and were worth every penny we paid for them! Our trip couldn't have been more planned and everything worked out as planned.... except for me getting food poison in Germany..... When we arrived Friday night, Penny and I rushed to the expo before 8pm to grab our race bibs so we would not have to do that on Saturday. We were dead tired from traveling 24 hours... no showers yet.... but we made it....
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| Once we arrived we road the train to our hotel. |
Did I mention we packed for 11 nights in a carryon and backpack! We were going to be moving around so much from Germany, Paris to London we didn't want to risk our luggage getting lost.
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| Our travel pass for the train/subway in Germany |
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| got my race bib |
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| The expo building.... |
So Saturday morning in Germany was a tad overcast with light rain.... but we had a 3 hour city bike tour planned and it was awesome. The boys fretted a good bit that morning at breakfast when Penny broke it to them that we had that booked. 😃 But once we did it, everyone said they enjoyed it. Our tour guide was Sam and he knew so much history. The pace was easy. We would ride a little and stop and view historical things in Berlin in which Sam would tell us a good bit of history. We went to Check point Charlie, Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, St. Mary's Church, Reichstag Building, Museum Island, Humboldt University, and even the place of Hitler's hide out bunker that is currently sealed. I had never been on a bike tour, but I'll be doing it again. It was a wonderful way to see the city and not be stuck in traffic, trying to find parking places, and it saved our legs! Back here in the US we learn about things like the Berlin Wall in history....but to actually be there ... standing where part of the wall is still standing and hearing the story of how the wall literally went up over night... if your parents lived on one side and you on the other... well, you didn't see each other for years.... 😢 and then to hear all about Hitler again.... what a tragedy! His bunker there is currently sealed. There was a law or something where they decided to seal the bunker for 150 years. They figured by the time that was up most of the families affected would be past on...... so it's been like 70 years.... when the 150 years is up... they will have a vote (I believe Sam said) and decide whether they will open this bunker or keep it sealed. It will be interesting to see what the city decides. I hope they keep it sealed. Here are a few pictures from our bike tour:
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| Sam our Guide |
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| Tired... wrinkles.... but happy to be in Germany... man this bike felt different than my TRI bike... |
Museum Island
Standing at the Berlin Wall (part of it that's still there)
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| This was a memorial for all those that died during that terrible time of Hitler... each concrete box was a different size, etc. No box was alike.... some say it represents how each person that died was an individual... no person was alike.... it was very moving walking through this memorial site... |
The Brandenburg Gate where the marathon will finish..
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| Check point Charlie.. You can tell it was a very overcast / gloomy day.. no sunshine! |
After our tour we had a late lunch (Pizza) and went back to the hotel to rest. Penny's sister is currently living in Germany studying and wanted to met us for supper later that night. She wanted to take us to a real German place. I was a tad nervous because I don't like eating strange food the night before a marathon.... but I went. I got Fish was different than anyone else. They all had pork. The fish was AWFUL! I believe this is what made me sick on Monday... or maybe not........ It had to be that or a deli sandwich that I ate after the marathon. That was the only 2 things I had different than the others and none of them got sick.
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| Penny's sister who she had not seen in 3 years! |
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| The Whole group... Penny, her husband Hardy, her boys... Landon & Logan and her sister Hannah... see the big piece of fried pork.... Schnitzel or something like that.... They all loved it. |
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| My fish.... it was so NASTY! had a terrible fishy taste.... I ate mostly the potatoes that were under it... |
We got our race outfits out and ready.... ready or not ... Berlin Marathon here we come on Sunday... not much sleep.... jet lagged... but excited for the opportunity...
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| Joe had finished ahead of me and him and Brooklyn his wife we hollering when I came in... it was so nice to see them and grab a picture before crossing the finish line. |
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| Joe or either Brooklyn got this pic of me coming in to the finish... THANKS! |
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| Marathon done! |
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| Runners at the Reichstag Building.. this is where we went to start the race... right across from our hotel. |
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a beautiful church we ran by...
Penny also finished ahead of me. My hip / sciatic really started bothering me 3/4 of the way into the marathon so I walked a lot towards the end. I wanted a sub 5 hour marathon.. but that didn't happen... However, with the jet lag and sciatic.... I have decided to give myself a break from beating myself up over my time... 😐
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That evening after the race we decided to go to an Ice Bar. We figured that would be cool and none of us had ever been. It was really cool and COLD. They served us drinks in ice cups. Our hotel only had a shower so no ice bath after the marathon so I told Penny maybe this helped our sore muscles... 😅.
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| Look at them wrinkles and tired eyes... they say our wrinkles are a medal on our passage of time... I'm thankful for my time and my journey. |
Monday.. our last day in Germany.... we had another tour planned... We would go to Potsdam. Penny and I carried around our medals all day also. 😍
~~Potsdam is a city on the border of Berlin, Germany. Sanssouci Palace was once the summer home of Frederick the Great, former King of Prussia. On the grounds of the complex, the Renaissance Orangery Palace overlooks Italian-style gardens with fountains. ~~
We toured Sanssouci and saw several other palaces while there. It was a beautiful day and our guide Seda was great. I can't even remember all the names of the Palaces.... some were "guest" palaces and some the summer home of Fredrick the Great..... They were all amazing!
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| This was really cool..... it was like a 3D map of the grounds showing where all the palaces were at... The boys thought it was super cool. |
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| Fredrick the Great's grave. He wanted to be buried next to his dogs. He was not originally buried here... but after several years he was brought here.... so his wishes were finally completed. |
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| You can tell the magnitude of this building.... they were HUGE! and so BEAUTIFUL! |
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My lunch... which could of also made me sick.. however Penny had the same thing.. but maybe I'm allergic to curry.... Which now that I've googled it... this may be the one that did it... ~~ Eating curry kept for long hours after cooking may cause food poisoning due to bacterium called Welch bacillus.~~
Whatever food made me sick.... Monday night around 7pm it hit me like a ton of bricks.... I have never been so sick in my life! I could not even make it to the bathroom. It was like an explosion. I apologized to Penny for witnessing such awful mess... she told me she's seen it all being a school teacher .... but I felt so bad being sick in front of her... it lasted for hours.... and I had no medicine with me! Penny went out to find me some but everything was in GERMAN! She did find me some ginger tablets that a lady told her was for sickness. So I basically sucked on them ginger tablets for like 24 hours straight. I was so worried I was going to have to tell them to go on and fly to Paris the next day and just leave me. I didn't want to ruin their trip...but man I was sick! I can't even begin to tell you how bad I felt. When we went to the airport the next morning to fly to Paris I found some dramamine there and popped a few. I stayed drugged up on them for day and lived on saltine crackers. I tried to hide how bad I felt so I would not mess up the trip. Thankfully we were traveling most of the day so I was able to sit and not move much. Our Flight to Paris was only like 2 hours, but you forget that once you get there you have to then get to hotel. We decided to take a taxi to hotel and it took us almost an hour to go like 20 miles. Traffic was terrible. So congested! Our taxi driver literally pulled up on a curb in the middle of the road and let us out because he could not get close to the hotel. It was the weirdest thing! I was so worried about being dehydrated and not coming back to hydration in prep for the next marathon in a few days. Prayers from dear family and friends got me through it. 🙏🙏😍
So bye bye Germany.. this was our hotel in Germany below. it was awesome and had a full breakfast every morning! Next up ... Paris... and Note to self... pack a small supply of pharmacy needs... 😂😁
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