Day 24 (July 1st to July 2nd)

Woke up for the last time in our bed before going back to Germany. Got organized around the house and did our final packing. The Turners came to our house and drove us to the airport. This time it was not only Allison and I but now the kids were coming with us also. They were excited because they had never been to Europe. We got to the airport with a lot of time to spare and sat down and had a snack before going on the plane. The plane was scheduled to leave at 4:30 PM. When we got on the plane the kids were psyched to have their individual remote control seats in first class. They started playing with their seats and the individual video displays. They were playing games on the video display and Hannah starting doing the German counting studies on the display. It were on the plane not more than 30 minutes when Zack dropped one of his game boy games. The Stewardess had to come over with a flashlight and start ripping the seat apart to try and find it. I helped out but no luck. I then sat down next to Hannah for dinner while Zack was next to Al. When they came out with the appetizer (sliced salmon, salad and rolls) and a drink, Hannah was so excited about the food. I told her that more food was coming with the entree and she said "No Way!". For the entree Hannah and I both had the steak but after tasting it, Hannah wanted the pasta instead. I liked it and ended up eating Zach's steak also. For dessert we had they huge berries and Italian biscotti. Hannah loved the biscotti and asked for a couple more. After dinner, Zach and I switched back to our original seats. The lights went out so people could sleep but I wasn't tired so I played the online video puzzle called Caveman. I finally ended up beating the game and closed my eyes for about 45 minutes. Before I knew it, the main lights were on in the cabin and we had breakfast (an omelet and coca cola). The flight arrived on time in Frankfurt at about 8:00 AM. We then had a connecting flight to Dusseldorf in about 45 minutes. That flight ended up being delayed by about 30 minutes so we hung out in the lounge area. Hannah mixed a tea for herself and while she was playing with it she spilled the whole thing on the floor and on her foot (no burns). We got on the flight that was pretty quick and landed in Dusseldorf 35 minutes later. It took a total of 10hrs and 14 minutes from the time we took off in Atlanta to the time we arrived in Frankfurt. Since we had gone thru customs in Frankfurt all we had to do was get our luggage and find a taxi (which took credit cards). Everything went pretty smoothly since we knew exactly where to go. Another 30 minutes later we arrived at our apartment building (Schaper Apartment). We got the key to our new room and were excited to see that it was much larger than our previous room. This apartment had a main living area, a separate sleeping area and bathroom. In addition, we had two fold out cots for the kids. It was a little tight but more than adequate for all of us. We went to our usual corner bakery where we usually have breakfast and got lunch instead. Then we walked Al to work and went back to the room. The kids and I took a nap and then relaxed in the apartment until dinnertime. For dinner, YH joined us and we walked around the Alstadt looking for a restaurant that had something for Zach. Zach doesn’t eat vegetables and has a very limited selection of foods he will eat. We found a Spanish restaurant that had a plain grilled chicken and fries for Zach. I ordered a Heiferveizen and Paella for two and split it with YH. When Zach’s food came out it looked perfect but of course he found something wrong with it and didn’t eat. During the meal a street performer with a half way decent voice started signing Opera. We were on a quiet side street and the music was very pleasant. Then the guy in the wheelchair who sells flowers came by and we started talking to him. He said he sells flowers in the Summer time and is studying for his Master’s. We talked about good restaurants in the area and how he keys in on them because people are typically enjoying themselves at these restaurants and are more apt to buy flowers from him. Then at 9:00 PM accordion music started playing from around the corner. When we went to look, we saw that a wooden figure had emerged from behind an enclosure and it was hooked up to accordion music. After about 10 minutes the enclosure closed back up and the wooden figure disappeared. We finished up dinner and since Zach didn’t eat anything we went to get him some pizza from Lupo’s. We bought him a pie and headed back to the apartment. The kids were pretty wired since they had slept during the day and we didn’t go to sleep until 1:00 AM.