We have been on a whirlwind driving tour of most of the continent by now. There is no exclamation point, so I can't exclaim.
Before giving an update of our adventure we need to share the following bit on news from home.
We were driving through Luxembourg yesterday when news reached us that Yukon is really sick. The vet is giving him antibiotics and oxygen right now, we don't know if he is going to be okay. We will know more tonight. The boys and I spent some time shedding tears yesterday, it has been a long night.
We picked up the car on Friday with much less ceremony than the first time. I think Nicolas was going in for some debriefing vacation provided by Saab, since it appears there has never been a mistake made....ever...until us. We drove back from the dealership along the coast and had lunch in a small town that Ingrid Bergman used to spend summers in. The kids weren't impressed except with the jellyfish by the wharf. We enjoyed the drive, but the kids were a little squirrely by that time.
On Saturday we spent the night on a ferry going from Sweden to Germany. By far this was the smallest accomodation of the entire trip. The room on the ship had two pull down bunk beds for the boys and one large pull out bed for the adults. All in all we were quite pleased with the accomodations considering they were booked on a website that was written exclusively in German. It turns out that the "family room" is only available to locals that can read German or non-German speakers with good internet skills. The boat was large, like a cruise ship except your car is parked on the bottom decks. We were lucky enough to be one of the first ones in line to park the car, so in the morning we were one of the first off. They had kids activities, mostly in Swedish, and a duty-free shop that a ton of people were swarming. Liquor is very expensive in Sweden, so it's no wonder people were stocking up. Food on the boat was pricey too- coffee, two sandwiches and a yogurt were about 15 dollars. Gas has run about 6-7 dollars a gallon in Sweden. It's annoying because you have to convert from liters to gallons and then Kronar to dollars. We haven't heard any news about America, so maybe gas prices are just as high at home.
Sunday was a long drive through Germany. Probably made better by the fact that Jack could drive as fast as he wanted. We averaged about 95 mph, but people were still shooting by us in the left lane. The Autobahn is really the same as our expressways- I was expecting something much scarier. I still won't drive though- haven't driven stick in 7 years and the roads here have been somewhat hellish depending on the country. Once Jack hit about 100 mph the pressure in the car started giving me earaches, so he really didn't get to go over 110. The boys wouldn't let us put the top down, the sun blinded them so they couldn't play their Gameboys, and I was afraid they would get sucked out! Actually with the luggage there was no room for the top to go down.
The GPS system in the car has been priceless. We have nicknamed her "Ingrid"- and she has yet to steer us wrong. Even I had my doubts Saturday night when we ended up in the middle of nowhere in the Germany countryside with no roadsigns to guide us. After several long back roads through cute German villages we finally spotted our hotel high on the side of a hill. It was definitely old and definitely a castle.
As we drove up the winding road I had a new respect for the soldiers of the Middle Ages- I don't know how they ever overtook any castle.
I have to take a break now- the boys have finished their game of chess (yes, they actually know how to play). We are heading out to another castle today - at the top of a ski lift. I have to fix my hair- I think some of it singed off- I can smell it- I had acidentally turned the curling iron to high- WAY too hot!
Lots of love,
Lisa
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