This time it will be not only visiting family but also a vacation for us. And therefore we decided we will travel to sites Paul  (and Gine) is really interested in: the Third Reich. And where can you see most of it: we will start out at the Birthplace of the Third Reich in Munich and go via Prague and the Sudetenland into Poland and visit on our tour a lot of historic sites from the WWII times.

It will be a lot of driving and a lot of history and I’m sure a whole lot of emotions when you visit some of the sites.

Finally – the last day of work and all is packed... we are ready to go... and as we are getting ready we are also preparing for our time when we will come back: the trees in the front yard are cut, the Siding guys are notified, the architect & designer is already at work and the contractor got notified... yes an exciting year is ahead.

ok so in Calgary we had enough time to catch an airport ride to the next terminal for our next flight – but soon the boarding started.... Amsterdam was super tight: we arrive and checked for where I flight will be: D82 – so on the go.... and then there is this huge lineup for the passport control... first Gine asks and they say no you have plenty of time... then later on Paul asks and they finally let us go in the short time connection... finally through we see to Gate D it's 5-18 minute walk from here and our boarding is kind of now.... so we walk fast when we were finally at Gate D our memory decided it's Gate D80 and we couldn't find D80 so we asked a janitor who said there is no gate D80... what now with no info TV around, that's when Gine remembered it's D82... on we go and at the top it's says Munich – gate closing.... we go down and on the plane and soon we are in the air....

good thing we had a nice dinner and nice breakfast with KLM and didn't need anything....

in the Amsterdam airport during our long waiting we saw the best clock ever: when looking up it looked like someone was cleaning the clock from behind – having a break and then suddenly he wiped out the minute hand and re-painted it… that when we finally clued in … It was really cool to watch how the minutes went by…

after a super short walk we wait at the baggage claim and one suitcase comes superfast... and the other one we wait and wait and then the carousel stops... that means we had to find the counter on where to put in the claim... luckily she said it looks like it is in Amsterdam and will come with the afternoon flight and be in Munich by 5 pm.

Ok so we gave her Stefan's address – told her we are always on the go... and our Canadian cell phone numbers.... then later we discovered that they did actually called even we never heard the phone ringing... we thought we save some money and don't listen to the voicemail ... so when at Stefan's place he gave us his phone and Gine called and they said she can't give us a number in Munich they will call us ........ guess that didn't work, so Gine listened to the voicemail and they said that they we should call the number on the display back – big joke since there was no display number it said private.... so Gine calls back again makes a little bit a stink because she said you know we want to go to bed and we also don't want to waste a whole day for the luggage... and guess what 2 Min later an email comes that the luggage is on the way and a phone call comes that the suitcase is on the way...... so hopefully bedtime for Gine is not that late....

And continuing: Gine waits and no suitcase arrives… so bed time and the next morning we phone around, check online where we discover that they put in the incorrect Munich phone number… so phoning again… then finally they give Gine a number to call in Munich: which was a car rental number… so again we call…. And so we call around the whole morning and wait… until we get told, that we will get the suitcase delivered before 10 pm tonight…

That means after a short 2^nd trip into Munich we come back early – and wait… Gine waits near the window so she can see out easily in case someone stops and then it was Paul who discovered by accident a lady parking across the road and bringing out our suitcase: Gine runs downstairs and the lady told her she was about to leave because our name Deane was not on the door – guess me telling them over and over again Stefan’s last name – didn’t got forwarded to the delivery company…

After a not so easy start in Munich it can only get better right!!!

Did I mention that this suitcase had our toilet bags and our underwear in it!!!! Maybe we should rethink the packing for practicality….

So let’s start our trip: