Wasserturm

September 28

Atlanta

Regional Bahn

The Family Gathers

The flight over was brutal.  First leg was 23:30 to 06:30 from Los Angeles to Atlanta, then 12:00 to 15:00 Atlanta to New York, then 19:00 to 09:30 New York to Frankfurt.  Once in Frankfurt we had 2 hours to get through passport control and customs to catch the train from Frankfurt to Karlsruhe, where we had 10 minutes to change trains from the ICE to the Regional Bahn into the Black Forest.  That outbound leg was very painful, with the only redeeming being the discovery of the “Sound Experience” room in the Delta Business Lounge.  It involved three ergonomically reclined chairs in a room with a white noise generator, constantly shifting pastel lights and good air conditioning.  There were also large tubes with bubbling water in them that burbled quietly as well and it was the only place where I got any sleep at all before the flight to Frankfurt.  All tolled, we left at 11:30PM one night and finally stopped traveling around 3PM two days later.  Brutal.

Despite the long flights, horrible layovers we made it to Frankfurt ontime and in (generally) one piece.  Even all the pieces of our luggage made the multiple connections to meet us in FRA.  We headed from the flight terminal to the Airport trainstation via bus and had our first pretzels of our trip in the grand glass and steel atrium of the Flughafen Bahnhof.  Then it was on the ICE to Karlsruhe, a very chic looking train... all gleaming chrome and burnished wood.  This contrasted with the utilitarian service found on the Regional Bahn that takes you into the Black Forest.  Despite the herky-jerky nature of the Regional Bahn, the landscape is amazing and new vistas open up left and right as you pass through over a dozen tunnels on your way to Sankt Georgen.

Upon arrival in the Black Forest, my Aunt and Uncle informed us that my Grandfather was treating us to a room at the little hotel where we would be having our grand family gathering in two days.  The Hotel Il Davide, run by the Boscolo brothers, has a very friendly staff (that seemed to spend a lot of time sitting around, smiling and drinking espressos), meticulously clean rooms and a great little breakfast bar (they had the largest carrots I’ve ever seen in my life.  Seriously, these things were the size of the things they give away on “bat” day at the ballpark!)  It was very inviting after all those miles traveled so we checked in and cleaned up a little before heading back to Gabi and David’s house where we would then stay until the late hours that night talking, drinking beer and listening to Onkel Albert tell jokes.  We slept exceptionally well that night.