From my Journal entry on Thursday, June 27th:
We checked out of our hotel in Baden-Baden and drove to Karlsruhe where we will be staying overnight. I am sitting in the lobby of our Novotel hotel here waiting for our room to be ready, and feeling sleepy tired. I read a handful of interesting articles from The NY Times. Mike was running late for the conference, which is across the street and down the road from here.
We’re supposed to attend a banquet at the conference later, and I wish we could do something by ourselves instead. I never look forward to those large group banquets full of people I don’t know. But they’re meant to celebrate and strengthen the associations and friendships established at these conferences. Naturally, the conference attendees get a lot more out of these gatherings than their spouses. Looking back on past banquets, most have offered some great cultural entertainment, interesting food, and even fireworks at the end of the night. I just need to cultivate a more positive attitude and more gratitude for such events and opportunities. I think my main complaint is how long and tiring these events usually are, especially surrounded by so many people. Most of the people drink alcohol, and a big portion of time is spent drinking—before and after dinner.
I went for a short walk along the main road and saw a cafe, a salon, and an ice cream shop. I had forgotten how little this area has! But I took some pictures of the pretty flower gardens in front of the hotel and went back to the lobby. I tried to sleep in one of the semi cozy chairs, when my name was called. Yay! Our room was ready. I got our card and went to the garage to bring up our bags from the trunk of our rental car. I made two trips. Mike will be happy that I brought ALL of our things up to the room.
For lunch, I ate the free snacks in our mini bar—BBQ chips, a good sized milk chocolate bar, and a small bottle of apple juice!
I watched some world news on TV and washed my hair. I want to take a nap, but there’s loud construction noise outside our window. So I’ll turn brown noise on my iPhone and see if that helps!
I may have dozed off for fifteen minutes when Mike started sending me texts. He wasn’t feeling well and wanted to skip the banquet and have a quiet evening instead. I’m always happy to avoid the crowds and the long, often boring events.
We ate dinner outside at Thai Lotus. It was pretty warm out still. We walked a longer distance than I had anticipated, so we were sweaty when we returned to the hotel. We also stopped at our favorite food market and bought a lot of snacks for the evening and for my breakfast the next morning. It’s the BEST grocery store in Karlsruhe! Every section— from produce, to cheeses, to breads, to pastas, to meats—are fresh and beautifully displayed.
We bought fresh fruit, cherry yogurt, cherry sorbet, shelled peanuts, chocolates, and gummy candy. We should have bought pastries for the morning and Vitamin C drops for Mike’s sore throat (and mine). He has all the yucky symptoms I had a few days ago—poor guy.
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| Beautiful aerial views |
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| Thursday, June 27th: These photos uploaded from last to first, so nothing is in order! This was our room at the Novotel in Karlsruhe Germany where we stayed one night. We were supposed to fly to London the next morning, but our flight got cancelled and we ended up having to stay an extra night at another hotel near the airport. |
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| Our hotel near the airport in Stuttgart Germany (see above photos) |
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| BEST food market in Karlsruhe (see above photos) |
From my journal entry on Friday, June 28th:
I made the big mistake of drinking the two small bottles of Coke from our mini bar last night while watching our show. Even though we stayed up till about 11pm, I could not for the life of me fall asleep. I tossed and turned all night and through the wee hours of the morning, rearranged my pillows a dozen times, made trips to the bathroom, changed the temperature on our thermostat a few times, checked my messages often, and poured myself some water and then some juice a few times. Honestly, I exhaust myself in bed! Mike was the one who was at the height of his sickness, yet he slept through most of the night without NyQuil.
At 3:30am, I received a text message from Jacquie informing me and Cathy that our mom had been rushed to the UNMH ER by ambulance after she threw up blood and fainted. She had also not been eating. My poor mama!
That text kept me up the rest of the morning. I cried my heart out and prayed for my mom to be comforted and strengthened, and to feel our love and concern for her.
Jessica was in the area and decided to visit her grandma. When Rosy answered the door, she told Jess what had happened. Then Jess called Jacquie. Jacquie told her that my mom had just thrown up blood again in the bathroom there. Jess hurried and met Jacquie and Terry at the hospital. But sadly, she did not get to see our mother.
I’m so very grateful for my little sister Jacquie and for her tireless love and support for our mom and Vernon! I’m also very grateful for a daughter who takes the time and effort to show love and affection to her grandmothers. My mom adores Jessica, and so did Mike’s mother, Joy Hobbs.
The last I heard, my mom was taken back for tests, and they were not permitted to be with her, which I feel is WRONG. After a long wait and a walk through the hospital with Jacquie, Jess went home. It was getting late, after 11pm, and she had classes this morning.
I’m anxious to hear how my mamasan is feeling and what is going on with her body. Jacquie and Jess think that my mom’s stomach cancer is rearing its ugly head. She may have been having blood in her stools too but thought that her iron supplements were causing her stools to be black.
Jess told me that Jacquie talked about possibly building a guesthouse for Vernon. I tried to reassure Jacquie that we could convert our clubhouse into a little home for him temporarily.
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| The Movenpick Hotel near the Stuttgart Airport where we stayed our last night in Germany after our London flight got cancelled |
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Our last and worst meal in Germany at the airport!
From my Journal entry on Saturday, June 29th: Whoa, what a long tiring day we’re having! We left early to the Stuttgart Airport for our flight to London, but after waiting in a very slow line this morning, we found out that our flight was cancelled.
After waiting in a few more lines, we were directed to take a train to the Frankfurt Airport to board another plane to London. We’ve lost a whole day of our trip with these many inconveniences and changes!
I did manage to find some healthy food choices for lunch near our gate. I used the rest of our euros ($33) and my Apple Pay card to purchase two green salads with chicken, a tub of watermelon to share, and two bottles of sparkling water. I’m so glad we had a decent meal. After waiting at the gate for a lengthy time, we had a gate change. Everyone at once headed for the new gate. Eventually we boarded buses that drove us to our awaiting Lufthansa plane. Mike and I will have been on 9 planes in less than three weeks by the time we get back to NM!
Mike bought tickets to see “The Heathers,” a dark comedy on London’s west end this evening. That will be our last live show until we make it back to the UK. We were hoping we’d have lots of resting time in London today, but our plans were foiled. At least we can sleep in tomorrow and don’t have to rush back to Heathrow airport.
Mike is at the peak of his sickness and needs more REST. We’re both glad to be returning home tomorrow, where we can truly rest. |
