Arrival in Ramstein...The Odds Contiue

After a 7 hour flight, which included an excellent pasta dish, a bad roast beef sandwich, and a nice hot wash cloth, we landed in Ramstein.  We were the last ones off the plane, so it was close to 3 before we were in the terminal.  We freshened up in the restroom, went through customs, and hit the USO once again for some hot coffee. 

Note to self:  Remember to donate to the USO in the future.

We walked over to the base hotel to see if there were any rooms for that night, but there were not.  We then headed over to the rental car agency on base to get a vehicle.  Since we had no idea when we were arriving, we couldn’t reserve anything in advance.  As we were waiting in line, we heard the lady behind the desk say everything was already rented.  Kirk went in and started a conversation.  I’m not sure what he said, but after a minute or two, the lady said, “Well there is one car left that has been reserved, but the people were supposed to pick it up already, and they didn’t, so you are here, and they are not.  It’s your lucky day.”

Waiting in the Ramstein Inn

As Kirk was signing for the car, the original renters came in to claim the car.  Luckily for us, unluckily for them, they couldn’t drive a stick shift, and Kirk could so we got the car!  We rushed over to it before anyone could change their mind, loaded our stuff, and took off. 

We needed a map.  We had thought we could get one easily at the rental car agency, but since they moved to renting GPS’s in the cars, they don’t sell maps anymore.  I went into the PX to see about buying one, and nobody sells maps anymore!  I got a Rick Steves book on Europe just for the map in the back, but when I went to check out, I didn’t have a copy of Kirk’s orders, so they wouldn’t sell it to me. 

We took off for parts unknown with no plans and no map, just Kirk’s mobile hot spot on his phone and a rough idea that we would be in Strasbourg, France the next day.

I looked for some places to spend the night, and we picked Saarbruken because it was on the way to Strasbourg.  We were tired and wanted showers and food, so anywhere would work.  We settled on City Hotel Saarbruken since it was close to the old city, had free parking, and breakfast.  We got two rooms, one was a quad and the other a single and planned for the kids and I to sleep in the quad and Kirk to have the single.  The quad had rooms; one with two twins plus a couch and the other with a double.  The single room was about as big as a bathroom.  It was a joke.                                          

There was barely room to turn around.  We renegotiated the rooms with the manager, and all five of us ended up in the quad.

Our room

The kids' room

The kids' room

After a shower and a little rest, we headed out to explore Saarbruken.  Gotta say Saarbruken looked like it had seen better days.  I was not impressed.  It was pretty sketchy, at least where we were.  We took some photos of the rasthaus and some cathedral on the way to dinner.  

At one point, we noticed a rally going on by one of the train/metro stations.  There were a number of Middle Eastern people chanting and holding signs that said basically, “ISIS = Turkey” and others that said something about the Kurds.  My French is not that great, and we didn’t feel like stopping to read the signs was a great idea, especially when we saw a couple of dozen riot police in full gear right across the street.  Paddy wagons waited nearby.  We kept walking.  

Police on the left, protesters on the right

The lady at the inn had recommended a particular restaurant in the altstadt, and it was really good.  After dinner, we stopped for gelato and walked to the bridge that crosses the river.  It was really pretty, but again, just shy of scary.  We headed back to the hotel and hit the hay.

Did I mention that our place was a couple of doors down from a home for indigent senior citizens?

Tomorrow, we head to Strasbourg.  I’ve heard it is gorgeous.  Let’s hope!