In the morning we were served breakfast and finally arrived at our destination around 1:00 p.m. When we got off the plane, Sam was still very groggy because he had taken 2 Ambien. In the past, one has not worked out for him so he decided to double the effect. He was really out of it and as we walked through the airport with our luggage to the car rental, we had to keep looking back to make sure he was still following along. I don't think he could even see straight and he about knocked over a woman and the luggage cart rack when Joe handed him their luggage. We were laughing so hard and already knew that this was going to be a fun trip!
We rented a blue Mercedes 9-passenger Vito van for the two weeks in Europe. It was really easy and quick to get the rental van and within about 15 minutes we were loaded into the van and driving up to Berlin. Sam was completely zonked out in the front seat while Joe was driving. Marquessa and I were in the back and dozed on and off the entire ride. At one point I did wake up because Sam had his passenger door open and was leaning out. I could hear the wind whizzing by and I asked him what was going on and if he was sick. He explained that he was trying to find the handle to lean his seat back. We were a little skeptical about his coherence since we were on the Autobahn driving at about 160 km. Then he shut his door and went back to sleep! The drive was only supposed to take about 3 hours but there was a lot of traffic so we ended up taking 5.5 hours to get to Berlin. It was a LONG drive.
As soon as we arrived in Berlin, Sam felt really sick. A few minutes later, he leaned out the window and vomited all over the side of the van. He felt much better and was wide awake after that, although he did not remember a single thing between sitting on the airplane and arriving in Berlin. We just giggled about how we have something to hold over his head . . .
The Stuart family has some great friends from Germany that participated in an exchange program with them years ago. Ted and Marion Nagel have made many trips to the United States to travel with the Stuarts and they have made trips to Germany as well. Ted and Marion visited us in Las Vegas right after we moved there and we got to spend an evening with them at the Hofbrauhaus for dinner and a show to follow at the Sahara Casino. We were excited to see them again since we had been corresponding back and forth about our Germany trip. They had planned for us to stay at their apartment for a couple of nights and were going to take us on the Berlin tour the next day. They picked Joe and me up at the hotel where the Oldhams and Aikeles were staying and we headed out to get a bite to eat at Soul Food restaurant which was just a few blocks away from their home. Marion told me exactly what to order and the food was fantastic. After dinner, it was quite late so we got settled in at their apartment for the night. I was excited to start our tour of Germany the next day!
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