C & C globetrotting around the world…

We flew with Aeroflot and thought we would have to pedal again like with Iceland Express. To our surprise, the plane was pretty new and the service was good. In Moscow, we were not allowed to leave the airport, so our 6-hour lay-over was pretty long. Fortunately there was a TGIF with WiFi, otherwise we would have spent too much in the duty free shops. The terminals where we walked around were all new and the airport seemed way to big for the traffic.

Amsterdam Reunion! It has been such a long time and we wanted to see our old colleagues again. Although it rained almost the entire time and it was cold, Amsterdam will always have a special place in our hearts. It was nice to see some old friends and walk in the street and over the canals. Cecilia liked it so much, she couldn’t get enough of the sights and wanted a picture of every bridge, of every crooked house, etc.

Stopping for gas, what else?

Unfortunately the Consul doesn’t get free gas .

The day of our 3-yr wedding anniversary was a beautiful day. We crossed over to France where we visited more of the old but cute villages. With their flowers everywhere and the narrow medieval streets, it was a pleasure to wonder around. Wissembourg is called “Petite Venise” in France due to its canals while Seebach won the prettiest floral village a few years in a row (they actually compete as to who can have the nicest village). Riquewihr was very nice and Eguisheim was a dream. With its narrow streets, traditional Fachwerkhaus structure (German-style timbered house) and flowers, we really thought we were in a fairy tale. This is also where we had our first wine tasting as well as fine French cuisine.

In Colmar, a bigger “Petite Venise” we took a city tour in the rain and had Flammkuchen, which reminded us of “Les 3 Brasseurs”.

Our stopover in Europe was to visit friends and family. The time was pretty short and we wanted to see as many people as possible, so we had a very tight schedule. We started with a visit at Karina, Patrick and Julian who showed us around in Homburg and Saarbruecken. The next day was Christoph’s mom 60^th birthday, which she celebrated at the same place where we had our wedding reception three years earlier and we got to meet lots of family members.

Then we headed to our Sight-seeing and Wine Tour in Pfalz, Alsace and Kaiserstuhl with Christoph’s parents. We visited castles and lots of old and cute little villages. For example, at the Hambacher Schloss the Hambacher Fest was celebrated in May 1832. It is considered a milestone in German history because it was the first time that a republican movement had made its mark in the country. It also confirmed the establishment of the combination of black, red and gold as a symbol of a democratic movement for a united Germany.

We also spent some time to wander through St-Martin, a small village full of flowers and Rhodt unter Rietburg with its romantic chestnut alleys.

After a 2 day tour in France, we returned to Germany where we had lots of wine tastings and took lots of pictures of the beautiful vineyards around the Kaiserstuhl. We even accompanied the nightwatchman in Burkheim on his tour through the village. Freiburg was our last stop of the trip, a very nice, medieval city.

After our quick trip to Amsterdam, Cecilia went to Hungary to visit her great-aunt and Christoph got locked in the attic to clean out his old stuff. Afterwards, back in Germany where we visited Walter & Petra where we spent 3 quiet days, chilling and celebrating. We also tried the Segway, which was scary at first, but we quickly got the hang of it. And then it was the grand departure into the big wild world!

We didn’t see much of Iceland since it was pretty cloudy. What we did see was pretty arid and we think we saw the Blue Lagoon hot springs and Reykjavik, but who knows. Again at take-off we were pedalling to help get the plane in the air ;-).

So it all started on Tuesday, July 5^th when we left for Boston to catch the cheapest flight we could find in a 600km radius: Iceland Express. Boston is also a nice city, so we had a little pre-trip get-away with Cecilia’s parents which was great.

The next day was our flight. In the airport shuttle bus, all airlines were listed with the corresponding Terminal, except Iceland Express. Oh no! We started wondering if we are going to the wrong airport… Although we had plenty of time, this would not have been a very cool start. Leaving to circle the world and then not even been able to leave the continent! At the airport, same thing: Iceland Air marked everywhere, but no Iceland Express. Great! We went to the Iceland Air counter asking them where the check-in for Express was. They sent us to counter 31-35. When we got there, it said Iberia, but was indeed Iceland Express. I wonder why we didn’t figure it out ourselves 😉 . At least we went to the correct gate. There was one guy who looked a little bit to deep into the eyes of a Russian girl. While being hypnotized he missed his flight with Iceland Air, which unfortunately left half an hour earlier than ours… In the air plane, at take off we were also pedaling to ensure the plane takes off ;-). Although no food and no TV, the flight was ok.

World, here we are coming…

This is our first blog, so please have patience with us.

After long long planning, the time has finally come for our TRIP AROUND THE WORLD! It’s actually a bit hard to believe and for now it just feels like we’re going on a vacation… but a really long one we guess. We are very excited and hope you will enjoy following our adventures.

Cheers and Stimmuuuung!!

C & C