{"id":651,"date":"2012-04-26T23:26:50","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T21:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paualready.com\/?p=651"},"modified":"2012-04-26T23:26:50","modified_gmt":"2012-04-26T21:26:50","slug":"hello-rhine-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/?p=651","title":{"rendered":"Hello Rhine, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The end of day 2 here and already time is just slipping away. It\u2019s been a chilly, blustery first couple of days in Germany and the Benelux, but that was to be expected. The big surprise of Wednesday was actually seeing our bags arrive in Dusseldorf. Our connection at DFW wound up being really tight\u2014like 25 minutes\u2014and we pretty much figured there was no way the bags would make it. Having clean UPs this morning was a treat. DUS is a sprawling airport and the rental car ops there are a total C.F.<\/p>\n

Last night we went out for the traditional first beer, caught the underground into Dusseldorf\u2019s centrum and then grabbed a bit of dinner at Himmel & \u00c4HD, just down the street from our hotel. H&A features hearty German food and lots of beer all served around groups of long tables. It reminded me of U zlat\u00e9ho tygra in Prague only with a bit more emphasis on food and no pictures of Bill Clinton and Vaclav Havel on the wall. The rule in both places is when you arrive, beer is served and it keeps on coming until you say stop\u2014tally kept with marks on a coaster.<\/p>\n

Circadian rhythm adjustment is coming along. 11 hours of Zzzz\u2019s last night was a plus.<\/p>\n

Below are the Cliff Notes for days one through three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Date:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Tuesday, April 24, 2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Begin\/end \u00a0 the day in:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Phoenix, AZ, US \/ in flight<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Transportation:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

PHX-DFW-CDG on American Airlines<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Main \u00a0 events:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Fly, fly, fly\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Culinary \u00a0 highlights:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Breakfast this morning was at Dick Clark\u2019s AB in Terminal 3 at PHX. I \u00a0 jokingly asked our server if they were having a memorial service for Dick. \u00a0 Her surprising response was that yes, they\u2019d considered it, but they were a \u00a0 Host International franchise, and Host wouldn\u2019t allow it.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

What \u00a0 we learned today:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

You actually can make a 25 minute connection at DFW for a CDG flight \u00a0 and still have your luggage the connection.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Lodging:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

In Flight<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Date:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Wednesday, April 25, 2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Begin\/end \u00a0 the day in:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Paris, FR \/ Dusseldorf, DE<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Transportation:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

CDG-DUS on Lufthansa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Main \u00a0 events:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Arrival in Dusseldorf<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Culinary \u00a0 highlights:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

The Mixte from the Brioche Doree on the lower level of CDG Terminal 1 \u00a0 was pretty good\u2014may have had something to do with being rather tired and a \u00a0 bit hungry. The real food find was Himmel & \u00c4HD<\/a> in Dusseldorf. Laurel\u2019s \u00a0 Schnitzel was wonderful and my Sauerbraten was fantastic.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

What \u00a0 we learned today:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

The Dollar RAC operation at DUS is a bit of a pain in the okole.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Lodging:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Tiptop Hotel National. Located in a charming neighborhood, it was a \u00a0 nice place for a wonderful night\u2019s sleep after 30-somehting hours on the go.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date:<\/td>\n\u00a0Thursday, April, 26, 2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Begin\/end the day in:<\/td>\nDusseldorf, DE \/ Maastricht, NL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Transportation:<\/td>\nPeugeot something-or-other<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Main events:<\/td>\nWe told Randy, the GPS, to take us to Maastricht without using \u00a0 highways. It was a nice 3+ hour drive, but there must be 1,000 stop lights \u00a0 between the two burbs.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Culinary highlights:<\/td>\nBuffet breakfast at the National was as diverse as any we\u2019ve seen and \u00a0 I ate, per spec, way too much. The prix fixe dinner at the restaurant in the \u00a0 Hotel Kasteel Vaeshartelt was delightful. My kaas (cheese) for dessert was so \u00a0 rich\u2014dried fruits, figs and berries all paired with creamy, rich traditional \u00a0 Dutch cheeses.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Calabash:<\/td>\nIt\u2019s been two days now, and other than setting off two alarms at DUS, \u00a0 I don\u2019t think a major international incident has been created. Amazing!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Lodging:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Hotel Kasteel \u00a0 Vaeshartelt<\/a> just outside of Maastricht.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The end of day 2 here and already time is just slipping away. It\u2019s been a chilly, blustery first couple of days in Germany and the Benelux, but that was to be expected. The big surprise of Wednesday was actually seeing our bags arrive in Dusseldorf. Our connection at DFW wound up being really tight\u2014like …<\/p>\n

Hello Rhine, and more<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-euro-2012","category-trips"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6E0Kx-av","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}