We made it

Not an easy travel experience this time. We missed our connection in Atlanta because of a mechanical problem that had to be fixed. We ran through the Atlanta airport and the plane was still at the gate, but they wouldn't let us get on. Really rude gate person. I was not happy.

Got re-booked through Manchester, England--which meant another plane change. On that 7 1/2 hour flight, Maddie and I were seated next to a mentally ill woman who read over Maddie's shoulder, picked up and played with her blankie and kept petting on her knitted poncho. She also took a fall in the aisle and practically punched a woman across the aisle in the face. The flight attendants shuffled folks around so that Maddie and I could move seats. Maddie handled the whole thing very well. She got that the woman was not quite right.

We got to Manchester (let me just say how much nicer the people who work at the Manchester airport are than those who work at the Atlanta airport are) and all of us slept the whole one-hour flight to Duesseldorf. Mercifully our luggage made it (all six gigantic pieces).

Totally worn out, I had to go to the grocery store. You would think I could make it more than two hours back in Germany before having to feel like an idiot, but no. My EC Card wouldn't work in the grocery store--meaning the clerk couldn't get it to come up when she swiped it. Apparently, there is not alternative here--like punching in a number. She was just basically telling me it didn't work and offering no alternative--at least as far as I could tell. The bill was 66 cents over the amount of cash I had. Finally, with the man behind me huffing and puffing like this was the biggest inconvenience in the world, I figured out that if I returned my cart I could get the euro back that you have to put in it.

Skip felt so bad that I've already had what my friends like to call "a bad German day" that he's run to the bank with my card to find out what the problem is.

Skip and Maddie are going to pick up Rosie in about an hour and I'm hoping to get everything unpacked before we all collapse in a heap tonight.