Breakdown

Hello friends. Nate and I just returned last night, around midnight, from a wonderful weekend in the Netherlands/Holland. Should you like to, you can view our pictures in My Photo Gallery (click on the link over on the right hand side of the page).



One of the more interesting parts of the trip had to be our car ride home. We had been gone for a couple of hours when Jeff and Abby's BMW just died... on the Autobahn... in the left lane. Nate was driving and thankfully had the presence of mind to get us over to the shoulder. We tried, quite unsuccessfully to revive the car, and then started calling ADAC (the German AAA service). Let me say here that ADAC puts AAA to shame.

For starters, about 10 minutes after we got ahold of ADAC a man in an ADAC van pulled up and did a quick check of the car. He determined the problem to be a faulty fuel pump and promptly called a tow truck (did I mention that he spoke English?). Maybe twenty minutes later an ADAC tow truck showed up and hauled the car and us back to an ADAC station. At the ADAC station we were given a Mercedes rental car to drive ourselves home. [The gentlemen in the ADAC tow truck did not speak English, which led to a conversation full of laughs and misunderstandings. Great German practice for us rusty Americans.]

For 80 euros a year, ADAC provided this service all for FREE. The mechanic, tow truck, rental car, etc. In addition, they will tow Jeff and Abby's dead BMW all the way from Northern Germany to Bavaria where Jeff and Abby live. For FREE! And they were professional and friendly to boot.

Jeff and Abby dropped us off at a local train station and we caught three trains to make our way home. We even made it home only an hour later than our originally hoped arrival time (if 100 euros poorer).

Upon our arrival home I discovered that my dearly loved plant had not only produced a flower but also nearly killed off the flower in the space of our vacation weekend. I am still proud of the fact that the plant isn't dead. I have SUCH a green thumb!!!