Hallo aus Deutschland

Hello from Germany! Jeff and I have left Taiwan and arrived here in the land of sausage and beer (sound like Wisconsin to anyone else?) this morning. We flew into Dusseldorf and had to take a taxi to our hotel in Gelsenkirchen, about 30 miles away. We didn't think it would be that big of a deal since we had the address and phone number of the hotel. We went to the front of the taxi cue, loaded up our luggage, and gave the driver (who spoke very little English) the address. He looked confused, but said "Ok, ok. I have good GPS." Okay, clearly he didn't know firsthand where it was, but we all know GPS is great, so we still weren't worried. He typed the address into the GPS, but could not find our specific road. After sitting on the side of the road at the airport for about 10 minutes while our driver repeated this same process over and over, he decided to head to Gelsenkirchen in hopes that he would find better directions once we were there.

So off we went on what we thought would be a quick half hour ride. We were cruising the autobahn when we noticed that we passed the exit for Gelsenkirchen. We didn't speak up, and luckily there was another Gelsenkirchen exit further down the road. After entering town, the taxi driver again tried his GPS to no avail. He then decided to stop at a gas station for directions. We still didn't think too much of it, as gas stations usually know the area. Our driver came back into the taxi and seemed confident that he knew where he was going. After a few more minutes of driving, he started stopping pedestrians and asking them if they knew where the hotel was. Since we don't speak German we really had no clue what these people were saying, but after each pedestrian conversation our driver seemed confident that he knew where he was going. After it became painfully clear that we were hopelessly lost, Jeff and I discussed that he must not have a cell phone because he obviously would have called the hotel by now to get directions. About a minute after that conversation we heard a ringing coming from the center console and our driver answered his phone. When he got off Jeff suggested that he simply call the hotel for directions, but he swore up and down that he knew where he was going.

After a few more minutes of driving in circles around the city Jeff and I noticed that our brainiac driver was driving us down a pedestrian walkway surrounded by different shops and cafes. The pedestrian walkway ended at the central train station, and after yelling at a few more pedestrians, our driver learned that the local taxi cue was just on the other side of the station (presumably on the side where there is an actual road, not a pedestrian walkway). So what does our driver do? Put the car in park and leave Jeff and I in the car in the middle of the pedestrian walkway for nearly 10 minutes while he got directions. Oh, and to top it all off, where does he decide to park? Directly outside of the local police station! Let me tell you, I think I can relate to animals at the zoo, because so many people walking by stared at us like we were some sort of foreign creature.

While sitting in the car alone Jeff and I discussed the possibility of grabbing our luggage, throwing some money on the seat, and taking off to find a better cab. However, we have a lot of luggage and it was locked in the trunk so we decided to stay put. Finally our driver returned and proceeded to yell at Jeff and I telling us that we gave him the wrong address for the hotel. At this point, Jeff and I got a wee bit frustrated (after all, we had been traveling for about 24 hours) and said, "Well that's great, just take us to the hotel" as nicely as we could. We took off and headed towards what we hoped was the hotel.

After stopping a few more pedestrians, Jeff again pleaded with him to please just call the hotel. He again said it was not necessary as he knew where he was going. After stopping at another gas station for directions, Jeff implored him to just call the darn hotel, but he swore it was just two more kilometers up the road. After a tense few minutes, Jeff finally spotted the hotel and was able to direct the driver, who apparently didn't see it, to the hotel. As we turned onto the hotel's road, we took the time to point out to the driver that we were in fact on the same road that we had told him the hotel was on. He just got all frustrated and kept saying it was the GPS's fault. As we drove up to the hotel thoughts of a tip must have been swimming in his head, as he then tried to be very nice to us telling us we were staying at such a nice hotel, etc. Jeff and I just stayed quiet and eagerly awaited getting the heck out of the cab.

After over an hour and twenty minutes and a fare that was twice what it should have been, we were finally out of the cab, and we couldn't have been happier. While it was completely frustrating to be stuck in this taxi from you know where, at least we were able to get a "free" tour of downtown Gelsenkirchen!