Destination – Page 9 – European Traveler

Atlanta, We Have a Problem!

Flying with one engine on Delta Flight #131

By William Ewald
Photos by Tom Sullivan

What do you do when an engine fails over the Atlantic Ocean?

What can you do? What can the pilot do?

As regular international travelers know, the number of engines on the newer jet lines (Boeing 767s and 777s) has gone from a comforting four to a more disquieting two.

I had never thought about this situation or that it could occur on a flight I was on, but our group was about to find out.

The scene: a packed Delta Airlines flight from Munich to Atlanta. About three hours out of Munich, the overhead television monitor of our progress over the Atlantic showed we were passing just south of Iceland. There was only mild interest on my part.

An hour later, the calm and reassuring voice of the captain interrupted our flight movie to tell us that the right engine of our 767 has ceased to function, and that we would be flying to Keflavik Airport in Iceland as a safety precaution.

Admittedly, I was dozing when the announcement was made, but most people later indicated they hadn’t noticed anything when the engine went out. The captain added that these well-made Boeing planes were easily able to fly on one engine, and–thankfully–he was right.

17 GERMAN STUDENTS

My wife, Carol, and I were accompanying a group of 17 high school German students on their way home to Chicago via Atlanta after three weeks participating in a stimulating German exchange with their sister school in Hamburg, Germany. The kids were elated at the thought of spending the last hours of their trip in a country they had never hoped to visit.

“Parents can wait,” they thought. “We’re going to Iceland!” We chaperones thought, “If one engine can go out, what happens if the other one stops as silently and without warning like the first?” We hurriedly checked our life jackets and raft launching procedures on the flight safety card.

The rest of the trip was both a bit surreal and entertaining. Landing with only one engine was just a little different than other landings, as the pilot had to be careful using only one engine to assist with braking. We did notice the emergency fire equipment at the end of the runway when we landed, which the captain had assured us would be there as part of “normal procedure.”

We were told shortly before debarking, that a replacement plane would be flown from New York to pick us up, and that we should check the airport departure monitors to determine when to board the replacement plane.

THREE-HOUR TOUR

Thoughtfully, the airline had already made arrangements for all 280 passengers to take a three-hour tour of interesting sites surrounding the airport. Within an hour of landing they had found five luxury buses for our tour, even though Delta had no airline representative anywhere close to Iceland. We wished the drivers of the buses had given us more information about the sites we were seeing, but we sensed they had been hired to drive our group and not guide us, and that their English language skills were limited. We can understand that it would have been even harder for local officials to find five buses, drivers and guides for us on an emergency basis at 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon in a remote area of Iceland.

So on our own we enjoyed “The Blue Lagoon,” a smelly sulfur springs, a quiet fishing village, a bridge spanning a major Atlantic fault, and some hill climbing through the volcanic rocks which dominate this desolate part of Iceland. At each site, the kids hopped off the bus with great enthusiasm, cameras in tow.

After our sunny late afternoon tour, we returned to Keflavik Airport, were given supper in the single airport cafeteria, and, because by then flight monitors showed we wouldn’t be taking off on the reserve plane until 6:00 a.m., everyone started looking for a place to sack out for a few hours. No one objected when our students started pushing black leatherette chairs together to create a manger-like individual sleeping environment.

SHOPS STAY OPEN

There are no flights from Keflavik Airport after midnight, but the thoughtful personnel in the airport cafeteria and duty-free shop stayed open to meet the appetites and shopping needs of 280 unexpected visitors. Passengers had an entire airport to themselves, and the airport personnel couldn’t have been nicer or more tolerant.

In a continuing giddy mood, three of the girls in our group used some of the free cosmetics available in the duty-free shop to make up the faces of two willing boys, finally escorting them around for a little “makeup show.” Others purchased black T-shirts with the ironic inscription “Lost in Iceland.”

Fifteen hours after landing in Iceland, we took off in the morning dawn with the same flight crew we had out of Munich. Twelve hours later, weary students running on their last adrenaline, greeted their relieved parents at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The trip was finally over.

Before leaving, the amiable kids we had just spent three weeks and a day with, were cautioned not to forget they had just spent three glorious weeks in Germany, and not to talk exclusively about Iceland when asked about their exchange trip.

Despite our warnings, we don’t doubt that many of them told friends that “Germany was great, but we had to make an emergency landing in Iceland!” One of the students started to write out plans for an exchange trip to Iceland, with volcanic rocks as “host parents.” Funny kids.

Gotthard Tunnel Celebrates its 125th Anniversary

A giant electric Crocodile locomotive was on display September 8 and 9 in Erstfeld, Switzerland when 50,000 visitors showed up there and in Biasca to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the opening of the famous 15-mile-long Gotthard Tunnel. Heimburger’s European Traveler was at the giant party and recorded these photos. As many as seven steam engines and dozens of vintage pieces of equipment were available for viewing. There were also many interactive displays. For more information, go to www.sbbhistoric.ch.

Chocolate Museum Is Sweet

By Marilyn Heimburger
Photos by Don and Marilyn Heimburger

As spring approaches, thoughts of chocolate come to mind, just because we’re always looking for an excuse to eat chocolate! As the saying goes, “Chocolate–it’s not just for breakfast anymore!”

After a recent trip to Cologne, Germany, and after visiting the Cathedral and Roman ruins, I added a trip to the Chocolate Museum to my itinerary. You’ll learn all there is to know about this treat and have the opportunity to taste and see why the ancients called chocolate the “food of the gods.”

Opened on Halloween Day in 1993, the museum was the idea of Dr. Hans Imhoff, an entrepreneur who was the head of the Stollwerck Chocolate Company of Cologne. The three-story museum is located on the banks of the Rhine, within sight of the Cologne Cathedral.

Designed to look like a ship in the harbor, its modern glass and metal architecture surrounds the historic central customs office, which was built in the 1890’s. The museum welcomes an average of 1,700 visitors a day and about 650,000 per year.

3,000-YEAR-OLD HISTORY

Visitors can see chocolate being made at the museum.

As you walk through the three-story museum, you’ll see exhibits covering the 3,000-year history of chocolate. Growing and harvesting raw cocoa is shown with photographs, harvesting tools and a full size log boat from Ghana. Next is a 100-square-meter tropical greenhouse containing real cocoa plants and more than 60 other rainforest species. You’ll learn that the flowers of the cocoa plant grow directly on the trunk of the tree, so that pollinating insects can find them more easily in the thick jungle!

Chocolate’s popularity began as a luxury drink. An extensive exhibit brings you through the pre-Columbian Olmec, Aztec and Mayan culture, where cocoa was the drink of the gods, and was sometimes used as currency, or “brown gold.”

Next you’ll see the beautiful porcelain and silver cups and pitchers that were crafted to serve this luxury item in 17th and 18th century Europe. The chocolate culture of the 19th and 20th centuries is depicted in a full-sized shop, with chocolate tins and boxes on display, as if you had stepped back in time.

Beautifully preserved chocolate vending machines and advertising posters give insight into the popularity of chocolate. A film room continuously shows old television ads for chocolate. Chocolate packaging from apparently any brand of chocolate that ever existed is on display. Even American brands of chocolate are represented, although Astrid Hage, press representative of the museum, admitted that it was difficult to find someone willing to eat the American-made chocolate in order to empty the packaging. She explained that the Europeans follow a different standard in their chocolate production, and that their formula produces a superior taste.

DECIDE FOR YOURSELF

You’ll have the chance to decide that for yourself in another part of the museum, where, thanks to the Lindt and Spruengli Company, a two-floor exhibit demonstrates the production of chocolate today. From the processing, roasting, grinding of the bean to the pouring of hollow molded chocolate figures and a truffle production line, this small-scale system makes about 400 kg of chocolate every day for visitors to see, smell and finally, to taste.

A nearly 10-foot tall chocolate fountain stands on the production floor, and a museum staff member stands ready to offer a waffle cookie dipped in the warm melted chocolate that pours from the spouts.

THERE’S MORE, TOO

Do you want more of the “food of the gods?” A gift shop offering chocolate, souvenirs and gifts is ready to serve you. The museum also has a restaurant with a view of the Rhine.

Admission fees are 6.50 EUR for adults. Children under six or visiting on their birthdays are free. All exhibit texts are in both German and English.

The museum is closed on Mondays. Check their web page for information on hours, tours and special events: www.schokoladenmuseum.de

Biking Along the German Rivers

BIKING THE GERMAN RIVERS

Germany is famous for its rivers; they cut through beautiful landscapes from north to south, from east to west, from the sea to the mountains. The rivers have been the modes of mass transportation long before roads and today the Elbe, Rhine, Main, Moselle or Danube invite hundreds of thousands of tourists each year for river cruises. But you cannot only discover Germany’s rivers on a boat. Cycling paths follow them through ever changing landscapes, past old castles, romantic towns and buzzing cities.

The Elbe Cycling Path is one of the most attractive in Germany. It leads for 520 miles from Dresden in the southeast all the way to the North Sea. The route is split in several stages, all easily doable in a day, and you can choose between both sides of the river. Leading through fascinating landscapes from wetlands to hills, connecting UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the city of Dresden, the Luther town of Wittenberg and the harbor city of Hamburg, there is plenty to discover along the way. The river has historic significance as part of the former West German-East German border and you can still see the transformation of this region in process. Along the way you will find plenty of bike-friendly hotels, hostels and camping grounds, and many package tours make this a very accessible route.

The Moselle Cycling Path in Germany’s west between the wine-growing region of the Elbling wine near Trier, a wine specialty of the Upper Moselle, and Koblenz invites you to a pleasurable bike tour. For 150 miles discover the 2,000-year-old history of the region, from old Roman ruins in Trier and Koblenz, to romantic wine villages such as Bernkastel or Cochem and great spas in Traben-Trabach. The trail is predominantly level, with an excellent network of cycle tracks and rural roads as well as old towpaths and accurate sign-posting, offer optimum conditions for the casual cyclist.

For 360 miles the Main River Cycling path leads from east to west through the northern Bavarian Region of Franconia and the State of Hesse to Frankfurt. Highlights along the way are the majestic Wagner town Bayreuth, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bamberg, known as Germany’s beer capital and for its Baroque architecture, the wine growing region around Wuerzburg and the buzzing financial metropolis of Frankfurt. Stop along the way in one of the many local breweries or vineyards and be enchanted by 1,000-year-old castles and cathedrals.

The second longest river in Europe, the Danube, springs unofficially in the park of the princely Fuerstenberg castle in Donaueschingen at the border of the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, contained in a magnificently decorated, circular fountain from the 18th Century. “Mother Bear” presides over the fountain and shows her “daughter,” the young Danube and all cyclists the way.

The Danube Cycling Path leads for 360 miles through the German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria from the Black Forest to Passau in the southeast. The cycling road is signposted and package tours with several itineraries from seven to 15 days are bookable. Highlights along the way are the Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern castles of the Hohenzollern dynasty that ruled Germany in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Also interesting are the cathedral and merchant town of Regensburg, with the largest core of undestroyed medieval houses in Germany, and the three-river city of Passau. Discover the Danube from its fast flowing beginnings until it grows into a wide and impressive river in Bavaria.

www.cometogermany.com
www.elberadweg.de
www.mosellandtouristik.de
www.mainradweg.com
www.donau-radweg.info

Spotlight on Brussels, Belgium

Belgium without Brussels? No way!

By Don Heimburger

What would Belgium do without Brussels?

The capital of the kingdom, yes kingdom, of Belgium–Brussels–is located pretty much in the center of Belgium, south of Antwerp. Brussels is a cosmopolitan city of more than 2 million people (total area) that loves food.

Known for its Grand-Place/Grote Markt with its filigree stonework, the city is fashionable, upscale and village-like all at the same time. Did I mention beer? It’s said Brussels offers 2,000 kinds of beer. Then there’s the food, and the chocolates.

Let’s take a tour through Brussels, using some of the internet sites available:

Both public and private transport are highly developed in the Brussels area, with a network of high-quality roads, airline routes and inland waterways.
• Your arrival in Brussels–ways of entering the Brussels-Capital Region
• Moving around Brussels–means of traveling, using public transport, on foot, by bicycle, by car, by motorbike, by air, etc.
• Finding your way around Brussels–which are the best maps of the city available on the Net.

Brussels is served by Brussels Airport, located in the nearby Flemish municipality of Zaventem, and by the much smaller so-called Brussels South Charleroi Airport, located near Charleroi (Wallonia), some 50 km (30 mi) from Brussels. Brussels is also served by direct high-speed rail links to London by the Eurostar train via the Channel Tunnel (1hr 51 min); to Amsterdam; Paris and Cologne by the Thalys; and to Cologne and Frankfurt by the German ICE (Inter-City Express trains).

The Brussels metro dates back to 1976, but underground lines known as premetro have been serviced by tramways since 1968. A comprehensive bus and tram network also covers the city. Brussels also has its own port on the Willebroek Canal located in the northwest of the city.

An interticketing system means that a STIB/MIVB ticket holder can use the train or long-distance buses inside the city. The commuter services operated by De Lijn, TEC and SNCB/NMBS in the next few years will be augmented by a metropolitan RER rail network around Brussels.

Since 2003 Brussels has had a car-sharing service operated by the Bremen Company Cambio in partnership with STIB/MIVB and local ridesharing company taxi stop. In 2006 shared bicycles were also introduced.

Brussels contains more than 80 museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. The museum has an extensive collection of various painters such as the Flemish painters such as Brueghel, Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. Brussel’s museums cover areas such as art, technology, industry, science, folklore, literature, history and many other subjects, each presenting a different face of Brussels. They are astounding in the wealth of their collections and the new perspective they offer of cultures from all over the world.

FOODS
Brussels is known for its local waffles, its chocolate, its French fries and its numerous types of beers. The Brussels sprout was first cultivated in Brussels, hence the name.

Brussel’s gastronomic offerings include approximately 1,800 restaurants with very good food and atmosphere. Connoisseurs consider Belgian cuisine among the best in Europe. In addition to traditional restaurants, there is an overwhelming number of cafes and bistros and the usual range of international fast food chains. The cafes are similar to bars that offer beers and small dishes. Also widespread are so-called brasseries that offer a large number of beers and typical national foods.

Belgian cuisine is characterized by the combination of French cuisine with more hearty Flemish recipes. Culinary specialties include Brussel’s waffles (Gaufres) and mussels (usually served with “Moules frites”–French fries). The city is a stronghold of chocolate and praline manufacturers, with traditional companies like Godiva, Neuhaus and Leonidas. In addition, the Belgian beer enjoys a good reputation—Hoegaarden, Leffe, Duvel, Jupiler, Stella Artois and Kriek (cherry beer) are all examples.

Brussels has become a significant center for international institutions, notably those of the European Union. The city also plays host to the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which is based in the city, along with 1,000 other international organizations and 2,000 international corporations. Brussels is third in the number of international conferences it hosts and is one of the largest convention centers in the world. The presence of the EU and other international bodies means there are more ambassadors and journalists in Brussels than Washington D.C. International schools have also been established to serve this presence.

VIRTUAL TOURS
Art Nouveau in Bruxelles : http://www.artnouveau.be
Atomium : http://www.atomium.be
Chinese pavilion and Japanese tower :
http://www.kmkg-mrah.be
Memorials, monuments, plaques and statues : http://www.brusselsremembers.irisnet.be

For more information, to go www.visitbelgium.com.

The following websites also contain extra information:
Fun in Brussels
Belgium Hospitality
Restaurants in the center of Brussels
Restaurant maps
Deltaweb guide to restaurants