Vacation Adventures In Germany

 I'm finally feeling strong enough to write about it;)

The 1st week of our vacation we spent at the camping. The 2nd week, we were planning to go to Germany where we had booked a very nice (and expensive) apartment high in the mountains to escape a heat wave. That Sunday I woke up at 5a.m. feeling very cold. In short, I developed a fever. We had no medication with us so my husband drove to a supermarket and bought some paracetamol. So I took 2 pills and we drove off about midday. We decided to go via the Ardennes in the French part of Belgium, which my husband soon regretted as everything was in French and he didn't understand the road signs very well. 

We were driving on a highway and were half way through when the car started making strange noises and wouldn't drive properly. My husband set it aside and somehow managed to reach a parking place with a camping toilet. There we stopped and he discovered that the motor oil was very low. He thought the motor was damaged and didn't dare to drive further for fear to damage it more. It was about 30*C and I  wasn't feeling my best. He went along the road where the trucks stood parked (it being Sunday and all) asking for some oil when finally an Eastern European guy gave him a bit. He said there was a gas station 5 km further on. So we drove there to buy some oil.

The station had a sign OPEN24/7 and it was CLOSED. Because the Catholics take their Sunday rest seriously, I guess. We stood there like 30 minutes and dh was again asking for oil but nobody would help. Finally we decided to get off the road and try our luck in the village. The village had a garage. It was, you guessed it, closed. By this point we were already more than an hour late (luckily, you could check in the whole evening). It was just as far going back home and we were at the border with Germany which my husband far prefers above Belgium to drive. So we went on. 

The border was guarded and the policemen advised us to drive on the side of the road. Somehow we managed to reach our destination. By the time paracetamol stopped working and my fever was sky high again so I just collapsed on the couch. My husband had to make dinner but I hardly could eat. Next morning he had to look for a garage. There was one in the village but it was closed. Apparently, on Sunday they had a festival over there and the guy who owned it drank too much and decided to stay home. It was Monday, and Wednesday we had to drive back! So my husband phoned the Dutch road service (we pay insurance for it).

He was instructed by a computer to write his complaints down on their website. Like it does help. He next called the German road service. It took them some time to find someone who spoke English to explain our problem and she then connected us to a guy who didn't speak English at all. Luckily, dh can speak German a bit. The guy told him it would cost more than 200 euros for them just to get there and recommended to look for a garage nearby. There was a town close to our village. It had 2 garages. They both said they had NO TIME for us as they were full. 

The village we stayed in had no supermarket or stores of any kind, btw, and we didn't take enough food. So my husband decided to walk to the town and also try and buy some motor oil. And here, a wonder happened. As he was walking through the next village a nice old lady told him they had a garage there. And the owner said he would send someone to look at our car. So they drove my husband back, checked the car, said it was safe to drive back to them and they would start working on it immediately. 

Dh still had to go to town to buy food, mind you. After he walked like 5 km he had luck again as he found a local bus going the same direction. He came to town, found an Aldi, bought some food and had to walk back. At this point he was tired as he had to go up the mountain and he tried to get a lift. No one would stop except (again) some Eastern European guy who lived there and he even went out of his way to bring my husband to the door of our guest apartment. Still, poor dh had walked 16 km that day. And then he still had to cook dinner. Luckily, I could eat and we even went out for half an hour. But I did get fever that morning and the next one.

They phoned us from the garage and we learned that a gearbox sensor broke off. The sensor itself wasn't that important but it left a hole and the gearbox oil all dripped away and as a result, it got damaged. They couldn't say how bad it was but they ordered a new sensor and promised us to fix the car on Tuesday. So next day my husband went to collect it and then we went for a walk and then he started getting fever. And now it was him who couldn't eat and was feeling horrible. And next day, he had to drive us home in a damaged car on the autobahn where people drive 200km per hour (he absolutely refused to drive through Belgium again). 

Well, we tried to get some sleep. Half past midnight, I woke up because he was throwing up in the bathroom. My fever broke and I was sweating and could hardly stand. We finally fell asleep after 3 a.m. and we had less than 5 hours sleep because on Wednesday we had to leave the house before 10 a.m. My parents were all in hysterics when they heard it and kept telling me it was unsafe to go back so it didn't improve my mood in the slightest, as you understand. The gearbox was singing, too, but...somehow we drove back to the camping. We spent half of that day sleeping. And next day we had a customer coming early who wanted to buy our caravan (we are replacing it with a new one).

And we had to clean it. But, of course, we didn't because we couldn't so we had to do it Thursday morning while hardly standing on our feet. It all went fine and then I noticed I couldn't smell anything so it was corona, again. I had had my suspicions before because of that persistent high fever. This new corona attacks your ears so that I was dizzy all the time. Then the heat wave came, a week later than the forecast promised. We didn't really do much at all, just sitting outside and going here and there (went to a medieval festival but it was + 34*C and I was whacked out after an hour walking in the sun.

Sunday we drove home. Another 200 km, the car was behaving decently. We still had a week vacation and by the end of it we were so much better that we decided to attend another festival, about 1 hour driving from home. It all went fine. And then, just as we were 5 minutes from home the car simply quit, more or less. It was the clutch, which also got damaged from driving without oil. And so next day, my husband had to buy another car and he took the 1st one he could find. He still managed to drive ours to the garage but it was total loss and they wouldn't give us anything for it. Luckily, his salary came that day and we could borrow from my parents. So it was Friday and Monday he had to go back to work and it took me another week to restore my health and my nerves.

I'm still easily tired, btw, but it is going better. So we had a great vacation that time!