Cart acquired!
Our plan was to unload the cart at the metro elevator, then Rick would return the cart to the store while I watched the boxes. As we were pushing our cart toward the metro, a little man with a foot-long white beard passed coming toward us and pointed at the cart loaded with boxes and said something sharply in German. We kept walking and unloaded the cart at the metro elevator as planned. Just as Rick was pulling the last bag out of the basket on the cart, the little man reappeared and took the cart! We weren’t sure if he was a store employee or a homeless guy, but…
We’re heading to the flughafen (airport) now! Next hurdle: will they decide we need to open the boxes for any reason? (e.g., We didn’t have a method to weigh them, so we’re not sure if they are under the 50 pound limit.) But I have tape in my backpack. And honestly, if I saved myself carrying a load by hand as far as the airport, I’ll be OK with carrying it the rest of the way. In the airport, they asked Rick about the weight of his box and he said “under 50 pounds” and they didn’t weigh it or ask me. So no unpacking of boxes required! All set!
The rest of the trip was all smooth. Back in Durham, Rick found a taxi with enough space to carry both us and the boxes with the bikes in them. So now we are back at Rick’s place! At what would be 2:00 am Munich time. Long day! Great trip! But also glad to be back.