Deanna and I hopped aboard some trains in the morning to take us to Stuttgart. There we would reunite with my friends Bianca and Ines who I met while they studied abroad at UCSB, like so many other good friends I’ve been meeting up with on this trip.
On one of our trains the train car was packed with elderly people. There were seriously maybe only about two other people without grey hair on this cart in addition to me and Deanna. But the elderly German folks were a party. Some had bikes and were in bike outfits, and others came with hiking sticks and other gear. I pointed out that the elderly folks there were a blast and I told Deanna that I wanted to retire here, where I could go hiking with the other old people. I made a note that the most boring people on the train were the young ones, and indeed, it was only us and the other two young people who rode silently.
We rode onwards and soon arrived in Stuttgart. We went to the meeting point and there we found Bianca and Ines. The two of them were so sweet and right away they presented me with a gift- a stack of bars of German and Swiss chocolates. I’m glad we got the chance to meet up. Originally we were going to meet in Munich, but the plans just didn’t work out. But now they did.
As we walked around Stuttgart, Bianca and Ines gave us a bit of a briefing of the city. Stuttgart is Germany’s Detroit- except there are still people living there and the city seems to be doing alright. But it does hold the headquarters for both Mercedes Benz and Porsche and those are a pretty big deal. One of the biggest conversations surrounding the city was the deliberation of whether or not to renovate the train station. As things stood, it looked like it would soon be remodeled.
Bianca and Ines themselves were also visitors to Stuttgart, since they lived further south, so we explored it together. We got Thai food to go and ate it out on the grass of a nearby park. The picnic was nice and we got to catch up on each others lives.
After lunch, we went on ahead to the Mercedes museum. The people there were sympathetic and let me go in for student pricing even though I didn’t have an ID. The museum itself was pretty neat. Everything about the building screamed Mercedes, including the elevator which was lined with the sort of padding you’d find in a luxury car interior. We made it to the top where a few of the oldest models of Mercedes were displayed. This included some funky wagon things that barely qualified as cars.
The rest of the museum wasn’t so much car focused, but more like a museum of the 20th Century. Displays on the wall covered major events like WW2, JFK’s assassination, or the introduction of the Euro. Of course with every display, the museum took the opportunity to note the role that Mercedes Benz has played throughout history. But still, it was more like a Museum of Recent History, sponsored by Mercedes.
Afterwards, we found some Coke to quench Bianca’s thirst, and some shopping outlets to quench Ines’ shopping urge. We then found another nice spot on the grass to settle down and chat.
When we realized the day was moving quickly, we went to find somewhere to eat. Ines and Bianca wanted to go to Vapiano, an Italian-German chain that was only found in Germany’s major cities. We ate there, and while the line was long and complicated, we made it to the front where they prepared our custom pastas right in front of us.
After dinner, it was time for us to go. We took a picture on the steps. The nice girl took our picture. We said bye to Ines and Bianca and made our way back towards Hauptbanhoff.
While it seems like this is where our day ends, it turns out that this is kind of where a whole other adventure starts. Like it said on our return ticket, we boarded the train leaving at 19:00 from platform 9.
We’d been on the train for a few minutes when I thought something might be up. I looked at the stops we were passing and a map and I noticed that the train did not turn west when it was supposed to. For whatever reason, this train was headed in the wrong direction- North towards Heidelberg.
Well, that’s not where we wanted to go, so we got off and waited 20 minutes for a train headed back in the other direction. It finally came and so we took a train to the stop where our first train was supposed to turn West.
We got out to read the timetables. Unfortunately, the next train set to leave West wasn’t scheduled to leave for another two hours. Since Andrea would be picking us up at the Appenweier station, we couldn’t keep her waiting like that. At that point we decided that our best option would be to go back to the well-connected Stuttgart where we could start from scratch. It was another 20 minute wait for that train.
At Stuttgart once again, we found the train to the station we were supposed to go to- Karlshrue, which would connect with Offenburg. Once again, we were at platform nine, where we could get to Karlshrue. We called Andrea to let her know what had happened and gave her a new ETA.
That’s when two new problems occurred. For one, my phone died. Anticipating this, we wrote down Andrea’s number. For another, there was a 40 minute delay for our train. This nearly tempted me to get us on another train going back towards one of the cities we transferred from on our morning journey, but with all that had already happened, we decided to play it conservatively.
We made it onto the train finally and from there we were hopeful to connect to Offenburg. Our plan was to meet Andrea at Appenweier, which would be one stop before Offenburg. We weren’t quite sure how all of this was going to go down. That’s when one train employee stopped and asked to see our ticket. We were on a ICE high-speed train (one that went so fast our ears popped) and apparently our tickets were only valid for the regular trains. Before Deanna could pull out any money, I started to tell our story as quickly and dramatically as possible, occasionally telling parts in German even though the guy spoke perfect English. He ended up being sympathetic and we got to take the train without any hassle.
We still needed to find our connection from Karlshrue to Appenweier. The conductor gave us an idea of when our next times would be. I asked a guy behind us to borrow a phone to call Andrea. Unfortunately, we didn’t get through to her- only a recording.
Finally, we arrived at Karlshrue. Only one train journey left to take, but we were hours behind schedule and we had no way of getting ahold of Andrea. We used an electronic kiosk to figure out train times. One was leaving at 22:40, but it would again be an ICE train, and I didn’t want to try our luck. Plus it went to Offenburg, and there would be no guarantee that it’d also stop at Appenweier, the meeting point. So instead, we waited for the 23:30 train to Offenburg, stopping at Appenweier.
That’s when we tried to get ahold of Andrea. Deanna tried to use a payphone, but it wasn’t quite working. In the meantime, I went from person to person, getting one hell of an evening for practicing German. Through the bits I knew, plus some creativity and hand gestures, I managed to borrow five or six phones. While my German was getting better, our situation wasn’t. Deanna found a payphone that sent texts, so we tried to tell Andrea our predicament without hearing a reply. Hoping for the best.
Finally, we got on the very late train to Offenburg. We arrived at Appenweier. The right place. But it was time to see if we made it at the right time.
We got out and there was no Andrea or Stefan. What made things worse was our orientation of Appenweier was pretty useless. Neither of us knew their address. The best we could remember is that there used to be a statue of stork near their neighbors and that there was a sign that said something I forgot. Not the most helpful bits of navigation.
I found a payphone and tried to call Andrea. It once again failed. Deanna suspected the number we wrote down was wrong. She would try to call internationally, to have her mom look up Andrea’s number in her email. Unfortunately, the phone didn’t make international calls. Out of options, we called the police.
Well this will be an interesting chat with the police.
Somehow I managed to explain our situation, and they sent somebody our way. At least maybe they could get us to the internet.
A few backpackers came by and asked if we knew the way to Strassborg, thirty minutes away. We didn’t know, though.
Then, a blue Skoda finally showed up. Andrea. She had been checking the station every now and then, and Deanna’s suspicions were right- we missed a digit when writing down the number.
We made it to her place, and cooled off with radler.
Sleeping Arrangement - Andrea and Stefan’s
Money Spent - €4 for the Mercedes Benz museum €10 for dinner.
Lesson Learned - When the best receivers are also the best givers, and when people see themselves as blessed, generosity becomes economy.
Mental Snapshot - Meeting Bianca and Ines at the Stuttgart station.
dededos
snowghoul
kaledo-art
pixelskylines
baratheonpilled
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