09.20.2015: Germany Day 3!
Day 3! Started off great! We woke up and went to take a tour of the city. Rothenburg is straight out of a fairytale! It’s so enchanting and magical and absolutely darling. All the houses are painted a different bright color and the roofs are pointy, giving them the typical german look. There were medieval walls and old clock towers that transported us to a different world and time. Every window has a windowsill overflowing with flowers of all colors and varieties but the coolest part was a natural spring water fountain flowing straight out of the wall! it looked kind of shady at first because it was just water flowing out of a faucet literally out of the wall into this little pool but it said “clean water” in germ (at least that’s what I think it said lol) so we filled up our water bottles and it was the most delicious, refreshing, cold water I’ve ever had. Before we left Rothenburg, we made sure to pick up snowballs for the road! Snowballs are this braided shortbread cookie thing rolled into a ball and fried and then coated in brown sugar and cinnamon (but there were a bunch of other toppings too). We headed to train station, bought our ticket, and boarded the train. A young couple sitting behind us on the train noticed that we spoke english and started talking to about the funny german accents. As we were about to get off the train, the stopped us and told us that there had been an accident at one of the main train stations so all the trains had been suspended for the next two hours. They told us not to worry and told us to follow them on their train to Nuremberg which was in the direction that we needed to go to. They spoke to the train conductor and after a few minutes of rapid german they came back to us and told us that we wouldn’t be able to get to Stuttgart until 5:00pm. Our flight was at 3:00pm... We started to freak out just a bit lool. Actually we weren’t entirely surprised. After all the trouble we’d had with the bahn so far, of course this would happen to us. We all went a little hysteric, sure that we were about to miss our flight and in turn the last train from Barcelona to Castellon. The couple made it their mission to make sure that we got to the airport on time and frantically began talking to the train conductor and calling taxis to see if there was any other option. We soon came to the conclusion that the only way we were going to make this flight was if we ditched this train (therefore wasting the ticket we just bought) and taking a taxi to Stuttgart. This taxi was about to cost us 300 euros. Even though I’m writing this 2 weeks later (lol procrastinating), it still hurts that we had to pay so much for a taxi. The only positive from this? we got to go on the autobahn! a huge freeway with no speed limit! We went over 120 mph at some points! super cool experience. Just wish it didn’t cost 300 euros.
We made it to the airport with plenty of time, especially considering the fact that our flight had been delayed by 45 minutes. We got to Barcelona later than expected but still had an hour till the last train left for Castellon so we felt good and couldn’t wait to get home. But first, we had to take a train from the Barcelona airport to the Barcelona train station. It’s only a 15 min ride and we had an hour. Nothing to worry about. omg we were wrong. The train to the train station was delayed by FIFTY MINUTES! by the time we got to the Barcelona train station, the last train to Castellon was LONG GONE. You learn a lot about a person’s character when times get tough. Two of my friends did not handle this situation well at all. Miranda and I got into problem solving mode and tried to do our best to stay calm and make the best of the situation. With went from person to person in the train station till someone was able to help us find a bus that left from Tarragona to Castellon. We quickly bought a ticket for the last train to Tarragona and prepared ourselves for a long night. Once we got to Tarragona, we booked a bus ticket and searched the city for the bus station which was a major struggle of its own. 30 minutes later we found the bus station and rejoiced at our little victory but were too afraid to breathe a sigh of relief until we had stepped foot in Castellon. Thankfully, the bus arrived about an hour later and several hours later, we made it to Castellon at about 2am. I’ve never been so happy to see my bed before in my entire life. Germany was a crazy, stressful, amazing adventure and I’m never going to forget it nor will I be going back to Germany for a while.
Coming back to Castellón, Spain felt like home and I think I’m falling in love with this little city and this amazing country.
PS. We’re still in touch with the couple that helped us (Michaela and Sebastian). We exchanged email addresses before we parted ways and they’ve invited us to Nurmberg!
