"Beam me to Friedensau Scotty!"

The Quest of Liechtenstein was epic and we had a good time on that adventure. There was just one obstacle that remained. Getting home. We didn't think that it would be that hard but between a time space continuum that wanted us to stay in southern Germany, being overly ambitious, and nights it became a struggle of the ages.

On the last blog we were in the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof expecting that we would be home either that night (Sunday) or Monday morning. We didn't actually get home until late Monday night. We ended up getting a hostel in Stuttgart because it is one thing to plan to spend a night in various places that one doesn't normally sleep in, but when one is already very frustrated, tired and really just wants to get back, sleeping in a train station (which is tricky anyways because it is not allowed) is not something that one wants to do. 

After a good night's sleep we made it back to Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof with time to spare to catch our train so I had a fantastically cheap and tasty breakfast of pineapple, a blueberry muffin, and a mineral water. On the train, we were headed to Heidelberg. If you haven't already noticed that we have been to some of these cities already, you would not be wrong. To make sure you have a connection you find big cities and go between them. Exactly 16 minutes out of Stuttgart the train ticket man told us we had to disembark because our ticket didn't start working until 9:00. It was 8:34. Just 26 minutes more and we would have been safe, and in Heidelberg, and we would have avoided the further delay that was catastrophic to our schedule. But the powers that be decided that it wasn't supposed to be. Off at a random city to wait for the next train to pass on its way to Heidelberg. Two hours later we picked back up again. At this point we really just wanted to be molecularly transported back to Friedensau. Things like "Beam me to Friedensau Scotty!" were being said. 

As I said before, had we not had the run in with ticket man, we wouldn't have had another delay. As fate would 'have it, that delay was about to happen again. A few stops away from Frankfurt all trains stop. No trains, coming or going, were moving in the region. Everyone was kicked off the trains and all trains were headed back to Heidelberg. We heard various words of an accident up the track. No one knew what was going on. The transportation people said a bus was coming. Eventually a bus did come, but a bus doesn't hold as many people as a train. We all had to find our own ways to Frankfurt. En Masse, the entire train crowd hated the situation. It was at this point, just after all the delays and problems that could only be accounted for by poor luck that I said to my traveling companions, "I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!" "And this was not the last time that he wished that." replied Michael. The words of Tolkien's The Hobbit were truer than we could imagine, we just didn't know it at that time. All we wanted was to be home.

The answer to the question of why we were delayed came on our way to Frankfurt via taxi. A person  had fallen off the platform up line and from the sounds of it was hit by the train. I felt bad for being angry at the delay, someone was seriously injured or hurt and I was selfishly waiting on things to hurry up so I could get home. Soon we got to Frankfurt and continued our journey. Later we realized that we were not going to make it using only regional trains. As we previously learned, they stop working after a certain time of night. This time was fast approaching and we didn't want to be stuck somewhere random. There was no guarantee that we would end up in a big city. Nights and regional trains aren't friends apparently. We finally broke down and spent a little more for the fast train back to Berlin. 

The difference between the two kinds of trains is remarkable. I felt like I had gotten off of an old commercial jet that was decrepit and smelled funny and hopped onto a private jet. Finally able to have some security in knowing that we are going home. We finally felt like we were being beamed back to Friedensau on our fast train home.

The fast train went to Berlin. We have done Berlin to home a few times before so it wasn't new for us. We caught the train that was running late (seriously, the are always late) to Magdeburg with our stop on the way. In the middle of the trip our train randomly stops, the people say that if we were going to Magdeburg we had to get off and get on another train, this one was heading back to Berlin. At this point we weren't surprised. There had to be something that would set us back again. Southern Germany didn't want us to leave. Several train anomalies had us thinking that we had messed with the time space continuum somewhere and caused us to be forever on trains. It doesn't help that the sun goes down at 4:30 so we no longer have a way of telling what time it is. On the fast train, we covered more ground in the first hour than we did for the previous eight. Our thinking was not without its merits.

No one at the time knew what train we were supposed to get on to get to Magdeburg, but we all figured it out. And after the computer on the train was all messed up with it being on the wrong station and timetables all screwy, we made it home. The great struggle had been overcome, the time space continuum had been fixed, and we made it home. 

The real Quest of Liechtenstein was finished, and we were finally able to rest with the peace that, if we really want to, we can overcome all odds, our own ambitions and oversights, and get done what needs to.  Like I stated in an earlier blog, it was a learning experience for all of us, but we grew because of it. But please for the love of all, don't put me on a train for at least a week.