"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.

Quest of Liechtenstein: Part 3 - Epilogue: Lessons Learned and Life Enriched.

In four days we learned a lot of things. One that sticks out in my head is, don't take regional trains in the middle of the night. This we learned again on Sunday night when we got into Stuttgart. This is the biggest city with any proximity to where we were so we were in the train station a lot. This time we were not so lucky. There weren't any trains going anywhere close to where we wanted. Sad thing is, it wasn't that late. But the scourge of regional transport struck again and we were smote twice. We ended up buying a hostel in Stuttgart where I am writing this section of the blog. 

My life was also enriched. If you have ever even seen Bayern, even from the train like I did, then your life truly is better. It is remarkably beautiful. Life is also enriched when you eat this much bread and döners. But really, the south of Germany is awesome and whenever you can learn valuable lessons, your life gets better.

Back to today. We left Lindau in enough time to make it to Stuttgart and make life choices when we got there. We were hanging out in the Bahnhof when Kim exclaims that she left something of value back at the hostel. Our train was set to leave in a half hour and there was a storm whipping across the lake. Kim and I waited at the train station nervously waiting Michael's return. In the meantime I had the best pastries I have ever had. I literally cannot recall ever eating anything so fantastic in all my life. I hope to have that experience again in Germany. It's wonderful. Michael got back with a minute to spare. And when we busted onto the train and settled down he told us about his adventure. It sounded like he pulled a Liam Neeson in any of his movies ever and went epic through the city. Lindau was a cool little city and had an awesome hostel. About that storm I was telling you about…it started the night before and because it was really windy and we had our window open my some of my stuff got wet. Oh well. I was going home that night…Oh yeah. Plans change. But I packed extra so it's all good. 

Back in the Stuttgart train station tonight a man comes up to us while we are sitting and eating our supper and points at us back and forth as if he is choosing one of us for something then says "Guten Appetiet." I'm not sure what I think about that, so I enjoyed my food like he said to do. Later we were still in that spot and were working on our plans when the police told us we had to move. So naturally we did. It was warmer where we ended up anyways. 

Here is a list of things that I learned:

• While trains are the cheapest way to travel, they are not always the best. 
• Internet, smart phones, and cars are invaluable. With those things, one can practically do anything, we decided. 
• Hostels are awesome places to sleep and parking garages are not. 
• The south German and Austrian accents are awesome.
• And we know very little about train travel.

A personal attitude that I have embraced is that when things go amiss, it does no good to let the frustration overcome you. It does no good getting frustrated over things you cannot control, instead adapting and coming up with solutions, and being flexible is the best way to go. This is really the way to go. In the end, I love Germany, I love my time here with the people I am with, and I love the food here. Good gracious. 

Quest of Liechtenstein Part 2 - 14 Hours later and we are in…Switzerland.

I couldn't decide whether to call this "14 Hours later and we are in…Switzerland" or "The Austrian city that's almost Liechtenstein." I will let you decide which is a better title and you can call it what you will.

Our quest was full of adventures and it was only about 2 days old. The exact time had escaped us since we hadn't actually had a night's sleep in the complete sense of the term. Through the day I managed to get to about four and a half hours of sleep. Not horrible. Our arrival in Stuttgart now is imminent. 

Once in Stuttgart we found the train headed to Lindau. The town we were staying in for the night after Liechtenstein and conveniently one of the southern most cities in Germany. The train departed at something like 8:06 AM. We were on the platform in plenty of time. What we saw there made our sleep deprived demeanors sink. Bitte Nicht Einsteigen. If you have traveled by trains before and needed to make a connection, the train you are wanted to connect with telling you to not board makes you sad. Fortunately less than 10 feel away was a train headed to a town along the way, Ulm. It left at somewhere around 8:15. This was nice because not only did it mean we didn't have to wait very long, but it meant that we could keep an eye on our Little Engine that didn't want to. It left without allowing any passengers on. And with its departure so left any shred of decent feeling about making any stable connections on regional trains in obscure times of morning and night even in big cities. After being asleep for only about one and a half hours to this point, it was my turn again to make sure we didn't miss our connection. I diligently stayed awake for a part of it and Michael kindly relieved me. At this point the espresso purchased in Stuttgart may as well have been flavored water to me.

Finally heading very close to Liechtenstein our hopes were lifted. When one makes a lot of random and somewhat unplanned connections, one is forced to develop a knowledge of the local geography. In addition, one also becomes acutely aware of the ubiquity of bakeries and their implications of an inexpensive and tasty meal to go. We took advantage of this more times than not. If you have been to Germany then you understand the deliciousness of this gift from God that is German pastries. 

Once we arrived in Ulm, we saw a train for Lindau. Naturally we boarded the train with a gusto one can only muster after spending twelve hours trying to get to this very moment. I don't remember who slept and who stayed awake for this leg of the trip. I know that part way through I saw the beautiful countryside and I remember my first glimpse of real mountains. We made it to Lindau. By this time we were all awake and all very excited. Just across the lake, to the mountains was both Austria and Switzerland and somewhere in the mess of the beautiful mountains was Liechtenstein. The goal was in sight. We got on a train that would get us very close to the small country but not quite in it. Austria here we come. I was glad to add another country to my list. If that is what Austria is like, count me in. We ended up accidentally getting off on the wrong stop but in the same small town, thus missing our connection. But no matter, another was coming in about an hour. We took this time to wander the city in search of lunch. Bless you Austria for having bakeries everywhere just like Germany. We also found a small grocery store that magically turned into a quite large store and bought some foods to supplement our bread. I bought an avocado. If ever I have made a good life choice, that was it. It wasn't until later that the impact of what I just bought fully hit me. We eventually made it to our almost Liechtenstein city in Austria. We left the train station and saw a beautiful sight: A bus that read "Bus Liechtenstein" and had an itinerary for Liechtenstein. As fate would go we ended up not stoping in Liechtenstein. But we did see almost all of the country as the bus wove in and out of the two "big cities" it is home to. We ended up in a small town in Switzerland just across the border from Liechtenstein. We were not concerned because the mountains were calling, and I must go. It wash't as early as we had planned so we had supper in a field looking out across a corn-field and up to the vista of Swiss Alps. I was unspeakably ecstatic.  I ate my supper of avocado on an Austrian baguette and decided that life could not get better than this. Our meal ended but our quest did not. In unison we all stepped across the border into Liechtenstein and spent the remainder of daylight accomplishing the goal we spent over 14 travel hours to accomplish. 

It's the simple things in life that often stick with us the most. Seeing those mountains, eating that avocado, and stepping into Liechtenstein is definitely in this category. I added 3 countries to my list in one single day, making our total country count for the day 4. Getting into Liechtenstein is not just a little part of life I will remember. I will remember it forever, but it certainly was not a little part. We spent many hours of effort, lost a lot of sleep, and had one of the best life experiences ever. The memory of that doesn't just go away after one night. The beauty of the struggle that is the Quest of Liechtenstein is how great the reward was to us. Yes, it is just another small country nestled beautifully between the mountains of Austria and Switzerland, but this quest shows me that we can live through sleeping in a weasel inhabited parking garage, missing trains, and going way out of our way and spending way less money than most, to accomplish a poorly planned trips. In Germany, not planning something down to the smallest nuances is often shied away from. But this weekend I have learned that sometimes not planning, I experience more, I just have to be willing to try.

Be sure to read the Epilogue: Quest of Liechtenstein: Part 3 - Epilogue: Lessons Learned and Life Enriched.

The Quest of Liechtenstein: Part 1 - The Makings of an Adventure.

It has been too long since I have posted anything on my blog. Sorry about that. Life has been running at 160.93kmp (100mph).  Last week we celebrated Michael's birthday in Schloß Wernigerode where I spent the time taking advantage of the really long magic hour lighting. For  awesome reasons, since we are so far north, magic hour lasts for a long time. This is fantastic for me.

*****

This weekend we decided to tour Southern Germany, see castles and go to Liechtenstein, a country none of us had been to. Every day, we encountered trials that made our quest to get to Liechtenstein something I will not soon forget. We spent many hours in train stations, we slept in a parking garage, and we missed a train in Austria. All on our way to Liechtenstein.

Our journey had the promise of being epic. Castles, Kingdoms (okay Principality) and giant mountains we just some of the things we had planned. But we got more adventure than we planned. The first day we were supposed to be in Rothenburg, a fun Renaissance Era town on the first day of break. Only problem is that we forgot which day we considered the first day of break. We ended up missing out on that day, but all's well that ends well. One of the students at Friedensau was driving his car down in the region of Heidelberg, where we were intending to go next. Since we essentially just skipped a day, it was either ride the train to Heidelberg or get a ride in the car. Of course we took the car. We got to hang out more, see different parts of the country and we got there loads faster. This was only the beginning of our adventure, but the miscalculation of Rothenburg was a foreshadowing of things to come.

We went into this trip with only limited plans. We wanted to decide most of what we were going to do when we got to a location. This was both the best way and the worst way to go. We have a lot more life experiences learned, and we also have a way better story than if we had just planned it the regular way.

In Heidelberg we walked around the city that night. We had planned a night and a day in this awesome city so the first night there was our night time exploration through the city. We knew that Heidelberg had a cool castle so of course we went to look for it. As it turns out it is a massive compound on the mountain ominously imposing its presence on the city below. This made it no puzzle to find. We explored this expansive estate for quite some time before heading back. The next morning we were in no hurry to leave the hostel so we slept in. We had only a guess of how little sleep we were going to get the next night. That day we explored the mountain opposite the castle. On said mountain, there is a giant park to wander in for hours. This alluded to the many hours spent taking pictures and having a grand time. We discovered the ruins to an old monastery, a giant Nazi Propaganda amphitheater (and when I mean giant, it was expansive. Those guys never did anything unimposing), and many trails to just walk through. Since even Heidelberg, in one of the southern states, is still fairly far north compared to where I have been before, the sun goes down early. So while it was afternoon, we still had time to explore Heidelberg at night. We had several hours to kill so after walking around we hung out in a coffee shop, where in addition to having yummy coffee, I had my first waffle of my European adventure. I was beside myself. On a side note: I ordered this all in German, but when they asked me something I responded using the word "just". They then replied to everything else in English. So demoralizing.

Eventually it was time for us to head to the Hauptbahnhof (Main train station) and wait for our train. We thought we were only going to wait about twenty to thirty minutes, but because we didn't officially plan anything, we didn't know. Our quest for Liechtenstein officially began here. At the information desk we asked what the best way to get to Liechtenstein was. No help at all. The lady didn't know what Liechtenstein was. We later became 0-2 in that department. Come on guys, it's not that small of a country. It's even the richest in the world per capita. But we were not to be discouraged. Our quest was going to continue regardless. We must make it to Liechtenstein.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out in the train station, and eventually headed to Mannheim, a city north of Hamburg. We decided it was a better choice because it was bigger and would probably have a way to get to Stuttgart, where there undoubtedly was a train to the small country no information desk employee knows of. On the platform we saw a man that looked like he had nefarious intentions, and some Germany college students warned us that he was a pick pocketer. Before we could fall victim to the malefactor's dastardly deeds we departed for the other end of the platform to stay awake and with our belongings intact. The train didn't offer much respite, there were many loud individuals who spent their night inebriated in celebration of the day's holiday. Finally we made it to a town that said their was a train to Stuttgart. The town was Neckeralz. Good luck finding it on a map. If the Bahnhof is any indication, it isn''t a very big city.  We had been sleeping in shifts so that one person was not stuck with watching the stuff and making sure we made our connections. When we got to Neckeralz it was my turn to stay awake. We had all decided to sleep in the ground level of a parking garage, well they did, I decided to stay awake. This became a very good life choice as it rained for most of our stay there. While it didn't keep us any warmer, it did keep us dry. If the temperature was over 40 degrees Fahrenheit I will be a monkey's uncle. And speaking of the animal kingdom, we ended up spending a small portion of our night with a weasel. After the longest and potentially coldest 3 hour watch period I have ever done, the train came. 6:15 AM. We had braved the night. Naturally I got on the train and fell asleep. Until Stuttgart.

Our crazy night was an indication of just how far we were willing to go to get to this small country. We didn't know what lay ahead. But we knew what was behind us, and what was ahead couldn't be as dramatic. Or so we thought. All we had to do was get to Stuttgart. Surely they had a direct train to where we wanted to go.

For more on this story read The Quest of Liechtenstein: Part 2 - 14 Hours later and we are in…Switzerland.