Friday in Frankfurt cont.....on our way to Berchtesgaden

Friday afternoon we went to Mia’s play.  Her class had presented Sleeping Beauty earlier this year and were asked to perform it again for a theater festival.  It was a little theater in Bad something.  We walked the park and got the little kids Ice cream while Eva helped the class get dressed in their costumes and make up on.  When it was time to go in, the little kids decided to sit on the first row bench.  We were just two rows behind them.  All was well until the wicked fairy scared Luzian.  She was a great little actor!  He cried and one of the other mothers scooped him up before David or I could get to him.  I didn’t recognize her from the BBQ and she obviously wasn’t going to surrender him to us.  He finally got his point across to her that we were OK, and we took the kids out side to wait.  We chatted with the other parents we had met and told them about our time in Berlin.  The teacher from the school that we asked where Mias classroom was, was very relieved to see us with Eva and when she introduced us she stated we had already met.  I guess that would be pretty creepy to have foreigners come looking for a child at the school

After we unloaded the costumes at the car we walked around the town and all the shops.  I’ve decided i rather like paved sidewalks and streets.  Sturdy shoes will be a must for CJ.  The cobblestone walks and roads are murder on your feet.  We got more ice cream and then headed back to the car.  I tried a dark chocolate this time and it was fabulous!

Friday night we played games with the kids.  We learned a new game that we will have to see if we can get in the states.  It’s sort of like settlers of catan in the sense that you build cities and roads, but you build it one card at a time like dominos.  The sides have to match. 

CJ learned how to work the german washers and driers and we did all of our laundry and packed for our next little trip.

We did have one thunder storm, and yes, if you leave those awesome sky light windows open, your bed does get wet!  It was also ridiculously hot while they had to be closed.  I’m so grateful that David stayed away long enough for the rain to stop so he could open the windows.  It quite curious that the windows here are open and there really are not any bugs.  The only time we have had mosquitos was at the mission presidents home. 

On our way to Berchtesgaden

We got up this morning to finish packing and head off for berchtesgaden Eva made a wonderful german breakfast of fresh rolls, honey, meats cheeses and drinks for breakfast.  She also packed us a nice lunch.  David D. had gone to the bakery early just for me and bought my favorite bread to take along with us.  They also bought new bread we hadn’t tried before.  It was a sunflower and pumpkin seed bread.  One of my favorites so far.  Eva packed the last roll in our lunch….she is so nice. 

David took us to the Karben train station by their house and we caught the S6 into the Frankfurt Main station.  We took the Ice train to Wurtzgerb and then changed trains to a regional train that will take us all the way to berchtesgaden.  It’s supposed to be much cooler in the next few days.  The regional train is much slower and stops more often.   The country side is georgous.  It’s so green and looks just like pictures from the story books.  The sky looks dark so I’m sure we will get more rain this weekend.

Our plans are to spend two nights in Berchtesgaden and then one or two nights in Munich.  We are excited for this part of our journey.  We are supposed to have Wifi at the hotel, so hopefully we do.  The total trip today is about 7 hours.  We are almost to Munich and I’ve typed most of the way.  We are becoming more accustomed to the movement of the train and tolerating it much better now.  We’ve never boarded with an empty stomach since the first time.  That was a  mistake.  Cj is catching up on much needed rest and David goes in between snoring and reading his book with an occasional game on his phone.  I’ve loved the mandatory down time.  What a great excuse to blog, catch up on journaling, reading scriptures, pondering life all intermixed with doing just plain nothing!  I find it quite relaxing.  The train was delayed because of flooding on the first part of our journey today, but I said the biggest prayer because there was only one connection to catch and we only had 20 minutes built in to the schedule.  By the time we got their late, the arriving train was also 20 minutes late and so it was no problem!  THANK HEAVENS!!!!  We should arrive in Berchtesgaden just before 5pm local time and we will walk to our hotel.  I hope it looks something like the photos, because if it does we are in for a real treat.  We won’t be able to do much tonight as most things shut down around 5-6pm, so we will rest and enjoy the views, get some dinner and be ready to go in the morning. 

TRAINS, PLANES and DEATH TRAPS………or you might call them AUTO's

TRAINS, PLANES and DEATH TRAPS………or you might call them AUTOMOBILES

I’m very (THAT’S VERY!) glad we are not driving.  The cars are super tiny, and everybody drives very fast on the tiniest little roads.  We haven’t seen an accident yet, which is unbelievable to me.  They Drive fast, stop fast, accelerate fast.  Yet they are more laid back than we are in every way.  How odd is that?

 Lots of trains are running late and so the schedule is a bit mixed up which is very unusual for Germany. 

The train system (BAHN) is easy to navigate.  We have been able to get everywhere very easily.  Most of the trains runs every 10 minutes or so.  Timing the change between platforms can be tricky.  Sometimes the platforms are very far away, sometimes they are close, but you can’t get across the tracks without going down and around and then back up onto the next platform.  Most of the words I know are the ones to help us get where we need to go. 

Yesterday we went to meet Mia after school.  We were supposed to get there as she was getting out, and then she wanted to show us her classroom.  Eva gave us a map, and some directions.  We didn’t make it far before the directions didn’t make sense anymore and we stopped to ask for directions.  We thought we had it figured out, but didn’t end up in the right spot.  I told David that is why we paid for the data plan on the cell phone and to turn it on.  Only 1 problem……we didn’t know the name of the school.  We eventually found the school, but after scaring a teacher to death asking where Mia might be, we discovered she had already gone.  We then tried to find our way home, but instead of going on the walking route, I opted to take the roads because I could get home that way.  It was familiar from driving with Eva.  When we arrived at the house, Eva said she had sent Mia out to look for us, but on the wrong route because she assumed we would come home the way she told us to go.  Eventually Mia came back home and we all laughed about our adventure. 

Travel to Berchtesgaden

We left on Saturday morning to travel by train to Berchtesgaden.  The German rail passes were the "BEST" decision we made for traveling during our trip.  While there can be a few moments of stress as we try and figure out what the announcer just said in German that made everyone standing around us rush to another platform..........it's quite relaxing for the most part.  We took the S Bahn in from Karben where David and Eva live......to the main Frankfurt station and then took an ICE or inner city express train down to Berchtesgaden.  Unfortunately, the trains were all delayed because of flooding, so we missed one connection, and ultimately ended up several hours late.  Funny thing.......we didn't print out the directions to the hotel......counting on using the "very smart phone" that we took with us.   Did you know that in a little mountain village that your smart phone may not be able to receive any data?   Well, best laid plans didn't work out.  It was pouring rain and I kept saying, "look and see if you can see the hotel name on any of the surrounding buildings......it said they were close to the station."

Well, close to the "stop" meaning bus stop is what it really said.  So it was a really good thing we figured out that we should just get in a taxi and have him take us there.  A few minutes later a taxi came by main train station there in Berchtesgaden, and I showed him the email with the name and address the hotel.  He acknowledged quickly that he knew right where it was and I breathed a big sigh of relief as we loaded the backpacks in the trunk and liked into a warm dry car.

Yes, you are thinking, oh good.......no.  We drive and drive, up and moutain roads and its looking more and more remote.  I'm thinking where is he taking us?  How much is this costing us?  What have we done?  After a very long 12 minutes.......yes I knew exactly how much time had passed, I saw the first sign to our hotel.  Whew!  He is in the right spot!  We went through several more little side streets and climbed the mountain even higher till we were at the last row of houses when we arrived.  Ahhhhhhh!  We made it.  Now for the drum roll......how much did that cost?

"17 Euros please" said the nice taxi driver.  Ok, not so bad.  Could have been 50 or 100 for all I knew.  We approached the front of the little BergHotel Edelwiess, and were completely mesmerized. It was the darling little Bavarian hotel we had seen in the pictures.  We were greeted warmly by the older gentleman who owned the hotel and he gave me the room key.  My eyes must have gotten big, because the darling old fashioned key had a key ring identifying it to room number 13!  Really?  Really?  So after he said, are you ok, I said, "yep, that's my favorite number.....how did you know?"

It took CJ explaining how double locks work before we could open the door.  The room was small, but clean.  Had the customary AWESOME german windows we have grown to love and little bathroom with a shower.  We had two big doors that opened to the patio were we could see the beautiful mountains.  We decided that with the effort to get there, we would just go to the dining room for dinner.  We took turns in the bathroom and unpacked a little before dinner.  CJ and I found a slug, unlike any we have ever seen before.  It had horns and armored scales.  (Insert update from one week later...I learned that those horns are actually the slugs eyes, and their name translates to naked snail, because they have no house or shell).

We headed to dinner a the little restaurant and had a great meal.  The Bavarian music was delightful and the food was great.  The couple who owns the hotel does the cooking and serving, but they did a great job.  We went back to our room and had a great nights sleep.......except I realized that somehow I didn't pack any of my medication.  I guess we will figure that out tomorrow.