So the public transportation was not on our side at all today. We started out the day planning on meeting at platform 4 to take a train indirectly to Heidelberg. Amy and I both arrived there before the train was at the station and we were waiting for Krista and Erika. 2 minutes before the train leaves at 10:34, I get a call from Erika saying their bus was 15 minutes late and she still has to buy a ticket. Amy and I decide that we can afford to miss this train, so we change platforms to wait for Erika and Krista. This train leaves at 10:43 without us and still no sign of Erika or Krista. We go up the stairs and find both of them trying to get the machine to work and print out a ticket, so that we can catch the next train at 10:47. It finally prints out the ticket and we run to the platform just in time to see that the train has already left. We missed all 3 trains to Heidelberg. A train running at 11:23 would have gotten us to Heidelberg, but Amy's mentor, Jen (who was planning this whole trip for us--going to the castle, having tea, eating schnitzel, etc), called and told us that was a train that would take us straight to Heidelberg. We had to wait around until 11:47 to take this IC (high speed) train. We get on the train, find seats, and relax. We stop at station after station and Krista starts wondering if this is the right train because the stop wasn't listed on the train schedule. A man comes on the intercom in the train and in German says a bunch of random things and then I hear Heidelberg 12:20 (in German). We all assume that it's a stop on the way to Nuremberg (the train's final destination). We all look anxiously at the time as it becomes 12:30 then 12:40...After talking a lot with Jen and trying to find out why our train wasn't stopping, Erika went and asked one of the train attendants who tells her that the next stop is in Crailsheim, 45 minutes away and that Nuremberg in Bavaria is about an hour away (from Pforzheim Nuremberg is a 3 hour train ride). After a lot of discussion and worry, we finally decide to just go all the way to Nuremberg, go sightseeing and exploring there and then return home later.
Nuremberg was an amazing city that was built for tourists. There were fortresses, churches, architecture, museums, festivals, open markets, and anything else that might attract people from everywhere. We walked around and got chocolate, looked at stores, took pictures of the ornate churches, went onto a tall fortress that overlooked the city (gorgeous view and it even had rooftop gardens), played foosball on an extended foosball table and really had a good time. There were even people painted in all silver acting like statues reminding me of San Francisco. We headed back to the train station and left Bavaria at 5:30ish and returned to Pforzheim around 8:30. From there, Krista and Erika got on their bus leaving me to wait with Amy for Melanie's mom to pick her up and then I was going to catch my bus at 9:38. I headed to my bus stop after Amy left and I realized that she had my phone, which wasn't a problem because I was going to see her tomorrow. Soon I realized how bad of an idea that was.
When I got to my bus stop around 9:25 I look at the schedule for the buses and saw that I was mistaken about this bus and that the next and last bus was to come at 11 o'clock. On closer inspection though I found out that wasn't true. Apparently at 11, the bus didn't stop at 3 stations and one of those stations happened to be the one I had to get off at. I had to find, try to translate, and use a pay phone to call Dr. Braun and after a lot of trouble with the phone, but I got a ride back to the house.
After that great adventure, it was about 11 when we got back and we headed to the stables to pick up Annalena. There was a party going on to celebrate the horse competitions that are held this weekend. I got my schnitzel and there was a band playing that had to be American because their English was perfect and according to Dr. Braun, their German was terrible. They played songs from Michael Jackson, Pink, Elvis, and also some German songs. It was fun hanging out their and I got to meet Annalena's friend who has had 9 years of English in school speaks very well. She was extremely nice and we hung out until midnight. Tomorrow, we are going to a Renaissance festival and to explore the monastery, which should be fun. Today was so much fun and quite an adventure.
Hope there are more to come!
~Kiersten
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