One Strap Wonder Along the Rhine

Anne and I took a small detour on our way to destination #2: Heidelberg, Germany. We wanted to explore a couple of cities along the Rhine river and decided to head over on the train to St. Goar, a tiny little town that had a castle at the top of a hill. We had to switch trains about halfway through the trek, and we had timed it just perfectly (or so we thought). It was just rushed enough so that we had to run towards the train exit, jump off the sliding door, and run across the platform to catch our connection. I slung my backpack over one shoulder, and as I jumped out of the train I felt something jerk me to the ground; suddenly I found myself hitting the ground of the train platform, and saw Anne look behind to see what had caused such a commotion. I watched as her face register, and subsequently mirror, my panic. 

"Stay calm," I thought. I grabbed my backpack from one strap and gasped as I realized one of the straps had been torn from the rest of the pack. It was becoming more difficult to stay calm as I heard our train's whistle signal the ten second warning (side note: garden path sentence!). It was time to panic and cry or get up and deal with small fires. "Small fires", I thought, as I picked up my backpack baby-style, cradling in my arms. I was briefly transported back to my graduate school days where it was all about putting out small fires, emphasis on briefly. Those days are over! 

Once on the train and on our way to our first Rhine village, Anne and I took about five minutes to panic about our current dilemma. I don't even know how the strap tore off; were the stitches loosely woven? Did the weight of my contents loosen the straps? Was I going to have to carry my backpack for the rest of my trip?? Was my backpack going to slowly fall apart??? Suddenly, I experienced an epiphany, the type I have been working on for the past few months. 

"No big deal," I thought, realizing there was absolutely nothing I could do at that exact moment to remedy the situation, and I could either choose to dwell on my entire trip being ruined due to my clumsiness, or I could choose to focus on the fact that I am halfway around the world on an adventure of a lifetime and this little dilemma was only another tiny bump on the road. I decided to ask at St. Goar if there was a tailor or someone who could fix the pack. Then, I made myself enjoy the ride over, which included stunning views of the Rhine river, tiny villages that popped up over rolling meadows, and even a few horses grazing over lovely pastures. 

We arrived at St. Goar and I hoisted the backpack onto my arms like a platter, making my way down to the information center slowly. The people there were kind enough to let us keep our packs at the center while we explored the town, and I for one was thankful not to have to lug that backpack around all day.  We walked from the base of St. Goar to the Rheinfels castle up on one of its hills. There was a tram we could take up the road, but Anne and I decided to walk up the road through the flowery hills. We may or may not have created our own pathways as we hiked up to Schloss Rheinfels! 

Exploring the castle was such a great experience! Anne had brought a guide book so we were able to learn a little bit about each part of the castle. We were lucky to run into a group of tourists who were traveling with a Rick Steeve's tour guide, and because Anne had been spotted with her tour book, we were allowed to tag along for most of the tour. The guided tour sounded a lot like Anne's book, and as we preferred to go at our own pace, we soon decided to ditch the group and explore on our own. I didn't know that cannon balls were so difficult to replace; the castle had soldiers who were specifically in charge of retrieving the cannon balls from wherever they ended up. So resourceful! We also spotted a group of German children on what we assumed was a field trip. They tagged alongside us as we tagged along the guided tour and spoke very loudly in German. Anne and I both thought they were being quite inconsiderate, especially since it seemed they were playing tag and being loud while running back and forth through the tour group. 

"Wenn der Mann spricht, sollen Sie alle ruhig sein," I looked at their faces as they registered shock hearing my reprimand about keeping quiet. Anne and I giggled as they ran away, and we didn't see them again until we were leaving the castle. On our way back I remembered the trouble at the train station. It wasn't easy to keep my backpack dilemma off my mind; not only did I have to carry it from the train stop to St. Goar, I also had to carry it in my very peculiar way getting on the Cologne-Düsseldorf ferry down to the town of Bacharach, also on the Rhine.  It was nice to have the backpack resting on the boat's wooden floor rather than on me!  The ride down to Bacharach was so lovely, similar to the train ride where villages dotted the river bank. The slower pace of the boat gave us more time to have a look at the villages and read about them from Anne's book. She is quite the tour guide, and I appreciate her bringing the book to have us browse during our self-tours. 

We didn't spend too long at Bacharach. Once off the boat at this small village, we sought out a bakery and Anne bought me a special day treat, a treat I savored following Frau Pohl's recommendation. It was a sweet pastry that was part cheesecake and part gelatin infused fruit. I enjoyed every single bite of that treat. Anne and I were both finally feeling the exhaustion of thirteen hours of travel and a sudden nine-hour jet lag. We retrieved our backpacks and made our way slowly to the train station at Bacharach, finally headed for our first multiple-day destination: Heidelberg. I cannot describe how much fatigue and pain I felt as we walked up the cobblestone streets the entire seven-minute journey to the train station. When I saw a flight of stairs we had to walk down (and subsequently up!) to get onto the indicated platform, I almost dropped my backpack and made a rash decision to spend an entire month in the beautiful town of Bacharach. 

Boy, am I glad I kept walking. Once on the train over to Heidelberg, I enjoyed the best nap I have ever taken. Complete with tuning out everyone and everything to the point of waking up just as the conductor announced in very rapid German that we had to exit the train and make a unprecedented transfer one city before our destination. I woke Anne up and we rushed out of train, me and my baby backpack as I began to call it after the way I managed to hold it. We boarded the next train and finally made our way to European city (previously #2, however now rerouted as) #5: Heidelberg, Germany. 

Anne and I became trailblazers as we took a less traveled path up to the castle in St. Goar. 

This is a page out of a manual we came up on at St. Goar's castle. For some reason, it reminded me of my friend, Mike, and the doodles he would create on notes during class and notecards for exams.

Castles and churches, they really do abound in these little towns. Every one is different, a different degree of preservation, different purposes, different types of people living there throughout various time periods...

I will forever remember this scrumptious Himbeer pastry! The only thing that holds an even fonder place in my memories from today is:

Frau Pohl! She is the first person to wish me well on such a special day. Even better, it was auf Deutsch! She explained how she made her pastries, which parts were prepared the evening before and which ones had to be done right before placing the pastries up for sale. I learned a great deal from Frau Pohl, and she welcomed me back to Bacharach as a baker's apprentice. I will admit I am very much considering this offer!

This last picture is me enjoying life despite everything that I have expereinced these last few years. "For I have learned to be content in whatsoever state I am in" is finally ringing true for this traveler. Also, I am learning new things about myself everyday here in Europe. Exhibit A: I enjoy climbing onto peculiar places to enjoy views such as the one above, about 15 meters above the ground. Yes, I am being careful!

 

Bis später!