I left on Friday morning from the train station in Heidelberg. We rode the train as a group the weekend before, but that was fairly easy. This trip, I had 2 train changes, and the trains arrived and left usually about 5 minutes apart. I was a tad nervous about making all of my changes. The first change was in Mannheim, which is about a 9 minute train ride from Heidelberg (on the line that I took). In Mannheim I changed to a train going to Basel, and when I arrived in Mannheim, that train had already arrived and was boarding. Oh, and another thing... none of my trains, on both journeys, were on the same platform. I had to change platforms every time, which only made it more stressful. Also, a note on German train-riding: You can reserve a seat on the train, but you don't have to, and to do so you have to pay extra. I didn't reserve a seat, so I had to find one when I got on the train. But the thing is, a lot of seats are reserved. Which is fine. You can sit in a seat that is reserved until the person that did reserve it comes along and tells you to move. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Unless you don't like confrontation. Then, this whole process makes you pretty nervous. So not only was I trying to catch the right train at the right time, I was also nervous that I would get asked to move by an impatient German. But don't worry, I caught all of my trains, I wasn't asked to move, and Diane Kraines was waiting for me on the platform when I arrived in Schliengen.
Diane took me to a cafe for tea and scones for lunch, since it was quite cold and snowing a little bit when I arrived. The cafe had a gift shop and rose gardens that are beautiful in the summer. The scones and jam were delicious. I'm pretty sure the jam was homemade. I couldn't get enough of it on my scones.
After we finished our tea/coffee and had warmed up a bit, we went the rest of the way to Kandern, which is about 20 minutes from the train station in Schliengen. Diane pointed things out along the way and asked me what I thought so far of Germany. Even though it was cloudy and sort of snowy, it was beautiful. Kandern is nestled right on the south side of the Schwarzwald, so it is in the country-side, away from big cities. It is beautiful. There are hiking trails everywhere. Diane took me to Black Forest Academy, where her husband teaches a World Views class. Their son Carl is a junior there now and Hannah (my roommate at APU) graduated from there. We got to BFA near the end of Russ's free period, so he was able to walk me around a bit and show me the school. I met the string teacher and the principal, and was told several times that when I graduate I should go teach there. I can't imagine how much fun that would be. It would be a wonderful reason to live in Germany :)
During our tour I saw a girl that I met at home over the summer, Melodie. She goes to BFA, but during the summer her dad somehow got a job in Ridgecrest and while they were there, they went to our church. When I first met her and asked her where she was from, we soon discovered that we had people in common, which was funny to both of us. Anyways, I was walking past the ceramics classroom and looked inside, and there she was, so I went in and said hello.
After the tour Russ went back to class and Diane and I went to Penny Mart and then to their apartment. Diane checked some work emails, and I did some reading for a class. I had intended to start studying for a World Civ test, but silly me forgot to take the study guide with me, so I couldn't study very effectively. Instead I read for World Civ, which was a dangerous endeavor, because I nearly fell asleep on the couch. After Russ got home, when it was about 9:10 AM California time, we Skyped with Hannah, which was so wonderful. I haven't yet Skyped with my roommates since being here, so I was so happy to see her lovely face. For dinner we had homemade lasagna that Russ made. It was so good. It was wonderful to have a homemade meal and not have to worry about finishing my drink (because in German restaurants, you don't get free refills). Dinner conversation revolved around Germany, Hannah, and families. Carl and I are both taking German 3 right now, so we talked about learning German for a bit. Spending time with the Kraines' at dinner that night and the next night put Hannah in a bit more of context for me, because I was able to pick up on where bits and pieces of her personality come from. After dinner we decided that on Saturday morning we would check on the weather and then decide where we would go, because we had several options. After that we watched a movie and then headed to bed.
Saturday morning Russ made sausage and French toast for breakfast, which was delicious. I think I had Müsli in addition to that :) We check the weather for the different places that we could go, and found that the town in the Alps they had been thinking of was supposed to have sunny weather, so we decided to go there. Carl had a middle-school drama rehearsal all day, so we dropped him off at BFA on our way out of town and then drove to Adelboden, Switzerland. It was, of course, beautiful. It was about an hour drive to get there, and when we got there the sky was clear and sunny, and the snow glittered all around. It was pretty much exactly what you would expect a town in the Swiss Alps to look like. It was freezing, but it was beautiful. I didn't take my boots with me to Kandern because I wasn't sure what I would be doing and I didn't have room in my backpack, but luckily for me Diane had an extra pair that I was able to borrow. We ate lunch outside of a church with a painting on the outside wall that predated Christopher Columbus. We had simple sandwiches on ciabatta bread, but it was delicious. I had the best pear I've ever tasted. After we finished eating we decided to take a hike up a trail that led up the mountain, behind the city, and then back down. They view of the Alps from there was amazing.
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| First panorama on the way up the mountain. |
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| Second panorama, up a bit further. That, my friends, is the Swiss Alps. |
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| Russ and Diane Kraines. Their beautiful marriage inspires me. |
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| The ski gondola heading back down the mountain |
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| It was honestly a winter wonderland |
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| Vineyards on the hillside. You can see the lake to the right. |
Inside was small, but well lit with natural light.
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| The surrounding town of Spiez |
The trip back to Heidelberg was similar to the trip to Kandern. I had 3 trains, and each time the trains arrived and left from different platforms. On the first change, the stairs going down under the tracks to switch platforms were slippery, and I nearly fell. Luckily I caught myself and there was no fall, but it was a moment of fear. That train hadn't yet arrived when I got to the track, so I had a minute to compose myself. At the next exchange, the train came in on time, and I got to the correct track to find a train there, but it wasn't my train. I figured I had a bit of time, since that train wasn't yet leaving, and my train was supposed to arrive there. I read the screen that gave the information for that train, and it said that that train was running 45 minutes late. I wondered how that was possible, since my train was supposed to be leaving from that track in 10 minutes, so I waited a couple minutes to see what would happen. When I looked back at the next screen, it had changed to say that my train was to be leaving from a different track, which of course was not on the same platform as I was. At this point I had about 2 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave, so I quickly (but carefully, I didn't want a repeat of earlier) made my way down the stairs to get over to the platform, and got on the train that was waiting there, hoping it was the correct train. It was, and about 30 seconds after I got on, it pulled away from the platform. That was my last train, about 10 minutes from Mannheim to Heidelberg. I was so glad to finally be done worrying about connections. The only thing left to do was catch the bus from the train station to the nearest bus stop to the Pension, which was much easier. When I arrived, the big group that travelled to Munich wasn't back yet, so I had time to relax from my trip.
I had a wonderful weekend with the Kraines, and I was so glad that I made the trip. I feel now that I have conquered the train system, and that I can do anything! Hopefully for the remainder of my stay here I don't have trips with such hectic connections!
Grace and Peace,
Suzannah
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