AAAHHHH!!!
My vacation is going well so far. Bad Bramstedt was good. Got to see Veronica, whom I hadn't seen in eight years. And Kirstin told me about this party on July 30th, where all the kids I knew back then are coming. Sort of a reunion thing. So, I'm hoping to surprise everyone and show up unannounced. Should be fun. Flensburg was also good. Ungodly hot and humid however, so I didn't do a lot. I mean, I was out and about, but always looking for a place to sit down and rest. Sweat like you wouldn't believe. Yuck.
Bonn was good as well. But I brought the rain from Flensburg. Of course, in FL is was needed in a desparate manner. But my three days in Bonn were soggy to say the least. Michelle had to work during the day, so I hung around, went into the city, we saw a movie (A Lot Like Love - extremely cute), had coffee, I bought a couple books. Then on Friday, I went with Michelle to her grandparents house. In the country, where they speak with a dialect. Although, I can understand them. Then it was off to Traunstein.
Way down by Austria, in the mountains, almost a different country as far as language and customs go. My train ride was uneventful and boring actually. Then I get off the train in Traunstein. No Theresa. Ok, maybe she's running late. Half an hour goes by. Hmmm... I wonder if I got off at the right place. Check it out. Yep, right place. Still no Theresa. Been waiting around an hour. Call Kirstin in FL, to see if she can check my email for me. Nope, she's at the beach b/c of the wonderful weather up there. K, I call Hauke. He's at home and turns his computer on for me. Checks it out. Theresa has sent me an email, which I couldn't check in Bonn. No telephone number, but nothing about picking me up either. Uh oh. Now I start to worry. None of the telephone booths have books in them. I go across the street to ask for a telephone book, but I can't remember where she lives. But I knew she lived in a small village outside of Traunstein. So, I'm checking all the Thalers (her last name). It's like checking for Changs in the SF phone book. I give up. I'm hungry, tired, worried and almost freaking out.
I ask one of the taxi drivers to help me out. He suggests I go to the police station. Sure, if anyone can find someone it's the police. It's now 11.30 at night. Five Euros later, I'm giving my story to a police officer. He asks to see my ID. Shit. Don't have my passport with me. Doesn't matter, he takes my CA drivers license. :) He was really cool and relaxed about it all. Whereas I'm starting to lose it. Meanwhile, Hauke is still checking my email. He calls me, the hero that he is, and gives me Theresa's phone numbers. I don't know how he did it, but I was elated. Finally, some kind of proof that I wasn't some crazy person looking for a needle in a haystack. From the area code, the police officer figures out which little surrounding village she lives in. So I call the number, but no one picks up. Crap.
So, the police officer asks me to sit down and he takes over. He calls a neighbor. They say that Theresa is over at this other person's place to celebrate a birthday. Well, atleast she's alive and not off in some other part of Germany. So, he calls the house where the party is. He then gets Theresa on the phone and I get a chance to talk to her. She's amazed that I'm in Traunstein b/c she thought I wasn't coming until the 13th. Total misunderstanding on both our parts, but either way I'm calmed down and put at ease. She comes to pick me up and takes me back to the party she was at. I meet a couple of her friends, have a rum and coke (which makes me very tipsy since I hadn't had anything to eat), we get back to her house and I fall fast asleep in a big bed.
And I lived happily ever after.
Cheers - here's hoping that Berlin gives me nothing but nothing!