So as I write this blog, I’m on the way to Salzburg from Zurich. Switzerland is beautiful. Its mountains rise high above the train tracks and they are forest green and grass green. Homes scatter the hills, and I’m not sure how people get up and down from them, as I can’t really see any roads. I can only imagine what it is like when it snows.
But, my adventure with Erin wasn’t so serene and relaxing as this train ride to Salzburg has been.(By the way, I just saw a young girl, probably about 16, getting an equestrian lesson. She’s all decked out in the cute helmet and everything. And another interesting note: we have this super chatty large woman with dark hair and super thin bra straps—which I can’t imagine do anything to support her—and she has a daughter and a DOG on the train. And of course, upon their arrival on the train, the dog immediately came up to me with a kiss and stopped at my side asking for a pat on the head. I must still smell like Darcy and Scout. The dog is black and cute. Not small, not big, but the dog smells. My dogs don’t smell.)
Anyway, back to the craziness of the last 24 hours. In St. Louis, our flight was in plenty of time, but because our seats were in the front of the cabin, we boarded last. No big deal, right? Except that people had put their luggage EVERYWHERE. Including our spots. So, there was no room left in the overhead bins. Keep in mind why this was problematic: Erin and I had planned on taking our carry-ons with us everywhere, just in case our checked luggage didn’t make it to Zurich when we did. If we let them take our carry-ons, they weren’t going to be gate checked, though. They’d go through to our final destination…meaning the clothes and things we needed to survive in Salzburg would end up wherever our checked bags did. So, instead of letting them take our bags, we decided to take my huge black and white bag, my laptop bag, and Erin’s two bags with us. We successfully pushed everything under the seats in front of us and thanked our parents that we had the genes to be short; we needed no leg space. Amazing.
By the way, I’m in Bludenz now. And there’s a Kraft plant just off the train tracks. Do you know how out of place this skyline looks? Kraft plant, train tracks, Church steeple, and breath-taking mountains that turn into rocky cliffs at the top stretching up into the clouds…they’re behind a church steeple where I can only see the gold ball hoisting a cross up. Just beautiful. And we picked up a handful of late teens/early 20s boys who have just infused this quiet train car with a bunch of energy and laughing. Too bad Erin in sound asleep next to me.
Anyway, so we successfully made it to Philadelphia in plenty of time with our carry-ons in hand. We board the plane, and after sitting on the plane for 45 minutes to an hour, the captain (who was super nice by the way), explained that there was a problem with the air conditioning. He had good news and bad news for us: bad news was they didn’t have a part in Philadelphia. Good news was that they were just going to take it off another plane. Bad news again: we were going to have to get off the plane for an hour while they fixed it because it was going to get really, really hot in the cabin. Luckily we could leave our bags on the plane if we wanted to, so we grabbed our purses with passports in had and my laptop bag and went off into the terminal in search of food. It was close to 7 p.m EST. Our only option was an Au Bon Pan. I finished off the macaroni and cheese while Erin had a vegetable soup. (And she was surprised that it was good!) Around 8:30 p.m., we finally started to board again. We had to wait for the ground crew that was assigned to us to get back and push us away from the gate. Around 9:30 p.m., I was almost sound asleep as we taxied toward the runway. We were next in line for departure, and then the captain, again totally cool despite his really bad day of being three hours late, tells us that the baggage of someone who had left the plane and was getting rerouted was still on the plane. Due to post-9/11 security issues, we had to go back to the gate so they could retrieve the luggage. Now while I couldn’t believe were getting delayed again, I must admit that I was glad the luggage was being removed instead of thinking it was harmless and having unaccompanied bags blow up my plane. (These are the cynical thoughts I have now that I am married to someone in the military. Thank you, Air Force.)
Also, another random musing from my train ride into the mountains…people in Switzerland actually use the shutters on their houses. And they’re painted all sorts of fun bright colors. I’ve seen shades of green, red, turquoise. And most houses have gorgeous porches that veer off the houses and are decorated with all sorts of pretty colored flowers. I’ve seen every color and type of flower. It’s like you convey your personality through the color of your shutters and flowers. And I’ve seen very few garages. I’m in the mountains, and I’m sure there is a lot of snow here in the winter, but no garages. I guess it shows where priorities are here versus the United States.
So back to our travels…it was probably 10 or even 10:30 p.m. EST before we finally were up in the air. I stayed up to eat my chicken with some sketchy sauce, my potatoes, and carrot cake. I didn’t need the salad and green beans—I had eaten macaroni and cheese. After that, I slept. And I think I actually got a few hours of real sleep after I was able to recline my seat and get my legs comfortable. (Since I’ve been working out, I’ve had an awful time with restless leg syndrome. I just want to clarify. I’m short; it’s not that I didn’t have enough leg room.) I was sort of amazed that I slept and woke up feeling decent considering the last time I flew internationally with Mark we had a super large woman taking up half of his seat and we weren’t able to sleep…which made for a really crabby Teresa in Ireland…until I got the prettiest ring ever.
Ok new side note: it’s kind of scary taking a train up a mountain with nothing but a huge incline on one side of you and rocky cliffs and trees on the other side of you. Erin wouldn’t know this though; she’s sound asleep on her pink pillow and wrapped in her striped blanket from Limited Too.
So obviously, we made it to Zurich with all of our bags. We misunderstood the lady who issued us our tickets and almost missed our train to Salzburg, but we didn’t miss it. I asked Erin to look at the tickets. I thought it was odd that there was a different track than what Erin was saying next to our 14:40 departure time, so we found a nice young woman who spoke English who confirmed that we yes, in fact, were in the wrong place, so we quickly walked and got on our train minutes before it departed from the station.
So now, we’re three hours from being away from Salzburg. We’re inside a mountain for a few minutes, and then we’re not. The buildings all are beautiful, with brightly colored shutters and porches that veer off different sides of the house, and every porch is decorated with beautiful flowers. I think about my sister-in-law Sue, whose family is from here. Sue still has relatives in Switzerland. I think it’s obvious that she has inherited a lot from her Swiss relatives. Many have cute complexions and dark hair like Sue. But what reminds me even more of Sue are the pretty flowers. The front of Sue’s house in St. Louis is full of gorgeous flowers. Every time I drive by on my way to Mary Pat’s, I’m jealous of how pretty her yard looks compared to mine, and I wonder how she is able to keep all of the flowers blooming and looking so beautiful. My train ride in Switzerland gave me the answer: it’s in her blood.
So now I just wait three hours. We have stops in Landuck-Zems and Innsbruck yet before we head to Salzburg. It’s only 10 a.m. at home in St. Louis. My boys, who I haven’t even met, haven’t even started working on their essay test for The Devil in the White City. (Boy, are they going to hate me, by the way. They have SO much work. But, if they played in Moodle like I told them to, they would have learned that ALL of the questions for their potential essay topics are on the webpage. I’m sneaky like that. I wonder how dumb they will feel when I tell them that when we get home.)
I hope I get to see part of Innsbruck from the train. I’d like to go there actually, if we have time, since it’s not far from Garmisch. I do regret not having started my German earlier in the summer. I would have liked to eavesdrop on this crazy large woman and her daughter.
So, I’m looking forward to Salzburg for a number of reason: I get a bed, a place to store my stuff, and hopefully, we’ll find a cyber care so I can upload this post and talk to Mark. Until the next post…I’ll read my book and look out the window at the breath-taking scenery while Erin and the once rowdy boys sleep. Auf Wiedersen.
