The horrific journey continues.. Part 2
Last blog, Tara and Angela were left standing on a deserted train platform in Germany…
We pulled our heavy bags off the platform and onto the road. Erie looking warehouses loomed in the background and a dark, unwelcoming row of houses lined the horizon.
We stopped and thought of our worse case scenario (other than those to horrible to think of): Perhaps we stay the night in this neighborhood and wait till dawn to sort things out. New ticket to London, etc.
I will be entirely honest with you, no icing on this cake: I have never been so frightened in my life. I mean, more than ‘watching a horror film’ scared.. I was IN the film!! Adrenaline pumping, palm sweating, heart racing, brain churning scared!
We had the excellent idea of saying a prayer for safety and guidance. It was decided that we would follow the lights of the track to the next station. We marched down dark streets making turns and periodically stopping to readjust our bags and sometime for me to run ahead and scope the area out. We didn’t want to lug our suitcases down dead ends!
After following a dimly lit footpath for about 2 miles, we found ourselves in what looked like an Industrial Park. There was one building lit, with life within. In the Deutch Post center, women were sorting mail into bins and boxes. I walked to one of the doors and gestured for assistance pointing to my bus itinerary. One woman nodded her head no and pointed to opposite direction. I walked around the building hopping to see a security officer, only to find that we had reached a dead end.
We wheeled down a few more blocks and under a bridge until we came to a school district. I balanced the heavy bag on my largest suitcase to save time. We had already lost one hour and only had one hour left to get to the station! The bags must have weighed at least 90 lbs together!
We spotted a man standing outside of his car. I walked to him and asked if he spoke English. "Nein"
He waved a water bottle and said.. "… Mit einem problem umgehen… ….. wasser… problem.." He pointed to his car, our luggage and his bottle. I assumed he needed to cool down his car and then help us with our problem. (we now had 40 minutes left)
For some reason, we piled into his car. I guess my brain still wasn’t working very well.. because there we were, at 2 am in a rundown, overheated car with a old man who didn’t speak English!!
We passed the sign for our station and zoomed into the city as Tara and I watched his temperature gage soar higher and higher. He finally found an open petrol station and began dumping large amounts of water into his engine. After a few unsuccessful attempts with his car, we unloaded our luggage and watched as he slowly pulled out of the station, steam pouring out of his hood.
Now it was 20 minutes until the bus pulled out of the station, and we were sitting on the curb at a petrol station who-knows-where!
We pulled our heavy bags off the platform and onto the road. Erie looking warehouses loomed in the background and a dark, unwelcoming row of houses lined the horizon.
We stopped and thought of our worse case scenario (other than those to horrible to think of): Perhaps we stay the night in this neighborhood and wait till dawn to sort things out. New ticket to London, etc.
I will be entirely honest with you, no icing on this cake: I have never been so frightened in my life. I mean, more than ‘watching a horror film’ scared.. I was IN the film!! Adrenaline pumping, palm sweating, heart racing, brain churning scared!
We had the excellent idea of saying a prayer for safety and guidance. It was decided that we would follow the lights of the track to the next station. We marched down dark streets making turns and periodically stopping to readjust our bags and sometime for me to run ahead and scope the area out. We didn’t want to lug our suitcases down dead ends!
After following a dimly lit footpath for about 2 miles, we found ourselves in what looked like an Industrial Park. There was one building lit, with life within. In the Deutch Post center, women were sorting mail into bins and boxes. I walked to one of the doors and gestured for assistance pointing to my bus itinerary. One woman nodded her head no and pointed to opposite direction. I walked around the building hopping to see a security officer, only to find that we had reached a dead end.
We wheeled down a few more blocks and under a bridge until we came to a school district. I balanced the heavy bag on my largest suitcase to save time. We had already lost one hour and only had one hour left to get to the station! The bags must have weighed at least 90 lbs together!
We spotted a man standing outside of his car. I walked to him and asked if he spoke English. "Nein"
He waved a water bottle and said.. "… Mit einem problem umgehen… ….. wasser… problem.." He pointed to his car, our luggage and his bottle. I assumed he needed to cool down his car and then help us with our problem. (we now had 40 minutes left)
For some reason, we piled into his car. I guess my brain still wasn’t working very well.. because there we were, at 2 am in a rundown, overheated car with a old man who didn’t speak English!!
We passed the sign for our station and zoomed into the city as Tara and I watched his temperature gage soar higher and higher. He finally found an open petrol station and began dumping large amounts of water into his engine. After a few unsuccessful attempts with his car, we unloaded our luggage and watched as he slowly pulled out of the station, steam pouring out of his hood.
Now it was 20 minutes until the bus pulled out of the station, and we were sitting on the curb at a petrol station who-knows-where!
posted by What's going on?!? at
11:12 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home