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Published: August 5th 2008
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Nieder-Moos!!!
I was so excited to head to Germany because my dear friend Jessica is spending 6 weeks in Weimar, and after a quick chat, we realized that it would be easy enough for her to take the train to Nieder-Moos and come stay with us for the 2 days we were there.
We arrived in Frankfurt to no luggage. Not bad, considering we've been on the road since the beginning of May and it's the first time this happened. There were 2 vehicles waiting to take us to Nieder-Moos, which was about an hour away. The airline told us that the luggage would be arriving on the next plane...so Chuck and Joe decided to stay and wait to pick up the luggage at the airport (who knew when it would arrive in Nieder-Moos otherwise) and the rest of us went in the van to the hotel.
When we got to Nieder-Moos there was a lot of stuff explained....like why I could never really find the town on the map! It consisted of maybe 10 houses and a huge church and a hotel, and one more building that we didn't know what it was.
I went up
to the room to put our stuff down, and I tried to call Jess...but her phone was off. I had asked where the train station was and the man absolutely laughed at me, saying that there was no train station. I went and double checked email....and sure enough, Jess said that she'd be in at 5:05 at the Nieder-Moos Kirchen stop.
I took this info back downstairs, and the man at the reception (who spoke next to no English) told me to go to the bus stop. That THAT is where she was arriving at 5:05. The bus stop is next to the church...so I followed the view of the steeple to the church, and waited at the bus stop for a half an hour. I kept trying to call Jess but there was no answer! I finally decided that I should go back to the hotel when it started to downpour. I went back, and talked to the guy at the reception again, and I described what she looked like, and said that he please needed to let me know if he heard anything from her at all!
I was just going back up to the room,
when I looked out the window...and who did I see walking in the rain but MB. Who was MB with? Jessica!!!!! It turned out that her ordeal was even greater than mine in figuring out how to get to Nieder-Moos. She got as far as the train would take her, and then figured out that the next ticket she had was for a bus...so she got a bus, and then got out at the stop she was supposed to get out at to transfer to the next bus. When she got to that next stop, she read something in her very broken German that said "Call a taxi." WHAT? At this point she's literally in the middle of nowhere, and her phone is working, and she is told to "call a taxi." Whoops! Nice system that the Bahn train website has, eh?
So...she asked a random man walking by if he could help her. He asked her where she was going (while she was standing in the cold rain), and then he disappeared. So now Jess thinks that she's stuck in the country and her only help has disappeared. Well...10 minutes later, the man returns with keys and his
car. He opens the trunk and tells her to get in. He gives her a ride! He speaks no English, and she speaks no German....so I'm sure the car ride was pretty silent.
He dropped her off at the church, and said goodbye. If you're reading this Billy..thanks! 😊
So from here, Jessica just kept looking around town, waiting to see if she could find the one hotel. She had her little German dictionary with her (this ended up coming in handy later...I'll explain later), and finally she ended up at the hotel. I guess at this point, she talked to the guy at reception, who told her we were in room 45. Well...actually, I was waiting at the bus station when she was knocking on my door. She also knocked on MB's door across the hall by accident. Thank GOODNESS! So, at this point, MB knew I was out looking for Jess, and so they left too to try and find me. The only thing I still can't put together is why the reception guy never told me that he had already talked to Jess and that she was here in the town. This way I wouldn't
have been panicking nearly as much!
It was so great to see Jess and know that she got there okay! We had a couple of "radler" which is half beer, half sparkling lemonade (a German specialty) and had some schnitzel for dinner. At dinner, Jessica was telling us how she had been pulling out her mini dictionary and translating all the writing on the buildings in Nieder- Moos. She told us that we had a bowling alley across the street. We all kind of laughed at her, because how could a town with just 10 or so buildings in it have a bowling alley? Well...sure enough, it DID! The alley became our hang out for the rest of our time in Germany.
Day 2 in Nieder-Moos was wonderful. We woke up for breakfast, and then decided to take a walk and see what we could find. We heard that there was a cafe down the road. So...Jess and I kept following the signs, past the farms, past the horses, past the highway, and we found a cafe! It had just opened for lunch, so we had some coffee, enjoyed the sun, and caught up! We hadn't seen each
other in 2 months...which has been tough, as we usually talk every day!
After our coffee, we explored some more...we found a beautiful lake, a trailer park, and an incredible restaurant, where we had sausages. Mmmmmmm!!!
We eventually made our way back to the hotel with time for a nap, some more bowling, and dinner before the Canadian Brass concert. Once again, the concert was sold out with a huge standing ovation at the end. It makes me so happy to be at these concerts....they are SO fun!
Well...after the concert, we had to have a little more bowling, before going back to the hotel for some z's before our 7am pickup!
It was SOOO wonderful to see Jess and hang with her. We had such a wonderful time! Don't worry, she got back to Weimar without any problems. Canadian Brass' German friend Iris was kind enough to give Jess a ride back to the train station. No hitch hiking this time!!!!
Next stop, Austria!
Enjoy the pictures.
Love,
Nina (and Jeff)
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Mom Diane
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What fun!
Hi! Glad you caught up with your friend! I love Germany, but yes, it's hard to find English there..... Great photos Nina!