Make a run for it!!

6:39 PM  23.Apr.2011
The day started beautifully in Hohenschwangau: clear skies, quiet village ambience & a nice breakfast. Ann and I were on the road to Kempten by 9:00: right on time! We returned the car at Avis with a woman who spoke no English and I'm not sure she understood much, either. Fortunately, there was a gentleman there who was fluent in both languages. He helped the 3 women understand what was transpiring and then walked (yes, walked) us the 5 blocks to the train station. Now, of course, I've not been consuming as much wine as I've been buying, so packed in my wheeled bag are a bottle of Rhein Spaetlese, 2 bottles of Riesling from Hildegard's Abbey, a split of Moet & Chandon Brut and a small bottle of Hildegard's medicinal likor (aka Brandy). I am schlepping with a wheeled bag, a shoulder brief case and a purse up hill and down, under the train tracks (in a tunnel) and then up steep stairs to the ticket area. Ann and I approached the ticket machine, retrieved our tickets and made our way to the platform. In a few minutes, our train comes along, we find our seats and are on our way to Ulm. We make a few stops along the way, but arrive in Ulm on time. We change trains to an Inter-City Express train and fairly fly along from Ulm to Cologne. At one point we clock the train at 248 kph which puts us at 155 mph. Whoooo-hooooooo! We arrive in Cologne 30 minutes late because we had to wait for another train in Frankfurt am Main. Important to know here: we have a 40 minute window to change trains on different platforms in Cologne to head for Paris via Brussels. We've been informed, Ann and I, that the "train boss" is having our connecting train wait for us. We are among a dozen or so people from our car who have connecting trains. We arrive on Platform 4. The train for Paris Nord leaves from the far end on platform 8. Great. A brisk walk with bags in tow, battling the saunterers, gets us on platform 8 within 5 minutes (first we go down the escalator, then under the tracks, then up to 8). However, on the platform, there are people who have all evening to catch a train that hasn't arrived yet. I felt like John Pinette (comedian) trying to get to the Starbucks counter for his first cup of morning coffee: get out of line! Get out of line! As I am trailing this family unit, the young teenaged girl ~ 14 years old ~ decides it might be interesting to see what the skin of the train feels like. She reaches out her left hand just as I begin to make my move on the inside (left) to get ahead of her! Whew! A close call! She pulls back just as I navigate into view. Ann is ahead of me by 15 feet and leaps onto car 28---with 10 other people trying to safely and securely stow their bags (probably also loaded with wine, beer & brandy). This train is much smaller and more crowded than the previous two we've been on today. We make our way to our seats like salmon swimming upstream and kerplop into the row.  We are on the last leg of our 9 hour sojourn to Paris. The train departs the station only 2 minutes late.
As I write this, we are arriving in Brussels. The train stopped in Aachen which is very near where Dad was captured in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. We have had sandwiches, Cokes and peanuts aboard which should satisfy us until Paris. Belgium appears very dreary from the train. Even for Easter Saturday, there aren't many people out and about in Brussels. Wondering about Belgium and it's status within the EU?
Our hotel is near the Eiffel Tower and will be a 20 minute cab ride from the station. Our room should have a view of the Eiffel Tower--that is often left up to interpretation by the purveyors of the inn. We shall see. Tomorrow is Easter. Sunday and Monday are French holidays so looking for food will be a good challenge. We move to the apartment on Monday when Rick joins us. And, oh yeah, that's my birthday, too! :-)
That's all folks!
TTFN
~Nancy