Lost. (part 5 of the chronicles)

*this is a continuation of my true-life Dear John story.  if you missed the first 4 parts, visit the tab above labeled, "The Germany Chronicles"*

If there was a ever a time when I wanted a train to stop and turn around, it was at this moment.  Where is the emergency brake?!  This can't be possible...I can't handle leaving him like this!  

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Our journey was far from being over.  

After the train left the station, the dread I felt about leaving Matthias was gone.  I had a peace about how the relationship had happened and where we had left things.  Granted, Matthias was in a totally different stage in life than I was.  But at 16, having this guy express interest in me was well, perfect.

Our groups proceed to find our sleeper rooms - each with 6 beds in them!  That night was going to be an adventure, in more ways than one.  In my room, it was quite difficult to squeeze 6 large suitcases and 6 women with backpacks.  It worked...and we proceed to get ready to sleep for our journey to Munich.  For me, this meant I took off my tennis shoes, changed into my red valentine boxers, and got a picture of the only time I would be in my triple-top bunk bed.  To this day, I still have no idea where that picture went.

A view of the sleeper rooms - this was not my room.  It's just to give you an idea about the size.

After taking this picture, a few of the older ladies wanted to discuss my "circumstances" in the dining car.  Another girl on the trip, G, had similar circumstances...so she joined us as well.  We all order hot chocolate from the wait-person and dive right in.  These older ladies wanted to know what had happened over the last 8 days with these German boys!  As we indulged them with details about what happened, how we felt, and what we intended to do after we got back to America, the train slowly made progress.  We would travel for a while, and then we would stop to allow passengers on and off.

At one of these stops, we noticed how long we had been waiting to start up again.  All the while, we keep talking.  After leaving our abnormally long stop, we decide that since it is maybe after 1 in the morning, we should find our beds and try to get some sleep before we arrive at our destination.  We leave the dining car, which contained 2 other guys from our team, and head back to find our car and eventually, our bed.  We go through train car after train car with no success.  We go back to the dining car and mention it to the other 2 guys...and they go looking.  When they arrive back, we know something is terribly wrong.

We try to communicate with the wait-person in the dining car, but it turns out he does not speak English, and none of us speak German well enough to converse.  Interesting.  What do we do now?  

Eventually, after wondering around trying to find a person who might speak English, we find a train engineer who speaks perfect English!  It was a huge relief.  Once we find out that we have indeed switched trains and are now on our way to the West side of Germany as opposed to the Southern side, unbelief set in.  I had on a tshirt, boxers, and socks.  Luckily, I still had my passport on me, but not everyone in the 6 of us did.  Huh.  This is crazy.  

I'm pretty sure I never panicked.  I thought the situation was kinda fun.  Our little group of 6 went on the "scenic tour" to get to our final destination...which means more adventure!

This English-speaking engineer helped us figure out where to go and even helped us figure out a way to meet our group in Munich, after a stop in Cologne.  Want to know a perk?  We got to ride the fastest train in Europe for FREE!  How many people have done that?  I'm one of them.

We found out later that one of the other adult leaders had woken up about the same time that we realized we were on the wrong train.  God had this situation in His hands the whole time.  I was never worried.

We finally arrived to Munich, about an hour after the rest of our group.  They had a stressful event getting all of our belongings off the train as it was stopped, but they managed it marvelously!  After we got the chance to change out of our pjs, we went on our way to become tourists. 

The morning after getting "lost" in Germany.  

Over the next day and half, we visited a castle, went to Dachou concentration camp, and got to wonder around and absorb Munich for the city that it is.  

Neuschwanstein Castle.

Dachou concentration camp.  This picture shows where the old barracks used to be before they were torn down.

The bathroom at Dachou for the prisoners.

The washroom.

During our stay in Munich, my mind was only half there.  I kept wanting to search for his familiar face...I wanted him to be with us.  However, I was strangely at peace in my heart about leaving and going back home.

The last night in Munich.

Sometimes, fairy tales do come true.