At Hutteldorf hostel, woke up too early (5:00am)-- had my cell phone alarm set for 5:30am. Still got six hours of sleep anyway. Made sure to take cell phone to bathroom so it wouldn't go off in room and disturb others. Got dressed and got all my stuff ready to go. Went down to lobby and used one of the free internet terminals to try to add $$ to my cell phone. Too complicated! It would have to wait, although battery and minutes were low. Finnish gent was on the other free terminal and Japanese guy was using his own laptop.
Realized three things were immediately wrong this morning: 1--Breakfast started at 6:30am, not 6:00am (which I thought), so I felt I needed to skip it, not having enough time. 2-- My intestinal track was really hurting, but I didn't think I'd have the runs because I had already emptied my bowels as much as possible. 3-- I hadn't validated the second 24 hour commuter train pass when I should have and it was too late to do anything about that, so I would need to buy another for $8. Would have been too confusing for me to buy the two single tickets I needed to get to the train station.
Checked out of hostel. The “U” ride was easy-- plenty of seats were available but I was feeling terrible. Got to train station and drank one of the two half liter bottles of cola I bought at a market. Still didn't feel better. Studied the "big board" and the train car arrangements for all trains that day-- very thorough and understandable. There were some announcements in English, but were hard to hear due to acoustics of the station.
Went outside in the cold when my train arrived-- wanted plenty of time to find my seat-- no problem. It was a second class reserved seat, better than any airline coach seat. Nobody sat next to me, so I could lay things out on the other seat and easily get organized. My itinerary for this leg of the trip (Vienna to Passau, Germany) was electronically listed above me next to my seat number! Had the second cola and now I’m feeling normal.
Packed five pens for the trip. Managed to lose a couple and two dried out on me. Was down to my last pen and damn if it didn’t poop out on me now! Arrived Passau-- cold, overcast and threatening rain. My plan was to eat lunch on this two hour layover, but I saw an internet center at the train station, so I spent an hour on the internet instead.
Needed a pen. Had to borrow one from an Asian lady. When she got up to leave, she asked for it back and I offered to buy it from her. She said to keep it! Glad I didn't go out to try to find a restaurant because it started to rain cats and dogs for five minutes while I would have been on the street. Still had time for a beer at train station.
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It’s time for a couple anecdotes...
Anecdote #1:
A day before in Hutteldorf, I was shopping in a market at 7:40pm and was discovered by a clerk who said “we are closing”. I said, “you close in 20 minutes”. I said it as a statement (figuring 8:00pm was closing time), rather than a question, since she did not say “we are CLOSED”. I was wrong. In answer to my incorrect statement, the clerk summoned a great deal of outrage and very forcefully said, “OH NO-- we closed 10 minutes ago!” Fortunately, they allowed me to purchase the items I had already chosen before throwing me out.
Anecdote #2:
It is July of 1991 and I am traveling with a college group in vans and we decide to pull our caravan over to side of the road somewhere in Bavaria. There is a sign that says quite clearly in German, “No Parking”. We know what it says, but we reason that we are merely “stopping”. Several concerned citizens take the trouble to make it quite clear that we are not supposed to be where we are. We are only there for 15 minutes!
These anecdotes are all to simply show that German speakers seem to take their rules and prohibitions very seriously. Individuals can get personally upset over infractions. Any sign you see in German, ending in an exclamation point, usually means something is prohibited!!
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Getting back to the train station in Passau, Germany--
Without any trouble I found the next train which would take me to Regensburg-- guess I have trains all figured out by now. Arrived Regensburg, where it was cold, threatening and sometimes raining the rest of the day-- crap!! Got totally wrong directions to my guesthouse from a teenage boy. Should have gotten a map. Took me an hour to get to my room when it could have taken 10 minutes.
However, I got to see a lot of the city (the altstadt) in the process. Bought some more combs and four pens at the German equivalent of a 99 cent store (the 1 Euro Store). Now I once again had five pens! Finally found a visitor's center and got a map and verbal directions to my guesthouse. Room was very spartan but clean, with two beds, but no fan, no TV and no phone.
There are only three rooms to guesthouse and one private bathroom, shared by all three rooms. Proprietor's main job is running a small convenience store (which they call a "supermarket!") on the ground floor and he is available only from 7:00am to closing at 6:00pm. There was a problem with the key. He had to get a locksmith to make a new one-- but locksmith was not immediately available.
Proprietor promised to have it ready by 6:00pm, so I went for dinner to the restaurant he recommended that had "genuine Bavarian fare". Young waitress spoke some English but had trouble describing the menu, so I basically guessed at what I ordered. It was decent and filling, but not quite what I would have liked. Along with a fine local beer, that was my only meal of the day.
A very crappy day weatherwise. The key was made and required much study to figure out how it worked in the lock-- just like in Budapest it had a very old-fashioned lock style. This lock was positively medieval as are the streets in the altstadt, which is the area of interest to tourists. Compass and map were a must.
It was very difficult to figure out where vehicles were allowed, even in very narrow alleys. Had to move to the side up against buildings to let vehicles through. Retired to room as it got dark, then discovered that I misplaced the U.S. to European electrical converter for cell phone charger. Boy, was I pissed! Started pouring rain-- 8:45pm.
Didn't meet or see the others I was sharing the bathroom with. One room had loud, rowdy German speakers who didn't stop until 11:00pm. That time, I would later find out, is the “magic hour” for quiet. I think I heard quieter English speakers in the other room. Someone tried to open my locked door twice. This was NOT GOOD! Bathroom sharing was very awkward, so I just waited until they all seemed to be finished and got in and worked as fast as I could.
--END 5 JULY--
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