We took a train from Stuttgart to Munich this past weekend. It was exciting, challenging and fun! The exciting part was that I had never ridden on a train for any distance. Back in kindergarten (a German word by the way) my class rode the train from Yukon to El Reno. But this was so very long ago I only remember the fact that we went, not the actual train ride. I grew up going to the train depot in El Reno (only 2 blocks from my grandparents home). We would walk down there and watch for trains to come by. I would day dream greeting family and friends as they arrived or better yet a porter ready to load my traveling bags as I boarded for some distant city! So this romance with trains has been with me for most of my life. THe challenging part was that everything was in German, the weather was horrible so everything was running late, our train was 1/4 mile long and our wagon was at the other end of the platform and boarding time was not really very clear to us because of the language barrier. The fun part was watching the German country side fly by for 2 hours and not having to worry about the heavy snowfall making the roads treacherous. We rode through some beautiful country, all covered with snow as well as some mountains with gorgeous cedar tress frosted with snow. We saw frozen lakes, fast running rivers, vineyards and of course some graffiti that graced the bridges along the inner city tracks.
The gentle swaying of the train while in motion (even at 220 KPH) reminded me of my backyard hammock. At one point my eyes grew very heavy and I drift off into a sweet sleep. This nap only lasted a few minutes but I woke relaxed and ready to take on our destination city. Needless to say I neglected to get any pictures of the train itself (ICE 516) but next time I am at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) I will take a picture and add it to this post!
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