Trains

Augsburg HBF: Train Stration

So, I’m writing this entry on the second leg of my train ride for the day but we’ll get back to that. Obviously, I have been waiting for the next chance at my dream. I finally got it. Today I have left for Gelsenchirken, the home of Schalke 04. While there, I will be training with the second team of this German giant. Schalke sits in 1^st place in the Bundesliga, and has made all the right moves to become Deustchemeister this year: Talent across the board, new coach who is a year off of leading his precious team to it’s first Bundesliga title…and bringing me in..no I’m totally kidding about that last part…however, Schalke is the real deal. I was at Bernd’s house yesterday eating dinner when we finally got the call from a family friend, Andreas to come up. After saying good-bye for the second time in a week, I was at my aunts. (BTW Baumgartner family..I will be back…I need to fly out of Munich when all is said and done…and besides, I left a bunch of stuff at Amparos.) It has been a hectic 12 hours but, it’s all for this. I will be training at least Tuesday and Thursday, who knows if I’ll be here later than that…but we can dream…I will be updating on the trainings throughout the week. Anywho: I began my day around 8 a.m after failing to be able to sleep at peace. Upon finally falling asleep after a massive headache I had at night. the family cat, Rico, constantly was running around the room, jumping on the bed and clawing at my sheet covered arms…not to mention I actually woke up shivering from the lack of heat in the late-August air. Anyways, after waking up at the said time, I went to go lay down again for a split second before my intended wake up of 9:30 only to land on the bed to a crashing noise. Yes, I broke the bed…must be the pretzels I’ve been eating day and night. I headed to the train station around 11 to recharge my cell phone minutes and arrive with enough time to not freak about missing my 12:03 departure time. Needless to say, we arrived with plenty of time. Just some dude as we whizz on by.

I jumped onto ICE 518. The ICE, Inter-City Express Trains, are awesome. They are the type of trains you see on Japanese ingenuity advertisements. You know, the trains that go 1,000 miles in 3 seconds. Well, actually I only saw the train reach 180 MPH, but still pretty sweet. The ride is incredibly smooth, another testament to German engineering. The first leg took just over 2 hours and I arrived in Mannheim with minutes to reach my next train, a simple EC 100 Ride. This train is similar to the train I wrote about in a previous blog, still incredibly smooth, just nowhere near as fast. However, as the views were nice, there are nowhere as nice as I have had on the second leg. We have been riding along a winding river the entire way on our voyage towards Koln. Castles, classic churches and prestine villages line the green water. Summer is definitely evident in Germany today. Tons of tourist boats find their ay through the water, bestowing great views upon each guest…Think it’s time to take a break, I’ll continue when I reach Koln and switch trains. Some of the views:

So I've just made my first mistake, let’s hope that it is my only one (update: It was!). The time window for my switch between the 2^nd and 3^rd train was only 5 min…not that the stations are big, but obviously you worry a bit when you are in a uncomfortable situation. I raced over to the gate, seeing that my window had been shortened and found another ICE train waiting for me with the train call number. I boarded, read the overhead message and was immediately confused. I said “Please do not board.” Abiding by the rules, I left the train and waited for another train to come. Waiting for 3 minutes as the train cleared, I expected another to come the same way. None did, rather another on the same track went the other way…well that was my train. Now I am on another commuter train heading to the same destination, however, I don’t know when I will be arriving….I had to race over because I only had 2 minutes to jump on this one and eventually make my way over. I think I should be arriving 20 minutes later…let’s only hope. I do not want to put my hosts more out of their way than they already are. I guess I will just sit here, listen to music and wait for the train voice to tell me, “Next Stop: Haggen HBF.” PUMPKINS!Once again: The train system here is truly remarkable…Not only are the train a hell of a lot smoother and newer than Chicago’s transit…the are cleaner, and even have bathrooms and garbage cans…It doesn’t hurt to not have drunken Hobo’s wandering around peeing on the floor…than again it’s not 3am..who knows what goes on in Germanys railway at that hour. So, I’m off the train and headed to my next destination…now to finally meet Bianca, Luca, Leon and Andreas. I walk off the train to see two people greeting me. Bianca and Leon...it is an immediate notion of what this family is like. Bianca is a very nice woman and it's immediately seen in the kindess of her smile. Leon is the families eldest son and loves life, and loves talking. When we got to the house, he took me on a 20 minutes walk around the woods in their back yard hills...reminded me a whole lot of the house I grew up in...child's paradise. Upon arriving, the fmailies younges, Luca, introduced himself and we went inside to finally meet Andreas. One again, two of the nicest people, and I could tell that my Dad acknoledged that they were "good people." The boys and I played some soccer in the back for maybe 20 minutes and then dinner was served. Ian, a family friend was with us. I knew that Ian was a professional hockey player from Canada, same with Andreas (from germany)...but I didn't realize what past this guy had. He had played in the world championships and NHL in the mid 80's with guys like Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey, just to name a few..very cool...also he was an incredibly nice guy. Anyways, after dinner my Mom and I had a nice skype chat...yes, My mom is on Skype...it was good to see her face for the first time in months...hopefully my Dad can come home and join the party too...
Anyways, I should probably head to bed seeing as tomorrow is a big day...Gooodnight all, talk to you soon!

Mein Ticket

Ciao,
Brian