Uhhhh

Okay, so even though it's New Years Eve, my energy tank is at zero.
Erik and I left Paris yesterday, which was a tragedy in itself. I wasn't nearly ready to leave, and I know that Paris was sad to see me go. We shared so much in common- fig spread, love of baguettes, beautiful streets, eloquent architecture, and sweets.

We were off to Germany, and I had to make a conscious effort to put my best foot forward for our next journey. TEN HOURS on the train should be plenty of time to reflect, remember, and want it to happen all over again. Amidst my mulling and heavy thinking, I forgot to get our lunches in order. Our stomaches were literally talking to us by the 5th hour of the ride, and at six o'clock the gargling was enough to start a chorus.

In between switching trains we had an extra ten minutes and decided it would be the perfect length of time to get a sandwich. We went to the deli in the train station, and I prepared to order a sandwich in my best point and nod form.

And what I heard was, Einz Dinez huich muchin.Blank stare. Ohkkkkay, well, you don't speak English, and I don't speak German. Hmm.. Okay, so with minimal to no translation I ended up with a glorious crab... egg?... alfalfa...swiss sandwich. HAAHAHAHAHA. Oh blessed are interlingual transactions. Who couldn't laugh, what was this monstrosity I just ordered?!

This mattered little since the choir in my stomach was in full session, I knew this sandwich had about 30 seconds of life left anyway. So, we take the stairs and a few hallways up to platform 1, and see a sign for Amsterdam at the time we were suppose to be leaving. Panic crept in quickly, and I ran to the train board. I checked my watch, our train was leaving at 6:33, and it was now 6:30. We were actually suppose to be on platform 2. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

It was like Home Alone slow motion airport run. I am at the train board, look at Erik and scream RUUUUUUUHHHNNNNNNNNN. I grab two of his bags, both of mine, take my baguette and dart down the escalator. I left a path of destruction worse than a .7 earth quake. Down with trash cans, bumped into strollers, egg flying everywhere, crab meat smashing my face, and 100 lbs of luggage bouncing around. EYES ON THE PRIZE. My 4x4 bubble was reaching menacing proportions as I barreled up our new escalator. Yup, sorry. Yup, AHH, sorry, can't care right now!

We JUST made it to our new train. I think we both slipped in as the door closed. You've got to be kidding me.

In between our next stop, all this commotion caused my chocolate fix to present itself. GREAT TIMING. Alright, so I bought a box of caramel chocolate graham cookies that were DELICIOUS. So delicious in fact, that I ate around 5 of them. No biggy I deserve them, we just had a pretty intense experience.

Our arrival in Koln was met with rain, which at the is point, does not phase us. We looked at the map, consulted our directions, and planned on the 30 minute walk going without a hitch. Well ONE, JUST ONE wrong turn, and we were FORTY FIVE minutes out of our way. I was ready to cry. We were beyond lost, and the part of town we lost ourselves in was clearly not the tourist part, because there were no maps. Great. Well, maybe if we could just find a street sign. Oh, you only mark 1 in 5 of your streets? Alright, time out. In all my despair, I took off my pack and had a melt down. Nope, we need a minute here. Deep breaths... and cookies. I wolfed down the WHOLE box of cookies, 'oh we're so lost'..crunch, crunch, crunch... 'this is HORRIBLE' crunch.. crunch.. I looked down in disbelief. Yes, Madeline. This was all you. You stressed out an entire box of cookies. TALENT, my dear. My sugar high enticed me to get proactive, and quickly. Per the help of 6 strangers, we were kindly direct to our hostel.


We have never had a walk that long with our packs, and when we reached our hostel I was so full off of sugar and rando sub that I was perfectly content. It helped that this is the most beautiful and well kept place that we've stayed at this far, so we'll just consider that tit for tat.

Now that Koln knows how badly we want to be here, hopefully she can ring in the New Year with a free map and some good wine.