Okay... so by now we've gotten the hang of getting our train tickets and reading the train schedule. We've also mastered walking to the train station and taking a cab, but we haven't tried driving and parking. It can't be that difficult right? I SAW where the girls in my SNAPS class parked and I watched them use the parking meter (but not very closely), so it won't be bad, right? WRONG. The instructions are in German. We know a little to get us by, but not enough to read the instructions. Well, I figured out how to have the screen read in English, but my only options were standard user or resident user. Ummm... I live in Germany does that mean I'm a resident user or does it mean I want to park overnight? EEEKKK. Okay, okay... at least it's in English. I'll pick standard user. Now what? Hmmm. Uhhhh. I feel like an idiot. I'm glad no one else is waiting to use the machine. Oh, here's the slot to put a credit card in/pull it out quickly... let's try that... okay maybe we don't take it out quickly like every other place. We'll try that again. Put the card in/wait... oh, there we go... now which button to choose: the one with the house? no. the one with the flags? no. okay last chance... the black one? hmmm... the numbers are changing!... okay figured it out YAY! pull the card out... now where's my ticket? Ummmm... Let's try this again at least we know which buttons to push right? Okay card in, flag button for English, other button for amount.... hey, there's a green button here. Should I push it to see what happens? What could go wrong? Cross your fingers... "Transaction Complete. Please remove your card and take your ticket" YAY! we have a parking ticket!!! It only took us 15 minutes to figure it out!! It's a good thing the train to Wurzburg runs about every 30 minutes.
So we're on our way to Wurzburg. No specific plans. We haven't made it to the castle yet, so maybe today is the day. However, it's supposed to be 25 C (77 F) and the castle is HIGH on a hill... so umm, yeah, I'm not so sure my body will take me up there, but we will see. I love Wurzburg for so many reasons, that I don't care what we do. Rick wants to check out the antique shops and maybe find some old books. We heard there's some sort of festival going on so we'll have to check that out too while we're there. When we leave the Bahnhauf (trainstation) the birds are chirping, the sun is shining, it's just a beautiful day in a beautiful city. We stop at my favorite cafe for a quick bite to eat before we head to the marktplatz. There we find venders of all sorts selling pottery, kitchen utensils, cookies, candied nuts, rocks, clothing, fabric, fresh vegetables, etc. I wish these kinds of things were in the states. We just wandered and checked out all of the wares. Elliot's new thing is rocks so we had to stop at the rock place and pick up a couple pieces of "fool's gold" and an amethyst rock for his new collection. Aeris and I looked at the beer steins. From there we just wandered through the city. I've had an "issue" with finding WC's (waterclosets/bathrooms) everywhere I go because I always seem to need one. We stumbled upon a little bar/cafe on a side street. Rick ordered a beer while I found the WC. We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful day while Rick used his phone to find out where the festival was. Rick struck up a conversation with a gentleman at the next table where he began talking about the soldiers that were stationed in Wurzburg back in the 80's. (Rick was a bit bored, but didn't want to be rude). The gentleman was kind enough to give us directions to the festival and we were on our way.
We finally made it to the festival (after getting lost a couple times, but not too lost), and well... ummm.... Is this it? Okay. It reminded me of the Jefferson County Fair, but only smaller. There were a few rides, some games, and a few food vendors arranged in a big circle. Elliot was stoked of course, Aeris was hot and tired from the walk, my bladder was full again, and Rick was just enjoying himself and the beautiful day. We walked in circles until the rides opened. Speaking of rides... there were no lines to get on the ride. You just walk up to the ride with your ticket... (which were plastic and were "recycled") and hop on when the ride stops. It's crazy... Elliot and Aeris got separated their first attempt so Rick had to help them make sure they got on. You could also walk right up to the rides there were no safety railings around the rides. It was really weird. Another weird thing we saw was fish on a stick. Not only did they look disgusting but they smelled it too! I don't know who in their right mind would want to eat that, but evidently someone did or they wouldn't have a shack of Steckerlfisch. EEWWWW is all I have to say. By the time Elliot was done riding rides and playing games, we were all beat red and tired from being in the sun all day.
We headed back to the city center to the vendors and picked up a stein for Nana and then headed to the train station. We were all exhausted lobsters. Poor Rick with his shaved head that was now pink, and Elliot's little cheeks were quite rosey :( Though barely 5:00 we were done for the day. Bye bye Wurzburg... until next time.
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