Friday was one of the longest days I've ever had. I woke up at 4am and was out the door by 4:18am to catch a bus to the train station and returned back at 11:27pm the same night. Here are a few excerpts from my journal sprinkled throughout the story...when I travel alone I write copious amounts, because as you may have guessed, I enjoy talking and since I would look really funny talking to myself...I write!
"Traveling is so humbling. I must just laugh at how stupid I look-honestly, I have no idea what is going on."
On the way there, the conductor woke me up to check my ticket and she tried to explain that the train stops and everyone boards a bus and they take us to another station to carry on the way, but I was exhausted and could not comprehend what I was supposed to do. By the grace of God I made it to the bus and then back to the train. "Ok, I'm back on the train-praise you Lord! I just saw a strange new animal-it looked like an over-sized rabbit..."
At first I was a bit perturbed because I was not able to sleep on the way to my first connection, but when I realized how absolutely stunning the Czech Republic is. I sat and stared out the window the rest of the way to Ceske Budejovice. "The Czech Republic is absolutely beautiful, but I get so confused because there is one style of church tower that I have seen in possibly every city I go to."
I barely made my train connection in Ceske Budejovice. God is so good at guiding me in the right direction. I was able to snag my own cabin and simply gawk at God's masterpiece. As I was staring out the window, I was suddenly struck by what stood before me. "I just found the Alps! Oh my goodness!" At this point I was almost hyperventilating with excitement. "They appear as an army in the faded distance. Barely visible, but breathtakingly huge! And now they've gone. Oh, they're back. I don't know if I'm just tired or what, but I can't get over how beautiful it is. This is the perfect day. The sun is shining and turning everything vibrant. Majestic. The Alps are majestic."
The train conductor on train #2 stopped by for my ticket and not thinking straight I handed him my passport...oops. He smiled and then asked for my ticket instead. Since my pass allowed me to go anywhere in Austria, he asked where I was headed. I responded Salzburg and he looked up which platform I needed to go to when we arrived in Linz (this was a huge blessing, because I had four minutes to make my next train). When we were approaching the station, he came back and made sure I knew we were arriving and sat down to have a short chat. He was so nice! He told me about the new Opera house being built in Linz and about the flowers and the crazy weather they had-such a blessing! I dashed to my next train and hopped on just in time. On this train, the cabins were all full and I was clearly not thinking straight, because I walked up and down the train twice before figuring out where I was allowed to sit. I finally arrived in Salzburg at 11:30 ish and immediately took a wrong turn...so all those nice people at the cafe watched me walk one way, pull out my map, turn around, and walk back...awesome. I am that tourist.
I decided to book a tour (since I only had a few hours and wanted to see everything, I figured paying for a tour would be acceptable). The tour time I requested was full, so I was bumped up to the next time-no biggy, just had to rearrange my wondering time. And so I was off. I walked up the hill with a castle on it to see if the other side would show me any alps. I was determined to find my Alp. It was beautiful! I found a little, fairly abandoned road and decided it looked like a great way to find the Alps-and it was! I had to peak through the trees to find the snow-capped beauties, but there they were!
I hustled back to catch my tour and when I arrived, I was informed that I was the only person signed up-private tour for Rebecca Yuhas....score! Hans was my tour guide who had lived in Salzburg his entire life and used to be quite the futbol player back in the day. He was great! We hopped in the tour van and he showed me all over the city-Mozart, Sound of Music, you name it, I saw it! Hans was so nice and such a wonderful source of knowledge.
I made it back to the train on time and found a lovely seat so I could stare out the window. I found my next train in Linz and was on my way once again. I was afraid that I would not make my train in Summerau. But my little trip theme still holds true-God provides. There was a little old man sitting across the aisle from me and I overheard him answer his phone in Czech-that man is going to the Czech Republic! I need to follow him! I followed him straight to my train! Thank you Lord! The train from Summerau to Ceske Budejovice was so crazy! Everyone was speaking Czech! Loudly! It was like a party through the tiny towns! At Ceske Budejovice, I found a cabin all to myself and I was so happy to be able to sleep...and then this girl asked if she could come sit in there-well I don't speak Czech, so what choice did I have. To be quite frank, I was a little bummed to have to share the cabin, but like I said, God provides. When the conductor came around I showed him my pass and he asked where I was headed. I answered Prague and he needed to tell me about the switching to the bus thing...but he didn't really speak English. The girl who was in my cabin translated and then explained that in the winter the snow closes part of the tracks and they haven't opened the pass yet-oh I love understanding why things happen!
I found a By God's grace I made it back to Prague at 11:00pm. These trips I take with God are just so much fun. There is no way that any of these things would be possible if God were not in the driver's seat-catching trains, finding people to follow to where I am supposed to be, having translators, and most enjoyably, a traveling buddy.
