Oct 11 - Eppelheim/Heidelberg

We had an early breakfast and said a heartfelt thank you to William for all his patience, knowledge, logistical acumen and unending good humour. The glorious train station is across the street so we trundled over. The ticket booking I had done on Monday indicated Platform 17 and by golly, that’s where the train arrived. Exactly on the dot of 8:00 a.m. when the train was supposed to depart, it did depart. Swiss accuracy is embedded in every facet of life here.

We had little 6-person compartment all to ourselves. I had sprung the extra $13 to ensure we had assigned seating. The car numbers are clearly marked on the outside of the train as are the seat numbers. Organization makes my little heart go pitter patter.

The train is incredibly smooth. Doug is hunkered down to view the passing scenery for the next 3.25 hours. I’m catching up on yesterday’s Find Penguins posting. We had the compartment to ourselves until Freibourg when a mother and her two sons, about ages 7 and 9, joined us. The boys amused themselves with their Kinder Surprise toys and then with video games. They were so well behaved. A teenaged girl joined us one stop before Mannheim so we were only cheek-to-jowl for about 15 minutes.

Peter, my sister Angela's husband, was there to greet us. We last visited Peter and Angela in 2006. They are in a different house now - it’s much bigger and they actually own the land. Peter made a lovely stew for lunch. Angela flew from New York to Munich today, and will be arriving in Mannheim later this afternoon.

Doug has done a couple of loads of laundry and we are waiting for Angela and Peter to get back from the train station. Bless Peter's heart for doing two round trips today. Such a gracious host.

Angela and Peter got back and I was able to give my little (but taller!) sister a nice big hug. Oddly enough, we saw each other back in August when she and Peter were on vacation in Canada. We had a great dinner at their favourite local restaurant, the Golden Lion. Got caught up on a lot of topics. Lots more to cover over the next two days.Read more