Germany: Day 1

Disclaimer: These posts may be boring since I am writing them more for my own remembrances than for others.
Also the first day was just me arriving in Germany and sleeping so this first post will not be all that exciting.

I arrived in Germany Friday morning at 8:30 - that would be 2:30am East Coast time. I absolutely cannot sleep on planes but in spite of that I felt wide awake because I was so on edge about finding my way to Seth's hotel all by myself. (He couldn't pick me up because he was attending the last day of his work conference.)

His conference was in a suburb of Stuttgart, a town called Ludwigsburg. This meant I had to find the train from the airport to the main Stuttgart train station, then get off and find the train to the main Ludwigsburg station, then find the bus that would take me to Seth's hotel. In a country where I did not speak the language and while dragging my suitcase around.

I had carefully studied the maps and information about Stuttgart public transportation before I left and this was my saving grace because the lady at the Tourist Information Center at the airport was not very nice or helpful. Tired of dealing with American tourists, maybe?

Actually the most difficult part was finding a place in the airport to get some Euros so I could buy train tickets. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out where the bank was and once I got there, the sign in the window said they were only open at their other location, a place that took me another 15 or so minutes and two inquiries at the information desk to find because it was a tiny little window located on the backside of Delta check-in.

It was at this point that I wondered whether it would just be easier to book a flight home and spend the whole time wondering why I thought I was cut out to travel.

While getting off the second train a woman sitting across from me said something to me in German and all of the useful little tourist phrases I had practiced flew right out of my head and I could only stare at her and say "uhh......English?" Luckily she realized I was a dopey tourist and did speak English, so she repeated her question - did I need help with my bag? I said no and quickly got off the train. This would not be the last time I embarrassed myself with my lack of German language skills.

Nevertheless I made it to Seth's hotel where I proceeded to sleep for the afternoon until he came back from his conference. Then Seth and I and his co-worker went out to eat at a little restaurant nearby. I ordered a dish called käsespätzle (noodles with melted cheese, bacon and fried onion.) It was so delicious. 

Nothing else exciting happened because I didn't have the energy to do much else.