Travel Day 6

Another night in another city.
My colleague accidentally breaks another hotel room key. I don't have to pay for that this time, because I have my hoofs in my own room, where I watch the telly and find out that there is an upcoming railway strike in that exact area where we are breaking all the keys.

We eat a quick breakfast, pack our bags and hurry through an important media center meeting towards the railway station.
We buy four tickets to Baden Baden.
We wait for the train to come. It doesn't.
We wait for another train to come. It comes, but late. We hop in and are going to meet some colleagues of our colleague, but we are seriously getting late and we agree she should go alone, whilst we could just enjoy of the atmosphere.

We arrive to the railway station and notice immediately it is a wrong Baden Baden. The right one is several kilometers away, so we take a taxi and arrive to the right Baden Baden just in time to realize we have only an hour to spend there. My colleague runs away and the taxi leaves. There we are then, standing in the middle of the street.
T Fox: Has anyone been here before?
Colleague one: No. Do you have a map?
T Fox: No. Where are we going now?
Colleague two: Let's have something to eat. There must be something really nice near here.



There is. We find a place where former Russian novelists were eating greasy sausages about hundred years ago, before going to the spa. We don't have time for bathing, so we just eat some greasy sausages, except me. I eat greasy crusty kartoffel and look at lederhosen behind the geraniums.
We still have 20 minutes after paying the bill. Now the only thing is to find a taxi. It should be an easy job in a place like that.



We walk down the street. It seems to be a different one than we used before. We walk the street until we reach the end and that is when we notice it's only for pedestrians. We walk back and take another turn. There isn't any sign of a taxi, so we ask a shopkeeper. The lady tells us there is one in that direction. We walk to that direction but the only thing we find is an alley and the the only vehicle is a miniature sightseeing train.

We have 15 minutes left. We start walking faster, to the wrong direction, but we find an empty bus stop. Apparently it will take 20 minutes to the train station by bus and then it will be too late already. "We shall miss the train now!", I shout when we pass the bus stop. The bus comes. We run back, but it is too late. "We shall definitely miss the train now!", I shout. We turn left and find the restaurant we just left. "Can't we just go there and ask them to call us a taxi?", I shout, but the colleagues just walk faster. We turn left, but it's an even smaller street. We turn left and we are standing in front of the wrong train again. "I hate sightseeing!", I shout and take a photo. We have 10 minutes left.



Colleague one: How long did it take to drive here?
Colleague two: I think 10 minutes.
T Fox: I will call the colleague. Maybe she is still somewhere near.
I call her. She has arrived at the railway station already.
T Fox: We are still in the wrong Baden Baden and there isn't any taxi around. Where did you find one?
Colleague: I don't know what street was called, I just took a taxi. Hurry up, I don't know if there will be any more trains back to Karlsruhe and if we are missing the last train to Frankfurt, we will miss our plane back to home!



We start running. My colleague asks from a boutique if there is a taxi stop around. She points to the direction where we just were. We turn back and run faster. "There is a taxi!", I shout and wave my hand. The driver doesn't stop, but he shouts something at us. "Probably that I am the only taxi in the village...", I cry, but we have to go on. There isn't anything in that direction, except an empty square with a glorious fountain. We turn back and stand in front of the sightseeing train again.



My colleague sees an old lady. She is looking like she has sunbathed in Baden Baden since 1923 and her dog in the bag yaps, but she smiles at us like a queen of Saba and says: "Well of course there is a taxi stop here, love, just behind that bush".
We look at the nearest bush behind the miniature train. There are at least ten polished cars, just waiting for us.

- Later in the train to Frankfurt -
T Fox: If someone asks me to take part in Amazing Race, I have to say no.
Colleague: But, do you personally know anyone else who can say she has taken a taxi to Baden Baden, just to have a short lunch there?
T Fox: Oh.