After another nice breakfast at our hotel in Switzerland, that included a rare treat of eggs, we boarded the first of our 5 scheduled trains. The first ride was only 20 minutes down the mountain to the main town of Interlaken. There we checked in with Rail Services to confirm our schedule for the rest of the day - which they were able to do for us very efficiently. The day was fairly uneventful - at least for most of the day. We made all of the connections very smoothly (except we did leave our bag of snacks on one train). Fortunately, the next train had a restaurant car where I ordered a nice plate of pesto tortellini and a very good German beer.)
But our last train of the day became an adventure. We said that if this had happened in the States, we probably would have been mad… but here, we realized it was just a fun memory in the making. Here’s what happened…
The last train was from Mainz to Bacharach Germany - scheduled to take about 50 minutes, mostly along the Rhine River. The train was probably the most modern and clean one we had been on. It even had an electronic board in each car notifying us of the name of the upcoming stop.
Anyway, we were about two stops from our destination when the train began to pull out of the current station, and it stopped after traveling about 20 feet. To make a long story short, after about 20 minutes an announcement was made that everyone had to get off and another train would be by in about 30 minutes to pick us up - so we did. At that time, Joanie noticed a family of four with a Rick Steves’ Travel book - he is the same author we have been using to plan our trip. (We have noticed many travelers with his book - in fact later that evening in Bacharach at dinner - of the 6 outdoor tables at the restaurant we were at - 4 of the tables were occupied by “Rick Steves’ travelers”! We all had a good laugh when we discovered that.)
Anyway, back to the side of the tracks waiting for our rescue train to come. So we struck up a conversation with this family (husband, wife, 17 year old son and 15 year old daughter) and when our rescue train arrived we boarded with them and hung out with them for the “short” ride to Bacharach - their destination as well. Well, that train didn’t stop in Bacharach - it sped right on by. So we all got off at the next station and found some train employees there. They told us we could take the next train south to Bacharach, which was boarding in about 15 minutes - so we proceeded to that platform and boarded that train.
Guess what - as soon as it began to move the conductor came by and we wanted to confirm with him that this train was indeed stopping at Bacharach. But “no” he said, the next stop would be Bingen - about 10 miles south of Bacharach. We couldn’t believe this - it was so funny - this is when we would have gotten mad.
So, at the Bingen station (which was a bit larger of a station) we again talked with some employees, checked with the departure board, and there was a train already in the station - looking like that clean, modern one we were originally on - and it was scheduled to leave in about 15 minutes, stopping in Bacharach. So, we boarded this train and this time, BEFORE it left, we actually where able to speak with the Engineer, and he confirmed for us that this train will actually stop at our destination - which it did. We were two hours late - but somehow being with this other family made the experience actually fun. (When we saw them later at dinner, the wife came over to our table and told us that her kids said they were glad that they went through this adventure with us - because if not - her kids said - they thought that their Mom and Dad would have been yelling at each other - funny.) Just another adventure in Europe!
Oh yeah - Bacharach. A very cute little medieval town on the banks of the Rhine - really gorgeous. We found our hotel near the far end of this little town. Our room was great - large, comfortable beds, large bathroom with a tub and no shower, and right on the main street in town. We ate at a restaurant that was right across the street from our hotel, where we sampled 16 locally-made Rhine wines - mostly Rieslings. Our dinner consisted of a cheese sampler plate - which was fantastic - and a “frankfurter” (crappy hot dog, not a Bratwurst) but with a very unique and tasty side of home made potato salad. After dinner and another stroll through town, we stopped at the Gelato shoppe and took our dessert down to the Rhine. A very pleasant and relaxed ending to a very funny day.
