Lost in Translation

Monday, October 19, 2009


Decided to go to Amberg and Regensburg today since the weather looked best there. So I walk out of the hotel to head to the train station and it's super cold and foggy out; I would have rather stayed in bed. Walking to the train station didn't take as long as I thought so I got there super early, buy my day pass train ticket and wait. The train to Schwandorf, where I will transfer to Amberg, finally arrives and I hop on board. It looks like the train from Hogwarts! There are little compartments with 6 seats each and a hallway on the other side of the train. Most had one or two people in them, so I just picked one at random and sat with a couple German ladies. A little while later a crazy woman walked in to check our tickets. I got yelled at because I forgot to write my name on my pass, ok maybe not really yelled at, but when you don't know the language and someone is being strict with you it really translates to screaming. Then she asked, in English sort of, what my stop was. I told her Schwandorf, she said tons more things in German that of course I couldn't understand and then left our compartment. So now I was super confused; was I even on the right train?


At the next stop it seemed like everyone got off, so of course I did too to see if I was on the wrong train. I still don't really know what was going on but I went to the front of the train and there was a sign on one of the doors that said Schwandorf so I jumped on there and looked for a seat. I found an empty compartment, yay!, and sat down. Then I noticed there was luggage in there....oops, looks like I just crashed someone else's party. I was soon joined by a large group of people with lots of luggage, I think the train continued to Prague so that's most likely why I saw so much luggage, and then the people who already had their things in the room came back. So then there was lots of back and forth in German about what was going on. As long as I got to keep my seat, I didn't care. After all this the compartment was full. Just me, half of the group of young people, and two kinda creepy looking European dudes. I guess only one from the young people group spoke English because he is the one who asked me if his group could sit in there. I was just really hoping at this point that the train would stop in Schwandorf, which just happened to be the very next stop, yay! And I actually heard the train guy say Schwandorf on the speakers so I knew it was coming up. So I get up and like crawl over everyone else to get to the hallway, the English speaking dude asks if I have any luggage, nope, and I wait with everyone else in the hall for the train to stop so I can go to a different platform and wait for the train to Amberg.


That train ride was only about 15 minutes and then I was in Amberg. The Bahnhof is right across the from the main street going into the city, I think that is what persuaded me to visit. So I walk into town, and there's not many people there, and really no tourists. It's a nice little town though with a long street running through it with lots of shopping. I walked down that main street towards the square but stopped when I saw a tourist info center. It's always a good idea to pop in there and grab a map, although I probably should have asked what there is to see in the town, but oh well. I continued on to the square, which isn't much compared to what I've seen before, just the main church in town, a tiny markets and more shops. So I continued walking down the street towards the river that runs through the town. I heard there is a bridge in Amberg that looks like a pair of eye glasses from the reflection of the bridge in the river. So that's what I was looking for, I couldn't see it from where I was so I walked to another bridge behind the church to look from there and still couldn't see it. I never found the bridge, but looking back on my pictures I think if I had just gone down the river a little farther I might have found it, oh well.


Across the bridge in the other side of the town was more shopping, not really anything different, just more of the same. I did check out a bookstore and bought a kids books about a cat. I love it! I figured it would be easier for someone (Allyson) to translate, easier than Twilight or Coraline. After the bookstore I walked around a little more before going back to the train station to grab a bite to eat and catch an earlier train to Regensburg (Reagansburg). The cafe was cute, there was even a section in the cooler for "American drinks"! After a short wait I got on my train to Schwandorf where I would have to switch trains again to get to Regensburg. Problem. I tried to get on the Regensburg train when I got to Schwandorf but there was no one on it, and then some guy approaches me and tells me I have to get off, at least that's what I guess he was saying. So no onto plan b or whatever. I go inside the station and find when the next train to Regensburg arrives, not for another hour! Yuck. That really tempted me to just stay on the train and go back to Freising, but I was determined to check out Regensburg so the day wouldn't be a total waste.
So there I sat in the crappy Schwandorf bahnhof waiting until the train finally came and I got to Regensburg an hour later than I had wanted to. The main tourist area of the city is a bit of a walk from the station, and I was told that I could take the Aldstadt bus and use my Bavaria day pass (thanks Marissa!) so that's what I did, kinda. I don't really know exactly what bus I got on, I think it said something about Aldstadt, but I do know that we went a different way than the map showed at the bus stop. Whatever. So i hopped off when we got to the river incase it wasn't the right bus. It ended up working out for the best since I wanted to see the river and the famous bridge anyway, so why not just start there and work my way back? I walked about halfway across the pedestrian bridge to take in the view of the city from the river. Very Pretty, you could just see the tall gothic towers of the town cathedral. After that I made my way to the cathedral by following a few signs and checking my guidebook.


What an amazing church, it reminded me of St. Vitus in Prague and pictures of the cathedral in Barcelona that Gaudi designed. The architecture is so frothy it appears to be dripping cement. I went inside to check it out and to have a sit and look in my guidebook for the location of the ruins of a Roman city gate from 179AD. Well, I'm fairly certain the stupid guidebook was wrong because I went to exactly where it showed me on the map and there was nothing there. I was beginning to run out of time and I hate walking in circles, but I finally found it and it really wasn't much. Still cool to think about how old the city is though. After that mess I went to the bus stop outside the cathedral, but it turns out that I was on the wrong side of the street to catch the bus to the station. Of course. So there goes one bus I should have been on. I walk across the street and had to wait ten minutes for the next one to finally show. I have no idea what the purpose of that other bus stop with the same name as the stop I needed, but whatever. I still made it to the station with a little time to spare before my train arrived. I sat in a compartment with three other women and one I think got in trouble for not having the right ticket. I wish I could have understood the situation, but oh well. I had to wait a little while for Dad and his coworker to pick me up from the Freising station, but I didn't mind after all the waiting I had done today and that meant I didn't have to walk back in the dark and cold evening!