Paradise Regained, For 5 Long Minutes

Tom calls us while Erin is in the shower and for a few seconds I am hopeful that we have regained the wallet, but no, he just wants to chat. Call waiting buzzes and it is Scott, who informs me that he has left his bag of clothes on the Strassenbahn. I am in shock and have no idea what to say; the idea of working through my jet lag to deal with another problem seems overwhelming. He says not to worry, he has spoken with someone, but he won’t make the train. I ring off with Scott and relay the news to Tom who is still on the other line. Then I shower and when I get out Christian calls: someone at the coffee shop has the wallet and there is even some money in it – about 50 Euros are missing. Erin has tears in her eyes when I tell her. We decide to go buy the latest tickets for the castle we can get in hopes that Scott will make it in time. With hours to kill Erin and I set out to a tourist attraction called the Weiskirch (church in the meadow). The story goes that there was a statue of Christ in the meadow that cried. The statue became a place for pilgrimages and the church was built around it to protect it and give the pilgrims a place to worship. As far as I can tell the statue isn’t crying any longer, and the pilgrimages seem to be made mostly by tourists. Then we set out to find lunch. Of course it is after 2:00 and we can’t find a restaurant with a warm kitchen. I realize I have no cash or cash card so we can’t just eat a doner kebab or fried fish sandwich because we need a restaurant that takes credit cards. After a half hour of searching we find an open Italian place – of course. Erin has some salmon with vegetables and I have a giant tomato soup that has tons of dried rosemary in it and tastes like it is the juice from a can of tomatoes. Luckily the salad that is with it is great; I can’t ever get enough of the German salads. And true to form the service is slow and I have to pick up Scott at the train station at 3:50, once again I feel that the world has conspired against me and I am not going to make it to see the first castle.