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Edith Piaf - submitted by LMD of Califon, NJ!
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In our Munich stop-over we had a bad neighborhood glitch. Leaving Munich all our transportation went wrong, and we both had deep regrets that neither of us speak German, or took German class in high school.
Our first train was cancelled, and it was not posted on the terminal schedule. We had to guess what had happened and wound up in a long line at the information booth. When we finally found out about the cancellation and our options, we had four minutes to run to the replacement train with our luggage. I am sure this was not a pretty sight for the casual observer. This was a huge terminal, and our train was on the opposite side. My days doing the 50-yard dash were far behind me. So, so far…pretty or not, we were victorious, and we jumped on the train with seconds to spare. Lots of announcements in German ensued (!) and a nice young couple translated for us. They were young but it seemed they were on a little getaway to Prague. The young man translated for us, while his girlfriend was quiet but friendly.
Our first cancellation was in Regensburg, Germany where we met another nice young man who was a graduate student. Jaison was very attentive to us, lifted my luggage for me, and guided us through three more cancellations, track changes, a possible bus ride to somewhere, etc. He was so friendly and told us lots of stories about his life in India and his hopes for the future.
At the last cancellation we were sitting on the outside of the terminal waiting for notice of our next steps when we reconnected with the young couple. She was sitting on a step crying and her young man told me she had to throw up. I offered a plastic bag, but it seems she was prepared. I got cold water for everyone, and we all waited together for word on what to do. We finally got on another train with Jaison and left our young couple behind. Though they were headed to Prague also, they did not board our train. We wondered what had happened to them, but feared their situation was possibly more complicated than a missed train connection.
Jaison left us at the stop where he was attending graduate school and he had our thanks and a wonderful bottle of French wine we had in our luggage. We are in touch with him via e-mail, and so very grateful for the kindness of strangers.
Next stop was the legendary beautiful city of Prague.
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