Sam #7: June 1

his morning was the earliest of the entire trip, with the ever-frightening reveille at 5:45 ante meridiem. We packed our bags and navigated our way through the treacherous jungle that stood between us and the train station. Well, jungle is a bit of a misnomer; it was actually a straight clear paved road, but at 6:30 it feels like a wild Amazonian rainforest, complete with scalawag river pirates and dinner-plate-sized spiders. We trudged over to Westbahnhof the Elder, which is a different train station than Westbahnhof the Younger. The Elder is a high-speed long-distance rail station; the Younger is a metro/bus station. They are directly across the street from one another but mixing up the two would be a fatal mistake. Luckily for us, we had been through that intersection so many times that we knew exactly where to go. We took our bags up to the large rail platform and found our train on the departure board: Railjet 160 departing from platform 7 at 7:20. We wanted to eat some kind of breakfast and find good seats on the train before 7:00, so we pit-stopped at some bahnhof (German for train station) bakery and grabbed a nibble or two.

Cédric, being the travel genius that he is, had had the foresight to reserve seats on the train because if worst had come to worst and there was competition for seats on the train, we could not afford to lose the fight for seats. This concept does not really exist in American transportation, so allow me to explain. In most European rail travel, you must purchase a train pass that allows you access to certain trains. Depending on your pass, you are free to pick any train you want to ride, so long as your pass is valid. There is no limit as to how many people are eligible for a particular route other than seat availability on the train. For a popular route like Berlin to Vienna, there is a train leaving once every 2 hours in either direction, and thus if you lose the seat competition (which rarely matters; we've been in train stations at the busiest rush hours and I have yet to see a completely full train), it's only a 2 hour delay. But, if you have a connection to make or urgent plans at your destination, you can purchase a seat reservation in advance for 12 euros per seat. Not only are you guaranteed a seat, you get to pick which one you want. Then, when you get on board the train, there is a little ticket on your seat that says "reserved" with your name on it and the train station that you are getting off at. Since the Vienna to Zurich route was not a frequent route, we gladly forked over 60 euros to prevent a five-plus hour delay in our travel plans, which would have put us into Strasbourg near midnight. Not. Fun.

We quickly found our reserved seats on the train; however, soon thereafter we found an open unreserved table next to our seats. So, we forfeited our reservations and threw a raging party at the table, and Henry stepped up to be the hype man and invite other (mostly female) passengers on the train to join our party. By the time the train had actually left the station, our Railjet Rave had amassed over half the train's passengers, including Beyoncé, Ellen DeGeneres, Nick Cannon, Mary J. Blige, Hannah Hempel, Usher, and Dr. Chase. Much to the dismay of the food service staff, we served our own variety of free refreshments to the party guests as the 2€30 thimble of tea rode by in the snack cart. Usher was particularly fond of the pistachios.

The train ride from Vienna to Zurich lasted over 8 hours, but it passed through some drop-dead gorgeous countryside. That single train passed from Austria to Germany to Liechtenstein before finally stopping in Switzerland. We spent most of the train ride blogging, sleeping, and telling ridiculous stories (among those who were awake at any given time). It was such a beautiful thing, and I must say that Railjet was far and away the nicest train that we have ridden. And of course our favorite part was the fact that the overhead screens showed the train speed and the map. My inner speed demon wanted to push 200 km/h whenever possible, and Cédric was absolutely overjoyed when the map showed that we would be passing through Liechtenstein (although not actually stopping).

Upon arrival in Zurich right at 4:00 (30 minutes late), our first mission was to find our connection train to Strasbourg and figure out how much snack time we had. The humongous board of departures showed us that we would be taking a 4:27 TGV from platform 17. I went straight to platform 17, eager to get rid of my luggage, only to find that the previous train had not yet left the station, and thus I was doomed to carry my bags to the snack spot of my choosing. To my great delight and fortune, there was a nice Swiss coffeehouse not far from platform 17, and thus I made camp there, eating raspberry yogurt and hot chocolate in a seat where I could directly see both the track and the overhead departure board. Hot chocolate is so much tastier when you're not stressed. Our train soon arrived and once again we found our reservations (TGV is special in that reservations are mandatory), and to our surprise we had reserved a table to start with! What luck! We settled in and threw our bags above our heads, ready for only 3 more hours of train travel.

The TGV went very smoothly, with only a minor hiccup when we had to stop for 20 unexpected minutes due to "security reasons" at some random train station not far from Zurich. Parker and Cedric finished up the final touches of their blogs, and the three of us watched an episode of Chuck while Henry read his book and Christian slept WAAAAAY out in dada-land. We can only guess what he was dreaming of, but it was so good that he didn't even flinch when we asked if he wanted to watch Chuck with us. Let me take this opportunity to recall the opening lyrics to a song from a quintessential American film in which one of the lead male actors ponders the contents of nocturnal visions of tigers. He sings,

"What do tigers dream of
when they take their little tiger snooze?
Do they dream of mauling zebras,
or Halle Berry in her Catwoman suit?"

I suspect that dearest Christian was dreaming of ice cream and Porsche. Nothing else could possibly have kept him asnooze whilst the others watched his beloved Chuck. All I know is that I switched his iPod back and forth from pause to play, and the unnatural stopping of his favorite music did not cause even the slightest twitch. I was slightly afraid of how still he was. It was almost as if he was secretly awake the whole time and just waiting for me to do something stupid, at which point he would spring from his slumber and stone me with a bag of Cocoa Puffs hidden under his chair. It never happened.

We arrived in Strasbourg around 7:15, and as soon as we stepped off the train, we were greeted by the warm smiling faces of Cédric's aunt and cousin who are hosting us during our stay in Strasbourg. The French custom of the two-cheek bisous caught some of us off-guard, but we all remembered quickly, and immediately we made our way back to La Maison de Heckel, our wonderful home in Strasbourg where dinner depended on our safe arrival. We finally set our bags down upstairs in the two rooms that used to be the brothers' rooms, but they are now out of college and thus the rooms were available. Marie, the college-age baby sister, is still in the house, and she was a huge help showing us around the house and making us comfortable in her own home.

Dinner consisted of spaghetti, cheese, and meat sauce, and boy oh boy was it the best I've ever had. The great thing about France is that even the cheese they put on spaghetti is never just shredded parmesan; there are a variety of options. I selected a grated goat cheese (chèvre), which melted really well into the meat sauce. The Heckels also had this amazing exotic fruit drink that was a combo of orange, mango, and passionfruit. SO. TASTY. The madame of the household, Sophie, had purchased three fresh baguettes that morning, and we enjoyed the baguette as well. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something unmistakably better about French baguette compared to all other baguette in America and in Europe. It's the most heavenly balance between crunchy outside and soft inside.

After dinner we sat down in the living room, where Jean-Phillipe (the father) offered to show us some home videos of Cédric from when he was a very little boy in France in the summers. The four of us immediately jumped on the opportunity to witness historical footage of our curly-haired companion while he slunked in fearful anticipation of what awkward moments of youth would be cast before the eyes of his very best friends. Jean-Phillipe uncovered a massive storage box of tapes, and with Marie's help, he sifted through the tapes until he found one that was labeled "Cédric & Céline visit". Before the tape even started, we imagined all the wild impossibilities as to what exactly would be on this tape. Perhaps Cédric had chopped down a tree with his toothbrush and killed three people. Or perhaps Cédric had staged a cage fight between an unconsenting Céline and a squirrel. Our imaginations ran wildly as Cédric evaluated the plausibility of each conjecture. He had to think awhile on the cage fight.

Jean-Phillipe pressed play and…..it didn't work. We tried a few other tapes, but none of them featured our dear friend in a starring roles. We saw glimpses of a blonder summertime 'fro on the young lad, and also of a Lance Armstrong doppelganger in his father Dr. Jones on a bicycle somewhere in Morzine. It was also good to hear the voice of Cédric's late mother Régine for the first time in my life. None of us four ever had the good fortune to meet Cédric's mother, but to see her on camera and hear her voice was a great opportunity. I instantly recognized the relation between Cédric and Régine, and I must say that the two bear much resemblance. After our home video session, the parents went to bed, and Marie gave us a quick tutorial on how to work the DVD player. We put in more episodes of Chuck, and Marie went off to bed as well. As we sat there laughing endlessly at the smart humor, I couldn't help but think how refreshing it was to enjoy ourselves and not have a super busy schedule the next day. A day of sleeping in and traveling slowly. I think we hit our train hours quota for quite a few days!

From Strasbourg,
Sam