So I finally grabbed the hard drive (after losing it for a few days), and started uploading photo's like crazy. The batch I uploaded tonight include shots from our time in Baden-Baden after Germany beat Argentina, traveling to Strasbourg to accidentally see the Tour de France, time in St. Goar & Lorelei with Andreas, and finally Heidelberg castle. These were the shots we tried to upload for the second batch during our trip.
Rather than do a shotgun of stories in this post, I'm just going to draw out one story for now. I may come back and tell others later, but for now, I want to talk about having the Tour de France dropped in our laps.
Originally, we had intended to travel to Baden-Baden for the day, and then in the evening move to Strasbourg, see a bit, and stay the night before traveling back to St. Goar to meet our friend Andreas. After arriving in Baden-Baden and relaxing in the mineral baths there for several hours, we came out just in time to catch the penalty kicks between Germany and Argentina. It was our first (of many) experience with European soccer celebrations. It was awesome! Basically, an instant parade erupted with cars, people, & flags. Here is where we learned of the first lessons on our trip. When there is soccer involved, don't expect buses to run on time (or at all).
We met a charming German couple who showed us around while we waited for the buses to start back up, always thinking full well that we'd travel on to Strasbourg that night. Fortunately this was not to be. After having a wonderful dinner with this couple, we barely made it into the hostel in time, but made it all the same. The next morning we got up and headed for Strasbourg, however, when the train pulled into the station it seemed unusually full, especially considering the previous train, in the opposite direction had taken fans toward the Englad soccer match later that day.
None the less, we boarded the train and headed off. Here we met a young American family who lived in Frankfurt and were also travelling to Strasbourg, and happened to mention some of the hullaballoo regarding doping on the eve of the Tour. When we started chatting about the Tour, and the fact that we we're from Austin, they pointed out to us the fact that we were in fact on our way (inadvertantly, and without any doing on our part) to the Tour de France.
So, after riding two extremely full, sweaty trains to Strasbourg, we got off, and set out to watch the prologue, which again couldn't have worked out any better had we tried, because in that stage the riders are staggered by one minute intervals. This means that there is a consistent stream of riders passing by, no matter where you are.
Ultimately, however, this was just the first of many opportunities for God to reveal what we were learning by going on this trip. I'll spend some more time really explaining what I mean by that soon, but suffice it to say for now, it changed our perception on a lot of things.
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