Stories in my pockets

On Friday, Amy, Sophie, Justina and I took the train to the Rhine River port in Karlsruhe. We checked out one of the industrial "fingers" of the port and decided to go in search of a scenic view of the Rhine. After walking through a very industrial (read: ugly) area, we came at last to a beautiful wooded nature park that runs along the river. As strong and confident women, we entered the woods in good spirits....

...and we had a great hiking adventure. We found little ponds, observed the beautiful changing leaves, sang, laughed and enjoyed one another's company on an overcast fall day. When we set out, we looked at a map and saw that we could walk from where we were (the industrial area) through the nature park to another Strassenbahn stop on a different line. Perfect. To our credit, we followed the map in our heads perfectly - turned left when we needed to turn left, found a beautiful scenic overlook, and had a little adventure. Unfortunately, the map in our heads was flawed...
...when we got to this point, we discovered we had hit a dead end. We walked a very long way down a peninsula that left us with no other option but to walk back the way we came (keep in mind...this was a very long way - much further than any of us had anticipated when we chose our clothing and footwear for the day). One milisecond after we reached the end of the peninsula, the heavens opened up with a generous portion of rain. Just the present we were hoping for. In hind-sight...the rain may have been a gift in disguise in that it ensured that we didn't pause too long to bemoan our fate at the end of tragedy point, but (not so gently) encouraged us to head for what cover we could find in the woods... 
...of course I burst into uncontrollable peals of laughter. We were fortunate to find a faster way out of the woods, however the water damage was already done. We found this very helpful map of course after we made our little miscalculation, but it provides a fabulous illustration of our walk of folly...
Please observed the orange "you are here arrow in the bottom center of the picture, Sophie's finger point to tragedy point, and the ever-important fact that the scenic overlook we found (besides being on a peninsula) does not, in fact, overlook the Rhine River (that would be the blue strip on the far left side of the map, in case you were wondering). Mission failed. So much for being strong, independent and directionally saavy women. We then journeyed along the purple line to the nearby town and (after stopping for directions in a restraunt full of men who may or may not have sniggered generously when we explained our situation) found a Strassenbahn stop. Hungry, tired, cold and wet (with surprisingly high spirits) we were excited to find that a train was scheduled to arrive in about 10 minutes. 10 minutes later, no train. 20 minutes later, no train. 30 minutes later, no train. 45 minutes later we were finally able to board an overcrowded train and stand the rest of the way home! 

Now, lest your bleeding hearts pity me too much, here are the highlights of the adventure(in no particular order):

-Amy, Justina and Sophie - I could not have hoped for more patient and upbeat, optimistic companions for such a trip

-beautiful scenery

-a great hike (who knew I'd get to hike so close to my home!)

-the chocolate bar in my bag

-finding pear and apple trees on the side of the road while we walked

-a hot cup of tea and a döner (turkish version of gyros - there are döner places everywhere here!) when we got back

-shouting "Abenteuer" (the German word for adventure) whenever we felt particularly down

-lots of great pictures

-ever-deepening friendships

-a great new story

~love~