One Short Day!

We recently took a day trip to the German town Saarbrüken. At first I wasn't that interested in going because it’s thirty minutes away from Forbach, and we all know how I feel about Forbach. I just thought it would look just like Forbach. I found out that's not really the case.

We took the bus, but we didn't really know which stop to get off, so we picked a random place to get off. It was in the center of the busy city. I thought we were pretty lucky to have chosen correctly! Folks, Wade and I aren't the best at planning when we travel. We usually get lost, so to actually be in the right place was nothing short of a miracle!

We decided to just walk down random streets. (That's usually how we end up getting lost.) We just wanted to explore the city and see the awesome buildings. Every cathedral we walked past was beautiful and, for some reason, included a lot of dragon statues! One of the cathedrals had an awesome hedge maze that we looked at. It was pretty entertaining.

We had been walking around awhile when I started to get hungry. No peanut M&Ms were in sight, so the situation was getting a little desperate. We turned down a street and ended up in a square that had food trucks gathered around a cool fountain! It was like manna from heaven. We picked the food truck that was closest to us and went for it. What we ended up with was two curry bratwurst and two cokes! I know what some of you are thinking--ew! It was actually delicious! Instead of the bratwurst being on a bun, they gave it to us in a dish and gave us a homemade roll we could dip in the curry concoctions. We sat on the fountain steps and ate our eclectic meal. It was very picturesque!

After the food, I was much happier and more willing to randomly walk places. We went to a few museums only to find out they were closed (Question: Who closes a museum on a Saturday?). We did see plaques telling the history of some of the buildings we were walking by and the history of the museums we wanted to go into. When we went to read the signs, we realized that they were all in German. I don't know what we were expecting. I mean, we were in Germany, for crying out loud! Anyway, Wade remembered that he had read an article about Google translate. You basically download the app, point your phone at the text, and it converts it into the language you speak and understand. Folks, it's really helpful if you don't speak the language and you’re wanting to read a sign. So that's your travel tip today! Google Translate is awesome!

Now let me tell you about our interesting bus ride home! We went to the bus stop and literally everyone was smoking. I was pretty sure second hand smoke was going to kill me. I was happy to see the bus come around the corner. We were pleasantly riding the bus and had made it to the outskirts of Forbach when everyone on the bus got off at the stop right before the train station. Wade and I were the only ones on board at this point. All of the sudden, we stopped at the train station and the bus driver stood up, looked at us and said, “I have to use the toilet.” So he turned off his bus, walked off and locked us in! We saw him talking to some random guy on his way to the bathroom. He had asked this random guy to watch his bus! We sat there in stunned silence for about ten minutes. All I could say to Wade was, “Is this actually real life?!” Eventually, the driver came running back, unlocked the door and sat down like he hadn't locked two clueless people in his bus. He did end up giving the random bus watcher guy a free ride, so that was cool of him.

Folks, let's just sum up what we’ve learned today. Saarbrüken is a cool old town with cool buildings. Always try to plan your adventures even if they are mini adventures. It's fun to walk down random streets because they may lead the the best bratwurst you’ve ever had. Google Translate is a great tool if you don't speak the language. Lastly folks, don't worry if your bus driver has to use the restroom. He’ll lock you in and ask a random guy to make sure the bus and you are safe.

Thanks for reading folks!