Stuttgart sprint... and fail.

Alarm. Shuffle to the bathroom. Throw things together. Head out for the train. It's not even 6am yet.

I grabbed some breakfast at the Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof which involved a lot of pointing and gesturing and that got me a pretzel I really didn't order, but I was content. I also got a coffee, the most important part of my day. Hey- food is food; no need to complain. I meandered my way to platform 7 and began what seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my life. Why? Because it wasn't 10. It was more like 20- my first train was late. Awesome.

Somehow I found my way to my reserved seat, at least I think it was mine. Maybe. The conductor came by and checked my ticket which I think he did wrong because now I have a stamp on my Munich ticket which might prove very bad later on. Fingers crossed that it won't be an issue.
At any rate, my train from Heidelberg to Stuttgart was pleasantly uneventful. The surrounding scenery was eerie: very foggy and full of twig-like trees. It really would have been the perfect setting for a horror film. We arrived at 7:13 at the Stuttgart station. My connecting train to Ausburg left at 7:12. The conductor said it would wait. Lies.
You know how you always laugh at the people wearing backpacks running for buses? Imagine the same thing, except in a foreign country, and sprinting full-force from platform 10 to 16 and darting in and out of bustling crowds. What a headache. I literally arrived at the train the second that the door closed. Epic. Fail. In that lovely moment of sheer panic, I called Sam.

"OMGEEIMISSEDMYTRAINWHATDOIDOOOOO???"

She's a saint. I was directed over the phone to the ticket counter (angels) and they got me a new train ticket. I ended up accidently plopping myself into first class when the conductor people came to check my ticket. Oops. He wasn't amused. Dumb American. Yep, that's me.

After slamming myself into a few of the "automatic" doors on the train (probably only automatic for natives) I meandered my way into second class. Heh, that explains the giant "1" and "2" printed on the cars, windows... seats...

And now, here I sit on the coach-bus style seat next to a complete stranger ranting about my mini-adventure. Oh boy this is proving to be quite interesting.