Day 5: Calvin's Birthday!!!
August 2, 2014
Today is Calvin's 12th birthday. I'm so sad I'm missing it. He spent the day in Park City with Jeff and Isaac at the Park City Xtreme Cup tournament. Their team won their first two games on Thursday, then tied La Roca South on Friday 2-2, Calvin didn't get to play much. He was bummed. They went into Saturday's semi-final as the no. 1 seed on goal differential and won that 5-0. Calvin played midfield, which he normally doesn't play, and he loved it. During the finals, they played La Roca North (who has beaten them twice this year (once in the regular season and once in the State Cup). They won 4-2. Calvin played midfield and at the end of the game he scored a goal! Jeff said that everyone on the sidelines knew it was his birthday and when he scored the whole crowd erupted with cheering! Calvin told me it was the best feeling in the world. He couldn't have had a better birthday present - his team winning the tournament and he scored a goal in the championship game. I was so happy for him. Jeff said it was so amazing he had to choke back the tears. Calvin works so hard but sometimes doesn't get the playing time or opportunities he would like. He deserved a win today! I wish I could have been there to share that moment with him. I should have Jeff journal about it for a first-hand account!
Mom, Jason and I spent the day on the train from Hamburg to Munich. It was a LONG, LONG day with a very short night last night. We were up at 3:30am, checked out of our hotel by 4:15 to walk to the S-bahn, train, transfer and catch the 4:53 ICE train to Munich. On the train we sat in a cabin, hoping to have it to ourselves but a young guy, 20-something, asked if he could sit with us. Very un-American. We avoid interacting with strangers as a general rule. We will sit by someone on a train for hours and never strike up a conversation. Less so in Europe. At least on the trains. Lots of fellow travelers. He was on his way to climb to the top of Zugspitze with a buddy and spoke English fairly well. His friend joined us in Wurstburg (about half way) and they told us all about their upcoming trip while the checked out their gear and looked over trail maps. It looked like a fun adventure! Maybe another trip...
We stored our luggage in the Munich train station but missed the train to Fussen so we couldn't do Neuschwanstein castle. We were kinda bummed but we decided to try and go see Mittenwald. On the train to Mittenwald a girl (probably late 20s or so) named Julia asked if she could sit by me at my table and 4 chairs. We ended up talking the entire time (nearly 2 hours). She could use her data on her phone because she lives here so she helped me figure out the train schedules, she called a car rental place and got me some pricing, and was basically our personal travel agent/guide to figure out what we wanted to do over the next few days in Bavaria. She talked us into stopping at Garmisch-Partenkirchen instead of going all the way to Mittenwald. She said we really should do the Zugspitze gondola/funicular. It was were she was from and a good 30 or 40 minutes closer than Mittenwald but still a nearly 2 hour train ride. We talked about her recent trip to India and Thailand where she taught English and did a 3 month silent meditation with the monks and studied Buddhism. I was trying to work in a missionary moment but didn't really know how. We exchanged email addresses so maybe I still could? We got off the train with Julia in Gamisch and she pointed us to the Zugspitzebahn and she headed on her way.
The ride to the top of Zugspitze (the top of Germany) was exhilarating! You practically go straight up. The mountain rises so quickly and there are only 3 stanchions on the entire 9,000 ft up! On the way up the operator let me stand at the open window and I stuck my head out to get some pictures. It was cold and foggy and standing at the edge of the funicular, looking straight down made me go weak in the knees a bit. It was very cool. At the top, they had a small museum, restaurant and viewing area. There was also an area where you could access the summit across a series of bolted down handles and ladders. There were several visitors doing the hike. Jason and I really wanted to do it but after I started climbing down on the slippery rock in the freezing cold with flip flops on, I had second thoughts. Jason hiked across and up to the Summit but I was too scared to hike in my flip flops and turned back. I could hear Jeff in my mind saying "Don't be stupid!" plus as I was climbing down in my flip flops a man told me it was "suicide" to try and hike it in my flip flops. I couldn't be stupid. I love my family too much! Plus my whole body and legs were shaking from the nerves of the heights. I felt old and responsible but that was the right decision for today. I was happy Jason got to do it although even watching him made me nervous like I would be for my own kids! I think I am developing a slight fear of heights as I get older!
It was pouring down rain when we got to the bottom of the mountain but it only lasted a half hour or so and we sought shelter in the bus station
We loved wandering around the medieval town with the stunning backdrop of the Bavarian Alps except when we couldn't find a bathroom!!! We really had to go and figured we'd just go at the train station. We knew we'd have to pay but had our coins ready, only to find that the bathrooms were locked for the night! We were desperate! We found an empty restaurant a block or two away and they were nice enough to let us in.
We took a late train back to Munich and got our luggage. Finding our hotel, dragging luggage, after midnight was a little scary and we were ready to shower and collapse into bed after 1am!
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