But you are not Sarah

"Passport, please?" the train attendant asks as I hand over my German rail pass.  That's weird, I think, this is the first time they've asked for a passport. 

Last week, Sarah decided to forgo the Munich/Salzburg weekend and head to Paris with some other ladies in our group, since she's never been to Paris.

As I reached for my passport, I whispered to Michelle to pull out the train seat reservation ticket (with 4 seat reservations, to prove that Sarah really does exist as a member of our group of 4).

Handing over my passport, I told the train attendant that our 2-person ticket has Sarah's name on it, but she's not here because she went to Paris instead (which the German rail pass doesn't help with).  I show her the reservation ticket to prove there were four people.  

Reservations for 4 people on this train

She responded "why do you have Sarah's ticket?"  Heidi, sitting next to me, repeated my statement. 

"I realize you are not Sarah, but you have her ticket," the lady says. (English barrier or attitude? We'll never know)

The train ticket Sarah and I have been using together for almost 4 weeks, no problems until now

"When we got the tickets originally, they never put both names on it."

"This is a problem." Yes, yes, we understand...

Mouths probably open, we sit there for a few seconds.

"Well, what should we do?" Heidi demands. 

"At the next train stop, you have to go to the service station and talk to them about Sarah's ticket."

We start to freak out inside, since we had reservations on this train and don't want the disasterous adventure of having to figure out a new train...

"At the next stop?" which is not where we intended to get off the train.

"At Essen, when you get off," the attendant replies. Sighs of relief.

When the attendant is no longer within earshot, Heidi, Michelle and I start to chit chat, so happy that this is the last day of use on the 10-day rail pass, knowing we won't have to worry about it after we get off this train!

Today is this ticket's 10th and final day of use

Five minutes later, the train attendant comes back to our seats and asks me to follow her up toward the front of our train car.  Oh no!!! 

"I spoke with the chief of the train, and he says that this is Sarah's ticket.  You have to go to the service station and buy a new ticket from Munich to Essen at the next train stop.  Or, talk to them about getting your name added onto the ticket."

"I am traveling in a group of 10 people, and all five tickets only have one name on them, even though the DB was told all the names.  Why would there only be one name on the ticket?"

There is still space for my name. Why is it not on here...

"This is Derr Sarah.. Sarah's ticket...you have to go to the service station and buy a new ticket from Munich to Essen at the next train stop, with your name on it."

I rephrase my question: "When we first got these tickets, the DB knew we were the two names on this ticket. Why wouldn't they put both names on the ticket?"

"I don't know, but you need your name on this ticket. If not, you will have problem in the future"....she reaches over and looks at the ticket..."oh this is your last day." Yes, it is...

She starts clicking some buttons on her handheld DB device.  I remain confused, wondering how Heidi will get me out of this mess if I go tell the girls I need to buy another ticket...

"It is 115 Euro for a ticket from Munich to Essen." She looks at me. There has to be some number on here indicating this ticket is NOT ONLY SARAH'S TICKET!  

I see a number on the front, thinking this might be a passport number. Not mine. 

I flip the train ticket over and fold it open. " Ashley Artmann " !!!!!!  Never have I been so happy to see my name!! (Well, a close second :) )

Other side of the ticket...

So happy to see my name!

The train attendant grabs my (now she believes me) train ticket and passport- "Hold on," - and walks up toward the chief. 

I hurry back to the seats for a minute.  "Where's your ticket? Look at the back!" I say to Heidi and Michelle.  Michelle's full name and passport number are on the back. 

As the train attendant makes her way back, she says "the chief says this is okay" and hands me my ticket and passport, adding in a couple "sorry"s.  Whew. 

Relieved that we won't be giving Josh a heart attack, we discuss the situation and the fact that it was a good thing I flipped over the ticket!  (And it's an extremely good thing my passport number wasn't assessed too carefully, as I received my renewed passport 2 weeks pre-departure, and the train ticket which was bought over 3 months ago, has my old passport number on it.)

Sometimes, you just have to try harder to see things from another angle. 

Munich & Salzburg

Thursday was yet another German holiday, and we had the day off.  Michelle, Heidi and I headed for Munich in the afternoon via train from Essen. 

Once we arrived in Munich, we checked in and dropped off our luggage at our hostel.  We headed to the Augustiner Keller Biergarten because of the noise we heard while on our walk to the hostel.  The Biergarten was the place to be, loaded with people watching the England versus Uruguay soccer game and drinking their Augustiner beer. 

Entering the Augustiner-Keller Biergarten

Watching the football game

Time for bier and brezel!

Friday morning we headed toward the Olympic Park area to check out the flea market.  It wasn't quite what we expected at first, but we did find some good stuff. 

Not what we were expecting at first 

Heidi found some unique kitchen decor

Olympic Park Munich

Swim hall- Olympic Park Munich 

Tennis courts- Olympic Park Munich

After gaining 10+ pounds worth of flea market items, we had to stop at the hostel to drop it off. 

We had a fantastic lunch at the Augustiner Munchen, which we determined what very legit because of the type of crowd dining there. 

Augustiner Brau Munchen, where steins hang from the ceiling 

Pic with the waiter 

Next we took the metro to the Marienplatz, which is the center of the city.  We walked around and checked out the sites. 

New Town Hall Munich

Marienplatz 

Checking out the market 

World Cup "dirndl" dress

Heidi and Michelle weren't up for the museum, but I spent some time in the Muencher Stadtmuseum (Munich Museum).

Munich (originally) is in the shape of a crossbow

People used to be this short

The start of Munich's dark past

After grabbing some food at the market, we headed back to get our luggage and hop the train from Munich to Salzburg.

Once we made it to Salzburg, we grabbed some bus tickets and headed to our hostel.  We were pretty tired from the day, so called it an early night. 

Saturday morning we quickly headed for breakfast on the way to our "Sound of Music" bike tour!  Once we found the location where the tour began, we were assigned bikes.

Ready to start the Sound of Music Bike Tour! (picture guide attached)

Beautiful Salzburg

The "Sound of Music" bike tour was really fun.  We had a great tour guide who told us more about Austria's history, scenes from the movie, and encouraged us to sing, dance and pose like Von Trapps.

 

Our tour guide encouraged us to recreate the movie scenes

New friends from the bike tour :)

"I am 16 going on 17"

After the bike tour, we ate some falafel wraps, then checked out what the market and shops had to offer. 

We walked back through the gardens of Mirabell Palace.

Our dinner was at L'Osteria, where we shared wine, salad and pizza. 

Prost!

Sunday was a gorgeous morning for a run around Salzburg.

Before I was really lost

We made our way to the train station to drop off the luggage and figure out the day's bus situation.  We then headed for breakfast which was at a very cute cafe with a not-so-pleasant waiter.

From breakfast, we headed past the square and up the mountain towards the Hohensalzburg (Salzburg Castle). 

Heading up towards the castle

The closest we could get (for free)

Heidi really wanted another falafel for the upcoming 8-hour train ride, so we hustled to the market to grab lunch.  I chose a crepe with tomato and cheese.

Busy falafel stand

This lady was a crepe perfectionist

After yet another sprint to the bus post-transportation confusion, we boarded the train from Salzburg to Munich then another to Essen. 

We all agreed that these two cities were a lot of fun, and we had a great weekend!

The sum of our flea market buys- someone has a stein problem (and it's not me)