We decide to eat at the hotel to save time. My train leaves for Munich at 5:30 AM so I must pack tonight. The dining room is empty when we sit down. I go to the desk to see if we can order some food and the clerk says, "of course." After a few minutes a very rumpled man shows up to take our order. We order beer and wine and after he serves the beverages, he disappears for about 20 minutes. Turns out he's the cook as well as the waiter and the busboy too. Management sent him over from their sister hotel, The Europa, to take care of us. Fortunately we ordered a light meal or we might have waited a long., long time for our food. He explains the situation. The Europa is for tour groups and the Metropole for individual bookings, which explains the crowd at breakfast and the absence of fellow diners at dinner.
As soon as we get back to the room, I start to feel bad about separating from Pam. I also get into my pre-departure craziness. This condition manifests itself whenever I have an early departure. Truthfully, it often manifests itself when I have any kind of departure. I can't find items - usually because I've already packed them. I keep checking my tickets to insure I haven't misread the departure time. I drive everyone crazy including myself. I finally retire and try to read myself to sleep. I doze off until about 2:30AM at which time I awaken wondering if my wake-up call will come through as scheduled. I finally drop off again for what's left of the night - about an hour.
The boat has an open deck with just a few umbrellas and it is very sunny and hot. We find some seats in the shade and sit back as we roll up the Rhine. I take many photos of castles and the passing scenery. You can see them on my Rhine River Cruise photo site. I keep waiting to have fun. We do enjoy a chuckle at the boat company's attempt at entertainment. When we pass the huge rock called the Loreley, a woman in a blonde wig and a dress that most likely would never make it off a thrift shop rack strolls around the deck accompanied by an accordionist from central casting and sings folk songs. While I am not convulsed, I do enjoy a good laugh at the scene.
As we roll along the trip actually starts to get boring. A question: why is it that time passes so much faster on a train then it does on a boat or a plane? Send your speculations to my e mail address.
We decide to eat. The dining room is overcrowded and understaffed but the food is good, especially the sausages. At one end of the dining area, a group of passengers are having a roaring good time, liberally lubricated with wine and beer. They don't seem to be interested in the scenery or the castles and they seem to be enjoying themselves - may be a lesson in there somewhere.
We go back onto the sun deck where we meet a Dutch man who, with his wife, had biked from Switzerland to Koln at an 80 mile a day rate. He is very thin and she looks anorexic and lizard-like as she suns herself. The man is a bit of a character. He speaks excellent English as a result of spending a couple of years at a bible school in Georgia. He has a curious mind and is eager to answer questions about their bike trip.
It's 4:30 AM and I'm wondering what I was thinking when I scheduled a train trip from Frankfurt to Rome. It's more than a 14 hour ride albeit through the Alps where the scenery should be exceptional. Oh, well, it's time to go to the station. I say goodbye to Pam who I won't see for three weeks or so and head for the hauptbahnhof (I still love this word).
The hotel front door is locked and as I am trying to find someone to open it when a guest returns from his all-night wanderings and opens it. At this point, the desk clerk mysteriously appears and starts to freak, thinking I'm running out on my bill. I try to explain that my wife is still in the room but he's in such a state of excitement and confusion that he doesn't understand. I finally yell at him to cool it and then explain that Pam is still checked in and he also has my damn credit card. I don't wait for his response. I just walk out. As I cross the street, I keep expecting someone in a uniform to stop me but nothing happens and I enter the station (enough with the hauptbahnhof).
Wow! The station is busy at 5:00 AM. I suspect this station is busy 24/7. I grab a croissant and an extra large coffee, find my train, find my seat and at exactly 5:30, the train leaves. I am the only person in my luxurious car. The dawn arrives about a half hour into the trip. The sunrise is beautiful. I feel like I am looking at a Monet painting of the fields. There is a light mist which adds to the effect. After an hour of pastoral beauty, we pass into the hills and what is left of the Black Forest. Everything we pass seems to be waiting for someone to make a postcard of the scene. I am actually sorry, four hours later, when we pull into the Munich Station, right on time for a change.
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The train to Mainz arrives. We sit in the first class section with a family that epitomizes the myth of the "Ugly American" or in their case Americans. They had been hiking and have their feet on the seats across from them. They also use seats instead of the floor for their backpacks. They talk so loud I am learning more about their family relationships than I ever wanted to know.
When we arrive at Mainz we notice that an IC train headed for Frankfurt is late. Thank goodness for the inefficiency of the German railroad system. We decided we will pass on exploring Mainz, which I remember as a beautiful little city from attending a fasching celebration 20 years ago. Hopefully we will get back here someday.