Would You Like Fries With That?

I tried to order a coffee today at the train station: kann ich haben ein soja kaffee bitte? (grammatically horrible sentence structure apparently) instead of a soy cap I ended up with two (Zwei) milk coffees and a poppy seed pastry. Go figure.

I was at the Hauptbahnhof (HBF) to catch a friend who was transiting through town from her husband’s parents to her own. She now lives in Australia and has for almost 15 years. We only had an hours to catch up so most of the conversation was –

‘I paid 5 EURO for water last night!’ ‘Well I stopped drinking because then you have to pay 1.50 to use the loo!’

‘But the bread! I miss the bread!’ ‘The bread, omg, so many bakeries, I’m living on cinnamon buns!’

‘You need to buy a least one pair of good shoes while you’re here in Europe!’

‘How was Munich?’ ‘How was Cologne?’ ‘I love the freedom of travelling alone.’

‘How good are the trains though?’ ‘Terrible – you have to pay 11 EURO for a seat otherwise you just stand or sit on the floor’. Ah what? I’ve just kind of been dumping Beryl onto a chair and sitting next to her wherever there’s space… sorry DB, my bag and I will continue to be doing this because I absolutely refuse to pay additional for the privilege of sitting down instead of standing for four hours. Turns out we both love the history, nature, fashion and freedom of travelling in Europe just not all the bullshit hidden fees.

After our whirlwind catch up, she was off on her next train, hopefully sitting and I made my way slowly across town stopping into a grocery store in the hopes of reducing my reliance on pastries for survival. No such luck, turns out despite my body screaming for vegetables best I could do was some grapes. I did bulk buy water though and then walked another kilometre thanking my PT in my head for making me do farmer’s carries.

I did stop for pancakes but like does that really count?

Almost at my hotel a sign caught my eye and what do you know – I’ve been staying across the road from a pole studio! After sussing out entry I hurried back to my room for a hasty change and then attended an intermediate class in an absolutely stunning studio. It was great to find the same joy, challenge and welcoming community across the world. Moreover, I’m glad I had the balls to try a class somewhere new without my usual group of pole friends.