The Hauptbahnof

Every morning I take the kids to school.  We leave the house and travel on the Regional Bahn and go into Heidelberg to the Hauptbahnof (main station).  We then take a tram up to the school.  My round trip takes about an hour.  I enjoy it.  The walk is about .6 km to the Regional and on the way home about .9km to the house (because I take the S-bahn home).

I’ve always wondered about people who live in Banff or Jasper.  I’ve always wondered if after a few years they stop seeing the beauty of the mountains.  Today was the day that I realized that it is very easy to miss the sights around you and have them just become part of the fabric of your life.  I’m a believer in staying in the present.  There are no promises to the future and life goes speeding by whether you pay attention or not.

Today a site shook me out of my early morning stupor and it made me pay attention to the vibrant life all around me in the Hauptbahnof.  That site was a 40-ish man with salt & pepper hair carrying a skateboard.   It occurs to me now that my first thought should have been something along the lines of “probably for his kid” and if I was back in Canada that invariably would have been my first thought.  But I’m in Germany.  That 40-ish guy was carrying a skateboard because it’s how he gets down the street after getting off the train. Love it.  What else did I see this morning?  Some very cute Polezei with green uniforms and guns waiting for the S-Bahn.  A 30 something guy that looked a lot like Colin Firth waiting for the same train as me on the way home with a fold-up bike.

You can take your bike on the trains here.  You can even take your dogs.  People take their dogs everywhere, restaurants, the zoo, on retail stores.  It’s common to be sitting in a little cafe next to a dog in a carrier or a large dog lounging under the table.  I also so no less that 6 middle age men wearing Manpris.  You know capris for men.  Very popular over here.  I keep telling Emmett I’m going to buy him a pair but he doesn’t seem so keen on the idea. Unfortunately none of the men wearing them today looked like the model in this picture but you get the idea.

So today instead of burying my face in my book (The Shack by Wm Paul Young) I spent my hour looking around.  Enjoying the sights and sounds of the Hauptbahnof and really seeing my surroundings.  I’m so glad we’re here.  I can’t wait to explore more of the beautiful part of the world.