Arrive Salzburg

What the Red Cross Call "emergency" was -- my sister needed to reach me before she left Czech so we could plan a meeting place/time.  She urgently tried to reach me but as explained earlier, because of the mixed up as to where I was, the Red Cross was not able to find me for a few days.


Upon my arrival in Salzburg I had no idea what to do next.  I tried calling the contact number again but this time I was not able to get through.  I waited in the train station.  I waited and then I waited.  I got hungry so I ate a sausage from a street vendor.  I walked up and down the sidewalk adjacent to the train station.  Every time a train arrived, I'd mingle around hoping to find my sister or brother-in-law waiting there for me.

But they were not.

Hours passed.  Getting back on that train heading to Germany was not an option for me.  I was so desperately homesick and missing my family so if they were any place on the same continent as me, I was determined to find them, despite a lack of any resources to do so.  I decided I'd "live" in the train station until they showed up or it was time to go back to my unit, which ever came first.

I wasn't without worry and fear and at one point even tried to call my Dad, thinking he might have contact information for my sister but again, I could not get the call to go through.  I think there was a different dial process now that I was in a different country but I was not able to get a call through nor any English assistance from an operator and each attempt was still costing me money.

After hours and hours in the train station, I was still trying to "meet" every train arrival but I was becoming hopeless.  As another train arrived I again expected not to find anyone so I leaned up against a big column and stood there watching people until I saw . . . .

my brother-in-law.

There he was, in Salzburg.  There I was, in Salzburg.  And we finally found each other.

He had actually met every train that came in as I did but somehow, we never met up with each other.  Earlier, John grabbed a train schedule, went back to their hotel room and each time a train was to arrive, he'd go to the station to see if I was on it.  All Val could do was stay back at the hotel room with Courtney hoping and praying that I'd be found.  Each time John would come back without me, her worry increased and hope faded a bit more.

But now here we all were  --right there together.

We spent 4 glorious days together.  We toured around Austria.  We went to a Bed and Breakfast in the mountains and it was the most beautiful place on this earth I have ever seen.  I felt like breaking out into a chorus, "The hills are alive, with the sound of music . . . "  And speaking of the Sound of Music, we got to see many of the places in which the film was shot.

We toured Hitler’s Eagles nest, which was one of personal retreats.  It’s at the top of a mountain and there's only one road up, which a bus takes you to the top (or if you were so inclined to do so, you could hike up the side).  As we were driving up it felt like our wheels were literally on the edge of the road.  It was a tricky maneuver.  Once to the top, there are no gates or fences so you can walk right up to the edge and see all the way down.

While on their trip, Val got ill in Czech and had to go to the doctor and it was then Val and John got the news they'd be adding another child to their family!  I was the first in our family to know, which made me feel so special.  So Courtney AND Brittany were in Austria with us!  :)

When it was time for me to leave, Val and John took me back to the train station.  There are no words to describe how difficult it was for me to leave.  Having been so homesick, seeing my family was just what I needed but in a way, it only made things worse as now there was yet another good-bye to say.  I just remember standing in that train station hugging my sister and sobbing and not wanting to let go.  John had to practically pry us apart.

After getting back to my unit I suffered the greatest depression you can imagine.  Looking back now, I'd say I needed medical help but being young and dumb and without any resources or help, I had no clue then what I was going through and I certainly didn't have any Paxil commercials with sad balloons helping to understand there was a medical treatment.  My heart physically hurt.  I cried all of the time.  I wasn't able to function.  Even Connie commented, "Man, Mes (what she called me, like niece with an M), every since you got back you've been a wreck.  You really need to snap out of this."

I desperately tried but I kept playing our emotional good-bye over and over in my head.  I missed home so much.