A few months ago, before we knew anything about the European rail system, we knew we had a tight schedule on some days and decided to reserve some tickets in advance. For some reason we got it into our heads that it made sense to go to Amsterdam first and then take an express train to Hannover, but really what could have been a three hour ride became about seven hours. It could have almost taken even longer, because we pulled our most oblivious move yet.. here is the tale..

We had left Groningen early enough so that we could get to Amsterdam and have lots of time to find the platform for our train. We had 40 minutes to get some food and get ready, so we got the best ever train station pasta (better than some of the restaurant pasta we had- not in Italy, of course), at this little place called Julia's. There are so many trains departing Amsterdam Centraal, and the screen announcing the trains and their respective platforms is so small, that it took until 20 minutes before our departure time for us to realize our blunder. We were waiting for a train at 12:58, and we saw trains come up at 12:56, 12:57, 12:59, and 13:00, but no 12:58; our train seemed to have disappeared into a black hole. Confusedly we stared at one another, expressing our bewilderment. We checked our ticket for the fifth time that day and for the first time noticed that the departure station said Amsterdam Zuid. D'oh! So we had 15 minutes to catch our train, and this station was at least 25 minutes away. Luckily, on the cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the words 'DON'T PANIC' are printed. We followed this advice, took out our towels and mopped our brows. not really.. But luckily we got some helpful advice from a kind information agent although the sad news was that we would only arrive in Amsterdam Zuid at 13:11. We decided to make the effort, in case our train was late. It's funny how pasta seems to influence our fate on this trip, in good, bad, interesting, and delicious ways. There is probably some Improbability ratio for the likeliness for catching your train at the wrong station when you are already late for it and are traveling to its theoretical departure point. If someone can figure out this ratio, please email us.

So, while we were standing, waiting for a connecting train, in some station that starts with a D, trying to imagine how we would make our way to Hannover since we had missed our train, we happened to hear the loud speaker say 'mumblemumblemumbleBERLIN,' at which point our ears perked up, we looked left, and right next to us was our train!! (at its first stop going east, which somehow coincided with our transfer point). We zipped across that platform faster than you can imagine and found our almost lost reservations. Phew! We are extremely lucky, since we were meeting the sound guy for the show at the station in Hannover and had no way to tell him if we would be late. The journey was a relaxing one, and relatively uneventful after that point. We struck up a nice talk with the fellow in our cabin about politics and music, just about ten minutes before we got off, almost missing our stop..

We had told Stanlee, the sound guy, that we would have two orange backpacks that he could spot, but I still had my black rain cover on my pack, and Aliza's is kind of reddish anyway. Lucky for us, Stanlee was a bright enough fellow to see a couple of orange straps and pick us out by our instruments. He gave us a nice dry, sarcastic, British greeting on the staircase (he's from Wales). We took the tram a few stops, dropped our stuff off at the local hostel, and made our way to GiGLinden, the venue. After a brief sound check, Stanlee introduced us to Currywurst, and showed us some of the magazines that our show was listed in. Unfortunately there was a bit of a small turnout, probably because of the rain and a nearby festival. There were 20 or more people, but the bar was so big that it felt a little empty. Aliza and I know our rules well enough in these situations that we still play with lots of heart for the few ears that are listening closely. By the end of our second set we had a good crowd and sold quite a few CDs. We had an appreciative listener in the owner, Michael. He invited us to stay after and taste test some quality beers with (he had a beer lexicon to go with this experience). After some good talks and great flavours, we bade a good night and au revoir to him.