Good Fortune

Forward: We took the train from Offenburg to Bietigheim where we met up with the Latterells and Moores. Chris and Bibi are building an amazing house in Besigheim. It's almost done, but not ready for visitors so we stayed in the B&B next to their apartment. Brian and Tanja just had their 3rd son and we enjoyed playing with all four cousins. Colin is the master of "Sorry." (h)

As we approached midway point of week two in our travels, we really had no idea when we were headed back to Vienna. Or, for that matter, how we were getting back. Heather and I began to discuss that at a nice little Italian restaurant on Ludwigburg’s Baroque Square. The afternoon plan was to see the famous baroque castle and then meet my friend Jutta to spend a few days with her and her boyfriend Bernhard. As we were discussing all of these details, Heather noticed that her pasta dish contained little shrimp. For those of you who do not already know, Heather is deathly allergic to shrimp. I fortunately have not seen the symptoms but she and her entire family have used the term “projectile vomiting” rather liberally. Needless to say, travel schedules instantly ceased to have any importance.

Time for me became of the essence. Heather told me that in the past she usually had an hour before the projectiles began to emit. We quickly paid our bill and headed to the train station for the short ride back to where we were staying. We conveniently got a seat next to the train’s bathroom. I had two thoughts going through my head: why didn’t I stop for a plastic shopping bag and how does one in German politely beg forgiveness after spewing on someone.? How do you do that in English?

Well, we had some serious good fortune (please note the clever inclusion of the title) and Heather had no reaction to the shrimp. Even better, she had no adverse reaction to her panicking husband. We’ll see if she has an adverse reaction to this post but I digress. We ended up spending a beautiful day enjoying the sun and hiking around the beautiful town of Besigheim.

a still-nervous Curt enjoys the view of Besigheim's vinyards

Afterward: I thought C should title this one, "How Heather Ruined my Birthday." We did get some vocabulary out of the deal. In German, shrimp is known not only as "shrimps," but also as "garnellen" or "krabben." I'm just glad I looked at my plate before I popped one in my mouth. (h)