Impromptu Morning Stroll

Thom and the other older kids at Oberlin have been taking a bike safety course on Thursday mornings this spring. On those Thursdays, he takes the 1 tram going toward the bike class, and Vinnie and I take the 1 tram going the other way toward Oberlin.

This morning there was an announcement on Vinnie and my tram. I hate the announcements. I catch pieces of them, but I never know what is happening.

My interpretation of today’s was that our tram was stopping at Rathaus im Stühlinger. We’d need to walk  to the next stop to continue our commute. I was happy to hear one of my favorite German phrases, “zu Fuß.” It means, by foot.

We followed the masses off the tram, but the crowd quickly dispersed. There didn’t seem to be a group to follow. I asked Vinnie what we should do.

“Easy. Follow the tram tracks.”

We walked next to the tram tracks, but then we ended up at the next stop for the 5 tram instead of the 1.

It was now for certain Vinnie wasn’t going to make it to school on time.

Google maps sorted it, and we found the 1’s next stop, Runzmattenweg. Apparently, it’s only 650 meters between Rathaus im Stühlinger and Runzmattenweg, but it still seems kind of nuts for the tram to stop and expect everyone to walk.

Vinnie made it to school around 8:10, and we agreed it was really lucky Thom wasn’t with us. He loves being early to everything, somewhat satisfied with being on time, and absolutely detests being late.