On a park bench.

I consider it a romantic moment. Being stranded in a place called Fredrickshafen. On the German-Swiss border. My true love and I had just flown in from Iceland. And we raced in a taxi to the bahnhof (train station) to try to catch a train to Homburg in the Saarland. Only to find there was no ticket agent. We had to buy tickets from a machine. Automated. Oh, so confusing. Fortunately, several Germans came to our aid. But turns out that the 10:32 p.m. train was booked solid. We had to wait til 4:36 a.m. for the next train. So, we had to kill time. We wandered to a nearby restaurant. A beautiful gasthaus. And I thought of staying there until the train's arrival. But the place closed at midnight. So I proposed that we find a bench in a nearby park and while away the time. Next to each other. Looking at the stars. Sounded rather romantic to me. Not quite so for my true love. She would have preferred a hotel. For a few hours. And a refreshing shower. Anyway, I won out. Despite her protest. And now I am savoring the memory of it all. Being plunked down in Fredrickshafen and finding it all so romantic. On a park bench. In the middle of the night. --Jim Broede