Who do you Love…trust?

I read an article today about how people are becoming untrusting of our large institutions – governments, banks, education to name a few. I was thinking what a strange world we live in. We don’t trust long standing institutions but I trust a complete stranger at an Air B and B to allow me to sleep in his/her home without harming me and he/she trust I won’t harm them as well. I call an Uber driver to take me to the airport and trust he will get me there safely.   I recently heard about blablacar. You can sign up to share a long distance car ride, for example from London to Paris, with a stranger.  The bla bla stands for how much you talk- one bla – hardly at all, bla bla- you like some conversation and bla bla bla – you are not going to shut up for the entire ride.

So when I arrive in Frankfurt, Germany I trust the young girl at the tourist information desk at the train station to give me a recommendation on a clean, safe, inexpensive hostel close by. She gives me the name, directions and even calls and makes a reservation and assures me she would send her grandmother there. (is this another age thing?)

But something feels wrong almost immediately.  When I exit the station the area feels run down, dirty, too many people begging and shifting through the trash cans. I walk the two blocks north and am now in what I would call a questionable neighborhood.  Run down bars, strip bars and sex shop after sex shop, people who look like they might be on their last legs leaning against buildings as if they are holding them up.

My instincts say run but each direction looks worse. As I turn a corner to the hostel I see a man shooting up, what I assume is heroin, into another man’s neck. But I also see 3 catholic nuns from Mother Theresa of Calcutta’s order. And they are working with the people on the streets.  The habits are the identifiable, white robes with the royal blue band on the veil. I happen to have on a blue sweater that exact color, so I quickly file in with them and put my arm around one of them thanking them in English for all they are doing. I am hoping to blend in a little.

When I get close to my hostel, I slip inside, ask for a private room, lock the door and never come out until the next morning, at which time I run to the train station and leave for Vienna. I decide not to eat dinner, and as a Catholics I “offer up the fast ” for all the people on the streets. OK, I admit, I am also afraid to go out.  I lay awake at night thinking and praying for the people I passed and wonder about all the events in their lives that lead up to this one moment- shooting something into their neck. I happen to believe that no one chooses this life and that the road to it was one of a lot of pain and misfortune.  But most of all I think about the grandmother of the girl in the tourist center, maybe I need to meet this woman!

On the train to Vienna I meet a young couple who are from Frankfurt and they assure me that if I had just walked two more blocks I would have been in a very posh area of town where all the businesses and shops are.  They say I was in the middle of the red-light district and they assured me that Frankfurt is a very nice, safe place to live and visit.  But I know there was a reason I was meant to walk through that area, if nothing more than to be reminded that poverty, addiction and pain is everywhere in the world.

I also meet a woman, who is a pediatrician returning to her home in Vienna from a talk in Frankfurt. She asks about my travels and if I have a place to stay in Vienna and suggest her favorite place, which is about a 45-minute metro and bus ride out of the city.  She even offers to take me there.  During our conversation, I mention leaving for Madagascar in February.

She tells me that her husband has been there 8 times and loves Madagascar. What a great chance meeting this was.  Now the bond is set and they invite me for coffee the next day bringing their adorable 14 year old daughter. We have a wonderful time hearing about her husband’s adventures, the animals, flora and all he has seen. We exchange e mails and they promise to come visit next year. I hope they do.

The Hostel is fantastic, I am the only one in a room for 4, big breakfast for an extra Euro. The building sits up on a hill side overlooking the entire valley. You can see Hungary on the right and Slovakia on the left.  There are lots of hiking paths and I even find a broken link in the fence and climb through to walk the vineyards. I go into the city the next day and explore Vienna.  On my way back I realize I am not sure of the bus stop and cannot remember the name of the Hostel – only that it is a very long word and has a lot of s’s in it!   Fortunately, the bus driver knows where it is -Hostel Schlossherberge!  I am also reminded that there are no chance meetings, this beautiful hostel out of the city was just what I needed and meeting someone who  loves Madagascar lifted me up about my move there.

A simple “Hello” can lead to a million things!         

“Choice” “Chance” “Change” – you must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change.

If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one.  Mother Theresa

Poverty is like being punished for a crime you did not commit!

The reason I sneak into the vineyard every day! Forgotten grapes.

Only at McDonalds in Vienna

Steps to the Art Museum

These are bug houses, built and put up for the local bugs to live in. Pieces of wood with holes drilled in them and cement holes to crawl into. So considerate.

For tourist who are not sure where they are.