74. So Close and Yet So Far

You know those scenes in movies where the protagonist desperately needs to get somewhere fast so they try to catch a last minute train only to watch it pull away as they are scrambling up the escalator? That happened to us today. Twice. Most of our train trips run like clockwork. Until today. I've learned that it is impossible for the Eurostar to arrive on time. It has been late 100% of the time I've had to use it. It also happens to be the only train to run under the chunnel (Mom's term for the tunnel under the channel) At least today it was only 18 minutes late as opposed to rolling in 4 hours late like last time.

20 minutes is a perfect layover time for train stations. We've had 5 minute layovers and made it in plenty of time! So 20 minutes to get from the Eurostar to our connecting 2 hour trip to Cologne should have been a breeze. Not in 2 minutes. We found our platform 5a without a problem, ran up the escalator just in time to watch the tail end of the train pull out of the station. Thus began the nightmare of hopping on regional trains to random little towns until we ended up in Köln. One of these little trains had some trouble procuring a conductor. So there was another late train that caused us to miss the next one.

We never just accepted defeat when we knew we had no time to make a train.There was always a mad dash for the platform. 6 people running around with giant backpacks looking crazy.  What could have been a 2 hour trip to Cologne turned into 4 hours on and off trains. Finally we made it to the apartment which is about as big as Arden and Scarlet's room back home. But it's decorated really nicely, so I still like it.

 As soon as we connected to the internet, the young people retired to the loft to catch up with the world. This is when we learned that Ed Sheeran was ALSO in Cologne! I try to keep up with where my favorite artists are, but I didn't think I'd actually be able to see any of them in the short times I stay in these cities. So this was a great surprise! I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to navigate the german interwebs to figure out exactly what was going on.

After wading through many pop-ups - my computer is somehow virus infested and I'm no where near any of my computer geek friends who could fix it - and loosely translated sites, I found the time and place for his exclusive radio concert. And it was only a 20 minute walk! Around 8:30 Arden, Scarlet, and I found our cleanest, nicest pair of sweatpants to wear to the Kulturkirche for the concert that started at 9. We grabbed cameras and Dad - because a 19 year old is not safe on the streets at night - and crossed our fingers that somehow we could score some tickets, or sneak in somehow.

 These ended up being our seats for the night. If I zoomed in with my camera, I could see his poster on the door...

People without tickets for this "exclusive radio sponsored concert" needed some type of connection to get past the gate. Unfortunately, I had no German connections. So we were left outwith all the other low life groupies. It was great! They tried to shut the doors so we couldn't hear, but Ed Sheeran doesn't let two sets of thick wooden double doors hold him back! Plus one of the girls pulled out a radio and tuned into the station that was playing the concert live, so it was almost like we were right inside! Except instead of staring at Ed Sheeran, we were staring at the security guards hoping that one of them would let us slip past. The concert only lasted about an hour - yeah only one hour, apparently Germany doesn't throw down like America. And we stayed the entire time. It was so worth it! We heard some songs from his new album, and on a smoke break, a girl came outside and let us watch a video she took from inside. I'm still not embarrassed. As Arden pointed out, we were closer to Ed Sheeran than we would be to One Direction at their concert in August.

I'd call tonight a fangirl success, I guess I'll just have to wait for his new album tour in America to actually be in the same room as him!