This morning I wash some clothes and hang them around the radiators to dry (no dryer) then head into Vianden to get a few groceries. Vianden is 3 K from Bettel and takes 5 minutes on the bus, so I will be going there often. I spied a market there yesterday and want to stop and the butcher shop. Of course, the store is closed from 12-2 like all the businesses except for the restaurants. And of course I am there at 12:05 so I go to have lunch at the Pizzeria. The Hawaiian pizza sounds good since this is the kind Rob got earlier this week at lunchtime. And a coffee, of course (which comes with a little cookie wafer thing). For good measure, I order a dame blanche (hot fudge sundae). I haven’t had ice cream since we left “the states.”
Since I still have at least an hour before the market opens, I write out postcards and then get my wallet out for ….. omg! Where the hell is my wallet!! I had it to get on the bus with my bus pass showing through the handy clear pocket in the front. The waitress said they took American Express – the first thing I asked so as to make sure. Sooo…I look in my coat pockets, my bag, my seat – my coat pockets again, empty my bag, go to the door to look out to the street. It is gone and now I have to tell the waitress. The embarrassment! What do they do to people here who can’t pay their bill? How am I going to get back without a bus pass? It takes me an hour to: explain to the waitress, call Rob’s cell from the owner’s cell to get his Amex card # hoping I can pay with that – oops wrong code have to call back for the other code. In the meantime, Rob is calling me the same time I’m calling him. He is able to call the bus station and see if my wallet is on bus 570 – and it is!! I call my landlady here on the farm and she can come get me! Still no credit card resolution and they take my word that I will be back later to pay. Chantel (landlady) speaks fluently to them and I feel better even if they could be making fun of me and I wouldn’t know it.
Pointing out that I’m having a bad day so early in the trip, Chantel drops me off at the apartment and goes back to her son’s school where they are having a Halloween type costume/candy parade since it is the beginning of Carnival (Lent). Rob comes home with my wallet that they went to the bus station to get and a box of chocolates for Chantel. We now have no food for dinner and go out to a convenient store after going to pay at the resteraunt. We have a bit of food now – and beer. One beer down…
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