My husband and I took a three-week dream vacation to Italy; we took over 600 photos, and had the time of our lives. "Life" being the operative word - I'm lucky to still have one! We used public transportation during the entire trip; we didn't rent a car. Driving with other crazy Italian Alfa lovers (we own one); no way. So, off we went, by plane, train, and taxi.
At one point in our journey, and it was a journey, we ended up in Maria Alm, Austria. You might ask how a trip to Italy took us to Austria; that's another day's blog. To get to the point; we spent one day seeing everything Mozart in Salzburg, and at the end of the day, took the train back to Maria Alm. Part of any train trip is watching the signs as we approached each stop, to see if that was our exit. It was late, dark, and we were tired. It just so happened that at Schlossberg, there were no signs visible from our car on the train, prior to pulling into the station and stopping. One thing to know about trains in Europe (Italy and Austria anyway) they pull in, they stop, you get off immediately, and they pull out. Two minutes, maybe. We had asked the conductor earlier which stop we would be looking for, and he said Schlossburg was the last stop for the night. Relief, the train would stop and we would have plenty of time!
So the train did stop, and we were looking for signs, couldn't see any. We moved toward the front of the train. No conductor to be found. We finally decided we better just get off. The train and the station were deserted. We didn't want to sleep on the train! The doors on these trains open and close automatically. Lon took the luggage and got off. Just as I started to get off the last step, the door started to close, with me in it, and the train started moving. It was one of those moments where time stops; the worse that could have happened had I stayed on the train would have been a 5 minute ride back to the prior stop, get off, take a taxi back to Schlossburg. But, nooooo...Lon looked at me, I looked at him, our eyes locked, and he said, "JUMP!" As I jumped, I felt the door grap at my jacket; I don't even want to think what would have happened had it kept my jacket with me in it! It doesn't seem like those trains are moving very fast when they first pull out of the station, but I hit the ground running; I didn't fall. How, I don't know, but I didn't. Jumping one second later, and my run would have put me right into a large pole, but, and my knees were pretty sore the next day, but otherwise, unscathed. Never jump off a moving train...
Which leads me to my real point - if you live in Moscow, Idaho, which we no longer do, never have fun with your friends on a Friday night in downtown Moscow. Really, Moscow PD? Do you have nothing better to do than harass pedestrians because they hailed a ISP trooper while he had his lights on enroute somewhere, and one pedestrian stepped off a curb, in doing so, into a marked parallel parking spot? No blocking a lane of traffic, no impeding ISP's progress, no real "interferring", but, REALLY, an infraction, and you ARREST the pedestrian for it, and THEN, in addition, give him a ticket for "pedestrian under the influence?" No field sobriety test, no breathalyzer, no blood test. Hmmm, seems like a proof problem to me. Really? Why doesn't MPD just make it official, put on their jack boots and goose step down Main Street at the next City-sponsored parade. Really!
NEVER STEP OFF A CURB IN MOSCOW, IDAHO, if you know what's good for you.
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