Lost and found...

In case you have not heard: just after my trip to Scotland my wallet decided to leave the cozy company of my bag and embark on an adventure of its own. I personally did not welcome this adventure considering my wallet contained many very important items such as my transportation pass, all my id (minus my passport thankfully), debit card, untold amounts of money, and other various items I was not to keen on losing.

The disappearances, of course, happened just in time for our week long trip to Berlin. Perfect timing? Well, I think not! That was an interesting week I must say. But thankfully my lovely group came to the rescue and at least made sure I was golden in the cash department.

While we were in Berlin, however, the wonderful staff at AIB placed a few phone calls and began the process of possibly tracking down my wallet. Here in Düsseldorf they have this lovely concept of a city wide lost and found. It is amazing! If you happen to leave something on the tram or bus there is a central location where it is all collected.

Halfway through our Berlin trip I received the most welcomed message that my wallet had in fact been found AND remarkably nothing was missing. Praise the Lord!!! They sent a letter to my host lady's house with instructions on where to go and such but since I was in Berlin, I had to wait until I got back to pick it up. That's where today comes in...

This morning I woke up bright and early ready to redeem my wallet before class. Conveniently the lost and found was located on the exact opposite side of town where I had never been but with the help of google map, the rheinbahn transportation map, and a time schedule book, I charted the perfect path to get there and back just in time for class to start at 10:15 (I even gave myself a 45 minute cushion just in case). At least that was the plan.

This semester has taught me a very important concept about plans. They are made to be broken. And of course like most transportation adventures this semester, things didn't exactly go as "planned."

I was able to catch my first train right on time but that train quickly changed status from "on time" to "slightly late." And "slightly late" means that I only "slightly" missed my connecting bus to the lost and found. Lovely.

But it gets better. The stop where I was to get off and catch the 834 bus just so happened to be under construction. There are 9 different stops around the area and after jogging to each one to find where my 834 bus would pick me up, of course, it's the only one that has a big x through it.

The construction people however were so kind to write a little message explaining where the new location was. Only one problem....I can't read German! That's ok though, I just decided to stand in the middle of all the stops and watch for my bus and then run to wherever it decided to stop. Problem solved. =)

Only 20 minutes off schedule, no big deal. When I got to the stop closest to my destination I pulled out my lovely scribble of the google map I looked up the night before and began to decipher which direction I should take. According to google I was to turn right and it would be across the street a block or so away. Problem: to my right a block or so away happened to be a bridge crossing the Rhein. Way to go google.

As I stood there at my bus stop thoroughly confused trying to collect my barrings, I just so happened to look over my shoulder and glance at the big blue sign attached to the fence I had been standing next to. You guessed it. I had been standing next to the building the whole time.

The building was kinda shady, but the words matched the name in my letter. I followed the signs and enter the building. The entrance lead to a long white hallway with a bunch of cold metal doors. The sign giving directions made absolutely no since. After starring at it for a few minutes I noticed a man had joined me and had a different looking letter in his hands and had the same confused look but I decided to see if he could help anyway.

After studying my letter (which by the way is in german) for a bit he handed it back and in very broken English simply stated, "I not know." And thus began my 30 minute scavenger hunt for a door that did not exist.

I checked all the floors multiple times and found nothing. Every time I passed the entrance there was always a new person with a letter and a confused look on their face. It was quite entertaining. Several times I passed that first man in the stairwell. We just laughed and kept looking for our destinations.

To get a mental picture you need to envision an old brick building that looks deserted. Long white hallways with big closed metal doors and dirty (used to be white) tile floors. The far end of the building is a big glass wall with the lone stair case in a pretty big hollow room. The only sounds are those of your footsteps echoing in the empty hallways. Now place a few people wondering around trying to find something and not succeeding, only passing each other in the stairwell. Speed up the video and put circus music behind it and ta da! my morning.

After talking to many different people, the only one I ran across that couldn't speak English was that only one that actually helped. He took me outside and the pointed to where my destination was. Apparently this place was in the basement of the building. Of course inside there is not a set of stairs leading there so you have to go around to the other side of the building, through the parking lot that goes to the lower level and there in that most hidden corner you will find a door and apparently thats the lost and found. Gee, why didn't I think of that!

Finally I was there! With my letter and passport in hand, I was ready to pick up my wallet. The nice man behind the counter retrieved my treasure from the vault, pulled it out of the folder and said "10 euro." Since I had lost my wallet shortly after returning from Scotland, I only had British pounds. My debit card was blocked as soon as I realized it was missing, and the few travelers checks I had were also canceled thus the blank stare he recieved.

Once I explained my story he said all was good and that I could just take my British pounds and exchange them at the bank. He kept my travelers check and what change I had, gave me my wallet with the pounds and gave me directions to the bank.

The directions I received: "Over there..." (he did that extend the arm and point straight thing curving to the left when his arm fully extended) What does that mean? How am I supposed to use a hand gesture for directions when the bearings of the employee is questionable in the first place due to their current location in a building with no windows. Does he even know where the street is?

Following his "over there..." directions the best I could, I wound at a construction site with fencing everywhere and thus began my hour long search for this "bank." Several times I stopped for directions. My favorite directions were from the lady who asked if I had fire for her. (she was wanting to smoke a cigarette) I said " no, but I do have a question for you." She laughed at my response and explained that I was on the wrong street and that it was on a street parallel to where we were. She pointed me in a direction and sent me on my way.

Now I am sure that somewhere in the city of Düsseldorf there is a bank on some street that happens to be parallel to the one we were on, but not anywhere near where I was. I walked up and down the next 3 streets that were "parallel" and found nothing! I must have covered every street withing a 3/4 a mile (at least) radius of the lost and found building and found nothing. The sad part is that I really could have just left without paying the 10 euros because all they held as ransom was my travelers checks that were now void because I canceled them and the 14 cents from my change purse. It was tempting...

Finally after many wrong directions, I found some random bank and got probably the worst exchange rate ever so I could pay this silly 10 euro bill.

When I got back to the lost and found place and walked in, the man threw his hands up in the air and breathed out a long relieved sigh. Apparently they figured out that they really held nothing of value and assumed I wasn't returning. I told them of my travels and we laughed for a bit.

What a day! So now I have my lovely wallet back. It only cost me 10 euros to find it, but its back. And....I was only 1 1/2 hours late to class =)

So if you ever lose something in Düsseldorf Germany, call me. I am now a pro with the lost and found thing and know not only how to get there, but how to get anywhere in that whole area because I walked it over several times =)