Bikes, Trains, and Strategic Memory

There was this one time, we bought new bikes for the whole family from a store way out on the west side of Frankfurt. Do you remember that? And remember how Henry had a bike coming in the shipment from Cairo, but seeing all the beautiful bikes, he really wanted one too so I told him that if he learned to ride the bike he wanted, I would buy it for him. So he learned how to ride a bike right there in the bike store. Remember?

Then we had to get five bikes home on the train because it was too far to ride in a city we didn't know with Henry who had just learned to ride. But do you remember how it was super hard to get the bikes onto the train and we thought it was going to leave with our bikes hanging out the door? That was awesome. But we made it on. But all the bikes kept rolling up and down the aisle because we couldn't hold on to them all and it was kind of stressful, but also kind of funny.

And remember how we split up with me and Caleb at one door, mom and Henry at the next, and Maddie at a third door, so we wouldn't get stuck all trying to get out the same door and maybe not all make it off at the same stop. But then we weren't sure if Maddie remembered how to push the button to open train doors in Frankfurt, because they don't automatically open. So we put down our bag of new helmets to make sure she knew how to do that. And she did.

And we all made it off the train at the same stop and were relieved, until we found out it was the wrong stop. And do you remember how the stop we got off at was about 8 flights of stairs underground and the elevator was broken? So me and mom carried five bikes up all those stairs and when we finally got out of the station we were totally lost because it was the wrong stop.

And remember how we were not only lost, but we were in the middle of the Roemer Festival with huge throngs of people crowding all around, so we could barely move, and we were dragging bikes, and kept getting separated, and I got mad at mom for no reason because I sometimes do that in such circumstances. And when we finally had some breathing room, and could ride the bikes, mom asked for the helmets and then I remembered they were still on the train. That part was especially epic.

And remember how it was totally dark by the time we finally got oriented and knew the way home and it was a two mile ride up hill the whole way and Henry had just learned to ride a bike that day? But then it got awesome because Henry led the way home and made it all the way riding like a pro and our new bikes are awesome and Frankfurt is awesome and we discovered that a kind of stressful night becomes epic family history by simply putting "do you remember that time when" in front of every sentence.