We've Come a Long Way / Wir sind so weit gekommen

Nikolas has come a long way in adapting to European city life. Walking and bus riding have become normal for him, as he illustrated beautifully last night. Nikolas and I left Peter behind at the Thanksgiving party, trecking through the Linzergasse pedestrian zone to the #3 bus stop just across the river over half a mile away. I fully expected to have to carry Nikolas the entire way, but he was happy as could be walking along in the dark, checking out the shop windows, and pointing out all the interesting things there were to see. At the window of a linen store he paused and said, "Mommy, aren't those pillows so beautiful?" They were, indeed, as they were priced at €230 apiece ($300)!

As we reached the base of Linzergasse, I could see the #3 bus approaching, heading towards the stop still on the far side of the bridge and around the corner. I groaned silently, thinking there was no way we were going to make that bus. We had too far to go and the bus could get there much faster, which was really too bad because it was late and very chilly and waiting for the next bus would have been a total drag. There's nothing like missing a bus when you see it pull out in front of you. Nikolas and I were still waiting for the light to change when he spotted the bus too.

"Das ist der Dreier," he said pointing. (That's the Number 3 Bus.) "Are we going to make it?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so," I said.

Just then, the light for the bus turned red and our crossing signal turned green. "We can make it!" Nikolas said. "Let's run!"

And he grabbed my hand and started running as fast as his little legs would carry him. He ran and ran, across the bridge (which is such a very long bridge), but then the bus was coming again, gaining on us. It passed us as the cross walk on the other side of the bridge turned green, and so we kept on running, crossing the street as the bus pulled in to the stop ahead of us. I still didn't think we could make it, but Nikolas kept running, all the way to the bus, which we did reach in time, just as the last person was getting on board, and just as Nikolas had said we would.