This post is part 5 of my Best of 2009 Series, inspired by Gwen Bell.

December 5: Night out.

Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

I would certainly not call this story I am about to recount my "Best Night", but, more accurately, my most out-of-the-ordinary night of 2009.

I arrived in Frankfurt already exhausted from an international flight that lacked sleeping pills. I boarded a train at the airport, headed south to Kehl, the German town just across the bridge from the French university town of Strasbourg.

By all accounts, the final leg of this journey should have been simple: just catch a bus from Kehl to Strasbourg. Erin was going to meet me in Kehl and we'd take the bus across the Rhine River bridge together. There was only one small glitch: Obama had been in town the night before for NATO pre-meetings, and the day's NATO meeting and associated protests were to make things substantially more difficult than otherwise envisioned.

Erin texted me about 1/2 way into my train ride: "they've shut off the buses, so I'm going to try to ride my bike to Kehl".

As the train neared Strasbourg, a plume of smoke towered over the town. Anarchist protesters had lit fire to an abandoned border checkpoint, and to a hotel.

I exited the train station into a plaza cordoned off with police barricades. The mood was calm. Dozens of people sat in the plaza observing the situation. The barricade wasn't enforced; you could wander through it and into other parts of Kehl.  However, a police line stood strong along the length of the street, forcing protesters into a couple block zone and preventing all passage across the bridge. German armored vehicles were parked all along the street and units of German MPs did maneuvers at regular intervals, shifting from position to position, in a state of readiness. At times they simply stood around, also observing the situation.

I found a seat on a bench and sat down to watch, still certain that Erin and I would rendezvous and make our way back to her flat. It was there that a German kid struck up a conversation with me. He was headed to Strasbourg too, to meet up with his French girlfriend, with whom he was smitten. We discussed NATO, my embarrassment at George W Bush foreign policy, Obama, capitalism. I did a lot of apologizing and agreeing.

Erin and I exchanged calls and texts: she was stuck on the Rhine River bridge, which was barricaded by police at either end. She'd seen tear gas get thrown within a few hundred feet of wear she stood. She was also nearly 6 months pregnant. I told her to head home, that I had a travel buddy and we would make it across. So, German Friend and I devised a plan. Of course we would be able to talk the German police into letting us cross a bridge on foot, we were no threat. Of course.

It was clear from the depth of the barricade that we were not getting across the main bridge. We ventured down river a bit to a pedestrian bridge. Don't ever think you can sweet talk a German MP. It is impossible. "The border is closed. The Germans have our side under control, but the French do not. They have asked us to shut down the border." It was at this point that we picked up Thai Friend, who needed to get back to his flat in Strasbourg.

Plan 2: Take a taxi to the next bridge, for rumor is that is open.
Plan 2: Fail, bridge closed.

And so, a bit deflated, we wandered back along the riverside street in Kehl. Some soldier gave us apples and water. German Friend had homemade dip and we'd bought a baguette. This was all superior to the train station sauerkraut that appeared to be the other likely option. It was nearing dark. The bridges were not going to open tonight. I was completely exhausted. Pretty soon the only reasonable, adult option would be to get a hotel, at what would surely be an unreasonable rate. German Friend struck up a conversation with another German, telling him our tale. And then, out of the blue, that guy offered to drive us around through the south, almost to Switzerland, and come back into Strasbourg that way. HOLY AWESOME STRANGER DUDE!

By this point, I had been awake for 25 hours. My verbal skills began to fail me. Speaking English to a Thai guy living in France is hard, even with one's intellect in a full state of alert.

It was almost a 3 hour drive. We were dropped off at the corner of Some Cathedral and Bus Stop. He wouldn't take euros for gas. I called Erin and we eventually found each other at a bridge over a canal by a cathedral by a restaurant in Petite France.

I had been awake for 28 hours.

Best night of sleep EVER. (And I was totally adjusted to the time change!)

And that, mein freund, is my most out-of-the-ordinary Night Out in 2009.