Frederik was riding the rails traveling from Geneva to Paris. His his little face was pressed against the window pane to get a better view of the beautiful Swiss countryside as it slid past.
About an hour into his journey the train stopped at a signal point. A second train travelling in the other direction pulled up beside us.
In the other train a little boy, about four or five years old was traveling with woman, possibly his grandmother. The woman pointed Frederik out to the little boy and he jumped to the window pressing his own small face against the glass to get a better view of Frederik. When Frederik waved to him the little boy’s face lit up with surprise and delight. He waved his own hand frantically in return while he shouted something to the woman.
Although I couldn’t hear their conversation from my seat beside Frederik, and may not have understood their language if I could, I understood the gist of the conversation from the little boy’s body language. I reckon it went something like “Did you see that? He waved to me!” The little boy continued to wave frantically and craned his neck to keep Frederik in sight as his train pulled away.
Frederik, you may have figured out, is not a person. He is in fact a teddy bear. But not just any teddy bear. He is a bear who loves travel adventures as much as any person ever could, or so I like to think. He is a teddy bear who can help me connect with people, especially little people, when they can’t understand my language. The small exchanges with strangers, like connecting with that little boy on the train for just a few seconds and making him smile are among the great joys of travel.
Of course Frederik didn’t really wave to the little boy – he is a stuffed toy after all. I made him wave. My young friend on the other train couldn’t see this and probably thought the teddy bear really moved.
This brief encounter as two trains passed each other lasted barely a minute but became a treasured memory of a month long European holiday. Years later it still brings a smile to my face. My partner and I sometimes recall “Remember that time when Frederik waved to the little boy on the train in Switzerland?” Then we both smile.
Travels With My Teddy archive article, June 2008.