S Bahn RE Bahn Just give me a direct train to somewhere!

Seriously! What is my problem with the trains in Europe!! I knew when the train was leaving Zell today so what do I do? Leave the apartment too late (much longer walk than I remember) and miss the train I intended to take. So, I catch the next one 30 minutes later. I did finally get to Tubingen without too much trouble. That city is bustling! It feels very international, lots of nationalities wandering around. I was planning to meet Rolf at the Neckarmuller brewery which sits on the river but I was early (yes, even after missing trains)

I walked into the old town Tubingen and had a look. It was such a nice day, people were lining up for their afternoon ice creams and sitting in the sun on the church steps. Totally different place when its not snowing but still as nice.
After beer and food and ice cream myself it was time to head back to the train station. I bought a ticket at the automated kiosk machine and didn't look closely enough at the time and in heading to platform 2 I reached the top of the steps and saw the train moving out of the station. Ack! Missed it by THAT much!
So instead of my hour journey home....I caught a train headed in another direction, transferred (luckily it was the end of the line at the transfer point because it was so dark out I wouldn't have seen the station I needed till it was too late) Once I got to the end of my trip I saw the sign that

showed all the stations...I literally did almost the whole route today. Phew!
I did want to mention a few things about the train. The S bahn is like a subway or metro, servicing the local area only out so far, I think Stuttgart is that hub. Then you have to transfer to Regional trains (which seem to be run by DB) Those two are different than the ICE train, the quick ones that travel the longer distance. My journey today required I start on the SBahn and transfer at a larger station to a Regional train (where a train man checked my ticket...) to get to Tubingen and vice versa. It was a learning moment today!