Riding the rails to Berlin

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First class all the way!
Comfy seats, lots of legroom
Berlin here I come.

Well, sort of. I actually have to switch trains in Köln. But I will eventually end up in Berlin about 6PM tonight. Anne will not make it to Berlin before 10PM so she has given me super detailed instructions to get to her parents place by the U-Bahn. Seems pretty straight forward especially when the instructions tell you to “descend down the stairs, cross the little shopping area in the train station, and on the left hand corner go down more stairs til you get to the pink and purple elephant where you’ll turn 47.62° to your right take 17 steps to the ticket machine and…okay so I made up that last part. But you get the idea that Anne has been kind to me and made sure that I would be able to find my way without problems…touch wood.

I couldn’t remember how long it takes to get from the hostel to Gare Nord so I left with plenty of time to spare. It ended up only taking 30 minutes since I didn’t have to wait for any of the underground trains. So that gave me tons of time to get my train pass validated and something to eat for breakfast (le petit dejeuner) as well.

My train wasn’t set to depart until 8:55 so I just found a bench to park my butt on and wait to find out which track (voie) my train was sitting on. It wasn’t until 8:40 that they posted which track number to go to so of course there’s a mad rush for the train once #8 popped up. My ticket said that I was in coach #22…Gawd I hope that they’re missing some coach numbers because that’s a long way to walk. Lol As it turns out I only had to walk about 10 coach lengths. Thank goodness because my bag seems like a lead weight today and all of the super slow walkers seem to find their way in front of me!

The train left exactly on time and I was settled into my seat quite quickly. Riding first class is pretty nice! Of course you get what you pay for so I’d better get a nice seat and nice service too! Lol Breakfast was served shortly after departure and it seemed like no time at all that we were passing through Belgium. Really made me think that I wish I had more time to be able to spend in Europe because there is so much I’m missing out on this time round. Mind you I have the rest of my life to come back numerous times and do just that.

My phone keeps buzzing with new text messages and it’s rather irritating because they are all junk mail. Those Belgians sure like to send the junk mail. Hopefully it’ll be better once we cross over into Germany. If not, I many have to turn off my phone for a bit.

I must say I love the idea of the Euro because it really saves having to change money over again. Currently the Canadian $ is to the US $ as the US$ is to the Euro. So it’s almost like when the Canadian $ was at it’s lowest against the US$. Yikes that’s a bad exchange rate! But it could be worse…

Even with the delay of two hours I must also say that I love the idea of travel by train…well over shorter distances. Comfortable (well it could be because I’m in first class!) Friendly staff. Nice scenery. Don’t feel so rushed. Or perhaps it’s the lack of pushy Americans around me. Haha Somewhere between Hamm and Hannover we were stopped on the tracks. Everyone was getting “excited” in German that I felt a little intimidated to ask anybody, “Sprechen Sie Englisch?” (Do you speak English?) and figured we’d eventually get to Berlin. It was interesting to look out the window and see all these people trying to ask the train conductors (not sure of their actual titles) questions and you see the train dude look a little hot under the collar and the train passenger asking questions didn’t seem too happy either. Then there were all these people on the platform from the train on the track opposite our train on the platform as well. Guess they were calling whomever that they were going to be delayed. I was comfortable in my seat. I was happy listening to my tunes and having a few snacks. What more could a person ask for in the same situation? I was content and sat out our long wait…not much I could do making a fuss in English. Lol

So instead of arriving at 6PM, I arrived around 8PM at the train station and then there was about a ½ hour by subway to Anne’s parents’ house. Anne’s directions couldn’t have been clearer! Found the house with no complications. I rang the doorbell at the front gate and was greeted by Anne’s mom and two of Anne’s nieces, Lara and Alaina. They’re ten and eleven years old. Apparently they were practicing their English before my arrival but were a little shy once I arrived. Alaina is just off summer vacation while Lara who lives in another state is not starting summer holidays. It is unfortunate that the two cousins holidays didn’t overlap more because they seem to get along so well. They were in the process of making houses and furniture for their stuffies out of old cardboard boxes. They were really quite detailed as well.

I guess having staggered summer holidays throughout the country makes a lot of sense in regards to easing traffic congestion on the roads and at busy tourist venues as well the touristy season is expanded to twelve weeks.

Anyhoo, I was also able to meet Anne’s father and brother Niles who was over for dinner. I was also invited to eat some dinner as well. There was a selection of German sausages/meat, cheeses, breads and veggies. I love meals like that…a bunch of nibblies. It also makes eating and talking much easier since you don’t worry about your food getting all cold. lol

The girls wanted to play a game so the four of us each got a piece of paper and pen and then about 6 topics were filled in at the top of the page (country, city, animal, name, plant and river) One person says out loud “A” and then in their head says the alphabet until another designated person says “stop” Whatever letter they are at is shouted out. Eg “K” Then as fast as you can you have to write one word beginning with the letter K under each category. Niles had the advantage of being able to grab words from two languages. Lol Whoever as a word in each category says “finished” and you all have to stop writing and points are tallied. You all give out your answers. If you have the same answer as someone else then you get 5 points. Original answers are awarded 10 points. Zero points for no answer. I’d always get stuck on river and/or plant. It was actually quite a fun game and we probably played for six or seven rounds before Anne arrived. Her nieces were so excited to see her and me too! Anne just got back from a big six week trip from South America (Peru, Ecuador and Brazil) and had little gifts for everyone including me! I received a cute little ceramic Llama. I think I’ll call him Larry? Lucifer? Luke? Leo? Maybe Steve? Lol It almost felt like Christmas. There were other cute little ceramic people and animals. Really a nice welcoming touch! We all talked for a bit, Niles went home and eventually everyone went to bed and Anne and I talked for another couple of hours before hitting the hay as well. I got my own room on the top floor of the house and boy was that one comfortable bed! It was so nice being surrounded by friendly and very welcoming people. This is just another fine example of hospitality that has really helped to make my trip all the more memorable.

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