From: Rainer7735@aol.com Subject: Rainer's Europe Trip 1998 -- part 17 Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 04:31:51 EDT Saturday, 10/10 -- part 17 We awoke to an alarm clock this morning for the second time this trip. The first time was when we took the train from The Hague to Berlin. Today we were taking the train from Berlin to Munich. We still have to drive back into Berlin and had unofficially planned to be packed and to have straighten up the little house in Bohnsdorf by 0930. The three loads of laundry that we'd done a couple of days back had finally air dried by now. Everything came together as good as it can this morning. We made and ate a light breakfast and left the house just a few minutes long of our goal. The traffic was better on Saturday -- although we were by no means the only car on the road. My mind by now should know the correct way back to Berlin. But the GPS on the dashboard was on anyway showing last nights route being retraced until we got to Thomas' exit. We were going passed it, however, looking for the Kurfuerstendam, which should lead us to to the Bahnhof again. We got there in plenty of time, missing only a single left turn to the train station and having to retrace our tracks just a couple blocks. We unexpectedly passed a Wielandstrasse that we had to double back for and take pictures of. It looked a bit like a chinese fire drill with me quickly stopping the car, us all getting out with our cameras, and each trying to take a better picture than the others. We were fortunate to find a parking space directly in front of the entrance to the train station. It was very windy and starting to drizzle again. The Hertz sign that was supposed to hang from the rear view mirror would not stay in place. Everytime we'd open the door, the wind would blow through the car and take the sign with it. Monika left the sign on the dash. I questioned the policeman in the parking lot if we needed to buy a parking permit since this was rental return. He indicated that yes I would have to buy a permit from the dispensing machine in the parking lot. None of us had much in the way of German coins acceptable to the meter, just larger bills. We walked across the street to McDonald's and bought a Chicken McNuggets to take on the 7 hour train ride and get change. I purchased an hour ticket and place it on the dash board, making very sure that the wind didn't blow it off as I closed the door for the last time. We traipsed across the taxi drive, found a place for Vera, Monika, and the baggage, and I returned the keys to the rental counter. I was concerned a bit that the train clerk didn't give me any receipt. She said, no, none was needed, that she'd fax the info to the Hertz office down the street and that they'd pick up the car in a little while. I indicated that there was only an hour on the parking permit and left the counter with visions of the rental car being towed away. Note: five days later, and Hertz rented us another car -- my worries were probably for naught. We still had 45 minutes or so before the train left. I took over guarding the baggage. Vera and Monika asked for some more Deutsch Marks and browsed through the train station. Thomas and Hanelore arrived while I was on guard. We shuffled the bags across the terminal to an espresso stand and ordered, literally, a sip of strong coffee. I kept an eye out for my family since they would we surprised that I and our bags weren't where they had left us when they returned. We found each other, and hauled the bags up two escalators to the train platforms. Boarding trains in Europe is not like boarding planes at all. There's no security check. There's no baggage check. The train stops for literally one minute. The doors open, everyone getting off gets off, everyone getting on gets on, there's a whistle or two, the doors shut, and the train moves off. There's a detailed chart on the platform for each train of the day showing how many cars the train consists of, where the restaurant car is, and the number on each passenger car. We were car 12. The chart showed it was on one end of the train. We never did figure out how to tell which way the chart was intended to be read. The "front" of the train and the "back" of the train switch places during the trip based on the kind of train station that you stop at. In some stations, all the tracks end at the platform and the trains pulls out retracing the some of the tracks it covered pulling into the station. In this case, if you were sitting facing the front of the train, you are now riding backwards facing the back of the train. If other stations, what I call "through stations", the trains leave going in the same direction that they were going when they arrive. The Zoo station seemed to be a "through station". It looked like we were in the front of the train. However, the train left in the opposite direction and we were, for the moment, really at the end of the train. It's much more confusing to write about than it is. A simple diagram would make this a lot easier to understand, but I'm not going to try an type one here. Our first class seats, all in a row, were unoccupied and in a compartment with three other people, a retired German gentleman, and a couple from the US working in Egypt. Ask Vera for the details of their lives. There were no special baggage stowing areas at either end of Car 12. So all of our stuff had to be crammed into the compartment. After a bit of a shuffle and rearranging other people's suitcases everything was put away and we were seated. I'm always a bundle of energy at during these critical moments of boarding and getting settled. Vera and Monika are aware of this and keep their distance as I move large packs and suitcases through the air. I took a deep breath and relaxed in my comfortable seat. Thomas and Hanelore were standing in front of the large window, probably having watched the entire re-stowing scene. We gave the thumbs up sign to each other and waved as the train rolled out of the station in the opposite direction to the way it had come. We were riding forward. It started raining harder. I went to the restaurant car adjoining Car 12, found it to be much nicer than the Bistro car from Holland, got a menu, and returned to our compartment. The menu contained a good selection of food. After it circulated through the compartment, I took the menu back, carrying along my laptop. The car was pretty much empty. I ordered a Pils and wrote in my journal as the train left the city. Monika joined me a while later. We moved from the two-seater to a four-seater table. I rearranged the coasters and flowers on the two-seater and straightened the table cloth so it appeared that no one had sat there. The waiter came my anyway and did the same thing. We ordered lunch as Vera arrived. The lentil soup was outstanding and Monika enjoyed trying something new, goulash soup. Vera left after lunch, leaving Monika and me in the restaurant car. Monika worked on her journal too. We ordered some more drinks and a dessert of plum cake -- quite good, too. The train ride was much more pleasant than the last one. We had heat, lights, and better food and drink. We changed directions a couple of times as we stopped in several different stations. The country side was quite pretty. The appearance of larger hills were a welcome sight compared to the monotony of the farm lands or the flat cities. The rain stopped somewhere along the way. Hanelore had heard the weather forecast and they'd predicted rain for Munich that evening. We got off the train, found a cab, and it started to rain. The Holiday Inn on Leopoldstrasse was very nice, but spendy. We changed the one night planned stay to two nights. Sunday was going to be a nothing day. We'd passed a Pizza Hut Express on the way to the hotel, but it was too far to walk back. The hotel also had a pizza delivery service, but an inflexible staff -- maybe not so much inflexible has burdended with premade pizzas. Everyone was up for pizza by this time. We couldn't find the Pizza Hut in the phone book, so ordered two large pizzzas and couple of salads from the delivery service with the biggest ad. They delivered to the room in just over 30 minutes. I paid and we got ready to eat. There were not forks or napkins and pepperoni doesn't mean the same thing in German as it does in English. But we were hungry and it wasn't too bad -- just not what we expected. Vera and Monika enjoyed the swimming pool. There was a separate modem connection so we didn't have to mess with the telephone, but we did require another kind of cable adapter. The feather beds were very nice. The pillows, however, were way too small. We had huge windows and a window sill large enough to comfortably sit on. From the sixth floor we looked into the center of town. Everyone was very happy, even with the flopped pizza.