Europe Endless: my travel to Germany and Netherlands, thru Czechia.
written on 11.07.22, mostly in MiniWord 1.2 on a Handspring Visor with a Targus Stowaway keyboard; published on 12.07.22
This is the story how i went on a cheap (due to 9€ ticket and having a 70€ Deutsche Bahn voucher) travel abroad.
The photos you'll see aren't the best - and I'm not gonna apologise for that :P
DAY I
view from EC116 Silesia while crossing the border on Oder
view from that replacement bus - I was the only passenger!
I was on Warsaw Central rail station over 30 minutes before my train was to take off. Just to be sure. The travel to Prague went well, through the train was late - I arrived roughly when the second train was supposed to leave the station. I knew, that I'll have to take a replacement bus for the first leg of its route, which made me a bit more anxious than usual.
As I left the train in Prague, I immediately went to where i thought the replacement bus stop is. I was right; a woman from České Drahy asked me something that must have been along the lines of "are you going to Plzeň?", which was one of the towns on the route of the train i was to take, and i mentioned the town the bus was supposed to take me to: Beroun. She then told me i have to go to the third bus stop, and sure enough, there was a ČD replacement bus.
Soon the driver came in, I confirmed that yes, it goes to Beroun, and then i entered it and we took off hastily, to that station. We arrived early enough that I could buy something to eat and drink in a local convienience store on the station. Then I took that mentioned train to Klatovy...
...where I also has to take a replacement bus - but I didn't knew it while arriving.
As I arrived, I saw my train on the departures disaplay. Good, Later on i saw that it had some text close to it, saying about some "alternative transport"... huh? I did a quick google and behold, i had to take a replacement bus again!. There was some commotion outside the station but I wasn't sure, so i asked the lady in the ticket office, showing her my phone with the czech website and she confirmed that its the one in front of the station, So I went into the bus, one of two actualy, which soon became very crowded.
The driver was taking us to the second-next station (Janovice nad Úhlavou) of the train route; through he took us somewhere close, and then the woman shouted something, which I think was meant to be "does someone want to get off here?" in czech; no one
waiting to leave Beroun
the Czechs are clearly living in the 31st century already
responded, then we turned around and travelled on to my last czech - and also first german - station. How can it be both in czechia and germany? Simple: it's on the border. Literally; half of the station (roughly) is called Železná Ruda-Alžbětín, and other half is Bayerisch Eisenstein.
Next I took a train to Plattling. Nothing exciting here.
inside that second replacement bus, before people started pouring in
one last look at Czechia from across the border
DAY II
yay, a double decker!
trains at Heilbronn main station
It was the same for the one to Regensburg - nothing much have happened. I've had a detailed travel plan, but here I've made some impromptu changes. Took RE50 to Nürnberg, where i waited over 3 hours for the connection, occasionally listening to some nice techno music someone played either on phone or on a bluetooth speaker. Next was a RE 10 to Würzburg and the a RE 8 to Heilbronn, where I took a S-Bahn train to Eppingen. It's always funny to see a train go through the middle of the city, outside of actual rail station.
In Eppingen, I realized I have a bunch of spare time, so after some consideration I went to a local Kaufland (which is just across the street from the station), where I purchased some supplies. Then I took S5 to Richen, which was actually my first travel destination; i was to meet and spend some time with my dear friend there. We've talked some, I gave her gifts I had for her, we had some nice time. I again went out a bit earlier, than I originally planned, taking S5 to Eppingen again, then moved on to S4, which i left in front of the Karlsruhe main rail station.
view towards the Heilbronn main station from a distance; those tram stops are where the S-Bahn stops here
a S-Bahn train on Eppingen station
DAY III
train I took from Mainz
trans rights or something
S-Bahn truely is a multimedia kind of light rail; not only it can arrive and depart both from a rail station and from outside it, it can even behave like a underground railway, as seen in Karlsruhe.
Next train I took was a S9 to Mainz, then a RB 26 to Koblenz, switching then to RE 8 to Köln, and ending this uneventful line of succession with a RE 1 to Stolberg, which was a few minutes late. I were to actually to take a replacement bus from the main station to the one in old town, which is close to where another friend whom I was visiting lives.
We went to a supermarket, ate a bit, and went walking around the old town of Stolberg. I shot some photos, we walked for a bit, and then we went into the castle. As I was going up the stairs, i tripped, in result getting two small cuts on my hand; nothing extremely bad, so we entered the castle top and went down to the bus stop; at friend's home the hand was cleaned properly and it's fine. Don't worry about my hand, dear reader, rather worry about this castle because some day i will be back there AND THIS TIME I SHALL CONQUER THE STOLBERG CASTLE AND SUBDUE ITS STAIRS FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!
...anyway, then i slept on a friend's couch (thank you!!!), and next morning i went off on the replacement bus to the Stolberg main station.
i like puns
nice, small park in the Stolberg old town, by the river
DAY IV
if techno is so cool, why no one made techno 2?
yeah, give us fully automated, intergalactic gay luxury communism!
Next day, I took a RE 1 to Dortmund, where I switched to a RB 51 to Enschede.
To tell you the truth, the process of buying ticket to the dutch part of my travel ended up with me having tickets from Dortmund to Gronau (9 euro ticket), Gronau to Enschede, Enschede to Enschede Kennispark, and a separate one to Borne. I was originally - and did in the end - go to meet a friend who lives in Borne, but I was mistaken in my calculations; then we talked that we can meet in Enschede, since he had to be there on that day and time I was to arrive, but when it came to buying tickets, it ended up reverting to the previous agreement. Thus I ended up with multiple tickets instead of one.
I was also unsure if the train i am arriving in to Gronau was the exact one I were to take to Enschede, so i stepped out, looked around, checked tickets and yes, it was The One. So I stepped back in and continued my travel there.
In the end, after forcing my way thru The Great OV Ticket Gate Wall of Twents with my ticket, i embarked in a Keolis Blauwnet T3 and went to Borne.
I met with my friend, he showed me some nice things he got, we went to a local Lidl where I bought some more nice food things, then I returned to the station. I took the same rail line back to Enschede, and a RB64 to Munster. RB 66 to Osnabruck followed, and WFB RE60 to Minden.
i got the goods
train I took back to Germany
DAY V
the train to Braunschweig
the luggage i was going back home with
Now, according to what I originally checked on the Deutsche Bahn website, i was supposed to take a S-Bahn S1 to Hannover, but after getting off the train, I've realized that this train does indeed go there... on weekends. I must have chosen the wrong date when looking on the site, I guess.
This made me wait about 4 hours for the next train I took - also WFB RE60, this time going to Braunschweig -, then I took a RB 40 to Magdeburg, and the penultimate long-distance train I took was a RE 1 to Berlin Friedrichstraße.
After taking S2 to Berlin Gesundbrunnen, I walked around a bit, and then I sat down and waited for the last train of this long, exhausting journey: EC 49 to Warsaw. In the meantime I had a talk with some foreigners who were going to Gdynia about travel-related things. They missed their train, which was moved to a different platform, so had to take another one; I hope their travel ended up going well!
In the end, while I did only have one proper night of sleep (rest of nights i spent while travelling), and ended up permanently exhausted, it was still a fun trip :3
Greetings go to:
My friends: L., O., and V. - for meeting me and spending time with me; especially O. for letting me couchsurf and for buying food, and L.'s husband for getting the sasuage i wanted, and V. for letting me charge my phone in his place;
Deutsche Bahn, for the 9-euro ticket;
My body, for surviving this trip.
