ICE - Inter city express

On my way from Berlin to Milano and there were three trains which would take all the pain of transferring me from the German Capital to the Monza circuit. Well, over the last few days whenever we have travelled on the trains we have always been late. Maybe 10 minutes and in some case half an hr late. What happened to the efficiency of the railways, and that too the bloody Germans. I thought they were supposed to be setting the highest standards. Well time to test that with the ICE from Berlin to Koln and then a 20 min later train from Koln to Basel. My first stop in Switzerland and finally a EC to Milano Central. And what a surprise. Not only was each train on time at the given destination they were dot on time at all the intermediate station. For some reason I just felt so happy all the times when the train would halt at some station and I would check the watch to confirm that the train was ON TIME. Just as the germans were supposed to be. Perfectly efficient. I think this has more to do with the fact that as in Indian we are used to trains coming late, “making up time at night” and tolerating 10-15 minutes delay as part n parcel of the whole system. God dammit, we need to learn so much from the ICE. Was on the phone for quite sometime on the train and there was perfect reception of my Vodafone signal because there were mobile repeaters in place. So in a perfectly quiet  apartment u can talk for as long as u want while the train rushes past the german landscape at 249kph (that is what they were displaying on the screen in the compartment, I know it was not the fastest the ICE would have gone but am sure that was fastest I have gone while on land except the airplane takeoffs, not sure what the speeds are then)

Which brings me to the main point, about why we as human beings appreciate something as simple as punctuality and honesty when these are assumed as the basic characteristics of any individual?  All this while when people were evolving into more and more complex beings, we forget that even now all we need is the other person to be polite, gentle, and honest and some simple things like that. So next time when you board the ICE and you marvel at how awesome it is, remember one thing – it’s just doing what its supposed to do, reach every station at the designated time. Simple. The rest is all show off from the Germans J Hate the Italians. They need a reservation on all their stupid trains. Bloody 13euros for a 4hour train journey from Basel to Milan. 

Berlin – The history lesson

Day 1 – Arrived in Berlin via Frankfurt on my first ICE (the proper one not the other flat faced one) and boy what a ride. They even hves LEDs on each seat which informed the passengers if a particular seat was reserved so that what happened to me at Goteborg would not happen here. The Germans were impressing me more and more J 

So we arrived at 130pm on time and then we were in a soup as to what to do. Went to burger king to find free wifi but instead we found wifi from Starbucks. Saw the location of a hostel which was on the S-Bahn route (free for euro rail pass holders) and then on our way to that hostel. Booked rooms for 2 days and boy the rooms were soooo nice. Fluffy pillows and good blankets. 14euros seemed to be a good deal. (Remember we are in europe) 

Having flicked off free maps from all possible locations we were prepared to go on our first outing of Berlin, and the first history lesson would come from the infamous Berlin Wall, we were conveniently put up at the beginning of the East Side Gallery and what a landmark. 

Such remarkable art in a city and each one better than the previous one, Berlin was going to be a wonderful trip. You could see tourists (Mostly Chinese, god knows how many of them we saw on the trip till now) everywhere and a whole bunch of school going kids wandering along the wall, taking pictures, staring at marvel at some of those master pieces.

 If that was not enough then we made our way walking all the way to Alexanderplatz. A happening place in berling, full of malls and eateries, and a good hang out place in the evening. The time we arrived we were astonished by the whole environment there, definitely helped by the guy playing the guitar. The star attraction of the area was the TV tower situated there, currently the second tallest structure in the EU, and a 10euro fees to take you all the way to the top to a restaurant from where am sure the night view would be SPECTACULAR. 

When i do go back to berlin i’ll do that for definitely. Hopefully on my next trip to mainland. 

Went back to the hostel early as even the shops in Berlin start closing by 8pm and by 1030pm we were tucked in and ready to sleep. Tmrw Sudeep would join us from Frankfurt and then we would go on a full day tour of Berlin.

Day 2 – Day 2 began with us going to the Warschawer strabe station to meet sudeep, who had come down from Frankfurt and then we all headed to the Reichstag (pronounce it properly man... ) The german parliament which was the centre of all that action during the last century and lo there was this long queue of people waiting to get in, and after an hr of waiting we were finally at the front.

 Security checks and then we were herded to the dome of the Reichstag which was open for public and was situated on top of the room where the parliamenterians used to sit. The idea being that if at any point of time they 4got who was the real boss in germany then only need to look up once and they would find the people of germany (these days it would be tourists of course J)

 It was an audio tour with all of us given some audio guide which was sensitive to your location on the ramp. So as soon as u came to a particular area the voice in the device started giving u some gyan. Very very clever. So people could go on at their own pace without having to operate or worry about the guide. 

The Reichstag was definitely a  good place to begin the tour and the guide was excellent with detailed explanation of events in the history of Berlin. There was also the free tour which according to the pamphlet that we got was scheduled to begin at 1pm. So we had enough time to go to Branderburger gate which also has a very unique history. At this point of time i am tempted to tell all the things which my guide told during the free tour because i doubt if things can be made more interesting than that. J 

So we met Ed at 1pm near the brandenberger gate from where four different groups proceeded at the same time. Some notable points during the whole tour –

1.       The godess at the Brandenberger gate looks towards the French embassy, the French were the ones who had stolen her in the first place (napoleon)

2.       The commercial bank there seems a very stale bank from the outside, coz according to the laws anything in that square cannot outshine the gate, however the inside is supposed to be breath taking. He also designed another structure in Prague or some other city.

3.       The hotel adlon there was the one which has a room which costs 15,000 € per night!!! And was the same building from which Michael Jackson threw the baby!!!

4.       
       The holocaust memorial cost around 6mn € and was quite controversial

5.       The square where Hitlers bunker was present and how the allies kept it a secret of his death

6.       German and French Cathedrals on the same square very similar to each other, though the German one was a few inches taller.

7.       Bank which featured in the movie run lola run.

8.       Island museums and some of the escape stories surrounding the berlin wall.

And by 5pm we were done with our tour and what a tour that was, and all that for free even better. Well they run on tips only basis so we also decided to chip in. This was followed by a tour of the new museum. A one hour marathon through the 3 floors of the museum. That was quick. 

This followed by a visit to the sony centre which housed only Hollywood flicks, so we decided against watching the movies. A trip to alexanderplatz where we had our dinner, and some more live music. Finally at 930 we made our way back to the room, a tiring day but then it was good fun. The last day in Berlin would be dedicated to schausenhasen, the concentration camp near berlin. 

Koln – Stop 1

 We arrived at Koln early morning at 7am (train was again late by some 20 minutes)  and the first thing to greet us on as we set foot in the mainland was a mammoth station. What a sight. And with no clue as to what to do, we went to the Tourist Information centre to get some gyan on what all to see and where to find a good youth hostel. Soon we were directed to a closeby youth hostel which did take some searching though It was quite close to the station. We convinced the lady that we were here only for few hours and we wanted to put our luggage there and use none of the facilities, she obliged by renting us their locker for free.. so sweet.. On our way from the hostel to the Rhine banks where we would make our plan for the day. The Rhine was already bustling with activity – tourist boats as well as the ones shipping out cargo. 

And as soon as we turned around we knew where to go. The largest cathedral of Germany (I forget what its called) and by god that was some sight. 

Towering above us we looked like tiny dwarves make that ants near those towers. Went inside the cathedral and it was even more beautiful from the inside. I cant tell you who all were there on all those windows or the ones on those pillars but by god that was some architecture. Everytime I see anything as huge as magnificent as that, I always wonder – how exactly did they manage to build these things back then. Superb. And then after some more time spent in the cathedral we roamed around to see what all were there around that place, and it seemed that most of the things to be seen in Koln were very close to each other. Good. So we went to the Ludwig museum, closed. Another museum next to that. Closed. Dammit it was 9am and they were all closed even then. While roaming around the church we saw a sign which said that at 1 euro u could make your way to the top of one of the towers of the church. That was 100metres and that definitely seemed like a good investment. Boy was soo wrong, these germans had actually built steps around one single pillar and that was the route were supposed to take to go to the top. And man it was tiring and scary at the same time. Oooof. Finally reached the top and it was all worth the effort, a spectacular view of the entire city from up there and you could even see the place where there was going to be a concert held later at 12 noon.

 The descent was even more scarier though not so difficult. And finally after getting down it was time to go the famous Ludwig Museum. And at that time there was an exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein’s work as well. Now am not sure exactly who he was at that moment so I think I am not the best person to describe the (2.5hrs) spent there, but then it was well spent I guess.

 After this we went to the Chocolate museum while we found out that that required another 5 euros as entry fees, so we satisfied ourselves with chocolates for the time being from the shop there. Lindt apparently had setup the exhibition with a lot of thought behind it and they prepared a fresh batch of chocolate every time a bunch of visitors came into the museum. Naaice. Some snooping into some of the supermarkets told us that everything was cheaper compared to the Scandinavian countries and that was definitely good news. On the same day a triathalon was being held in the city – cycling, marathon as well as swimming. 

And the whole city was geared up for the event, people had come to cheer up family as well as friends and there was definitely no shortage of old, young, male, female literally everybody had turned up. It was a good way to get the city together. We should have more of those of marathon things in the city. Finally at 5 pm we decided to make way to the station and then on our way to Frankfurt. And guess what . we meet turakhia (for the uninitiated he is the topper from my college and my class mate in first year) He was also in Koln on the same day however he had arrived at 12noon and since we were going to his house only in Frankfurt it was mighty convenient. After an hr of train jouney from Kobleinz we were at his house and now that we  know the address we can easily make way to that place whenever we are in that area. Sudeep was a good host and he even served us pizza for dinner, and finally we slept off at 2330 ready to get up tmrw morning at 730 to go to Berlin, the Capital and the place which has had such a action packed history in the recent decades that it is literally a history class for the tourist. Hope it is that good. Am sure it would be. 

On our way to Koln – The 5-week journey starts here

Well time to get the euro trip started, with a good long tour all the way from Bergen to the mainland Europe. All the way from the Scandinavian expensive countries to the more reasonable and definitely more fun mainland. Time to get that camera out and a whole lot of history books as well as some guide books. This is Europe as was dreamed of, Europe with all its glamour, countless places to visit from museums to palaces, races to marathons all in these 3 months and it all starts with a stupid decision. Since the Bergen Oslo route would be busy on the Friday that we were beginning our trip we decided to reserve the seats, 50NOK and we would be safely on our way to Oslo. But alas since our pass expired on the same day we were wondering wether to go ahead and reserve the seats and then come back because the station would close by 730. (Cant even do tht online.. technology it seems!!) So we ended up at the Bergen station at 630pm to wait till 11 pm when the train would finally make its trip to Oslo. Met a Marathi family on the station  and at the same time a professor from Boston. He had some interesting theories to share about how the brain works and what changes he planned to bring to the education system.  The train finally left station at 11pm and the journey to Oslo was pretty nice. Good comfy seats, no internet in the train but a charging point atleast. Could not sleep properly and kept rolling up and down that same seat. Finally at 628am precisely the train reaches Oslo. With 2.5 hrs to spare till the next train we went to see what Oslo was upto at 7 in the morning. And it was COLD..

 And no one was up till then, dammit how can people sleep at 7am, everybody should be up by then. Well time to roam around looking for the sun and lo we ended up at Sentrum and Galleriet (places which were there in Bergen as well ) and finally met the sun in sometime.. Felt good to have some warm sunrays, even if it was still early.

9 am and we were on our way to Goteberg, we came to know that since a part of the track between Oslo and Goteberg roughly near the border (Salzburg area or something) was under repair so we would have to make the middle part of the journey in a bus. This would be interesting. As always the train was good and went about the whole journey pretty much as quiet as sitting in the meeting room all alone in the office. And then came that place where all on board were supposed to get off the train and guess what they had arranged 3 luxury buses to get us to the other side. Wow. Can seriously never expect something like that in india for some reason. Well the bus journey was pretty uneventful except one lady who kept getting up to go to the driver to check how much more time. Even we were worried since we had some half an hr lead time before the next train to Copenhagen. Eventually we came to that station after an hour and then the train took us pretty quicky to Goteberg. For the first time we heard the Train Manager announcing that the train to Copenhagen would leave 5 minutes after we reached Goteberg that too from the adjacent platform. And that was such a relief. And it was a pleaseant surprise as you never expected something like that from the Indian railways. This is what we learn in marketing, understand the customers needs. So we reached Goteberg and then the train to Copenhagen. Crowded SJ train and not so comfortable as the NSB of last nights or the one we boarded today morning. But then we were not complaining, however one thing which you always fear as a global pass holder is that when you settle down in a train someone will come to your seat and ask you to get up coz u are occupying his seat. (That’s how the euro rail pass works, u r allowed to get into any train and occupy a second class seat as long as its not reserved by someone) We had been fearing this till now, and finally it did occur in the SJ train to Copenhagen. So with no free seats in that compartment I went to the next one where they did have a few empty seats. Of course I was skeptic as to wether I could sit there or not and after bothering one passenger I did get a seat to let my back side. Sitting next to me was a swede who was going home to meet her parents. Some 40km from Goteberg. We chatted for quite sometime as she explained how she had gone on very few trips across Europe but she was definitely very aware of all the food delicacies from all over Europe. She specifically mentioned the ones to try in Berlin and Milan as well as Paris. She got down at her stop while we continued on our way to Copenhagen (She was the one who taught us how to pronounce Koln :P). If u clearly see the map of Denmark you would see that there are an awfully large number of places where there is no land connectivity between stations and Copenhagen was one such place. So we were expcting one mega large dam or a tunnel at the end of the journey but we were definitely not prepared for this one.

 A huuuuge dam which the train was covering at some 150kph and on the distance you could see a whole lot of wind mills. Wow what a site. Recommended for everyone to do it once. Having reached Copenhagen at 5:20pm we were expected to be at the station till 614pm when we had a CNL (city Night Line) from Copenhagen to Koln. Copenhagen was the place where some of the guys from K were studying but we were not sure if they would be there (weekend time pe forex ppl r not expected to be at college J) So we roamed around Copenhagen for a sometime (saw a group perform some awesome music using some weird flute instrument) while the Tivoli circus also caught our eye.

 Copenhagen is definitely a stop over on the way back. And then on the train from Copenhagen to Koln. This was a painful journey. We booked the CNL but that did not have recliners so we paid 5 euros for very very bad seats and finally at 7am we arrived at Koln. The first stop in mainland Europe. What a trip coming ahead. 

Euro 3 - Flight to Istanbult & the City itself

The business end of this trip starts with a train journey from Nagpur to Delhi airport. With a 16hr train journey behind my back i was looking forward to pleasant AC climate for the next few days in the airports and some awesome weather in Europe. Alas it was not to be, with my passport still with Vikas, AAI did not let me in, and that was that. Stuck outside the airport for almost 6 hrs with nothing to do except click a few pics and read some  novel (Thanks shweta)

 Finally got into the airport at 2am and with all the dreams of europe in our eyes we got out luggage checked in, get through with all the formalities and lo we were on board TK 717 the flight to Istanbul, our first contact with Europe. Slept for sometime but then the stewerdess woke us up for some meals while we flew over pakistan and afghanistan (that country is definitely full of mountains and deserts and nothing else!! )

Time did not flow by and it was getting painful to sit in those crumpled up little seats for which we paid all that cash. Damn these cheap airlines. finally landed at 930 at the ataturk airport.

That airport should be renamed to "Turkish airlines pvt airport", bloody all the flights there were TK's hee hee

And then comes the bad news from the TK people, since there exists a flight for Oslo at 12noon before our original flight they cannot put us on that free tour of the city or give us a hotel for stay. Damn that was not there on that site of theirs.  Planned to spend a whole day at the airport but then alas even the duty free was not tempting enough. And after a 100Rs half litre water bottle experience we realised that it is safer to get out on the road and explore the city :) Got a visa on arrival (25$) and off we were for the day. First stop was sultanahmet square. Supposed to be a square meant for the tourists with the Blue Mosque, Sophia , Museum, Cistern chapel and others all situated on that one square. 

1. Obelisk of Thutmose III

2. Walled Obelisk

3. Sultanahmet Mosque

4. Basilica Cistern , though we did not enter this one (10TL fees was too much for that )

All this along with a few hours of peace spent observing the whole area and we were ready to head back to the airport. Time to sleep at 130am and get up at 630. Flight to Oslo awaits us the next day morning