Sunday 23-Jul-2006 - Poland and Germany (again)
Poznan railway station turned out to have a pretty sleepy feel to it. I found the Russian Esperantist I'd arranged to meet there and we decided to wander into town before heading back to Germany to take advantage of the travel anywhere in Germany for 30 Euro's up to five people week-end ticket.
The girl manning the hotel info counter at the station didn't speak Esperanto nor did the drunks sitting outside whom I asked directions from. I'm probably lucky they didn't.
Poznan city on a Saturday was pretty dead. It has a slightly run-down, should be busier than it is, eastern European feel to it. Well barely eastern European as it no doubt used to be part of Germany.
I'd read huge praises of it's old town so it was actually that that we were looking for. The old market square is absolutely huge with the usual restaurants/beer places all the way around it. It's strange when you think that every similar square in all of Europe has the same purpose - marketing tool for beer. So while the rest of the city was very quiet, the old town was where all the people were. And yes - it is just like Krakow - but without the kebab shops on every corner. It just had a couple of the usual old-fashioned touristy stalls - the ones selling postcards and souvenirs. And the obligatory for these places, horse-drawn carriage ride.
So after a quick beer it was back to the railway station. No beer in the station super-market - as good a reason as any other to leave Poland.
On the train back to Germany I asked the conductor about getting to Munich on the weekend ticket (not so straightforward as no super fast trains are allowed with it). I was surprised to see her type something into her German Rail hand-held computer and she then wrote out the entire itinerary down to Munich with about 6 train changes.
Much discussion at the station with some locals as to how to buy tickets for the local city network from a vending machine (we had to get to the main station). Glad it's not just me that has trouble with these things. The machine also dispenses the week-end ticket which was pretty handy at midnight.
So, just after midnight, still no bed, we're waiting for the first of about five trains that will take us to Munich by ten thirty in the morning.
The trains might stop at just about every stop but they are beautifully modern, are on time like clockwork - and above all - are full of a kaleidoscope of characters. Well what do you expect at after midnght on a Saturday. And being Germany it didn't matter how drunk they were, they were perfectly well behaved.
On one train I was mesmerised by some young bloke with the gift of the gab entertaining his friends with a complete run-down of the photos on his digital camera - complete with slide-show. He had a delivery unheard of during nine years of German study in Australia.
On another train a group of four nearly 18 year-old girls got on. They went from being bubbly to all falling asleep. But in the meantime the train's air-conditioning was on full so it became freezing cold. Not a good combination when you're falling asleep. One of them had shorts on so she was really suffering. She ended up pulling her knees up, putting her head through them, and cascading her long hair over her legs to keep warm. The one opposite with bare feet opened her handbag and put her feet in as her strategy.
I had a coup at Leipzig station. In Berlin I'd got carried away after working out how to use the ticket-vending machine and bought two of the week-end tickets by mistake. I was most distaught when I realised later, but Katja spotted some Asian bloke buying a ticket on the platform in Leipzig and I managed to stop him as he was feeding in the last five Euros. It took a while to convince him that I wasn't trying to rip him off but we both went away happy.
Several trains later - Munich. The beer is looking pretty inviting but the first priority is a hotel. We were pointed in the right direction by a taxi-driver. But there's always the problem that if you just look around the station, the hotels are either super expensive - or crap and just a bit expensive. We're in the latter.
All in all, a long trip from Hobart but great to look back on now that it's over.
The girl manning the hotel info counter at the station didn't speak Esperanto nor did the drunks sitting outside whom I asked directions from. I'm probably lucky they didn't.
Poznan city on a Saturday was pretty dead. It has a slightly run-down, should be busier than it is, eastern European feel to it. Well barely eastern European as it no doubt used to be part of Germany.I'd read huge praises of it's old town so it was actually that that we were looking for. The old market square is absolutely huge with the usual restaurants/beer places all the way around it. It's strange when you think that every similar square in all of Europe has the same purpose - marketing tool for beer. So while the rest of the city was very quiet, the old town was where all the people were. And yes - it is just like Krakow - but without the kebab shops on every corner. It just had a couple of the usual old-fashioned touristy stalls - the ones selling postcards and souvenirs. And the obligatory for these places, horse-drawn carriage ride.
So after a quick beer it was back to the railway station. No beer in the station super-market - as good a reason as any other to leave Poland.
On the train back to Germany I asked the conductor about getting to Munich on the weekend ticket (not so straightforward as no super fast trains are allowed with it). I was surprised to see her type something into her German Rail hand-held computer and she then wrote out the entire itinerary down to Munich with about 6 train changes.
Much discussion at the station with some locals as to how to buy tickets for the local city network from a vending machine (we had to get to the main station). Glad it's not just me that has trouble with these things. The machine also dispenses the week-end ticket which was pretty handy at midnight.
So, just after midnight, still no bed, we're waiting for the first of about five trains that will take us to Munich by ten thirty in the morning.
The trains might stop at just about every stop but they are beautifully modern, are on time like clockwork - and above all - are full of a kaleidoscope of characters. Well what do you expect at after midnght on a Saturday. And being Germany it didn't matter how drunk they were, they were perfectly well behaved.
On one train I was mesmerised by some young bloke with the gift of the gab entertaining his friends with a complete run-down of the photos on his digital camera - complete with slide-show. He had a delivery unheard of during nine years of German study in Australia.
On another train a group of four nearly 18 year-old girls got on. They went from being bubbly to all falling asleep. But in the meantime the train's air-conditioning was on full so it became freezing cold. Not a good combination when you're falling asleep. One of them had shorts on so she was really suffering. She ended up pulling her knees up, putting her head through them, and cascading her long hair over her legs to keep warm. The one opposite with bare feet opened her handbag and put her feet in as her strategy. I had a coup at Leipzig station. In Berlin I'd got carried away after working out how to use the ticket-vending machine and bought two of the week-end tickets by mistake. I was most distaught when I realised later, but Katja spotted some Asian bloke buying a ticket on the platform in Leipzig and I managed to stop him as he was feeding in the last five Euros. It took a while to convince him that I wasn't trying to rip him off but we both went away happy.
Several trains later - Munich. The beer is looking pretty inviting but the first priority is a hotel. We were pointed in the right direction by a taxi-driver. But there's always the problem that if you just look around the station, the hotels are either super expensive - or crap and just a bit expensive. We're in the latter. All in all, a long trip from Hobart but great to look back on now that it's over.
posted by Budz at 1:19 AM
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