On to Hamburg – hang on, how about Berlin?
Sunday, September 11, 2005
The train to Hamburg was at 11.45 but we had to check out from the stupid hostel by no later than 9am, that gave us a good two and a half our wait. After playing on the internet and getting some breakfast we headed for the platform still having three quarters of an hour wait ahead of us… in true Scandinavian way the train was late and when it did leave the station it stopped and went back into the station for yet another little wait for no reason that we could see. Thankfully though the Scandinavian trains are exceptionally comfortable and all have power points for the laptop, which helps pass the time. The train ride went very fast helped by the 45 min ferry ride across the sea between Denmark and Germany and we were just about to arrive into the station when an announcement come over the speakers to tell us that we would arrive at Hamburg central station in a few minutes but then went onto say that the connecting train to Berlin was leaving from platform 8 just 15 mins after our arrival. At this we both looked at each other with smiles that said to each other that it was a possibility. We had just spent 6 hours travelling but wouldn’t it be magic to finish the trip in the city we had started. The train pulled up and we rushed off and went to find out how long it would take to get to Berlin if in fact we did go, it wasn’t hard to find someone and they said it would take 90 mins as it was on an ICE – the German fast trains. It was like it was meant to be, and we quickly made up our minds and jumped onto the train it was that easy! There was nothing in Hamburg that we really wanted to see and this was the last chance to be impulsive for a while! The ICE train looked on the outside as if it was any other fast train but inside we were greeted by the nicest train we have ever been on - it was amazing, and very comfortable. The trip took about two hours as we needed to go to Ostbanhof on the opposite side of Berlin to what we arrived in, but still on the same train. At Ostbanhof we had to change to the S bahn and it was about this stage that all the memories came flowing back. We now had so much experience compared to way back then but it was also nice to know where to go and how to get to the hostel. We wanted to stay at the Generator again, - to complete the circle and we were also curious to know if it was as good as we remembered. Only problem was that it was getting on to 7.30 by the time we got there and we were both worried about what we would do if they didn’t have rooms available. We basically ran into the hostel and found a small group of people that were trying to get a room and the lady was saying something that sounded to us like it wasn’t looking good. But thankfully it was for another day and there was plenty of room for us. We started talking to the lady about our travels and that we had started in Berlin and stayed there just two and a half months ago. She was fascinated by what we had done and were going to do as she was planning a trip to New Zealand and had been on the internet earlier in the day. We talked while we filled out our forms and paid the bill which she gave us a discount and two free drinks at the bar! We went to our room to get rid of our bags and freshen up before heading to the bar for our drink. The bar was just how I left it, with Berliner on tap and the same cheap prices, so we settled in and sat there reflecting on our trip. We had only been sitting for a couple of minutes when an Aussie voice from behind said ‘you keen for a pub crawl?’ we turned to see a young guy walking towards us with a familiar bottle of vodka, getting two glasses out and pouring us a one each. We both weren’t too keen but we played with the idea and then he said that they had changed it a little and the pubs were different. At this we decided that it would be nice, and why not we didn’t have anything else to do (we didn’t really have to be convinced too hard though!). The rest is a blur but I know that we meet a lot of nice people but we never made it to the last bars and that we taxied home…
posted by Maarty @ 12:00 pm,
