Finding our train at the train station in Copenhagen was no real challenge. Finding reasonably priced water to buy was much harder (we failed), and finding the correct coach – or ‘wagon’ – on the train was even harder (we failed at that too). Too much time was wasted looking for water and we only had a few minutes to get onto the train, where we discovered it wasn’t possible to walk between the coaches inside. I hadn’t been expecting that. We decided to stick with the coach we were in, and found some unreserved seats to sit in for the first leg. Denmark being Denmark, you get a nice, comfortable seat, big enough overhead racks for our backpacks, and free WiFi. I wasn’t too surprised by this (except maybe the WiFi), although I was pretty pleased, as our entire journey was only costing 85 euros for two people. What did surprise me was when the train was put on a ferry for half an hour to make the crossing into Germany. I suppose it was faster than going round to long way. I might have been less surprised if I’d read the ticket properly, as it did say something about Puttgarden…
When the train arrived in Germany (there were no passport checks), it continued to Hamburg, but if you tried to use the WiFi, it told you it was only available in Denmark. Our first change was in Hamburg. Hamburg didn’t seem to have a big screen anywhere, but it did have monitors at the top of the steps down to each platform, so you only had to walk along until you found the train you wanted and then go down to it. They seem to have build very narrow platforms in Hamburg though, and they were very crowded. I reasoned that being Germany, each coach would come in at exactly the same place as the corresponding coach on the previous train, and it pretty much did. And I must be still used to British trains, which are narrower, as once we got inside, the train seemed to easily accommodate all the people who wanted to get in, and all the people who were already in. It was a bit late, which I thought German trains never were, especially when they are only running inside Germany! We passed a peaceful couple of hours travelling through what appeared to be industrial Germany, until we got to Osnabruck, where we changed again.
Early research, which turned out to be faulty, had caused us to think the train station would be right next to the most interesting and historical part of Osnabruck. It wasn’t. That’s Osnabruck Altstadt, we were at Osnabruck Hbf. Nevermind. We had a bit of Bratwurst (wrapped in bacon) and some chips (wrapped in garlic sauce) and declared ourselves officially in Germany, we can say we’ve ‘been there’. I went for a wander and saw a church and an ordinary German shopping street, full of ordinary Germans, and when I got back, we realised that I’d misread the ticket and we only had a few minutes before the next train, so we dashed inside and got on it. This one took us to Amsterdam, and took another few hours, mostly in the dark. I’ve noticed before, that even in the borderless EU, most people on trains are travelling domestically. Trains actually crossing borders are often pretty quiet, but fill up once they’re in a new country. This one filled up a few stops after crossing into Holland, at a place called Deventer, and everyone stayed on until Amsterdam. Amsterdam station, in case you’re interested, contains one of the few public toilets in central Amsterdam, and is priced competetively, at 70c – compared to Osnabruck at 1 euro. That’s some expensive going to the toilet, Osnabruck.
Amsterdam has a nice tram network and a 1 hour ticket (which costs 2.90) got us the five stops to the vicinity of our hostel. We then had a minor disagreement and went in a couple of wrong directions and saw a lot of attractive Amsterdam canal, before finally finding where we were going. Hans Brinker Budget Hotel actually prides itself on being a bit of a dump, with lots of posters on the walls showing its defects, and their no nonsense approach to them (cigarette burns on carpet = remove carpet, etc). It’s not a joke, if our room mates were anything to go by. When we came back from dinner, one had passed out on an unoccupied bed. He did manage to move to his girlfriends bunk (bet she was happy) at some point during the night. When my alarm woke us in the morning, he went and threw up in the shower – so we had a bit of a lie in. By the time we came back from breakfast, they’d gotten their act together enough to brush their teeth and roll a joint, before leaving with an imperious ‘goodbye’. I guess everybody has their own idea of what to do in Amsterdam, ours was about to start.
ducksoftheworld 