Saturday, September 17, 2011
Berlin, Germany to Leipsig, Germany
Up at 7:30am, packed and breakfasted and at the Berlin Ostbahnhof at 9:30am, in time for the expected departure at 10:12am. Lucky too, as we padded along platform 3, indicated on our ticket as the place to be, and noticed a train there, bound for Munchen, due to leave at 10:29am. Huh?? That's not us. We found a Deutchebahn employee, showed him our ticket, and he shook his head and scampered away. He returned in two minutes, indicating our train now was leaving from platform 7, apologising. No problem, down the elevator we went, moved 30 meters north, and up that elevator, and there was our platform. A train was just leaving, a regional train passing through the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, but our was due shortly so we didn't rush. One more huge benefit of being a bit early.
We caught our train, indeed a commuter rail service through Berlin, with two stops for us before our Hauptbahnhof destination. It was crowded, but quick and orderly and the fifteen minutes passed quickly. We popped out onto a platform and walked toward the heart of the station looking for our next track, number 1. The directions to the various tracks were crystal clear, big signs all around, and we found our way there with amazing ease. The station is huge, but set on three levels so rather than having to traverse miles of corridors as we usually do, here it was a short horizontal distance but down two long escalators, sort of like the London Underground. Our train, to Leipsig with a couple of stops along the way, was four minutes late on arrival. We settled into the comfortable seats, our gear stowed in the above racks and on the floor near us, and the hour-and-a-half ride passed very quickly.
We exited in Leipsig, a large train station in its own right. Leipsig is a city of half a million people, Berlin at least three times that size. We again turned on the GPS, and it guided us to the hotel without too much fuss. Checked in, I wandered the town a bit while Jan did some emailing, and we waited for our friend Angie to call us at around 8:00pm.
She didn't call, she and her friend Neils arrived at our door instead. Hugs and smiles all around, introductions to her friend, and we were out on the town for dinner. Neils drove us around the town a bit, and he and I chatted about all manner of things, his command of english is near flawless, while Jan and Angie talked and laughed behind us. Dinner was perfect, in a 'little castle' as it was named, with beer and wine. Then a bit more driving around to see the sights, and a visit to a bar in the heart of the entertainment district for a nightcap. Then home for the night at about 1:15am. A wonderful evening, great fun to see and talk with Angie again, she is a lovely person. And Neils, he is a keeper too for sure.
Snippets of information from the evening:
Leipsig was not bombed as extensively as other German cities as it had a large Jewish population. Hence areas of town such as our 'little castle' dinner spot, a huge and old building, survived the war intact as did much of the surrounding neighborhood as it was part of a Jewish area.
Leipsig has a large train station and is the largest 'terminus' for trains in Germany.
During the 'overthrow' of the Communist regime in East Germany, Leipsiz played a central role in the beginning of the protests. St. Nicholas' church was a centerpoint of the unrest, and it is from there that the protests began and then swelled and launched forth into the streets and the entire countryside. Leipsigers are very proud of their role in those days.
Neils is a commercial pilot and is coming to Canada to fly with a regional charter carrier out of Montreal in October. Mostly snowbirds flying south to Florida, the Gulf Coast, and the Carribean. He has extensive flying experience in Europe and the holiday destinations nearby like Majorca, Ibiza, the Canary Islands, and other storied places, as well as the north like Iceland, Finland, Sweeden, Russia, etc. Very interesting work, mostly in Boeing 737 aircraft.
We had a lot of electrical storm activity and unsettled weather in the afternoon and evening, sheet lightning and thunder and rain. But then at 1:00am, the heavens opened up in a way we never see in Vancouver, and the rain came down in absolute buckets. And we were sitting outside in one of a group of cafes along a narrow pedestrian street, with large square umberellas above us. While safe from the initial blast of rain, we watched in wonder as the tents shedded water by the gallons from the edges and corners, in places where the umberellas were 'joined' the water flowed from the tent gutters as though from a three inch firehose. Amazing. We waited about ten minutes, decided it wasn't going to stop, then we paid the bill and ran for it. I'm afraid Neils' new Chrysler got wet inside as all three of us were soaked during the three block scamper to the car, and we brought the wetness in with us.
