deutsche bahn

On the way out of the internet cafe, Dad called to help me plan my Easter weekend travels. The Kroths invited me back to their home, so I stopped by the Deutsche Bahn help desk to buy train tickets. The woman at the counter only spoke German, so that was a bit of a challenge... but we managed!

Turns out, they offer a 50% BahnCard at €115 for students and with just this trip, it has already paid for itself. Now, I can easily go visit Michelle studying in Konstanz, Lukas in Lingen, the Kroths in Hanau, and other sites around Germany for much less.

I took my groceries home on the bus again, pleased that I remembered bags (as you must pay for each bag you use upon checkout at the grocery store). When I arrived at the dorm bus stop, I noticed some other students on the bus that were definitely California kids. Its amaying how easily I could pick them out by their appearance. We chatted on our walk up to the dorms and decided to go out for dinner and drinks that evening. I then called the other guys who left their numbers at the office to invite them along.

We went out that night in a group of six back to the old part of the city, Brandenburger Straße, to a Japanese restaurant and later to a student bar called Pub ala Pub. I have a feeling that we will spend many nights trying to meet some German students at Pub ala Pub. It is popular with the German students, always busy on weekdays, gathers a huge crowd on soccer (Fußball) game nights, and offers really cheap drinks. They even give you money back when you return your empty bottles or glasses to the bar.

So, yeah, when we arrived, there was a Fußball game on TV and we had to sit at picnic tables outside. At our table were three German students (born and raised in Potsdam) who soon became our best friends of the night. One of the girls from Potsdam had to return to her school in Switzerland the following day, so they were out celebrating her last hours with childhood friends. I must also mention that the other California students in my program know absolutely no German, so I really tried to speak to them in their language. I probably sounded so terrible, but I think it's best to try. After I bought the Germans a round of drinks, they soon after came out with drinks for everyone at our table and invited us out afterwards to a local diskothek. It was so much fun!

The next morning, we had brekafast and a meeting with everyone in the program on campus. I found out more infomation about advisors, classes, etc. and afterwards decided to tour around some more with my new buddy from UC Riverside.

We went inside the Neues Palais (New Palace), which is conveniently on campus. It was so awesome! The rooms were so elaborate and often in (my new favorite) Rococo style. The floor, walls, ceilings, tapestries and inlays in the furniture followed a different natural theme (water, flowers, hunting) in each room. We had a headset guide that pointed out whimsical details in the design, such as a crane snapping at a spider on a web in the ceiling inlays or statuettes of women of the four seasons on a clock. My favorite room was the Grotto Hall, with thousands upon thousands of colorful seashells forming three-dimensional waves and serpents winding up the walls. It was unbelievable.

The floors throughout the palace were in bad shape, so we had to wear oversized, soft slippers over our shoes. They allowed us to slide all over the palace, which was pretty fun too.

I saw my friend off to Hamburg for the weekend at the bus stop and headed home to rest. I had to catch a train in the evening to Hanau.

I decided to leave a bit early because my tandem partner said that the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main station) is incredible. Sure enough, it was enormous. It seemed more like an airport mall combination than a train station. I walked around the various floors, doing a little bit of shopping as I went along with my little rolling suitcase.

I am so impressed with German public transportation. I couldn't help but contrast the Deutsche Bahn interstate train with my experience on Amtrak trying to get from Santa Barbara to San Jose. On Amtrak, it took nearly twelve hours to go what would take four to five hours driving. It was so frustrating. This train, however, hit every stop right on time, to the minute. The cars were clean, modern, and comfortable. The train was full with, what I assumed to be, Easter travelers, which made for great people watching.

The route from Berlin to Frankfurt runs straight through Hanau Hauptbahnhof, conveniently. Claudia met me there to bring me to their home for the weekend.