journey to Cologne...

Well, let my adventures continue.  I am sitting on a train to Cologne, Germany.  I have  some days left on my rail pass from when my mom and dad were here, and my students are taking their exams today- all of which are proctored in Hungarian, so I get another week off.  The rail pass is only good for Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia – so there is where I had to find a destination.  I was inspired by a former student, Will Anderson, who had traveled to Cologne- so I thought I’d check it out.  I took an overnight train from Budapest last night- an experience in and of itself; and now I am on a first class train from Munich to Cologne.  Never in my travels have I felt as out of place as I do now.  But let me back up – as the overnight train was interesting too.  After a lazy afternoon of ice cream and langos (see a different blog), I headed to the train station to catch my train to Budapest.  I was running a little late, so I had to keep a good pace walking to the station.  I made it in time for my train, but I worked up a bit of a sweat in the process.  No problem, I had time to cool off on the train.  In Budapest, I arrived very early for my train, but it was good as I wanted to get settled in for the night ride.  As I approached the car I was assigned to, a nice man welcomed me and asked me for my ticket.  I showed it to him, and he told me that he was going to keep it for the night and would give it back to me in the morning.  Well, I automatically flashed back to different schemes that had been pulled on tourists and was nervous that he wasn’t legit, but he had a jacket on with the train insignia, so whatever. 

I was in a car with a nice man named Peter – he was a German guy who was really nice.  He was mid sixties I’d guess, and had married a Hungarian woman so he was visiting the family.  The other guy in our car didn’t say much, but it was okay.  After we had started moving, the steward (for lack of knowledge of the name of train attendants) came and turned down the beds.  I was thankful since I was exhausted, and it was pushing the wee hours of 10 pm.  Peter had never ridden on an overnight train and sat on his bed looking at me.  He asked if I wanted a bedtime story or anything, and then wished me sweet dreams.  I settled in on the top bunk and decided to finally eat dinner – you guessed it, a sandwich that I had packed.  I didn’t want to drink too much since I didn’t want to have to crawl over people and things in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, so I just relaxed a bit and fell asleep.  Peter was on the bottom bunk, and the other guy was directly across from me.  The ride was smooth, and since I had my ear plugs, I had no trouble falling asleep.  There was some rustling and door opening in the middle of the night, but nothing that kept me awake for long.  When I woke in the morning, it was 5:55 and we had a projected 6:15 arrival time in Munich – so I got up and started to collect my things.  Much to my surprise, directly underneath me was an little orthodox Jew sleeping with his tall black hat resting on his stomach.  I don’t know why, but it struck me funny that I went to bed with Peter and quiet guy – and woke up with two new passengers in our car. 

Our train was about 25 minutes late getting into Munich, which gave me 10 minutes to make my next train.  I didn’t have a seat reservation so I went directly to the office, and after standing in line was told that there were no reservations.  I hauled ass to my train and made it with one minute to spare.  As I boarded the nice stewardess said to me “we are driving” as in – get your ass in here, we’re leaving.  Panting, loaded down with my stuff and craving a diet coke, I boarded in the first class car – since that’s what my rail pass was.  As I walked into the seating area, I stopped for a minute in my tracks.  The seats were leather, and fashioned much like an airplane.  They had seat back trays, individual televisions, arm rests and a recline option (see the picture).  Not only that, but the train was a T-mobile wireless hotspot.    Really?!  Why aren’t these trains in Hungary?  (then remembering that the only way I was on this train was because my parents had paid for it…)  At any rate, I felt a bit sheepish since I didn’t have a seat reservation, but I sat in the first open seat and waited to ask if I was in the right place.  Almost immediately after I sat down, a nice stewardess came down the aisle to see if I wanted a newspaper, and she was followed by another stewardess who was giving out FREE HUGE pretzels.  I refused the paper, but gratefully accepted the pretzl – when in Munich… As I caught my breath and took another look around, I realized that I might have looked a little funny sitting in this particular car.  If you’ve seen any of my other pictures from my travels, I like to travel comfortably.  I wear clothes that I can hand wash, and probably the least fashionable things I have in my wardrobe.  Imagine me sitting there, in dry fit Columbia capris, a dry fit running shirt that says “distance” across the front, a Rock and Roll marathon black zip up jacket and Columbia flip flops.  Also, keep in mind that I have been traveling, having hustled to the station in Tata, and sleeping in the same clothes I wore yesterday- it was one of those situations where despite the fact that I had applied deoderant yesterday, if I turned at ju-ust the right angle, I could smell myself and it made the hair on my arms stand up straight.  Not to mention that I had a bit of raccoon eyes from not having taken off my mascara, hadn’t brushed my teeth and I had a bit of greasy bed head from sleeping solely on my right side the entire night.  Imagine that – and now place that person in the car of first class business travelers on a Monday morning.  Nothing but suits and high heels, prada and brief cases.  No one had a backpack, let alone a “food bag” with ample beverages, home made sandwiches and a spare Intersparr bag for my – to be purchased - souvenirs in it.  I contemplated digging my deoderant out of my bag and applying it in my seat, but there was just enough room inbetween seats that I am SURE some of my fashionable train traveling partners would be even more curious about my being there as they watched me apply it.  Of course, as I’m typing this, I’ve lost my deoderant applying window and I now have a person in the seat next to me.  Ugh.  Now I have to travel for the next four hours with my elbows tightly pressed into my love handles.  Anyhow – I am sure this adventure is far from over- I’ll keep you posted.