So I only managed to get one post out over my winter break. Typical. It's hard to stay motivated for something I don't particularly want to do, and also don't have to do. Anyway, it's back to work (tomorrow), and it's about time for me to get back into the swing of things on here.
While none of us were really all that interested in Germany, my parents insisted on having a day in Frankfurt as a buffer in case of delays. I wasn't all that interested in Frankfurt itself, but there is one thing in Germany that I've always wanted to see, just a few hours away by train. So the day started off with a dash over to the main train station to get on the first of a series of trains heading north. (Those of you who are familiar with the Tim Traveller, probably my favorite Youtube channel, already know where this is going from the title!)
Train number one was an ICE T (yep, that's seriously what this model is called), which has to have been the nicest modern train of the dozens I rode on this trip. I particularly like the mini compartments, perfect for the two of us (my mom was uninterested in our adventure and hung out in Frankfurt again). (We were in first class since I had bought first class Eurail passes when they were on a sale for pretty much the same price as a second class pass -- otherwise German first class trains are way too expensive for me!) The info display being built into a mirrored panel is pretty cool too, much sleeker than any other train I can think of. We left right on time, with my dad remarking on "German efficiency". Too bad we're only on this for a couple stops out to Mainz in the suburbs.
Uh, make that just one stop, out to the airport. Which made that entire train ride pointless since we could have taken the train from our hotel straight here. My dad's comment made me think of all of the bad things I've heard about Deutsche Bahn, so I looked to make sure the rest of our trip was still going to work... and found that our train from Mainz, taking the scenic route along the Rhine, was cancelled, with the next operating one not being for another couple hours. 🤦♂️
So it was on to a newer, much less nice, ICE 4 for a faster but less scenic ride to Cologne. I'm pretty sure every other ICE train we were on this whole trip was an ICE 4, and I spent the entire trip convinced they were older than the ICE T from that one short leg. It seems like no matter where you go in the world, new trains always have worse, less comfortable, interiors than the trains they replace.
That train was running late (shocking, I know -- in fact, I'm pretty sure the run from Frankfurt to the airport was the only domestic German train of the entire trip that ran on time!) so we didn't have much time to look at the Cologne cathedral before hopping on another ICE over to...
Starting off with train 12, how appropriate! (The aisle 12 thing has really died off in recent years...)
The original part of the line follows the Wupper river, which is always the reason given for its unusual design. I'm not sure what that has to do with the decision to build a suspended monorail instead of a conventional elevated railway, but I suppose things weren't as standardized in the 1890s. Also, there's a reason that the derisive term "gadgetbahn" is in faux German.
The newer part of the line runs along streets, much like a conventional elevated rail line (except taking up even more width since the supports have to be outside of the area the trains run instead of directly below them). All these pictures are taken out of the back of the train -- since they're single-ended cars, they have a large window at the back (so no, the trains don't run on the left like Italian trains).
Despite how old and weird the system is, it has brand-new trains from the 2010s, which are pretty cool looking. The seats are just curved plywood though, so not comfortable!
The maintenance facility itself is pretty funky, as you'd expect. Since all of the equipment is on the roof, you don't need the inspection pits that you normally see in vehicle maintenance facilities. But there is one on the track exiting the building -- and there's something very cool over there, the heritage Kaiserwagen, only used for special events and charters. Obviously I wasn't going to actually be able to ride this train, but it was super cool to actually see it -- I wasn't expecting that!
It's also fun watching the trains make the rather tight turn around the end of the track -- I wish you could ride them around the loop!
Crossing over to the other platform heading back, you can just about see the end of the historic train from the very end of the platform.
By the time the next train arrived, the historic train had pulled back into the building out of view -- that shows just how lucky we were to get here during the brief time it was out where we could see it. Unfortunately, that was the end of our luck for the day.
It's fun passing just above truck roofs below! It's like the opposite of being on the top deck of a double-decker bus passing under low bridges. Also, spot the Aldi Nord! I still haven't ever been to an Aldi of any flavor (unless you count Aldi Nord's Trader Joe's), but I think this is the closest I've ever been to an Aldi Nord.
Shortly after this, we pulled into one of the industrial stations (located basically within the Bayer factory) and just sat. And sat. And sat. But no one seemed to be getting off the train, and the only announcements were on the platforms and in German (a language I don't even pretend to understand, unlike Italian). Eventually the driver got off and went downstairs, followed by a few of the passengers... but we had no idea what we were doing and there didn't seem to be an easy bus to change to, so we waited.
After about half an hour, we finally decided to give up. The good thing about Wuppertal being a very skinny city following the river is that it's pretty much impossible to get lost, so we decided to just wander along the river/track until we saw things moving again.
Which allowed me to get a view of one of the most interesting structures on the system, where they built a whole arched bridge to hang the structure from. The brown rectangular structures are where the original supports would have connected. It's too bad the trains weren't running, because I can't show you a train hanging from a bridge hanging from another bridge!
A few stops down the line, we saw the trains moving again, and we ended up hopping on a very full train (though not the same one we were on -- not sure if we were before or after that one). We took that a little bit further back to the main train station for a restroom and snack break...
... before heading all the way to the east end of the system, which has what I'm guessing is the original maintenance facility, built up over the river itself. The trains turn around inside the building on this end (across the street from the station), and if you time it right you can just about see the front of the train popping out of the far side while the back is still sticking out the near side. I thought I had missed getting a picture of that view, but apparently not!
I was amused to see that some of the trains have ads on the bottom!
Train 04 says it's time to head back to Frankfurt. Shouldn't be difficult, right?
We got back to the station, where the board listed a late ICE train to Cologne leaving any minute, which would line up perfectly with a scenic train from there to Mainz. Perfect timing! So we ran up to the platform... and waited... and waited. Apparently the train was just sitting somewhere. Eventually it got passed by a regional train that was also going to Cologne, so we debated taking that one instead, but for some reason (I don't remember why), we decided to wait for the ICE train.
Obviously we missed our connection, so we had a good bit of time to burn until the next one. Since the cathedral is literally right next door to the main station in Cologne, we walked around there a bit -- we probably could have gone inside, but we couldn't figure out if you needed to pay to go in, and my dad was getting anxious to get back to the station, so we didn't.
I was quite surprised to see these modern retail shops built into the bottom of the cathedral!
Unsurprisingly, this train was late too, so we had quite a bit of time to kill. So here's a neat picture showing just how close the cathedral and train station are! This is quite a cool station, and it's not often that you see a large train hall roof on a through station like this one.
Finally, our train decided to turn up, and it turned out to be a double-decker IC train instead of another ICE -- a nice change of pace for this scenic section! Unfortunately, by this point I was exhausted, so I decided to just hang out on this ride instead of taking pictures, and to be honest I hardly even remember it -- I think I was dozing off a bit (thanks, jetlag) and I remember not being all that impressed by the scenery anyway (I think the mountain rail lines of Switzerland have ruined me!).
And of course we missed our connection to the ICE train from Mainz back to Frankfurt since this train was also late, so we had to take the slow local train all the way back to the hotel. I wasn't kidding when I said the one train from Frankfurt to the airport was the only one that went right. This was the one full day we had in Germany, and it really didn't impress me -- but hey, now I've done the one thing I really wanted to in the whole country!
Alright, well, happy new year everyone! I had been hoping to get through this whole vacation by this time... instead, I'm through day 1. Sounds about right for me these days. I guess my new goal is to get through this by the next time I take a major vacation -- which is December 2026 at the earliest, possibly not until February 2027, considering I'm still getting over the stress of this one. I might actually be able to manage that timeline!
Ha, well, Rick Steves is a University of Washington alum and his show is produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting. I suppose you could call it a Pacific Northwest show, kind of, lol.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if visiting Oregon and Northern California would constitute a major vacation, but it is a bit strange that I've been over there a bit more frequently in recent years than you have! Maybe there are some things worth checking out, like in Bend, but, unfortunately, it isn't cheap!
Yep, he's definitely local -- but the one time I saw Rick Steves, it was in Italy, not here in Washington!
DeleteI was thinking international for major, but I don't have anything planned around here either -- unlike in Europe, it's pretty much impossible to do anything here without driving, and I haven't been willing to do that since the California trip a few years ago. Plus everything is just so much cheaper in Europe -- well, most of Europe at least!