Change to summertime? Tomorrow morning? Easter Sunday? Seriously? Well, it is the last Sunday in March. An hour less sleep? Time to trust our phones. Will they change automatically to CEST (Central European Summer Time)? Will the alarms work? We have a train to catch.
Our clever little phones woke us at the right time, and we arrived at the station an hour early and were looking for a place to sit and have breakfast when I noticed that the ICE train, listed on the board was an 86…on our ticket it said ICE 75. We enquired. Oh that train has left. What??? Left? It’s not due to leave for 45min. It left two hours ago!!! He was very helpful and directed us firstly to station information where the woman changed our German part of the ticket but then we had to go to DB Information where they could give us a new reservation on the TGV seeing it was international. It meant we would arrive in Paris around 20:30 – a couple of hours later but we were still going to get there- today!
Railway stations in Europe are generally bereft of seating areas. We eventually discovered a McDonalds and settled in we met Christoph. He recognised our accents and sat down and engaged in conversation. He looked around mid to late 30s. He had just bought an apartment in Mallorca and showed us photos of him and his girlfriend, Ashkina (can’t quite remember but she came from Poland I think). Then he launched into his life story. He had a degree in biomedicine, created a company which sold medical devices and made a fortune. He doesn’t work anymore. He showed us a photo of his new Porsche and then a photo of his Audi, or at least what was left of it. He had had an accident just a few days ago and was a bit beaten and bruised – he showed us his injuries including the bruise the seatbelt had caused. The car that crashed into him was a Peugeot driven by a woman and while it was seriously damaged as well, both have stepped away with minor injuries. He was on for a chat. Suddenly we had to go. We exchanged contact details, and he seemed keen to know when we were coming back to Europe. He was delightful and probably still a bit shocked from his accident. I’m glad we met him.
Trains just don’t wait, and the platform was crowded and exceptionally long. We would be in carriage ten. We figured out the digital information board and worked out our carriage would be in section ‘E’. It rolled in and the door was right in front. How lucky was that? It was an ICE (Intercity train) and bound for Munich. We were to change at Mannheim at 17:25 for the TGV which departed at 17:38. Arrival and departure of both trains was Platform 5.
Halfway through the trip we realised the train was going to be late and at one stage we would have one minute to change. We were a bit anxious. Later the conductor assured us there were many passengers, they had called the train (really, that is what he said!) and it would all be OK. He was right. It was.