In Transit, Amsterdam to Hamburg

Made it to my first train this morning, leaving out of Amsterdam's Centraal Station at 07:04. Was supposed to arrive at Duisburg, Germany at 09:06, but a mechanical issue with a train further down the track caused a 20 minute delay. I changed trains in Duisburg - what was supposed to have been a 40 minute layover became a 20 minute one. I had planned to take some train station photos at Duisburg for your amusement, but with my layover cut in half I didn't want to take the time.

The first train was an ICE Sprinter, a high speed train. Very quiet and smooth. Seats in first class are comfy and are configured with two seats on one side of the aisle and one seat (or platz in German) on the other. No issues, plenty of seats. Had the breakfast I bought last night - the cheese almost has the sharpness of a good cheddar, but was pretty soft - though not quite spreadable. The croissants were good, even day-old. At some point after entering Germany a few big guys in green police-style uniforms and guns walked through my car, stopping at random passengers. I wasn't one of them. Not sure whether they were border patrol or customs.

The second train was an IC, an InterCity. Slower than an ICE, it is faster than regional and local trains. This train was much more crowded, but I did find a seat. I was comfortably ensconced until a round man with a beard stopped at my seat and said, "Haben Sie eine Platz-Reservation? Das ist meine platz. Hier ist meine reservation". "Oops!" I replied, and then, "Ich sprecke keine Deutsche. Sprecken Sie Englisch?" I was pretty sure what the man wanted, but I knew that chances were that he spoke better English than I speak German. I was right. He had a seat reservation for the seat I had taken. I politely said I'm sorry and that I hadn't seen a reservation card in the holder stuck to the window.

He smiled and told me that they don't use them anymore - and showed me a small LED readout on the face of the luggage rack which displays the cities for which the seat is reserved. If its not reserved, the display is blank and you don't even notice it. I found another seat without incident.

I've made it to Hamburg, and to my hotel. Here are pictures of the main station in Hamburg, and of my hotel. My last hotel, I can now say, was a dump - but it did have clean sheets. My new hotel is much nicer. It's about 3:15 PM here, so I want to get out and about. Sun is coming out for the first time, too. I'll report again tomorrow morning, unless you're really lucky.



Hamburg Hauptbahnof, above. Hotel Commodore, below.

Location:Budapester Straße,Hamburg,Germany