Today we took the train from Berlin to Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, Arjan’s home town. Due to the day’s rain, we took a taxi to the Hauptbahnoff, the major train station in Berlin. This station is huge, with S-Bahn, U-Bahn, and train lines all crisscrossing in every direction on many levels.
Here is a warning to all travelers: Don’t get separated! Arjan wanted to take the escalator, but I needed to take the elevator because I was dragging two rolling bags behind me.
Unfortunately, I took the wrong elevator and ended up on the wrong platform. There was Arjan on the next platform waving at me frantically! Time was running out, and I needed to go down at least one level and back up again to get to the correct platform, so I took the escalator down. Big mistake. My bags were heavy and unbalanced, and I almost fell.
I found the elevator for Track 14, but then I couldn’t find Arjan anywhere. I dragged my bags first one way and then the other, looking for him everywhere. I realized that we had less than five minutes before departure. Luckily, I knew the platform number, but Arjan had a combined ticket for the two of us. Without a ticket, in a country that speaks another language, with no information about what car or seat number, and no way to prove I even belonged on the train, I was in a total panic.
But we live in the age of cell phones, so finally a text arrived from Arjan telling me I needed to be at loading letter A. It was at the far end of the platform, out in the rain, and Arjan was still nowhere in sight. At the last minute, I spotted him waving me down the platform, and so, we found our way into our first class cabin and our train ride to Rotterdam began.
A lot of former East Germany is really flat and plain (in both senses of the word). Later, closer to the border with Holland, we saw more hills. At one point, our cabin was completely full, with all six seats taken, but after Osnabrück, all the other passengers got out and we were joined by a charming Indonesian woman named Vonny, who was a lot of fun to talk to. I hope she gets to read this blog.
We had a very tight connection at Amersfoort that we were worried about for the train to Rotterdam. At one point our train was up to 10 minutes late, but after the train crew swapped at the border, our Dutch engineer made up for lost time and we pulled into the station three minutes early.
When we got to the Rotterdam Alexander station, our friend Gerard was there to pick us up. In order to get out of the station, though, we needed to scan our e-ticket from the train trip. Because we had two people on one ticket, I had to piggyback on Arjan’s entry. The alarm went off, but we just ignored it.
It is nice to be with friends, in a place where we have been before. We will now be visiting, rather than traveling, so we may abbreviate our blog for a little while and only tell you about special events, but keep coming back. We are only at Day 17 of 50.
Photograph © 2016 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.