Letter 22
Thursday 11.08.11
The train also carries cars. I'm in a 6-bed compartment. Very nice
people, maybe except the male part of a german-hungarian elderly couple.
"Has NO sense for other people", complains a german lady later in the
morning, after the couple left in Hannover around 5 a.m. "Has only one
tone, neither it's day or night!" And that's true!
I 'm in one of the upper berths, where it used to be boiling hot. That's
been changed during the years so I sleep very well.
An austrian male helps me with my luggage. It's another of these old
narrow doors, where the bike only comes out without the bags.
And the next bound for Flensburg too, tells a female staff at the
station in Hamburg.
It's 2 hours to the next, so I take a small tour of walking around with
the bike in Hamburg. It's my first time - outside the main station.
When the train arrives half an hour before departure, the womans words
are prooved wrong. In the rear part of the train is a wagon for prams
and bikes with wide doors. What luck, cause next time I'll only have 11
min to change.
 |
 |
| Hamburg Main Station | Town Hall of Hamburg |
We rush across the rain covered North German landscape. Is it Holsten -
or are we in Slesvig? Names of towns rush by too quick to read. Just
once I manage to turn my head quick enough: Brokdorf.
We're in wind mill land. 2 x 15 mills I count.
"Nächste halt, Neumünster", calls the voice in the loudspeaker.
A new gathering of mills and thousands og geese in some fenced fields.
The maize doesn't look much here. The mist, that had withdrawn a bit, is
again covering the landscape.
High up on a real old steelconstruction of a bridge we cross something
that must be the Kieler canal, where loaded ships fight their way in
both directions. We pass under a new steel construction, where the main
road is crossing the canal and then it's Rendsburg.
On we go cross the flat landscape with more mills, and we're in Slesvig
- or Schleswig. The conductor greet some newcomers with: "Mojn", we're
in old danish land.
We plough through some hills and enter again the flat landscape.
"Tarp", the rain pours down, is this from where Lotte comes? "Det sku'
nødig hedde sig". (The title of a danish book). I think it did take
place in Southern Jutland. In Flensburg the station is surely covered?
I've spoken danish. With the female staff. It's been quite a while...
Much to my surprise I don't have to change in Kolding, we'll just
be connected to another train and will have a new name. "To confuse the
enemy", as she says. (a danish expression)
"Welcome in the Intercity train bound for Østerport", the
well known smiling voice sounds in the loudspeaker, a small part of Denmark, even we're
officially still in Germany.
But NOW we've crossed the border - I didn't see it - it's Padborg.
In this danish train there are 220 V outlets, so I can work on the
computer as long as I wish. When I turn it on it finds a unprotected
wireless net, but it can only be used between Århus and Copenhagen, so
it won't be until Middelfart. It sounds good, by free it isn't - 1 kr/min
- so as I don't absolutely need it, I give it up.
The coffee automat is empty and she, that should have joined us with her
sales trolley, has had an accident, so no coffee. But the automat with
sweets and cola is supposed to work. When one presses the number, it
will show the prize - and it does NOT give any change. There's a bag of
peanuts, quite big. 5 kr. That was cheap. It turns out to be because
there's a credit of 10 kr and when I've put in 5 kr, it still wants 2? I
put in 2 - and I have my peanuts - so now I'll survive, thanks to some
poor devil, who had nothing for his 10 kr.
When the s-train rolls into the station of Birkerød and I roll home it
rains. It's no longer a surprise....